It’s been a busy couple of days in my real life and I haven’t had a chance to write a full follow up to my tireless efforts last week to bring awareness to the fact that Art Modell is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and should be.
(Special thanks to the many of you who have inquired about my Mom. Thankfully, She’s doing much better!)
The facts about our “Induct Art” campaign are pretty clear: We tried hard. We educated. We made our case. We supported it with the expertise of many people who agree that Modell should be in the Hall of Fame.
We printed 20,000 signs. We distributed them. We encouraged people to cheer at the beginning of the second quarter. We froze promoting the cause.
And…
Well, it all happened kinda fast. I heard the roar building behind me. I saw people standing and clamoring. The Ravens did their usual cheerleading, marketing between the quarters. I heard an “INDUCT ART” chanting brewing for sure. But then a few things happened rapidly.
First, Jason Campbell snapped the ball pretty quickly. Second, it was 3rd and long and our defense was on the field so the noise was not distinct from the actual usual defensive 3rd down noise you’d wanna make. And, mainly, it was kinda cold and quick.
I watched the TV replay. You could kinda hear it. But nothing like what would’ve been needed to “stop the game.” So, on that note, we failed. But really, LOTS of people NOW know Modell ISN’T in the Hall of Fame and should be. And, honestly, there are only 44 people on the planet who can directly affect this induction. We even dragged several of them into the conversation on WNST.
Trust me, we’ve pulled out all of the stops, which I’m not going to apologize for because of a few buffoons on a message board who want to personally attack me for doing the right thing. It’s always easy for the anonymous idiots to trash people with a cause on the internet. (As the great Deion Sanders once told me: “Haters will always hate. It’s what they do…”)
I know I’m right, so it’s an easy cause to be involved with because I know what this city would be like without the Ravens.
The deadline for the return of the 44 Hall of Fame ballots is next Wednesday. I’m assuming most ballots have already been mailed or are en route so doing another “INDUCT ART” event this weekend is kinda pointless. We’ll soon know if Art Modell has made the cut to the Final 15.
The real judge of whether we’re “successful” is whether he gets into the Hall of Fame, not making the cut. But the first thing is “making the cut.”
Baby steps…
All I can do on behalf of Art Modell is try and use whatever little “pull” I have personally, and we have as a media entity to rally and inspire the people of Baltimore who love the Ravens to do the right thing. And it IS the right thing in my mind so I’ll continue to do whatever I can because it sure doesn’t look like anyone else in Baltimore is going to step up. I didn’t see any of the folks from CBS Radio or MASN or WBAL or The Sun speaking up for the “right thing” while they all trotted off to the stadium last Sunday and continue to feed their families because of what Modell did 13 years ago.
I don’t who care who knows or disrespects or judges my eternal gratitude to Art Modell for bringing the Ravens to Baltimore. I am grateful and I’m happy to stand up for him!
Being in the parking lots and freezing before the game was actually kind of fun with the signs. I learned a LOT about how ignorant some of our fans are about the history of the Ravens.
There were actually some young people (many of them inebriated) in the parking lot before the game who said: “Who is Art?”
And some older folks actually said, “Art Donovan isn’t in the Hall of Fame?”
So much for the “educated” Baltimore sports fan base…yikes!
We were all gathered at that football game last Sunday night freezing and beating the Washington Redskins because of Art Modell. This week, we’ll have the biggest regular season home game in the history of the franchise against our arch rival because of Art Modell.
I stood up for Art. So did many of you. Time will tell if we had any impact.
I appreciate all of the support from those of you who agreed with our stance and who pitched in on Sunday night. The fight is far from over…keep the faith!
