Football in Baltimore
History and Memorabilia
Description/ReviewsSpecial Bonus Chapter
Page 5
Ironically, a pre-game video, geared to fire up the Tennessee fans, might have worked in reverse. The video showed Brian Billick encouraging his players after their November win at Tennessee; his comments weren't derogatory or cutting. But in fact the video just fired up the Ravens even more. "It was totally classless," said Billick, afterwards. "It was a great motivator."
In an outpouring reminiscent of the airport throng that welcomed the champion Colts back from New York in 1958, thousands of fans crammed their way into BWI airport to welcome their Ravens back to Baltimore. Face-painted crazies and fans bedecked in all types of purple garb let out a deafening roar when the players emerged, high-fiving and greeting their idols, who were genuinely moved. "This is why I wanted to play football in Baltimore," said quarterback Trent Dilfer.
The Ravens were even honored with their own Wheaties box. The front and back made no mention of Super Bowl MVP Ray Lewis.
Now just one win away from the Super Bowl, the Ravens' journey continued on the road to Oakland, home of the infamous "Black Hole." The Raiders had shutout Miami 27-0 to reach the AFC title game, holding Dolphin running back Lamar Smith to four yards on eight carries. "Is winning at Oakland tougher than winning at Tennessee?" asked Billick. "We don't know. We'll find out. We're going there believing that we have the ability to win."
Thanks to another smothering effort by the defense and one big play on offense, the Ravens topped the Raiders 16-3, propelling themselves into Super Bowl XXXV and a date with the New York Giants two weeks hence in Tampa. (The Giants had advanced with a 41-0 shellacking of Minnesota in the NFC championship game.) The stalwart Baltimore defense had held the Raiders' top rated rushing offense to just 24 yards. Cornerback Duane Starks picked off two passes as the Ravens intercepted four and recovered a fumble.
The big play on offense occurred in the second quarter with the Ravens buried deep in their own territory. How deep were they buried? They faced a 3rd-and-18 on their own four-yard line. On a quick slant route, Trent Dilfer, with the Raiders blitzing, hit Shannon Sharpe, who eluded safety Marquez Pope and, helped by a Brandon Stokley block, rambled 96 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest pass-play in league playoff history. The crowd in the feared "Black Hole" section of the coliseum was both shocked and silenced, and were never a factor.
Several different limited edition footballs could be purchased for $100 and up.
Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa would pit old-line owners and good friends Art Modell and Wellington Mara. Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi had worked for Art Modell in Cleveland before eventually joining former Colt assistant and Baltimore high school coaching legend George Young in New York. Accorsi had served two tours of duty with the Baltimore Colts as both PR director and general manager. Brian Billick and Giants coach Jim Fassel were close. So there were plenty of intriguing storylines leading up to the game in Tampa, not the least of which was Trent Dilfer's return to the city that cast him aside.
The Ravens brass made sure the Tampa area knew they were in town, paying for 14 billboards with the team logo to be placed around the Tampa area. While they were allowed to bring the cheerleaders, the unheralded and hard-working Ravens marching band was not allowed to perform, before, at halftime, or after the game. The Marching Ravens had evolved from the old Colts band, which played for 50 years, including 12 without an NFL team. The league had long ago taken over the production of the Super Bowl halftime shows, adding glitz and pyrotechnics. An old-fashioned football marching band was too passe and out of date. Thousands of Ravens fans made the trek to Tampa, at enormous expense for many, as they painted the town purple. Scalpers were getting as much as $3,000 for a ticket. Many made the pilgrimage from Baltimore just to be there, tickets or no tickets.
Like so many Super Bowls, this one didn't live up to its hype. The Ravens totally dominated the Giants, winning 34-7 before over 71,000 at Raymond James Stadium and a world-wide TV audience. Once again, the Ravens calling card was its suffocating defense. Duane Starks returned an interception for a touchdown, one of four Kerry Collins interceptions. Jermaine Lewis ran back a kickoff 84 yards for another. Trent Dilfer connected for a 38-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Stokley, and Ray Lewis had five tackles and four pass deflections to become the first middle linebacker to win the MVP award. The midnight flight of the Colts, the expansion snubs, the idle threats of existing teams that used Baltimore for leverage to get deals elsewhere, all seemed unimportant now. Thanks to the Ravens, the city of Baltimore got both vindication and closure in one breadth and a bright future in another.
The Sun papers printed special separate sections highlighting all the past season wins.
It was also sweet vindication for Ray Lewis, who had spent a grueling week answering questions about the double murders in Atlanta the year before. "The thing is, the man upstairs tells you I never would take you through hell without bringing you through triumph," said a beaming Lewis afterwards on the interview stage. "That's why I'm sitting up here now." The defense pitched another shutout, holding New York to just 33 total yards in the second half and 152 for the game. The only Giants score came on a 97-yard kickoff return by Ron Dixon in the third quarter. Jermaine Lewis took the ensuing kickoff back 84 yards so in just 18 seconds the Ravens answered the Giants score. That made it 23-7 and doused all hopes of a Giants comeback. Dilfer, in what would be his last game in a Ravens uniform, completed 12 of 25 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown, and no turnovers.
