What's the story of why you're a Baltimore Ravens fan?

[FadeToBlack]

For many of you lifelong Baltimore folks, your answer can be a simple one.

For me:

I'm 32 years old. I moved across the country from state to state (and even overseas to England) throughout my childhood. My first football team was, ironically, the San Francisco 49ers back when I lived in the Bay Area from '86 to '91. I grew up watching one of the most dominant dynasties of all-time. The 1989 49ers, under Joe Montana, systematically decimated the entire playoff field en route to a destruction of the Denver Broncos in, yes, the Louisiana Superdome. I have the telecast of that Super Bowl burned onto a DVD as I type; the 49ers literally led the game 55-10 with nearly 14 minutes to go in the 4th quarter. To this day, I still am in awe of that team.

My allegiance changed late in the 2002 season, after I had spent 10 years in Maryland (longer than any home I've lived in), when the Ravens - with the youngest team in the league - finished 7-9, IIRC. I watched Tim Couch wave to our fans after the Browns beat us at M&T, and I was sold as a Ravens fan.

Later that year, the 49ers and Jeff Garcia led a wildly improbable comeback against the New York Giants in the playoffs, and yet I didn't bask in the moment, for I had decided that I appreciated the Ravens blue collar approach to football and admired the ridiculous passion of the fans. I was a Ravens fan. My father and I bought PSLs and became season ticket holders. I always wanted to cheer for a team that I felt represented where I was from and represented toughness, not finesse. I felt I was a Maryland guy by then.

Living in Denver now for 7+ years, I still find myself a Marylander who is being Colorado-ized. I love it here, but my personality is an east coast one. The Ravens are my link back to my days in middle school, high school, college (Univ. of Maryland grad) and my first job out of college in Glen Burnie. To this day I still own season tickets with my father, which we can only enjoy sparingly.

I also like that the Ravens are overlooked, that they aren't a sexy choice to be a fan of. I like seeing them shine while other fans and the media do everything they can to tear them down. It fires me up. I root for these guys to break hearts. I love the Ravens.

[Paintballguy]

For me the answer is easy, I was born in Baltimore, and I was a fan as soon as the team was born. It's been really cool to be emotionally invested in the team and see them progress and eventually win it all.

[batman55]

For me... It started with the shut down defense. And then something about the all black uniforms. I LOVE them. Then seeing ray Lewis destroy people and watchin my boy Ed at the U! And then goin to bmore!!!! I just started falling more and more in love with them. I was a closet ravens fan for a few years.... And I finally came out a few years ago! Hahaha

[Jayc00]

Born and raised in Baltimore. I admit I was a huge 49er and Jerry Rice fan before the Ravens came. Once they came I dropped the 49ers and it was all attention to the Ravens.

[redmike34]

I'm actually an Ohio boy, and I grew up a Browns fan, because my mother is from Cleveland. When Modell moved the Browns in 1995, my mom, like all Clevelanders, was outraged. So was I, at first.

Then in 1996, I was confronted with a dilemma--do I even watch football this year? WTF? So I caught a Ravens game on TV one Sunday, and saw a lot of the players I used to root for... and then I realized, being as I wasn't from Cleveland and had never even been to a Browns game, why was I mad that they moved? Since I couldn't answer that question in any rational way, I kept coming back... and haven't left. Plus, I really liked the way some rookie kid named Lewis played...

Being career military, I live a somewhat nomadic existence, and have had a few assignments where I wasn't really able to keep up with football... but I spent the last three years in NoVA and got to come see three Ravens games during that time--still the only NFL games I've ever been to. I can't say enough about what a great time that was... and if my career takes me back that way I'll get PSLs for sure.

My mom still considers me a traitor for being a Ravens fan... but considering that she hasn't lived in Cleveland for almost 50 years, I don't really understand why. Gotta know when to let go...

[D-RavedUp5-27-52-20]

MD guy but grew up in skins territory (VA). My family is skins cowboys fans and they tried to get me to join but at the time I wasn't into football and i was a heavy baseball fan and Os was my team. 2000 playoffs Ive watched them played that historic run we were and ppl doubted that the ravens will win and for some reason they just didnt quit and had heart. Ever since their first championship I have been a fan of the ravens and will never stop.

[Derf]

Born and raised in Baltimore. My best and most vivid memory of my dad and I, we were sitting about 3' from a black & white TV watching the Colts beating the crap outta somebody and cheering like crazy. I was 6, he passed away that next Spring. Eventually, watching the games were fun again and I don't think I ever missed one. Got to my first game working the Toy for Tots while I was in the USMCR in 1977 and did that until my enlistment was over in 1982. When the Colts left, and thereafter until we got the Ravens I probably watched maybe 10 games total. Never been to but a couple Ravens games but they play for Baltimore and like me, I know my dad would love that team too.

[AirFlacco]

THIS!

http://www.thesportsbank.net/nfl/for...ni-photos-932/

[Tolucaraven]

Johnny Unitas' Former Home To Hit the Market

Scott Van Horn grew up in the home where Colts great Johnny Unitas once lived while building a football legend.


