an offseason that will be filled with turmoil once the season tickets hit fans hands and the fans protesting The Knee will fill timelines with angry letters and empty envelopes.
That is the real situation for the franchise.
The Baltimore Ravens need new fans. The franchise needs millennials to care and invest and buy in.
Old folks like me bought in because of the “my team, my community” mojo and because it said Baltimore on the jerseys.
“Make me proud to wear your colors!”
“Make the community proud that is says Baltimore!”
“Root, root, root for the home team!”
Community and Baltimore and football!
Turning old Colts fans into young, vibrant Ravens fans was the first job of the Modell family. These were standard – and truly inarguable – elements of the Ravens mystique. David Modell made sure the team had a “B” on its helmets knowing how regionalized Peter G. Angelos had made the Orioles. They were the “Mid Atlantic Orioles” and the team’s broadcasters were banned from using the city name in any reference.
Whatever good the Ravens have done in Baltimore since arriving in 1996 can be attributed to the “local” part and the provincial part of any wayward soul of the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. I have met thousands of ex-patrioted Baltimoreans who live all over the world and remain vicariously and spiritually grounded in their homeland via their association with the Ravens and a lifetime of kinship and fellowship with friends and family connected through three hours of football every Sunday in the fall.
Whether it was sticking it up the arrogant nose of Paul Tagliabue, who at the city’s darkest moment upon losing expansion twice in a month, recommended that Baltimore build a museum. And we did in the form of a football home, but now that stadium is 20 years old and 68,000 seats strong and the natives here are restless.
Is it the Ignorance of the message of the players who took a knee in London in a reaction to a military dogwhistle from a faux-patriot President who four times used a fake injury to avoid serving in Vietnam?
Is it the Want of a greater offense or a team that is more competitive than the Ravens have been in recent years?
The Ravens have their hands full moving forward.
The Ghost of Baltimore Football is present and dangerous.
I found out many years ago with the civic murder of the Baltimore Orioles franchise at the hands of its owner – the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference.
Empty seats are where indifference all starts.
Be careful, citizens of Baltimore and purple fans of Maryland.
The NFL stands for Not For Long.
The stadium lease is up for renewal in nine years.
A lot can happen.
A lot already has…
PART THREE: THE GHOST OF BALTIMORE FOOTBALL FUTURE is coming soon…
