What's the story of why you're a Baltimore Ravens fan?

[AirFlacco]

Well said.

Sweet revenge!

[Raveninwoodlawn]

I'm 33, born and raised in Woodlawn.

I obviously was just a toddler when the Colts left, but to be honest, it (being a Colts fan) probably wouldn't have happened even if I were older. Both of my parents are from Pittsburgh LOL. They both moved down here to work at Westinghouse near the airport before I was born as they were both looking for jobs.

My father unfortunately passed when I was just a toddler...ironically, I am sure I would have been a Steelers fan like he was had he still been alive as like most parents, I would have followed whatever team my dad (who I followed around everywhere) was a fan of.

While I grew up without a team, my uncles and aunts tried to make me a Steelers fan and while I never became one, I certainly didn't "dislike" them during that time either. I actually became a HUGE Houston Oiler fan as I was a big fan of Warren Moon...they ran that run and shoot, fun to watch offense and man, very few threw "prettier" balls than Moon.

When the Ravens came here, I was a teenager, and to be honest, I didn't switch my loyalty right away....I had a lot vested in the Oilers and also was not too enthused about us getting a team the way we did...I do remember being pissed off to no end as the NFL royally screwed us in the expansion process. I think a combination of all those things led to me being slow to embrace the team.

It all changed in 97, the Oilers moved to Tennessee, and my mom took me and 2 of my friends to our first Ravens game...when we beat the Redskins. I ALWAYS...ALWAYS hated the Redskins as I always felt that they were being forced into our market...while all these great games were going on around the league, we were being forced to watch the Redskins play the Cardinals. Anyway, that game really lit my fire for the Ravens, and I've been a huge fan from then on out.

[Rochardrik]

I grew up and still live in Hagerstown, Md. I was an Oriole and Colts fan from the time I could sneak to listen to them both. The church my parents went to considered professional sports a sin,( they also never allowed us to play organized sports and we NEVER had a TV, also a sin ) so you might say I was a closet fan(at least to my family and church). So I never attended a game as a youngster, either O's or Colts. I'll never forget finding out my father was an O's fan and listened at night with headphones, and began talking to me about the results the next day... discreetly and away from prying ears... Blew my mind! When I moved out on my own, and had a TV I watched the Colts regularly, and thought we really had something going again when Bert Jones became our QB... Then it all just fell apart, because of the drunken sot named Irsay. John Elway was drafted and traded for a bucket of oats because the horse faced jackass would not play for the "Baltimore team". I hate him to this day and will not have a conversation with ANYONE about the best QB's if his name is included... After all,we had the greatest...Right?
Anyhoo, the colts snuck out of town and I watched the drunken sots team every week rooting for them to lose with the same fervor I had rooted for the Baltimore Colts to win. It was extremely gratifying that at least for the first couple of years they almost always did... lose, that is. After that, I was lost. Sundays were spent playing football at a local elementary school lawn. For a while I attempted to be a Bengals fan, after all, Boomer was their quarterback, and had played his collegiate ball at Maryland. Ah, but it was hopeless, it didn't work, they weren't here, they weren't local. And forget about being a foreskin fan, that was never even an option.
Then, in 1996 the sun began to shine and broke through when it was announced we were getting the Browns.. I went right out and bought a Baltimore Browns T-shirt... any one remember them? I still have it.
In 2001, my nephew(who had grown up a skins fan-no Baltimore team then) discouraged by his skin's team success and wanting to jump on the Raven's super bowl winning bandwagon talked his father(my oldest brother, and boss in our family business) into buying season tickets, which we had until the 2010 season, when a combination of factors(mostly the economy) caused us to give them up. The attendees using the tickets varied from week to week, except one. Me. I went to every single game every year for the 9 years we had them. The last 2 years were probably the best, as my nephew married and had babies, my brother was infatuated with his 73" Hi def TV... and I was able to take my wife, my daughter and her boyfriend to nearly all the games during those 2 years. My wife, who had always put up with my Ravenmania(I have 50 or more Ravens caps, 20 jerseys, 100's of game day pins, neons, gloves, glasses, stocking caps, bobbleheads, backpacks, gym bags, coolers, flags, just about anything that has Ravens on it) became an avid fan, and now as we watch from home on most Sundays, is as loud as I am! .... Which is the best part of it all!

