Steve Mcnair

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Steve McNair announced his retirement Thursday, ending a 13-year career in which he was selected co-MVP, led the Tennessee Titans to the Super Bowl and orchestrated the most successful regular season in the Ravens history. The 35-year-old McNair guided the Ravens to a franchise-best 13-3 record in 2006, his first season in Baltimore.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Steve McNair will start Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals, but offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden will be out for the second consecutive week. McNair sat out last week's win over the New York Jets because of a groin pull. "Steve seems to have gotten through the week OK, so hopefully it will show up that way on Sunday," Ravens Coach Brian Billick said Friday. "It was just a matter of how he felt. He felt pretty good, so that was the key."

The Kenyan national anthem got its annual airplay Monday after another Boston Marathon sweep. It was the Americans, though, who were boasting of a breakthrough. Robert Cheruiyot finished in 2 hours 7 minutes 14 seconds to set the course record by a second, and Rita Jeptoo won the women's race in 2:23:38 to complete Kenya's fourth sweep since 2000. With five American men in the top 10 -- including Nos.

Steve McNair finally split with the Tennessee Titans and is heading for Baltimore. McNair, who led the Titans to the 2000 Super Bowl, was traded Wednesday to a team that has been seeking a star quarterback throughout its 10-year existence. He still had to pass a physical in Baltimore, but the Ravens planned to introduce the man who shared the NFL's most valuable player award in 2003 as their new quarterback at a news conference this afternoon.

It didn't take Steve McNair long to show what he can mean to the Baltimore Ravens. Playing with the confidence and poise that figure to relieve pressure from a perennially stout but overworked defense, the 2003 NFL co-MVP led a long touchdown drive after the opening kickoff and spent the rest of the day enjoying Ray Lewis & Co. at their best in a 27-0 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "This team knows what I can do.

The Baltimore Ravens have a new formula for success: Keep the game close enough for Steve McNair to win it at the end. McNair rallied the unbeaten Ravens for a second straight week Sunday, throwing a 10-yard pass to Todd Heap with 34 seconds left to defeat the San Diego Chargers, 16-13, at Baltimore. In years past, the Ravens depended on their defense to quash the opposition, leaving the offense to do little else but avoid giving the ball away.

Blasted off his feet as he threw, Steve McNair lay on his back for a moment, then propped up his head, grinning after another first-down pass. In his return from a concussion and strained neck two weeks ago, McNair never shied away from contact, throwing accurately in the face of penetrating defenders or scrambling for key first downs.

Steve McNair had just directed the biggest comeback in Baltimore Ravens history when he embraced his former coach, Tennessee's Jeff Fisher, at midfield and the two exchanged a few words. One could perhaps assume that Fisher told McNair to make like rocker Tom Petty and "Don't come around here no more." That's what the Titans essentially told McNair a few months ago.

The death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair this weekend was a homicide, Nashville police said Sunday, adding it could be days before they will be able to classify the death of the woman found in the same condominium with a pistol underneath her body. McNair was shot four times -- twice in the chest and twice in the head, according to police. Sahel Kazemi, 20, had a single gunshot wound to the side of her head. Police said they have been told that McNair, who was married, was dating Kazemi.