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Hmm,
Why a fan? -OK let's start.
In
1998 I was planning to leave the European continent the first
time of my life. I took a flight to Washington DC and looked around
in the Capital of the USA but I didn´t like it.
So I decided to go to Baltimore because a friend I met a few years
earlier on a pupil exchange in Germany used to live there. When
I arrived in Baltimore her parents told me that she moved to Colorado
but that I can stay at their house if I wanted to. They gave me
a real nice and warm welcome and the whole time I stayed there
they were very nice to me. They even arranged a flight to Colorado
to see their daughter again.
Great
people I can tell you, and during my stay I met alot of other
great people in the city - and they were all going crazy about
this purple team that went 6-10 that year. The people had already
sold me on their city and the next step for me was to adopt a
little bit of the passion they had for their pro Football team.
I got into football a few years before I made the trip, but it
was the first time I had a team to root for.
The
last few years I followed the Ravens as good as you can from overseas
and I also bought payTV to have a chance to see maybe 3 to 4 regular
season games of the Ravens and of course the playoffs. It was
really sweet to see our beloved team go all the way in 2000. Especially
with this unbelievable defence - we were kicking some ass that
year and will do so very often as long as Brian, Ozzie and Ray
Ray run the show in Baltimore.
Greetings to all RavensFans out there!
Lucas Schutte
April 2004
Well,
I have been going to Ocean City, MD
since the summer of 1999! I'll be honest, I had no interest whatsoever
in Football before I went to America. Not until 2001 did I get
into football, and there were a few reasons why. My girlfriend
is from there, and she goes to the University Of Maryland - home
of the Terps.
I
really got into the whole college football thing first, and the
Ravens being so close seemed like the right team to follow. I
hate all New York teams by the way, in all sports. I went to see
the Ravens play the Jags in Oct 2002 and then in 2003 I saw them
play both Kansas, which we lost, but the Seattle game was just
unreal!!! I am a huge fan, I actually got to meat Anthony Weaver
in a Mall back in December and that was pretty sweet - so was
his girlfriend by the way.
Anyway...Ravens
forever, roll on the draft and the 2004 season coz the D is goanna
kick ass.
Niall
Fagan Dublin, Ireland
I
started to sort of follow American football
the first time someone brought
a mini-ball into primary school in 1995, by this time it was pretty
much the
end of the season and so most of the teams had already finished
their
season. I had always considered myself not to be a glory hunter
with my team
allegiances, Arsenal and Essex C.C.C, so I refrained from following
a team
that had reached the Super bowl. By the team the next season rolled
around I
couldn't wait and not knowing about such things as the draft,
free agency
and training camp at age 9 or 10 I waited until the first week
of the season
to see which team I would back. That is when I saw the Ravens,
a new team,
or at least I thought they were until I found out they had just
moved, and
with me being a new fan I thought it made a lot of sense and through
those
early years, despite losing touch with the NFL for a while around
the time
Channel 4 lost their coverage. I have never regretted choosing
the Ravens as
my time. I love defensively minded teams and have since started
following
Ice Hockey - and had chosen New Jersey as my team on the strength
of their defence
and the scheme that they play. The Ravens are truly an exemplary
Franchise
that has superb structure and probably the best scouting system
in the NFL,
I look forward to a great future for the Ravens franchise and
hopefully
setting foot outside of Europe for the first time ever and going
to see a
Ravens game after University or A Levels!
Ben
Stockwell
January 2004
I first started getting into American football back in about '85/'86
when I had some pocket money burning a hole in my pocket and I
saw a magazine on American football in our local newsagents. I
bought it and took it home to read. Once I started reading I was
hooked!!! Within weeks my walls were covered in posters of players
like, Eric Dickerson, Walter Payton, Lawrence Taylor et al.