[Captain Offense]

I have lived in the Baltimore area for most of my 54 years. I was not a big Colts fan since baseball was my passion. I became a football fan while living in Chicago for a year and seeing the NFC Central battles. I became a Vikings fan and followed them until the move to the Dome.
As I raised four children I hated that there was no NFL Team to share with them as there was a baseball team. I took them to see the Stallions, but it was not the same. When the expansion farce went down I was so wrapped up in it and so disappointed that I hated the NFL. When Art moved the team, I was excited and made sure that my kids were able to live pro football. I also felt an "up yours" attitude for the rest of the NFL. I have grown to love this team and the organization in all of its levels since the beginning. I had a chance to tell Art that he made a difference for my four children and that I was able to share the experience with them no matter what else was going in life. Through it all, it has been a bonding. And I now have a grandson that loves the Ravens and two granddaughters who when they get older will get to share the thrill.
I have gone to the first game that the Ravens had (and Ray's first), to their first Home Playoff, the good and the bad, and Ray's last game (with a Super Bowl experience). With it, I have times with my children, times with my wife, times with my stepchildren, times with my dear friend and times with my grandson. I have met many people at games and on road trips, and have met people here to share a common team. I shared a celebration with thousands of people after the Super Bowl. There is no way to fully explain what it means to be a Ravens fan.

[GOTA]

For the relatively newer Ravens fans, it is hard to describe to them how really hard it was to be a Ravens fans back in those early days. And you are right...there was out-and-out hostility towards them by fans around the league, by the national media, and (probably) by some in the league offices.

That is why, as much as this last championship was about love for a team by a city, that first one was just sweet, sweet revenge for all the shit you took for having the nerve to be a Ravens fan.

I was even better for me living in area that is mostly Giants fans :) The whole week before the game everyone was telling me how the Giants were going to stop the Ravens yapping. I was telling them they've never seen anything like the Ravens defense. Given the history of the Giants defenses in the past that was considered to insulting. Once they played the game everyone got it. They shut right up. It was absolutely amazing!

[Real Fan Dan]

Baltimore boy born and bred. Grew up watching the Baltimore Colts with my family with the volume turned down on the B&W TV and Chuck Thompson doing the play by play on the radio. I vividly remember watching the tragedy of SB III when I was nine. I kept yelling for them to put Johnny U in which they eventually did but it was too late. A couple years later we about knocked our TV trays from our laps as Jim O'Brien kicked the winning FG in SBV. At that time there was still that magical love affair going on between the Colts players and the people of Baltimore. They lived and worked among us. They cared about the same things we did. They were our friends and neighbors. I saw Johnny Unitas for the first time in something new called a super market with my mom at the corner of Loch Raven and Taylor in 1966 i think. He was grocery shopping like we were. He talked with all the ladies and their kids. Thru the years I routinely saw him and other players at the gas station, the post office and something that used to be called the local hardware store. Art Donovan owned the liquor store up the street. He was my Dad's beer man. My family would occasionally go out for dinner at Johnny U's Golden Arm and Ordell Braase's Flaming Pit restaurants. Glenn Doughty had a community center called Shake n Bake. Jim Parker chased a drug dealer down the street. He wasn't taking any of that shit in his neighborhood! Every year many of the 30 some individual Colts Corral's had at least one player stay with them in Ocean City for the annual Colts Fan convention. All the Fan Club's had to do was pay for the player's room and their beer! We loved those guys. When Irsay stole them away in the middle of the night it ripped our hearts out. I know litteraly hundreds of people who cried their eyes out. It was killer i ain't gonna lie.

When Art Modell announced his franchise was coming to Baltimore it was initially said they would be called the Baltimore Browns. I was ashamed that we were getting a team essentially the same way we lost the Colts. I would not support anything called the Browns and i immediately ponied up my season ticket money for the Stallions who had just won the CFL Grey Cup. Shortly thereafter Art made the wise move to leave the Browns name, colors and history to the great Fans of Cleveland and that was enough for me. I became a Baltimore Ravens Fan and I eventually joined a Ravens Roost (the old Colts Corrals who stayed together thru 12 years of no NFL football and never stopped supporting the return of a Team to Baltimore). I met my wife and dozens of great friends that way that i now consider brothers & sisters. Changed my whole life. One of my old heroes from the Colts was a guy called "Big Wheel" who went from section to section leading C-O-L-T-S cheers. They were really loud and the cheers unified all the fans. We had a great time doing it. So when the Ravens moved into our new stadium in 1998, i told my Roost president "Hey we should do our own R-A-V-E-N-S cheer. He said "Well get the F up and do it asshole!" That was pretty much it. We've been having a blast doing that cheer every game every score for 15 years now. I am super proud of the way the Ravens organization is run and how it represents my home town that i still love, despite all it's problems. That is why i'm a Baltimore Ravens Fan. Ain't the Beer Cold Hon!!!

[NCRAVEN]

I grew up without the Colts (but I do remember them leaving, I was like 4) I had cousins that were Redskins fans, so that is how I grew up.

