Ten minutes later, Banks, looking like a lost puppy, was searching locker by locker, player by player, for his socks. Finally, he came to me.
“Man, have you seen my socks?” he asked me.
I didn’t have the heart to lie as the poor guy had already been benched and he was wandering around barefoot.
“Last I saw Redman was trying to find a media guy to take them,” I said.
“Awww, man!” Banks screamed. “I’ll never get ‘em back!”
They are probably floating around at the bottom of the Cumberland River right now. Either that or they’re in the sock drawer of columnist Mike Preston of The Baltimore Sun.
Banks arrived at BWI Airport three hours later sockless, wearing uncomfortable alligator shoes barefoot and absorbing fashion defeat at the hands of Ray Lewis.
Banks was victimized by Dilfer a few times as well.
One day after practice, Banks was the unwitting victim of the age-old, car-moving trick. Banks left the practice facility on a Friday to find that his car was missing. This certainly was not the first time this had happened to someone, and Banks had been the culprit in the past. You come out, scan the lot a few times and, finally, you’ll find your car and drive home.
This time, however, it was different.
Banks strolled the back and front lots of the Owings Mills facility three times looking for his car. When he didn’t find it, he came inside and asked around. This is a real no-no. You never want to have to face the guys who pulled the prank and let on that you’re concerned or angry. But the growing concern was that maybe his car really was stolen or that one of his teammates had taken it off the property for a fried chicken run to the local Popeye’s.
Finally, the hint was given and Banks walked out in back of the complex.
His car was sitting on the 50-yard line of the practice facility with the headlights on.
Without question, the dirtiest trick of the entire season could be attributed to Dilfer. So proud of his accomplishment, he actually bragged to a national television audience about it on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno four days after the Super Bowl.
In the midst of the year-long war with Icy Hot and still miffed about the “backpack incident,” Dilfer took the battle outside of the playing field and locker room and straight into the public’s eye.
The rules of the war were shrouded in secrecy to the victim, but the rest of the team knew all of the details far prior to any major project being set in motion.
“I came in to work, just like any other day, and guys took one look at me and they were busting out laughing,” Redman said. “They were passing a newspaper around and just howling.”
Dilfer had taken out a listing in The Baltimore Sun and City Paper in the personal ads for Redman. Redman, a heterosexual bachelor, was disturbed to see an advertisement in the MEN SEEKING MEN section:
“SWM, 24, likes taking long walks on the beach, watching football on Sundays, very orally gifted.” It included Redman’s name as CHRIS, and also included a phone number.
“He really got me,” Redman said. “That was about as creative as it gets. The good news, at least, is no one ever called the number.”
Redman and Banks both confided to me that they were plotting the coup de grace on Dilfer on Christmas Eve, when the Ravens hosted the Jets.
“We were all set to fly a plane over the stadium during kickoff that said: Rogaine Man of The Year – Trent Dilfer,” Redman admitted. “That way, we could have 70,000 people in on the joke. But we never could pull the trigger on it.”
HEAR TRENT DILFER POUR HIS HEART OUT TO NESTOR AT THE BARN DURING THE SUPER BOWL PLAYOFF RUN HERE:
From the outside, it would be easy to assume that stiff competition for jobs – especially at a high-profile position such as quarterback – would make it hard to build close relationships among warriors. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The die was cast early. The roles were set by Billick during mini-camp. There would be no quarterback controversy in training camp.
Redman was the future, but would watch from the sideline as a third-stringer. Banks began the season as the unquestioned starter and leader of the offense. Dilfer, who lobbied Billick hard to come to Baltimore, was the unquestioned No. 2, a completely new role in a new system in a new town.
It wasn’t easy for Dilfer early in the season to watch from the sideline, but Billick was impressed with his strength of character.
“He has been as good as a man can be in that situation,” Billick said a few weeks into the season. “He has actively been a part of what we are doing since he got here. Whether sitting in the room discussing a defense switch with Redman or doing a play checklist with Tony. It’s a tough job for a backup to stay mentally tough and you can’t ask for much more than what he has done.”
As the scoring drought of October wore on, Banks lost his job in a 14-6 loss to Tennessee at PSI Net Stadium on Oct. 22, but not his demeanor in the demotion.
One untold story of the season is the character and maturity Tony Banks showed. Privately, he’s an unsung hero to the players he led for the first seven weeks of the season. There is not one member of the 2000 Ravens who doesn’t have the highest regard and compassion for Banks.
“There’s a guy who could have been pissed for 10 weeks,” Flynn said. “He could have bitched, moaned, complained, gone to the media. He could have been a nightmare for us. The fans were ruthless every time he came in the game. It had to kill him inside. But that guy was a team guy. He wasn’t playing that great when he got pulled, but it’s not like we were tearing it up around him. He got blamed for everything and not everything was his fault.”
After the switch in late October, Banks regrouped and maintained his focus as a backup.
“I just prepare every week to play and I’ll be ready when they call my name,” Banks said.
