Intent on buying the Washington Redskins and watching baseball in Cuba with Fidel Castro, Peter G. Angelos was enjoying his new found fame and dalliance in sports after spending a lifetime not caring much about the local teams. The Orioles owner was enjoying destroying the franchise on the field at the turn of the century.
“Next time we play the Tennessee Titans, we’ll kick their ass.” Sam Adams at The Barn in Oct. 2000 to @NestorAparicio during Ravens Super Bowl XXXV run. And then January happened! Remember the Titans? We do… #RavensFlock
Two things were pretty obvious to everyone who watched the 2000 Baltimore Ravens during the first half of the season. When they passed the ball, they made mistakes and were ineffective. But each time they tried to run the football with any consistency, they succeeded.
The Ravens came to Miami on Sept. 17, 2000, for the first time in their five-year existence and the fans from Baltimore were out in force. It was the first time a Baltimore football franchise had played in South Florida since Dan Marino’s rookie season. A lot had changed from that day in 1983.
It has been said that you need to crawl before you can walk. For the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, much of that crawling was done during the end of the 1999 season. Before Shannon Sharpe came to play. While Trent Dilfer was still sitting on the bench in Tampa Bay, waiting for redemption. While Jamal Lewis and Travis Taylor were still attending college classes and hoping to become first-round draft picks in the NFL.
While the 2000 Baltimore Ravens will always receive credit from fans and foes alike for being the team that allowed the fewest points in NFL history – and punctuated that task with a defensive unit shutout in Super Bowl XXXV – only four men can properly put into perspective the pain, the growth and the joy of a group that ultimately captured greatness.
Purple Reign, Chapter 5: “Canton Comes to Baltimore” Nestor recounts what an outpost franchise the Ravens were when Rod Woodson and Shannon Sharpe showed up in Owings Mills
Purple Reign, Chapter 1: “The Boss Arrives” “Hi, Coach Billick? My name is Nestor Aparicio. I own the all-sports radio station in Baltimore and I’m about to become your new best friend.”
Purple Reign, Chapter 2: “A Silver Trophy But Not a Silver Spoon” The legacy of Art and David Modell and how they came to Baltimore from Cleveland and built a Super Bowl XXXV championship operation
Purple Reign, Chapter 4: “Slapdicks, Quarterbacks, and Pranks”. Nestor chronicles the room of Dilfer, Banks and Redman and the Super Bowl XXXV champs that went a month without a TD
Purple Reign, Chapter 3: “The Original Birds and the Mean Machine” Nestor chronicles the very beginning and April 1996 draft with a new name, no colors and no logo – but two future Hall of Famers coming to Baltimore.
To honor the Super Bowl XXXV champions and the upcoming ESPN 30-For-30 on the Baltimore Ravens title, Nestor Aparicio is re-releasing the original “Purple Reign: Diary of a Raven Maniac” here. This is the prologue.
Vinny Testaverde scored Baltimore’s first NFL touchdown on Sept. 1, 1996.
A three-part holiday series evaluating the ghosts of professional football past, present and future for Baltimore by veteran local sports journalist and WNST.net & AM 1570 founder Nestor Aparicio
It was 15 years ago today that the Ravens emphatically validated Baltimore’s place in the NFL.
