Even as Ravens get hot, Lamar must stay cool

I am extremely grateful to the Baltimore Ravens, Coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Lamar Jackson for the joy they brought to the city this season (“In Balti-Lamar, the NFL playoffs beckon,” Jan. 9). Baltimore truly comes alive and unites when the Ravens are doing well.

However, it was evident that Jackson was not fully prepared for the 2024 AFC Championship last year against the Kansas City Chiefs. As an observer who has studied transcendental meditation techniques to calm the fight-or-flight response, and having played college football in pressure situations at Johns Hopkins University (shoutout to Gov. Wes Moore who played wide receiver there), I noticed that Lamar was in his fight-or-flight mode from the second quarter onward.

Jackson’s peripheral vision was compromised during the game, as evidenced by the quantity of sacks he took from the side, indicating compromised peripheral vision. Additionally, his hesitation to throw and tendency to scramble suggested he was “triggered” by fear or anger, compromising his ability to think rationally.

I strongly encourage Jackson to explore meditation or similar techniques. His exceptional creativity and improvisation skills diminish when he is in a fight-or-flight state. Baltimore needs leaders who can remain composed under pressure and bring us to the promised land.

— Jake Wittenberg, Baltimore

Want better leadership? Stay engaged.

I appreciated Vijay Abhyankar’s letter to the editor acknowledging the stark difference between Jimmy Carter and the incoming president (“US needs a president more like Carter,” Jan. 8). Yet, unlike the letter writer, I understand that there are things we can do about the next four years other than “hope and pray.” Let us start by letting our elected representatives in Congress know what policies to support and what not to support in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.

Further, we can join and support organizations that will take legal action to challenge wrongheaded new laws and policies. We can also back organizations that support people, issues, policies and laws that the next administration may try to harm. And we can find and support news outlets that do not publish the lies and misinformation of this new administration and will do solid investigative reporting to bring to our attention information that will keep us informed.

While I have trouble listening, reading or viewing lies and misinformation, I do realize that it is helpful to be aware of views that do not coincide with my own. In July, I cancelled my subscription to The Baltimore Sun because I found that much of what I read, especially on the editorial pages, was problematic to me. However, I recently re-subscribed to read views I don’t agree with so that I am better aware of other points of view.

It is important that we stay engaged in any way we can so that America can really become the great nation we want it to be.

— Elaine Crawford, Parkville

Power line project worthy of distrust

The recent article, “Company urges Maryland regulators to approve proposed transmission line” (Jan. 4), expands on the highly-charged discussions about why the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project has enormous, self-inflicted credibility problems, particularly with the public it purports to serve. The proposed 70-mile power line emerged out of nowhere, was presented as inevitable and immediately became a catalyst for statewide public angst and controversy.

How many years was this massive project being discussed out of view, a policy that prevented, seemingly for years, open information sharing before it was reluctantly revealed in 2024? It seems that only when the MPRP could no longer be kept hidden from public scrutiny, perhaps anticipating the public backlash, could two calculated themes be identified.

First, it was urgently needed to avoid “severe reliability violations” and other euphemisms. The distrust of out-of-state Public Service Enterprise Group’s motives was further exacerbated by the last-minute submission on Dec 31 of its application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity.

Perhaps PSEG can regain a modicum of credibility by renaming the project the “Northern Virginia Data Center Reliability Project.” Then those unlucky Maryland farmers, business owners and families from Carroll, Frederick and Baltimore counties who may lose their land for the “public good” will finally have one bit of information whose reliability isn’t questioned.

— Van Beall, Ellicott City