Diamond

PHILADELPHIA — Less than an hour before the 8 p.m. tipoff, Philadelphia 76ers employees are scurrying around the Wells Fargo Center, hoping this Saturday night unfolds as planned. It's late March, and the team is handing out Allen Iverson bobblehead dolls. Iverson himself is scheduled to attend, a rare public appearance for the 37-year-old former NBA superstar. He'll be introduced during a pregame ceremony and then watch the game from Sixers chief executive Adam Aron's suite.

Jack Diamond, a fixture on Washington's radio airwaves for more than two decades, may have broadcast his last program on WRQX-FM, the station known as Mix 107.3. Diamond was scrubbed from the station's Web site after his broadcast Friday morning. Station Manager Mark O'Brien said in an e-mail that an announcement about Diamond's replacement would be made Monday. "The Jack Diamond Morning Show" has been Mix 107.3's marquee attraction for 24 years. It predates the station's changeover in 1990 from a Top 40 station...

GENEVA — Sotheby's auctioned off $78 million in jewels Tuesday night, fetching just under $3 million for a fancy yellow diamond belonging to actress Gina Lollobrigida that was once owned by a shah of Persia and she hoped would now bring more support for stem cell research. The auction house said the diamond was a highlight in a collection of 23 jewels that the 85-year-old actress, who starred opposite Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra and other top actors in the 1950s and 1960s, was...

On April 13, the Washington Nationals played their first home game of the season in front of more than 40,000 fans at Nationals Park. Yes, yes, yes, they lost, but that doesn't change the fact that to many, the home opener is the official start of spring. And it brings the first sounds of spring: the bat's crack , the vendor's call, the perfect emerald grass. On April 18, the Great Falls Little League in Virginia brought in, oh, 1,000 people to see 565 players in a scene that wasn't so different in form and function: There were player introductions,...

With "The World Until Yesterday," polymath and best-selling writer Jared Diamond is back with a sweeping and potentially controversial new work that aims to show readers what is missing from modern life. A professor of geography at UCLA, Diamond has attracted criticism for his insistence that environmental factors explain the rise and fall of many great civilizations. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Guns, Germs, and Steel," he argued that the advent of settled...

The Fairfax County Police on Thursday released surveillance video of the robbery that took place in a Tysons Corner jewelry store on Monday evening. At around 8:20 p.m., police said, two men entered the Movado store in Tysons Corner Center, smashing a glass case and stuffing handfuls of diamond jewelry into a bag before escaping. One store employee was treated for non-life-threatening injuries during the robbery, police said. Anyone with information about the heist is asked to call Crime Solvers at...

Ricky Humrick had it all planned out. Sort of. The 21-year-old had attended the Bowie Baysox game last Thursday in hopes of winning the diamond ring that was being given away at a promotional event at the ballpark. "I'm supposed to give it to my mom, but I think I'm going to give it to her," Humrick said, referring to girlfriend Meredith McGilvrey, 20, of Bowie. McGilvrey's plans were more concrete. "If I win or he wins, I'm going to keep it," she said. "I'm going to have to run from his mom, so...

GENEVA — Sotheby's auctioned off $78 million in jewels Tuesday night, fetching just under $3 million for a fancy yellow diamond belonging to actress Gina Lollobrigida that was once owned by a shah of Persia and she hoped would now bring more support for stem cell research. The auction house said the diamond was a highlight in a collection of 23 jewels that the 85-year-old actress, who starred opposite Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra and other top actors in the...

MINNEAPOLIS — Even when the sun is shining and the crowd is in a festive mood, Target Field is just no place to be for Scott Diamond. The Minnesota lefty is 3-0 in his trio of road starts this season, but fell to 0-3 at home on Sunday after Chris Davis, Adam Jones and Steve Pearce homered for the Baltimore Orioles in a 6-0 victory. "I got eaten alive out there today," Diamond said. Diamond (3-3) was looking for his fifth straight quality start. But he struggled through 5 2-3 innings, allowing...

DOHA, Qatar — Victories by Justin Gatlin and Olympic gold medalist Brittney Reese helped the United States dominate the season-opening Diamond League Friday, with the Americans winning almost half of the events up for grabs. American rivals Jamaica managed only one victory — with two-time Olympic 100 champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce winning the 200 meters. American athletes won six of the 16 events and there were meet records for Olympic women's long jump...

DOHA, Qatar — Despite the loss of a title sponsor, the Diamond League track and field series remains strong, according to IAAF President Lamine Diack. A new title sponsor hasn't yet replaced Samsung, but Diack said the loss of revenue will not affect the series or $8 million prize money at stake in the 14-meet competition held in venues around the world. "While we are working hard to find a new partner for the circuit, it is not a question of life or death either," he told...

BRUSSELS — Unlike the brilliant thieves in "Ocean's Eleven," it appears that those behind the clockwork-precision, $50 million diamond heist at Brussels Airport may not get a Hollywood ending. After three months of virtual silence on the matter, authorities struck this week, detaining at least 31 people in a three-nation sweep and recovering so many diamonds from the loot Antwerp traders lost that they are still figuring out the exact value. Officials said that...

BRUSSELS — Belgian authorities say 31 people in 3 countries detained over airport diamond heist. Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BOSTON — The Minnesota Twins aren't taking any chances with Scott Diamond's surgically repaired left elbow. On Tuesday night, he didn't give the Boston Red Sox many. Diamond allowed three hits in seven shutout innings, Ryan Doumit hit his first homer of the season and the Twins beat the Red Sox 6-1. Diamond said he still felt strong when he left the game but understands the cautious approach less than five months after the operation. "This is only my (fifth) start...

BRUSSELS — Belgian authorities say 31 people in 3 countries detained over airport diamond heist. Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I read James Cannon's May 26 Free for All letter [" Getting the shape right "] in which he asks that proper math terms be used to describe a shape. In his example, he states that a baseball "diamond" is not a diamond, but a square and that it should be referred to as such. I'd like to make two points.  I doubt that those who first coined the term " baseball diamond " had much interest in mathematical precision. George Carlin would have agreed that baseball is a sport of imprecision and subjectivity.

BALTIMORE — In his first full season in the majors, Manny Machado has proven to be quite adept on the field and very comfortable being the youngest player in the Baltimore Orioles clubhouse. The 20-year-old Machado is batting .309 with five homers and 21 RBIs, along with three steals in three attempts. At third base, he's scooping up slow-rolling dribblers with his bare hand and throwing quickly and accurately to first base despite having less than a year of experience at the position.