ABCDE D BASEBALL


Orioles get serious Baltimore brings in meticulous manager Buck Showalter, so the franchise’s young players don’t get too used to losing. D3


PRO FOOTBALL


Indianapolis willing to pay Peyton Manning could become NFL’s highest-paid player. D2


SPORTS “


tuesday, august 3, 2010 BLOGS, MULTIMEDIA AND CHATS washingtonpost.com/sports


First Things First Today, 9:30 a.m. Tracee Hamilton starts the sports day with a live Q&A. The Early LeadCindy Boren rounds up the day’s best blog posts and tweets, and adds a dash of humor. Redskins Insider Providing the latest from training camp all day, conditioning tests and beyond.


BASEBALL


Nationals play late The game against the


Diamondbacks ended too late for this edition. For full coverage, go to washingtonpost.com/sports


The first game after [the hand] injury I was kind of nervous. But then I got in a fight and everything went good.” Washington Capitals’ new right wing D.J. King. D3


Haynesworth’s knee remains a headache


Shanahan hints lineman may be able to practice before passing test


by Rick Maese


By time the 11th question on the top- ic had been asked, Washington Red- skins Coach Mike Shanahan had reached his limit.


“Enough about Albert,” he said, as similar-sounding queries about defen- sive tackle Albert Haynesworth began producing similar-sounding answers. But in perhaps the biggest sign that


a thaw might be near in the strained relationship between Haynesworth and the team, Shanahan conceded that Haynesworth could return to the prac- tice field without first passing his man- datory conditioning test if the current situation drags on. “Possibly,” Shanahan said. “You’ll


The Terps and yoga, striking a balance


by Steve Yanda


numbers that have defined them ever since they con- cluded a dismal 2009 campaign. Sure, the YogaChai exercises the players endured were meant to increase their functional flexibility — which in turn, Maryland coaches hope, will improve speed and agility, not to mention help prevent injury — but the various poses they’ve practiced are meant to dis- cipline their awareness as much as stretch their bodies. And so, one by one, the players walked barefoot into Room 1114 on a recent Wednesday afternoon, grabbed a rolled-up foam mat off the cart in the middle of the floor and found a vacant spot against the wall to lay it out. That day’s class centered on hip flexibility and grat- itude, a juxtaposition made even odder by the massive bodies trying to grasp the lessons. The desks were pushed to one end of the room, which


F


left just enough space for two dozen offensive and defen- sive linemen to lie with their backs flat against their re- spective mats. A wiry man wearing an army green tank top and black cloth shorts provided continuous instruction.


or nearly an hour twice a week over the past two months, members of the Maryland foot- ball team have gathered in a sparsely lit defen- sive meeting room at the Gossett Team House and were asked to release from their minds the


on washington post.com


For more photos of


the Maryland football team taking yoga classes, check out the gallery at washington post.com/sports


Offensive lineman Maurice Hampton tries his hand at yoga. “We’re kind of working on our minds as much as our bodies,” teammate Justin Gilbert said.


Legs up the wall, join your ankles, join your knees, feet flat, close your eyes, make the back of your neck long, draw the shoulder blades toward the wall, press your inner thighs to the wall, press up through the heels, join the big toes. . . . At some point you’ll start feeling tingling in your legs. It’s not loss of sensation. It’s hormones. It’s healing. . . . I want you to think about one word: gratitude. What does it mean to you? Bring the soles of the feet together. Think about gratitude.


yoga continued on D5


just have to stick around.” Haynesworth made his third at- tempt at the test before the team’s training camp practice Monday morn- ing. But because of lingering irritation in his knee, he completed just 75 of the 300 yards of the first sprint. Because he failed to complete the test — much less pass it — he missed his seventh and eighth practices of training campMon- day, though he was present for all of both sessions. Haynesworth skipped the test on


Saturday and Sunday because of swell- ing in his knee. The joint has became a concern, and Shanahan said that even if Haynesworth had passed the test a


redskins continued on D6 TRACEE HAMILTON


Galloway knows the drill at camp


J


oey Galloway doesn’t enjoy training camp. Let’s just get that out of the way, right from the start. He’s in


Ashburn, competing for a spot as a wide receiver for the Washington Redskins, but he doesn’t enjoy training camp. “They all feel fast. They all feel long.


They all feel hard,” he said Sunday when asked to compare the many training camps he’s known. “If we come outside and the sun’s out it’s going to be a long day.” Still, he’s out there, at 38 years old, in his do-rag and his — what are they? Cutoff sweat pants? Long shorts? Capris? No, not capris. No matter. He’s in camp — his 16th, no less — and doing well enough to play opposite Santana Moss with what appears to be the first team during drills. For a man of his age, er, experience, that’s got to be a good feeling, right? “We don’t play tomorrow, so it


doesn’t really matter,” Galloway said. “It’s early. There are 12 receivers. We just started three days ago. The depth chart doesn’t really matter.”


hamilton continued on D6 Colt Brennan caught off guard by release


S


JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST


The acquisition of quarterback John Beck from the Ravens led to the release of fan favorite Colt Brennan, above. “I was totally surprised,” he said. Story, D6


Tentative Blake stunned in his Legg Mason opener


Sweeting knocks off 2002 tournament champion in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4


by Liz Clarke If the erratic serving and step-slow


footwork didn’t give it away, the tenta- tive decision-making in the third set did. James Blake laid the bleak reality bare following his defeat to American qualifier Ryan Sweeting on the opening night of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic —a loss that cost the tournament a fan- favorite and cost Blake a chance to re- claim a place among the top 100. “Obviously I’m aware that my career


PHOTOS BY TONI L. SANDYS/THE WASHINGTON POST


Punter Ted Townsley, left, and his Maryland football teammates are tackling yoga together this offseason. “I just felt that we were lacking something,” head strength and conditioning coach Dwight Galt said.


is finite,” said Blake, 30, who lost, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. “It’s not going to last forever. But for now, my focus is on finding a way to get back into match form — back to the way I feel comfortable playing.”


For stretches in the match Blake showed flashes of the player who won his first ATP tournament at the 2002 Legg Mason and climbed to No. 4 in the world in 2006. His forehand remains his most daunting weapon, particularly when struck flat and deep, with little re- gard for margin of error. But other aspects of his game showed rust — partly the result of pain in his right knee that contributed to his first- round loss at Wimbledon in June; part- ly the result of his failure to string to- gether enough victories to play deep enough in any tournament to find his groove. Blake had hoped that Legg Mason, where he has enjoyed good results and spirited support, would change that — particularly after an encouraging run to the quarterfinals in Los Angeles last week.


But after a strong first set against Sweeting, whom he had never faced,


legg mason continued on D3


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