Friday Replay: Terps Beat Hoyas and Reignite Rivalry

1. Terps beat Hoyas and reignite rivalry.
While it might be hard to imagine now, before Duke and UNC, Georgetown was Maryland's most heated rival. The 1970s saw several competitive games in Cole Field House and the D.C. Armory and was famously capped off on December 4, 1979 when coaches Lefty Driesell and John Thompson got in a screaming match on the sideline. Since then, for one political reason or another, the two teams, just 11 miles apart, rarely faced each other. In fact, Tuesday night's game was the first time Maryland hosted Georgetown in more than 40 years.

But with the Terps now in the Big 10 and much of that old animosity under the bridge, the crowd of 17,000 screaming fans proved that this rivalry is back in earnest. Georgetown held a close lead the entire game, but the Terps tied it up with only 77 seconds left. Thanks to clutch three-point shots from Melo Trimble, Rasheed Sulaimon (a Duke transfer, no less), and Jay Layman, the Terps pulled out a 75-71 victory.

2. Refs blow the Ravens-Jaguars game.
We've admitted it several times already this season—the Ravens are currently not a good football team. But we have also experienced our fair share of bad luck and bogus calls. This all came to a head on Sunday against the Jags when an extremely frustrating face-mask call against Elvis Dumervil gave Jacksonville 15 yards, allowing them to kick a field goal and win the game. Except, admits the NFL, that play never should have happened. Even before Dumervil's penalty, the Jags never came set on the play, meaning they should have been flagged for a false start and that would have been game over. Both teams have terrible records (though Jacksonville is still alive in the atrocious AFC South), but this whole "Whoops, my bad" game from the NFL is really getting old.

3. Matt Wieters Accepts QO from Orioles.
There has been a lot of off-season talk and speculation about whether the Orioles would re-sign Chris Davis, Wei-Yin Chen, Matt Wieters, and Darren O'Day. Well this week, one of these questions was answered as Matt Wieters accepted a qualifying offer of $15.8 million for 2016. Now, along with Caleb Joseph and Steve Clevenger, the Orioles have one of the deepest and well-balanced catching squads in the league. But a lot of fans are questioning if this was a necessary move. Catcher, clearly, was not a position of need and now that ties up funds for some other players and positions where the Orioles have a clear void, including outfielders, starting pitching, and the much talked-about signing of power hitter Chris Davis.

4. Michael Phelps announces he's having a baby boy.
On the heels of the incredibly revealing Sports Illustrated article about Michael Phelps recently overcoming some personal demons, the swimming star has some news of his own to share. On Wednesday, he posted an Instagram announcing that he and fiance Nicole Johnson will be expecting a baby boy in May. "We found out 8 weeks ago we were expecting . . . Today we're over 12 weeks and it looks like we're having a boy!" he wrote in the caption. Congrats to the expectant parents! Hopefully, for her sake, the baby won't have his dad's wingspan.

A photo posted by Michael Phelps (@m_phelps00) on Nov 18, 2015 at 8:02am PST

5. Buck Showalter critiques baseball movies for Esquire.
One thing we really miss about baseball season is hearing manager Buck Showalter's one-liners during post-game interviews. His brash, quick wit caused even the most stoic reporters to giggle in the background. Luckily, Esquire magazine is producing a series where they ask real-life coaches what they think of watching their fictional counterparts on screen. We think it's no coincidence that they tapped our own Showalter first to get his opinion on baseball movies, drawing from his knowledge as a player and manager. The results are amazing.

We learn he has a deep disdain for the movie Moneyball, calling it "complete fiction" and saying that Phillip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of Oakland A's manager Art Howe "was so far off that it was comical." He was a great actor, but whoever was coaching him just had no idea. Maybe they just didn't care. Maybe most of the people watching it just didn't notice." He then softened a little, talking about his affinity for Kevin Costner in movies like Draft Day and Field of Dreams, though, he says, the latter didn't have enough baseball. Showalter liked The Natural because "Robert Redford looked like a hitter."

But the best part has to be the end, where Showalter admits his favorite baseball movie is The Sandlot. "That was me growing up," he says. "That's realistic. We were in the back wearing tennis shoes, hitting homemade balls. If you hit it too far, it goes in somebody's yard and you're screwed; the game's over . . . Although they killed it (in a bad way) with The Sandlot 2. That movie was terrible." Buck, never change.

Honorable mention: For the second week in a row, we have a bit too much news to fit into five segments, so our honorable mention (pun kind of intended) goes to Ed Reed, who will be inducted into the Ravens' Ring of Honor during this Sunday's game, becoming the ninth member of that elite group. “Home is here. Home has always been Baltimore,” Reed told BaltimoreRavens.com. “My heart has always been in Baltimore. It will always be in Baltimore and at M&T Bank Stadium.”