As soon as I could afford it a joined my local youth team the
St Albans Kestrels and played for a short while. Unfortunately
the team split from the senior team and moved to Watford as the
South Herts. Seminoles. Being only about 14 I couldn't get to
the new training ground and had to give up. Unfortunately my interest
began to die and I moved away from football. Then last September
I went to watch my younger brother play American football for
his University team and my love of the sport came back like a
punch in the face. With in Minutes of turning up I was hooked
all over again. By this time my Sister had married an American
and was living in Maryland so my obvious choice was the Ravens.
Simon
Beames
2003
I first started to watch football in 1996.
I moved in with a football fan, and learned the rules more out
of self-defence than anything else.
But
to my amazement, I really started to enjoy watching NFL each week.
I like the structure of the game, and unlike soccer, I find that
the short NFL season leaves me wanting more, rather than sick
and tired!
There
was also a rather sad and embarrassing crush on Steve Young (49ers),
but we won't talk about that!
As
any UK football fan will know, it's pretty difficult to follow
a team over here. Back when I first started watching, there were
really only one or two fairly random games on TV here per week.
So probably the Packers were my favourite team - since they won
the first Super Bowl I ever watched - but I worked out this complex
hierarchy of teams, so I would have someone to support in whatever
game I happened to be watching.
But
that was a pretty unexciting way to watch - just wanting one team
to win slightly more than the other. I really needed a team to
call my own. But which one ???
Last
summer, I started chatting with someone on the internet - about
an unrelated subject, and I mentioned that I liked football. After
he got over the shock, he suggested I support his team with him.
He's a Baltimorean exiled to Florida, so he wanted someone to
celebrate and commiserate with.
So
I started to support the Ravens. At first it just made it a little
more interesting to support one team. Then I joined a US Ravens
messageboard, and I noticed just how nasty things got when Browns
fans came to the board to 'talk smack'. I asked my friend what
that was all about, and he explained the history behind it, and
how unfair the NFL and a great many others have been to Baltimore,
and that was it for me - I knew this was the team I should be
supporting.
Since
then, as I've learned more about the team, about Baltimore as
a city, and about the Baltimore fans, it has all just confirmed
that I made the right choice. Go Ravens!!
Helen
Latham
November 2003
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To claim that I have been a Ravens fan for 6 years would be stupid, to claim that I have watched
the NFL for 6 years would be as stupid. I’m 16 years old going on 17 and only ‘found’
football in January 2001.
It was a Sunday night, and I couldn’t be arsed doing
my homework that night, so I looked for something to watch on
the sports channels instead.
I passed through the football game but as there was nothing
else on switched it back. After about 5 minutes I was very interested
- but I knew that I had to get my homework done.
As I put my head down I kept looking at the screen –
I had no idea who the teams were but this one team was playing
with such intensity that you had to watch. I couldn’t turn away after that
and a few minutes later discovered that it was the Baltimore Ravens.
At this point I still had no idea that it was the AFC Championship
and continued to watch.
I don’t remember much about the game other than knowing
that Ray Lewis was special.
I then learned that the win put the Ravens in the Superbowl
and although I didn’t properly have a team yet I decided
to root for them in the big game.
Two weeks later, at Superbowl XXXV, I was amazed, not only
was the intensity level greater but I began to realise the power,
and talent, of the Ravens.
Before the game on Sky’s broadcast I learned of the
Ray Lewis murder trial and how the team stayed together throughout
it. I was beginning
to think I had found my team to follow. I celebrated as Jermaine Lewis danced
down the sideline, and before that Duane Starks’ interception
return.
It wasn’t until mid season that I got completely
hooked. I remember
becoming worried after the loss to the Bucs – knowing that
we had to win against the Vikings the next week or the Seahawks
got our place in the playoffs. I waited up late at night and viewed
the live game stats – overjoyed I went to bed knowing that
we were in the playoffs.
The Dolphins game was brilliant, after the Jermaine Lewis
fumble and the Dolphins field goal the game was brilliant. The next week however was horrible.
