Attention football fans, singles trying to plan an atypical Friday-night date and NFL groupies.

Former Baltimore Colt, ESPN analyst and Super Bowl champ Bill Curry, the man who hiked the ball to Johnny Unitas for five years, returns to the land of pleasant living 7 p.m. Friday with his new book “Ten Men You Meet in the Huddle” in hand.

He’ll be at Power Plant’s Barnes & Noble, signing copies of the book, reading excerpts and talking about the famous football figures he befriended during his lengthy NFL and college-coaching career. Also on his lips will be the lesser known names such as his wife, Carolyn, who moved with him 35 times in their 45 years of marriage.

Bill says she never complained about continuously uprooting her life, and she still found time to earn her master’s degree and Ph.D. while raising two children and teaching college and high school students.

This story continues below
Advertisement

If you don’t go out to listen to Bill at least look up WomenAloneTogether.org. Carolyn formed Women Alone Together in 2002. The non-profit organization offers social events, travel opportunities, financial and legal seminars, and health and wellness info to women, typically older, who are alone either by choice or because of a spouse’s illness or death. — Jessica Novak

What’s wrong with the NFL

“All the hyper-publicity on unimportant things,” Curry said. “Twenty-three year olds are exposed in a way they can’t handle. At twenty-three, they can’t handle a million dollars, a posse and women hanging all over them. It happened when I played and it happened all the way back to the gladiators. And it’s not going to go away either. It happens to actors and anybody who gets paid too much too early.”

What’s right with the NFL

“The good stuff is what’s happening this weekend,” Curry said. “You form friendships that last a lifetime. And you can’t be a racist anymore, and say I don’t want to play with this guy. And you can’t be a sexist and say no women in the locker room. People who hate each other end up loving each other because they have no choice.”

In Beijing among the world’s strongest and fastest, Baltimore’s Matthew Sercombe counts eggs not medals.

“I have two people for 24 hours a day slicing eggs,” Sercombe, GBMC’s Food Production Manager, wrote from China in his blog. “This is nothing like I have ever seen in my life. There is no rhyme or reason just get it out as fast as you can and make it look good.”

For 7,500 athletes and 6,000 more hungry mouths, Sercombe oversees preparations for three meals a day. He’s responsible for two U-shaped salad stations, both 30-foot in length. In 12 hour shifts, he runs through 40 to 50 cases of lettuce, 30 cases of cherry tomatoes, 30 cases of cucumbers and 50 buckets of hard boiled eggs — with 120 eggs in a bucket. To read more from Sercombe and his Olympic culinary feats, visit his blog here. — Jessica Novak

Free FloRida show

It’s too hot for your Apple Bottom jeans, boots with the fur, but that probably won’t stop FloRida from bringing out “Low” for a Six Flags crowd 7 p.m. tonight. You can thank Starburst for the concert, which is free with park admission. It’s an additional $10 for floor access. For more information, visit www.sixflags.com. — Jessica Novak

They’ve still got it

Little known fact of the day: Hootie and the Blowfish first formed in 1986!

The South Carolina rockers hit the stage at Pier Six on Tuesday and the crowd went nuts. Darius Rucker (more commonly known as “Hootie”) hasn’t lost his signature croon — in fact, “Hold My Hand,” “Time,” and “Only Wanna Be With You” have never sounded so great. But checking out the crowd was the most surprising of all — college frat guys jumping in “Hootie” T-shirts, mothers swaying with fanny packs, and elderly men dancing with popped collars. — Emily Campbell

A scene right out of “PCU”

Seeing adults in sweat-bands who take frisbee dead seriously might be worth a drive to Montgomery County. Frisbees will fly this weekend at the Potomac Polo Club for the 4th Annual Chesapeake Open. The first Frisbee hits the air 9 a.m. Saturday. Frisbees soar through Sunday. Teams like Colt.45, Brute Squad and missCONNduct each coughed up $420 to participate. In return, they get lined fields, water stations, food from Baja Fresh and beers at the end of Saturday's competition. A portion of the fee will benefit the Many Hats Institute, a D.C. charity for children.

To see the tournament brackets, visit the Chesapeake Open Web site here.

— Jessica Novak