The Rising: Chance Meetings with Baltimore Sports Legends: We Must Protect This House! I WILL I WILL

We may not be playing at home tomorrow, so we cant exactly protect M&T Bank Stadium, right? But we will win, and I will offer analysis. Further, Ed Reed doesn't just protect 'this house,' he does a darn fine job protecting the President of the United States. Maybe we should get him on a Secret Service detail. Maybe if President Palmer (24) had known about him, he would still be alive, and Jack Bauer's job would be a lot easier. But I'll take anything I can get, and if Reed can do more for our defense than Albert Haynesworth does to our offense, I'll be grateful.

I had a star-struck moment, or whatever they're called today. I was walking to class and stopped dead in my tracks. There, in front of me, was the daughter of none other than Ray Lewis, the NFL's actual best linebacker, and the heart of the Baltimore Ravens. She looked strikingly like her dad, and although I have known for two years that she goes to the same school as me, I had never seen her until today. It must be a good omen. (This was better than the time I was running at my brother school and came across Cal Ripken Jr. That time, I was so awed that I said, blankly, "you're Cal Ripken." He had then proceeded to give me an exasperated look, like 'yeah, I think I know that,' and turn back to the baseball game he was watching.)

But this was so much better; almost as good as when I met Derrick Mason at his radio show two weeks ago, snapped a picture, got a couple of autographs, and offered him some advice and well-wishes. Also good was the time I met Kyle Harrison's parents at a Hopkins lacrosse game, or when Lenny Moore, the legendary Colts' runningback, who played in the '58 Championship Game, AKA The Greatest Game Ever Played, walked out of Miss Shirley's when we were waiting to be seated. Or perhaps getting a hug and autograph from Michael Phelps like seven hours before he was arrested in November of 2004. But we forgive him, and love him anyways. Bottom line: Baltimore sports legends exemplify Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez's statement, in The Sandlot: "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." There's a reason that's my favorite movie.