My Dad and closest family were Baltimore fans. So we always wanted Baltimore to have another team. We rooted for the expansion team to come to no avail. We cheered for the Stallions (I think my Dad still has a Baltimore Stallions hat) and then finally got a team!!!

I cheered for both the Skins and the Ravens for a few years. After dealing with Dan Snyder for a few years I just flat out stopped cheering for the Skins, at the same time the Ravens had one of if not the best D ever in the NFL (I love defense). So being a fan of the Baltimore Orioles, Blast, Thunder, Stallions and now the Ravens and with the team I grew up cheering for now being meaningless to me, the transition was seamless and awesome! I've never looked back...

[wickedsolo]

Being born in 1982, I was really too young to remember the Colts. However, my grandparents were avid Colts fans. I grew up on stories about Johnny Unitas, John Mackey, Lenny Moore, Bubba Smith, and Art Donovan. They would tell me stories about after games they would see these guys milling around downtown at some of the old bowling alleys, bars, and clubs. Just regular guys. Part of the community. I always admired that.

My Dad is from Northern Virginia, so the Redskins are who we watched growing up, but I never really was a huge Redskins fan. I was a typical kid during the 90's. I thought Steve Young and Jerry Rice were the greatest. I liked the history of Green Bay and Chicago. Barry Sanders was probably my favorite player.

When Baltimore finally got the Ravens I was stoked. I was always a huge O's fan, but I loved football so much more than baseball. I was instantly hooked. They werent great back then, but Vinny T and Michael Jackson were pretty solid and there was just something special about a football team being back at the old Memorial Stadium.

I love the city of Baltimore. Warts and all. If the public schools werent so damn bad, I would consider raising a family there because neighborhoods like Little Italy (where I grew up), Fells, Butchers Hill, and Canton are a lot of fun.

Charm City.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Forum Runner

[Justlovemybirds]

Charm City native born five years after the move so I didn't have much of a connection to any team. Neither my Mom nor Dad were big fans until I started playing football in Pop Warner which was coincidentally the same year we won SB XXXV, been a fan ever since.

[Real Fan Dan]

This story is a lot like mine. I am a little older, so a Colts fan from 1960 until they were stolen from Baltimore. I live in Howard County and wrote many letters to keep Jack Kent Cook from building his stadium in Laurel!

Thank you very, very much sir for doing your civic duty!

If JKC had been allowed to build a stadium that close to Baltimore we would have never gotten a team. I remember a story that a public servant working for the city of Laurel simply turned down the building permit and that was that. Not sure about the validity of the tale, but if it's true the dude or dudette should be enshrined as a Fan in the HOF! In one bureaucratic action a minimum of three HOF careers, two championship titles and the heartbeat of an entire City were saved from oblivion. ;)

[Ravenaholic]

Much Like RedMike and RavensNest, I was a Browns fan due to my father being born and raised in Ohio. It also helped being able to watch them growing up in Michigan as they were televised opposite of the Lions. I grew up 3 hours from Detroit and Chicago, so no real local team.

After the announcement both my father and I were upset, but after reading some of the details, we became firm believers that Art got a raw deal in Cleveland. City pledged public funding for the Rock & Roll HOF and other venues, but wouldn't help Art and the Browns. Before the season kicked off both of us were Ravens fans and the rest is history.

God bless you Art!

[Tommy_Carcetti]

I was alive when the Colts left town, but too young to ever remember it. I actually didn't start following sports in general until the Orioles' 1989 "Why Not" season.

I grew up in Southern Maryland, but both my parents grew up in Baltimore, both sets of my grandparents lived in Baltimore and we'd visit they every week, we read The Sun and watched WJZ evening news, so I'd still say I had strong Baltimore roots. And even though I didn't remember the Colts, I do remember Baltimore's struggles to get back to the NFL and how much of a emotion loss the city had suffered in the absence of football. Given that I actually lived closer to DC than to Baltimore (albiet not by much), I could have done what my friends did without any logical hesistation and root for the Redskins. But I chose instead to hold out until Baltimore got a team back. I didn't have any emotional ties to DC whatsoever, so I never felt inclined to root for the Redskins or any other DC team.

I remember after the Ravens came to town and the evening before the Ravens' first preseason game in Memorial Stadium, watching the news reports and seeing the stadium all lit up for NFL Football. It seemed surreal, that Baltimore was back in the NFL after what was 12 years but what felt like a century to many fans.

I actually moved out of Maryland a year after the Ravens moved in--to Florida, first for college and then full time. And while I have nothing against the Florida teams (and in fact consider the Jaguars to be my second favorite team) my first and foremost love will always go to the Baltimore teams.