2008 Woodie Awards
Seeing Purple
John Silberholz
Issue date: 6/5/08 Section: Opinion
I remember way back in 1998, when I was just 10 years old, I went to one of my first professional football games. My uncle worked as an accountant for the Baltimore Ravens, and he was able to get me and a few family members tickets.
It wasn't a particularly exciting game to watch; the Ravens ended up getting edged 12-8 by the mediocre Tennessee Oilers (yes, back then they were still the Oilers). Even so, I was hooked on Ravens football and am to this day.
You might wonder why, exactly, I'm telling you this. The reason is I have probably told this same story several hundred times.
That must have been repetitive, you may say. Yeah, well, there are a lot of Redskins fans around here.
The truth is, every time I mention I root for the Ravens, some Redskins fan or another has the audacity to accuse me of being a fair-weather fan. I don't know how many times I've been told that the Redskins came first or that I live closer to Washington than Baltimore, and the only reason I root for B'more is their 2001 Super Bowl victory. Hence, my 1998 recollection/defense.
Of course, the 2000 season is when all this confrontation began. Back at the turn of the millennium, the Ravens had a roller-coaster season. They were led by the best defense in NFL history, despite a mediocre offense headed by the likes of Tony Banks and Trent Dilfer. Despite a rough patch in the middle of the season, when the squad went five games without scoring an offensive touchdown, the Ravens capitalized on their record-breaking defense to power through the playoffs and win Super Bowl XXXV, 34-7.
For a number of reasons, this ascension to the top peeved Redskins fans. First, it had happened far too quickly. The Ravens went from an expansion team in 1996 to a Super Bowl team in 2000; meanwhile, the Redskins had gone 54-73-1 in the eight seasons since Joe Gibbs left. They had only made the playoffs once in that time frame, and they were quickly eliminated.
The second reason the Redskins fans were fired up was that the Ravens had won what they considered a "freak Super Bowl victory." They considered the team nothing more than damned lucky to have won the Super Bowl after being the playoff wild card and having a passing offense ranked number 22 out of 31 NFL teams.
It wasn't a particularly exciting game to watch; the Ravens ended up getting edged 12-8 by the mediocre Tennessee Oilers (yes, back then they were still the Oilers). Even so, I was hooked on Ravens football and am to this day.
You might wonder why, exactly, I'm telling you this. The reason is I have probably told this same story several hundred times.
That must have been repetitive, you may say. Yeah, well, there are a lot of Redskins fans around here.
The truth is, every time I mention I root for the Ravens, some Redskins fan or another has the audacity to accuse me of being a fair-weather fan. I don't know how many times I've been told that the Redskins came first or that I live closer to Washington than Baltimore, and the only reason I root for B'more is their 2001 Super Bowl victory. Hence, my 1998 recollection/defense.
Of course, the 2000 season is when all this confrontation began. Back at the turn of the millennium, the Ravens had a roller-coaster season. They were led by the best defense in NFL history, despite a mediocre offense headed by the likes of Tony Banks and Trent Dilfer. Despite a rough patch in the middle of the season, when the squad went five games without scoring an offensive touchdown, the Ravens capitalized on their record-breaking defense to power through the playoffs and win Super Bowl XXXV, 34-7.
For a number of reasons, this ascension to the top peeved Redskins fans. First, it had happened far too quickly. The Ravens went from an expansion team in 1996 to a Super Bowl team in 2000; meanwhile, the Redskins had gone 54-73-1 in the eight seasons since Joe Gibbs left. They had only made the playoffs once in that time frame, and they were quickly eliminated.
The second reason the Redskins fans were fired up was that the Ravens had won what they considered a "freak Super Bowl victory." They considered the team nothing more than damned lucky to have won the Super Bowl after being the playoff wild card and having a passing offense ranked number 22 out of 31 NFL teams.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 4
Sam P
posted 6/06/08 @ 6:13 PM EST
This is not about the purple line :(
Billy D
posted 6/07/08 @ 7:27 AM EST
The ravens weren't an expansion team. They were an existing team that was Cleveland Browns and then moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens. Given their short history as the Ravens, I think a true fan would the lineage of his team. (Continued…)
nevermore
posted 6/08/08 @ 9:35 PM EST
Even though they moved from Cleveland the NFL considers the Ravens the expansion team not the Browns. Makes no sense, but that's the NFL's stance.
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