Gregory Kane Originally published Dec 28, 2002

Ohmygosh! Look at the calendar! Dec. 28! Is it Chutzpah Awards time again already?

Indeed it is, and this year's candidates are so worthy they kept off the list certain people who, under saner circumstances, would have been included. So with apologies to Sen. Trent Lott and Harry Belafonte, who didn't quite make the cut, here are the 2002 Chutzpah Awards.

# 9th runners-up: The 1972 Miami Dolphins. Will this bunch of whiners ever give it up? In a 30th anniversary celebration of their undefeated, untied National Football League season, members of the team -- who whoop it up every year when the last undefeated NFL team loses -- complained that they don't get the respect they deserve.

There's a reason for that, guys. Discerning football fans have looked at the Dolphins' pitifully weak schedule that year.

# 8th runners-up: The Baltimore City Council. Ah, the punt-on-first-down crew distinguished itself once again, proposing a resolution directed at David Simon -- producer of The Wire, an HBO show with a Baltimore setting -- moaning about the negative image this and other of his television series portrays of our beloved city.

Let's see: In 2002, we had a promising Polytechnic Institute graduate murdered on our streets; 8-year-old Marciana Ringo kidnapped and killed; and a family of seven who had protested drug dealing dead in a firebombing. Compared to the real Baltimore this year, Simon's fictional depiction was downright uplifting.

The resolution never passed. The council chumped out at the first sign of resistance.

# 7th runner-up: Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. This descendant of Irish Catholic immigrants, who saw quite a bit of discrimination, pronounced during the gubernatorial debate that "discrimination was based on race."

Remainder

-- Anonymous, December 28, 2002