The intensity that made me love the Ravens wasn’t
there and my heart sank. I couldn’t stand the Steelers
after watching us lose such a close game to them on Channel 5. That’s when I knew that the team
I hated the most were the Pitsburgh ‘Squeelers’.
That hatred grew last year as we failed to beat them again
– 5 in a row and yes I am counting the days until we beat
them in week one in their own bright yellow back yard. I can’t wait to watch in week 17 as we win our last
regular season game under Modell’s ownership and show the
Steelers what intensity is.
GO RAVENS!
Gordon McGuinness
August 2003
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Why
I am a fan of the Baltimore Ravens
I, like a
lot of people my age, was introduced to NFL American Football
when Channel 4 started its Sunday evening magazine programme.
Despite the poor quality to start with, it developed into a live
weekly match, and a must watch ! Although I had no real team to
follow, like most kids, the Dolphins seemed the team to watch.
Many years
later I shared a student house with an '86 Bears fan. He introduced
me to A.F.N.'s radio coverage, but as there was no real TV. Coverage
and the 49ers seemed to win the Super bowl every other year my
interests were elsewhere - mainly in playing Rugby (league and
union).
Following
graduation, I eventually got the money to go and see a mate of
mine Chris, his wife and son, in the States. They lived close
to the town of Westminster, Maryland. I had a really great time
and met a lot of nice people both in Baltimore and around the
area. Two incidents I'll remember:
Early on in
my stay Chris and I were in a bar, being English and both of us
being rugby players (Chris also schoolboy boxed for England) I
guess we stood out. A couple of locals started up a friendly conversation
that quickly moved onto sport. Having complemented us on the fact
that rugby player played without padding I asked if they had played?
When the rest of the bar hushed I assumed I had said something
out of place. Far from it, "I'll level with you, I played
tight-end for the Colts in the Super bowl." Tom's left ring
finger was half-missing, but on it was a magnificent 'bowl ring.
With no second thought he took it off, and asked us both to take
a look and to put it on. We had a great evening, and I counted
myself as very fortunate to have worn a ring of that type.
In another
bar in Westminster one night, I passed comment supposing that
most folks in the area were Washington fans. I was tapped on the
shoulder - " We ain't stinking Redskin fans in this town
son!!! " Upon conversation I was brought up to date with
the story of the Baltimore Colts. I recall feeling the pain they
felt, and the dilemma of being a Football fan in Baltimore with
no team to call your own. There was still some loyalty to the
Colts, and they know whom they don't like!!!!!
Upon my return,
I promised myself that if ever Baltimore got a team again I would
give them my support. I was however becoming good mates with Phil.
Amongst other interests he considered himself to be a passionate
fan of the Cleveland Browns. As I enjoyed the NFL, I started following
the Browns with him. They were a solid blue-collar team, which
so nearly found success. Although he chooses not to recall, I
did make a similar promise to him, that if Baltimore ever got
a team I would support that team as well as. For that period of
time I was a committed Browns fan.
I remember
the sense of disappointment when Baltimore was passed over for
an expansion franchise in 1995. I thought it a great injustice
that the once great footballing city was passed over for Jacksonville
and Carolina - the logic failed me then, as it does now. I would
be lying if I said I remember exactly when I heard that the Browns
were moving to Baltimore. I was overjoyed - the players I had
followed would play for a Baltimore team. That decision was easy
- I was a RAVEN!!!
Although Phil was best man at my wedding, there will always be
a rift. I gave him my Browns flag, caps and other bits in good
faith. His choice was to stay with the new Cleveland franchise
that the NFL mysteriously found (where previously there was no
room at the inn !)
Winning the
2000 Super bowl was the best two-fingered salute we could give
the NFL. I watched it alone ( Phil and I have watched the previous
10 together ) If the Browns ever get there I will not watch.
Dave Cressey
UK Raven - and proud of it
GO RAVENS
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