I helped the cop persude them to take it down. So did others. But I did not take part in its destruction.
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I helped the cop persude them to take it down. So did others. But I did not take part in its destruction.
Baltimore has been blessed to have 2 of the greatest football organizations in the history of the NFL...and yes, I am calling the Ravens a great organization...save for maybe the 1920-30 era Bears and Packers, when there were 6 teams in the league....no organization has had the success of the Ravens in their first 1-and-a-half decades of existence...and it is all the more remarkable in the salary cap era.
The Baltimore Colts (pre-Irsay) were great...the Baltimore Ravens are great....what a wild and interesting journey it has been.
It was a lot to go through, but it is pretty small shit when you look around the world and realized what real problems are like. It would suck to be a North Korean, as just one example. If I ever complain about my "problems" I should be socked in the nose. And it's true that time heals wounds anyway. No scars.
The other comparison we could make here -- a comparison to my situation -- is that I got the house. I would say that Colts fans losing the team name is like losing the house in the deal. And like living in a shitty apartment for 13 years. C
levelanders got the house. And the league, to boot, gave them a big fat check to fix up their house.
(But, despite the long wait, we ended up in a great relationship with the Ravens. Browns fans have had a string of really horrid girlfriends)
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
~George Santayana ~ Reason in Common Sense, The Life of Reason, Vol.1
I wasn't, but Pat Blum who was in the same Ravens Nest in Bowie with me and later joined Nest 10 is in the film project which was called "And the Band Played On" that played on ESPN. She was with other Colts fans talking about their memories of the team in Baltimore.
WoW, thanks Nightman. How you doing? Does your Nest still meet at the Flamingo's in OC during Rave weekend. You used to come up and hang with us at the Seabony?
I was in the hospital when that happened with 4 surgeries on my ankle and I couldn't get in touch with Levinson. I'm sure most posters here would agree he could have used some of my stories. I was also supposed to go to SB35 and got pneumonia during that week. My cousin lives in Tampa and got me a job working for Aerosmith. He was on the field at half time next to the stage.
I miss all the good stuff man. Just think. I missed out working for Levinson and Aerosmith.
Damn. LOL
When I go see my younger cousins in their Ravens stuff or when I see old pictures or when I go into Gino's, I remember that my team as a child was the Colts and it brings back some of the old feelings.
The first time I walked into Gino's --before they even started reopening them in Baltimore-- I had worn a Heap jersey. There were little Colts helmets in there. Baltimore Colts helmets. And even though Gino played for Baltimore, there always is a sort of difference, a gap between today's Baltimore football and yesterday's.
The thing the younger generation --the generation that's only ever known the Ravens-- is that when the older folks talk about missing the Colts, it's not just the team. It's an earlier time. A different time.
Today's Ravens do and have done alot around the city, but without having been there or knowing that history, the kids who only know the Ravens can't even begin to imagine how much that team meant to Baltimore and how painful it was to see it start to unravel, beginning in 1972 and ending in 1984.
And while I'm solidly Ravens, solidly purple, there's a kid-sized part of me that will always be Baltimore blue, that will miss those days.
I was 26 when the Colts left. I will never forgive the drunken buffoon (that is not ususally the language I use to describe him). I was a die hard, first going with my Dad, then going later with friends. I thank God almost every day for Bisciotti ( even though I am a little mad at him right now for the opening day fiasco).
I hate Irsay, Tagliabue and Jack Kent Cooke for first taking away, then conspiring to keep Baltimore out of the NFL by rigging the expansion fiasco. My kids missed having a team to root for when they were young. For that I will never forgive those involved.
I am sure Air knows this, but after Art announced he was moving the team, Tagliabue promised Baltimore an expansion team, if they just keeped the Browns in Cleveland and waited a year. John Moag and William Donald Shaffer said no deal, essentially saying, we do not believe you are men of your word.
Although I loved the Colts, I do not want to go back to Blue, horseshoes or the Colts name. I realize after this many years it is not practical to think that would happen, nor do I want to go back. Before the Ravens, I never owned anything purple in my life. Now half my wardrobe is purple.
I just want the NFL to recognize the Baltimore Colts as the logical predecessor to the Ravens, and include them in the HAll of Fame as part of Baltimore, not that miserable podunk town in the Midwest.
God Bless William Donald Shaffer.