About Joe Polek

Joe Polek was born in Baltimore, MD, and was raised in Bel Air, MD. In 2001, he moved to Portland, Maine for a job in radio. In 2012, he moved to Columbia, SC for another gig in radio, where he currently resides with his wife, Nicole, and their two daughters. Joe is a huge sports fan, but most importantly he lives and breathes Baltimore (and Maryland) sports. He routinely gets back to Baltimore for a Ravens game once a year, and while living in Maine, went to Foxboro and Fenway whenever the Ravens or Orioles came to town. A couple of his highlights were being at the final game at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, and also sitting in left field for “2130”, and “2131” (Cal Ripken’s consecutive game streak). Find Joe on Twitter at @JoePolek.

Cooler Heads Prevail

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Joe Polek

Just over 3 months ago, the Baltimore Ravens were hoisting the Lombardi trophy as Super Bowl Champions. A few weeks later the sky fell on Baltimore as they lost 8 starters. The NFL and Baltimore fans all thought that was it. The Ravens were having a fire-sale and were done. They could never recover from their loses. Now that some time has passed, we can take a step back and look at the Ravens off-season plan as a whole. See, the problem with all the criticism a month after the … Continue reading →

Just because the moves are unpopular doesn’t mean they’re wrong

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Joe Polek

My neighbor has this sweet car. It’s about 30 years old, but it’s a sweet looking car. But the problem is that it costs him about $16,000 a year to keep it up, while only getting to use it a few times a week. So it came to a point where he had to make a decision – keep paying all that money or get rid of it and use that money for something else that he really needs. So he was prepared to just take it to the junk … Continue reading →

Ravens fans understand and accept Ray Lewis, no matter what media tells you

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Joe Polek

Once again, the talk about the Baltimore Ravens doesn’t seem to be about how good this team is… instead it’s not on the game at all. But what I don’t understand is why the talk is coming from Baltimore. Mike Preston wrote in today’s Baltimore Sun: (http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-preston-ravens-super-bowl-0129-20130128,0,3337578.column) I was also glad to see the Ravens pay [Ray] Lewis a great tribute during his final home game against the Indianapolis Colts. He deserved to have a day and one more dance. The victory lap was a little extreme, but if Cal Ripken Jr. deserved … Continue reading →

An interview with Matt Robins, the man behind “Bring on Brady”

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Joe Polek

By now, you’ve probably seen the video that went viral a couple weeks ago, called “Bring On Brady”. It was a huge hit in my house, and seems to have been a hit all over Maryland. Come to find out, one of the guys in the “band” that made the video went to the same college I did. So I tracked down Matt Robins to get the scoop: Joe Polek: So you and your wife have taken Baltimore by storm… your YouTube video of your song “Bring On Brady” has … Continue reading →

Ray made the necessary changes to have a historic career

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Joe Polek

Yesterday was historic. It was pure joy to witness, in person, the final home game of Ray Lewis’ career. We arrived to tailgate at 8 AM and enjoyed every minute of the day until we left the parking lot after 6 PM. The stadium was packed by 12:30, and was just as loud as ever. It was a great day to celebrate one of the best players to ever step on the football field. However, not living in Maryland anymore, I continually heard time after time non-Ravens fans asking what … Continue reading →

I Get to Be There!

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Joe Polek

Christmas tends to be a big deal for many… we stressed out over getting the perfect gift. But more often than not, we can’t remember what gift we got. But we do remember experiences. Life is about your experiences. When you look back over your life, you remember experiences in your life, not the stuff in your life. Being a huge sports fan, a lot of my fondest memories deal with the sports experiences. I was at the final game, with my Dad, at Memorial Stadium. I was at the … Continue reading →

Ravens continue to frustrate fans

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Joe Polek

It is frustrating being an NFL fan. In a league that truly is all about “Any Given Sunday”… and as a fan, that can make it frustrating, as you never know what you will get from your team. For Baltimore Ravens fans, it seems that the frustration level might be higher than the average fan. Over the years the talent on this team has been tremendous and the amount of Pro Bowlers usually leads the league. But each year, the Ravens continue to come up short with players not playing … Continue reading →

However the Ravens are doing it, an “inconsistent” 8-2 is still 8-2

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Joe Polek

The Baltimore Ravens have the third best record in the NFL at 8-2, have won 13 straight AFC North games, and are in the driver’s seat to winning the division and getting at least a first round bye in the playoffs So why is no one excited about this team? You listen to sports talk radio and read the message boards and it seems that most Ravens fans are very cautious about the 2012 version of the Ravens. When you look at the stats, you can somewhat see their reasoning. … Continue reading →

They are who we…thought they were?

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Joe Polek

Dennis Green famously said “They are who we thought they were.” For the 2012 Baltimore Ravens, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m not sure anyone, including Coach John Harbaugh, nor the players themselves, knows who they are. Offensive Coordinator Cam Cameron and quarterback Joe Flacco seem to want them to be a prolific passing offense. Running back Ray Rice would like them to go big and run behind Vonta Leach 25 times per game. Ravens fans would like to see a run-first offense with a Top 5 Defense. But … Continue reading →

Ravens’ record is no surprise, but team itself is

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Joe Polek

At the beginning of the season, I looked at the Baltimore Ravens schedule and said that they had to be 6-1, or 5-2 at the very worst, when they got to the bye week. Before the season started you could say that the second half of our season was going to be extremely difficult. Many of those games are against teams that are not quite living up to projections but that doesn’t mean the road will be any easier With the Ravens’ injuries mounting, the defense struggling to stop anyone, … Continue reading →