the land, kicking the Dawgs of Cleveland and trying to justify why PSLs made sense for Baltimore sports fans.
Anyone who lived here felt the immense moral burden of stealing a team from Cleveland to replace a team that was stolen by Indianapolis. The Irsay family had legendary antics in Baltimore before pulling the Colts out of here in the middle of the night in Mayflower vans. And after being given a sweetheart deal with hundreds of millions of guaranteed money, the Modells had a long way to go in proving themselves as worthy owners and citizens with this upstart, pricey purple product called the Ravens.
Considered robber barons by many, the franchise was working on a re-birthed identity in Baltimore – a second chance in life. Led by Kevin Byrne, who 21 years later is still a VP and influential voice with the Ravens, the message was very straightforward – we did some things wrong in Cleveland and we’re going to do things differently and be better in Baltimore.
Despite wearing total transparency on their sleeves, the media were NOT the friend of the Modells. Ken Rosenthal and the other columnists were routinely shitting on the team in The Sun. Art Modell was an absolute pariah anywhere sports was being sold in this country. And the Ravens stunk on the field the first three years of their existence.
I was overjoyed to have football in my life but locally there was a “wait and see” feel about things with the Ravens – and if you’re watching the NFL’s current situation in Los Angeles with the Rams and Chargers, it’s easy to transport yourself a bit to world of “zero tickets sold.” But you also had to understand what “gods” the Orioles had become and how the baseball team was drawing 3.6 million people to Camden Yards and Cal Ripken was six weeks removed from the 2131 game when the Modells landed in what was then Parking Lot D.
While David Modell was trying to justify pricey PSLs with a 4-12 football team, the Orioles were playing in the ALCS against the New York Yankees and Peter Angelos or Cal Ripken was in the news every day.
The Orioles were always above the fold; the Ravens were just trying to get anything that resembled a positive headline somewhere on the front page.
It was an orange city. Today, it’s a purple city.
As I have stated many times: that is not an accident.
The fact that two decades later the Baltimore Ravens have owned the heart and soul of this community for as long as most of the kids can remember is a tribute and a testament to David Modell, because he was the “prime mover” of all things with the franchise from the minute they landed in the Charm City.
Sure, it was Art’s franchise, but from the time John Moag’s aircraft landed at BWI on November 6, 1995, it was David’s sweat and decision making that crafted virtually every aspect of the organization.
Not to be disrespectful, but Art was a broken down old man when the team got here. He had very little gas left in the tank. On a day-to-day basis, it was David’s energy alone that would drive the purple bird in Baltimore.
A person very close to the move portrayed it like this: “Art never got over Cleveland or those ghosts. David embraced every aspect of Baltimore and the new life for his family and legacy.”
I was one of the few media people who understood what having a football team in Baltimore would mean for this community – but only if it was done the right way. In retrospect, the other beleaguered NFL owners like Al Davis, Bill Bidwill and Georgia Frontiere who easily could’ve landed here in the 1980s, or the likes of Peter G. Angelos, Malcolm Glazer, Boogie Weinglass or any of the other also rans who tried to “give Baltimore the ball” in the early 1990s couldn’t have dreamed of the incredible success the Baltimore Ravens have been under the Modells and Steve Bisciotti.
I enjoyed the “family business” style of the Modells. I visited with them often in the early years and they taught me about the business of the NFL and how the sausage was made. It was Art Modell who once told me: “Never be afraid to be brutally honest about what you say on the radio. Make sure you criticize me because if all you do is praise me, they’ll never believe a word you say!”
There was never, ever a question or situation when David Modell ducked me if I needed an answer about anything. And, many times, I didn’t like the answers. And sometimes, he didn’t like the question.
I thought the stadium should’ve had a retractable dome so we could get Super Bowls and Final Fours and U2 concerts. I thought it should have escalators. I bitched about Safe Management in my section very, very vocally on the radio. I bitched about lousy food and bad parking and Steelers fans in the stadium.
David praised tailgating and got laws passed to make sure Ravens fans could tailgate. (It was illegal in 1996 for you historians!)
If any of you had any idea how many private and delightfully profane conversations David Modell and I had about urinating, you’d never …
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