Mud

COVINGTON, La. (AP) -- BP kept pumping heavy mud into its blown-out well beneath the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, but the company's chief executive cautioned it will be two more days before anyone knows if the latest fix attempt will end the uncontrolled flow of crude that has already become the worst oil spill in U.S. history. BP CEO Tony Hayward had projected a resolution to the so-called "top kill" as soon as Thursday afternoon, but an 18-hour delay in the injection of heavyweight mud scuttled those plans.

About 12 to 15 people were reported injured at the Tough Mudder competition Saturday, a Berkeley County 911 supervisor said Sunday night. The supervisor said two people were feared drowned, but they were resuscitated. The supervisor said she did not believe there were as many injuries at the event on Sunday. The course ran over about 500 acres of the 2,300 acres at the Peacemaker National Training Center that Tough Mudder officials rented for the event. Each of the 22 obstacles had its own identity and names such as Mud Mile No. 1, Trench Warfare, Berlin Walls, Funky Monkey and, at the finish line, Electroshock Therapy.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- His entire head was covered in a coat of brown mud, as if it had been dipped like an ice cream cone in watery chocolate. There was mud in his eyelashes and dried mud on his teeth when he spoke. The blue and white of his eyes were nearly all that had been left unscathed. "I love it. It's awesome," said Allen Hess, 24, of Smithsburg. Hess was on a team called the Maniacal Mudslingers, representing Turning Point of Washington County on Saturday at the 2009 MUDD Volleyball Tournament to benefit the Community Free Clinic.

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pepperb@herald-mail.com Full body mud baths were served at no cost Saturday to players in the fifth annual Citi MUDD Volleyball Tournament at Citicorp's campus north of Hagerstown. About 500 people playing on 36 teams, mostly from Washington County, fell, sloshed and volleyed muddy volleyballs at the tournament, which benefits Community Free Clinic in Hagerstown. Clinic Executive Director Robin Roberson said each player was asked to collect sponsorships and each team paid an entry fee, amounting to an anticipated $20,000 to $25,000 in money to treat uninsured patients.

HAGERSTOWN - Cathy James played volleyball in high school, but it's a safe bet she probably never had to hose off after a match. On Saturday morning, she was doing just that, holding up a muddy shoe as she waited in line for a blast of clean, cold water. She was one of the hundreds of people who took part in the sixth annual Citi MUDD Volleyball tournament, a fundraiser for the Community Free Clinic in Hagerstown. "It was really gross," James, 23, of Columbia, Md., said of playing in the slop.

Jackie O'Boyle, covered with goose bumps, mud from head to toe, arms held tight to her body against the cold and shivering uncontrollably, was happy. O'Boyle, 25, and 30 of her New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine classmates had just finished Tough Mudder, a grueling, slimy, hilly, nearly 12-mile obstacle course near Glengary. “I've run a lot of races, but nothing compares to this,” O'Boyle said. “The water was over my head at times.” She was among an estimated 10,000 people who ran the course Saturday and a projected 3,000 more who will come on the field Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., organizers said.

HAGERSTOWN wandaw@herald-mail.com Area adults got a chance to slip, slide and stomp around in mud for fun during Saturday's Citi MUDD Volleyball Tournament. Twenty-four mud volleyball teams representing local companies got down and dirty during the tournament at Hagerstown Speedway. First Data's mud volleyball team took top honors, with Frederick, Seibert & Associates placing second, organizers said. In its fourth year, the tournament is a fund-raiser for the Community Free Clinic at 18 W. Franklin St. in Hagerstown.

In the 1950 comedy “Kill the Umpire,” Bill “Two Call” Johnson (played by William Bendix) is chased by a vengeance-seeking mob of fans after he made what they believed to be a bad call in a minor league baseball game. Calling balls, strikes and checked swings could be a thing of the past in amateur ball if the Eagle Eye Electronic Home Plate is all that inventor Jerry Spessard claims. He has enough faith in the product to begin construction of a plant in Hancock this June, with production expected to begin by fall.

Mud in their hair. Mud on their faces. Mud on their arms and legs and between their toes. Participants come to the MUDD Volleyball Tournament each year expecting to play dirty. But this time around, the spectators got in on the act, too. A steady rain that started the night before and continued throughout Saturday's event turned the field outside of Citi Family Center into a swamp, sometimes making it difficult to distinguish those in the pits and those on the sidelines. Most people were streaked with goo. Most were dripping wet. But everyone seemed to enjoy being part of a benefit that oozed with fun. About 700 people and 58 teams spent the day splashing, slipping and diving in the mud for a good cause.