Back in Baltimore, "Festivus Maximus" had sent the area into a purple frenzy. Downtown city lights exuded a purple glow. Ravens flags flew from front yards and vehicles. By the time the team returned home the following day to a huge welcome at the Owings Mills complex, Ravens memorabilia had flooded the area. Expensive merchandise such as football shaped Waterford Crystal was being sold at Hechts, while every other street corner seemed to have a tent with sweatshirts, t-shirts, flags, banners, throw rugs, and other paraphernalia for sale. Local sports memorabilia shops were stocked with pennants, photos, pins, buttons, programs, posters, cards, glassware, china, and commemorative footballs and helmets as a sports buying frenzy never before seen in Baltimore took place. Most of the merchandise was NFL sanctioned, but much was not and league investigators descended on the area trying to flush out the bogus material. Just about anything with a Super Bowl logo was scarfed up by insatiable Ravens fans.
Ravens merchandise was everywhere, from floor mats to model pickup trucks.
Thirty years earlier, when the Colts won Super Bowl V, the game program became super rare because the truck hauling the programs to the Orange Bowl was involved in an accident and boxes of programs were strewn all over the roadside and had to be destroyed. The value of the Super Bowl V program eclipses that of Super Bowl I because of its scarcity. In 1971, the Super Bowl V program retailed for $1.50. The Super Bowl XXXV program sold for $15 and, unlike the Super Bowl V program, was available throughout the Baltimore area at newsstands, souvenir shops , and convenience stores. The 184-page glossy magazine had features on Super Bowl rings of the past, David Letterman's NFL scrapbook, and a look back at the old AFL. Within days after the Super Bowl, after the huge downtown parade honoring the players, Wheaties announced a commemorative cereal box containing five members of the champion Ravens. Ray Lewis was not among them as General Mills decided the league's top defender wasn't wholesome enough for their cereal. Michael McCrary, Qadry Ismail, Rod Woodson, Shannon Sharpe, and Jonathan Ogden were the five players featured. Disney World also snubbed Lewis after the game, offering their trip to the magic kingdom instead to Trent Dilfer.
Baltimore sports fans had noticed a large void in the Super Bowl press box. John Steadman, the patriarch of Baltimore sports-page reporters, lost his courageous battle with cancer early on New Year's Day. His streak of never missing a Colts or Ravens or even Stallions game, home or road, preseason, regular season, or post season, since 1950, had come to an end on Sunday, December 10, 2000, when the Ravens met San Diego in Baltimore. A pall hung over the press people as the realization that John wasn't coming to the game set in. Two large tumors had been removed a few days earlier, and he was simply too weak to attend.
The funeral viewing and service brought out numbers usually reserved for heads of state. From Steeler owner Dan Rooney, to a local cab driver or auto worker who grew up reading Steadman's columns, they all came. Among those in the long line waiting to pay their respects was 67-year-old former Poly coach Augie Waibel, who told the Baltimore Sun: "People were comfortable reading him. He made you feel like you knew him on a personal basis, like he was talking to you one-on-one." Also sad to report, just a day after John Steadman was buried, Waibel, one of the winningest high school coaches ever, collapsed and died of a heart attack while on a hunting trip in southern Pennsylvania.
In Tampa, before the Super Bowl, a moment of silence was observed in the press box in tribute to John Steadman. He had been one of just nine reporters who had covered all the previous 34 Super Bowls. One of the eight remaining "lifers," Jerry Green of the Detroit News, told Sun reporter Paul McMullen, "This business has gotten sleazy. John Steadman was the most principled guy in an unprincipled business that I have ever known."
While John's readers cherished their memories of him (and mourned the bulldozing of Memorial Stadium), they looked ahead to a new football century, and most things couldn't have looked better. Could the Ravens repeat in 2001? Marvin Lewis remains as defensive coordinator on a unit that lost just one starter in the off-season. Except for the stunning loss of Jamal Lewis to a practice injury, the nucleus of the offense returns, with Elvis Grbac providing an upsurge in passing ability at the quarterback spot. Can he replace the fire and tenacity of Trent Dilfer and the chemistry that resulted in 11 straight victories? Dilfer in any event will occupy a hallowed niche in Baltimore sports history. In less than a season he quarterbacked his team to a world championship. Then, almost like an apparition, he was gone.
Astute drafting and the signing of key free agents Leon Searcy and Randall Cunningham have raised prospects of a second championship. In the words of Chuck Thompson, "Ain't the beer cold?"
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Ted Patterson
with photography by Edwin H. Remsberg and a Foreword by Raymond Berry $33.00 hardcover 978-0-8018-6424-7 (16 ctn qty) 2000 304 pp. 190 halftones and 48 4-color photographs |
