Michael Olesker

Struggling Orioles Need a Humanizing Voice in the Broadcast Booth

by Michael Olesker | May 22, 2019 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Something marvelous happened during the Orioles telecast the other night when they gave up a 6-to-1 lead over the New York Yankees and lost in the ninth inning, 10 to 7. Somebody told an amusing story. For the record, it was Brian Roberts, who played second base for...

‘Catch-22’ on Hulu Lacks Heller’s Unique Humor but Packs Dramatic Punch

by Michael Olesker | May 20, 2019 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Years ago, Joseph Heller confessed to an interviewer that he’d gone through a period when he wouldn’t allow any person into his home who hadn’t brought along a pizza. That was a slice of the mordant sense of humor of the author of the classic anti-war novel...

Why Brown v. Board of Education Still Matters

by Michael Olesker | May 17, 2019 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Last installment of a three-part series: Sixty-five years ago, on the day that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down legalized racial segregation in America’s public schools, the late edition of Baltimore’s Evening Sun topped page one with this headline: “Race...

Have We Lived Up to Thurgood Marshall’s Dream?

by Michael Olesker | May 15, 2019 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

The second installment of a three-part series Sixty-five years ago this week, just minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed legalized race discrimination in America’s public schools, Thurgood Marshall stood with reporters in a courthouse corridor and tried to...

Recalling a Court Ruling that Would Echo for Generations

by Michael Olesker | May 13, 2019 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Sixty-five years ago this week, a young man from West Baltimore named Thurgood Marshall listened as Earl Warren pronounced the most important legal words uttered since Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Marshall was there as the NAACP attorney seeking racial...

Squeegee Kids Cause Mixed Feelings Among Residents and Tourists

by Michael Olesker | May 10, 2019 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Coming off the Jones Falls Expressway Thursday morning, and stopping at a red light along President Street, I’m confronted by a handful of the city of Baltimore’s famous squeegee kids, one of whom proceeds to clean my windshield against my will. This kid’s got a...

Mary Bubala’s Blunder Shouldn’t Have Resulted in Firing

by Michael Olesker | May 8, 2019 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

The most embarrassed woman in Baltimore right now is Mary Bubala, who asked an utterly idiotic and insensitive question on live television the other day, and then apologized quickly and profusely. She now finds herself fired from WJZ-TV, where she previously anchored...

Is Pimlico in its Home Stretch?

by Michael Olesker | May 6, 2019 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Among the smartest and savviest people in the Maryland General Assembly is Del. Sandy Rosenberg (D-41st), but I think he’s more optimist than realist when it comes to this sad business of Pimlico Race Course. In his latest letter to constituents – of whom I am one –...

Goodbye Mayor Pugh, Hello Mayor Who?

by Michael Olesker | May 3, 2019 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

The city of Baltimore now falls into the hands of Bernard C. “Jack” Young, until recently known to most citizens across the entire state of Maryland as Jack Who? He becomes mayor of Baltimore with the painful fall of ex-mayor Catherine Pugh, who wrote...

A Round of Applause for the Late, Great Gino Marchetti

by Michael Olesker | Apr 30, 2019 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

The last time I saw Gino Marchetti, he was shuffling slowly into Artie Donovan’s funeral nearly six years ago. I thought of Donovan’s great story about the big Baltimore Colts rookie who found it impossible to block Marchetti during a team practice session. First,...