By Dean Bartoli Smith
Email the author
January 25, 2012
Scott Van Horn returned to his hometown of Towson a few weeks ago from Denver to fix up his parents' house in Campus Hills and ready it for sale. His dad died last August and his mom passed away a few years ago.

He’s completed the paperwork to have the house in the XXX block Starbit Road registered as an historic place. While the house appears to be just another of the many tri-level homes in the popular neighborhood off Providence Road, it is no ordinary dwelling.

This was Johnny Unitas' house.

“Johnny Unitas lived here from ‘58 through ‘65 with his first wife Dorothy and their children,” said Van Horn. “It was the place he came home to after the ’58 championship game. He lived here when he broke the record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass. He wasn’t even aware that he broke that record when they told him.”

The Van Horns moved into the home in 1968. Scott’s father, Gail Van Horn, needed more room to raise a family and a place for his wife, who didn’t drive, to walk to everything. Awarded the Silver Star in World War II, Gail worked in television and was instrumental in syndicating the popular show Romper Room across America.

“We had the Farm Store, the Colt Lanes for bowling and a pool with blue-and-white tile,” said Van Horn. “Everything was close by.”

Built in the 1950s, these homes featured state-of-the-art upgrades like all-electric kitchens and intercom systems. Unitas had a built-in trophy case off the dining room. Behind the paneling, there are glimpses of the original, light-blue paint used by the builders. Legendary coach Don Shula and Colts player Alan Ameche also lived in Campus Hills.

Scott was 7 when he first learned about the previous owner. Unitas died of a heart attack in 2002 at age 69.

“We were watching the Colts play the Cardinals in 1976 and they were doing a special on Johnny Unitas. Dad said, ‘You know, son, he lived in this house.’ I remember we lost the game and my father was upset.”

Scott only missed one Baltimore Colts game until the team left in 1984. He and his friends would cut through the trail behind his house and watch Colts training camp at Goucher College. They would hide in the woods and wait for the kickers and punters to rain footballs down on them.

“I remember it snowed on the day the Colts left town,” he said. “I stayed in the master bathroom, the one Johnny used, and refused to go to school. I wish Irsay would have left us the name.”

Scott is also a big Ravens fan who thought this was the team's year based on the fact that Raymond Berry was giving out the Lombardi Trophy and the game will be held in Indianapolis. He attended the Texans game and watched in disbelief Sunday as the Ravens fell to the Patriots in the AFC championship.

“I’m still recovering. It was a really disappointing loss. It reminded me of the 1958 game. Unitas didn’t want to leave it up to the kicker. That’s why they went in for the score,” he said. “He wanted the touchdown.”

The house is filled with Colts pennants, helmets, programs and memorabilia. Gail Van Horn’s military trunks and medals, including a Silver Star, are also there. He received the medal for disabling a German roadblock with four other soldiers by “crawling under furious enemy fire … and in fifteen minutes removing it by hand.”

Gail Van Horn will always be his youngest son’s favorite hero.

“I miss him, I really do. We’re still not sure what we are going to do about the house,” he said. “It will be tough to sell it.”

From a Patch. article on Johnny Unitas's House.
This is me, I guess I was just born to be a fan. I have never missed a Raven game or a Baltimore Colt game since I was 8 and now 43. I prefer to watch games alone.

[RockyMRaven]

I was born and raised in Barbados. Came to the U.S in 1992 and lived in Columbia, MD for about 9 years. At first, I knew nothing about "American Football" (because football was soccer!). I learned my football with the Ravens, and have been a Ravens fan since they came to Baltimore. Now I do know my football, and live in Colorado Springs. Geographical location doesn't matter - I'm a Ravens fan for life. I proudly wear my Ravens gear here in Broncoland, particularly my "Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens T-shirt". Nothing like rubbing it in!

[PurpleApocalypse37]

When I was a little kid, I was obsessed with Edgar Allen Poe. In 3rd grade, after the Ravens beat the Giants, a teacher said that the team that just won the Super Bowl was named after an Edgar Allan Poe poem. Holy shit, I lost it. I'd never watched a game of football before, but knew they were my favorite team then. Of course by the time the next season came along, I forgot about it. Two years later I got a PS2 for Christmas and a game called "Madden 2002." The football season was already over, but I was obsessed with that game over the summer, playing with the Ravens each game. It was how I learned how football was played. I remember on Madden I was CONSTANTLY making big plays with this guy called "Ray Lewis," and boy was I surprised when the football season arrived and he randomly was some type of legend in real life. And I think it just hit me that Ray Lewis is really gone now. But yeah, 2003 was my first season watching football.

[bmore finest]

Simple, born and raised in Charm City. Love Baltimore, even when it was rough back in the days. I was a Basketball player, but my love for football came in the 80's, I saw John Elway play, Wow!! Blew my mind.

But growing up I caught hell, because Elway didn't want to play for Colts. So I learned everything about the Colts and I was hooked. We had a good hard nose football team before. But I still was a Elway fan so I cheered for Den. John and Atwater I was hooked on.

Then comes the Baltimore Ravens!!! That was the true love of my life. Ravens.. That was perfect for me, I'm a football addict and fantasy Guru, lol. I build my life around the football Calendar, and it's so complete with the Ravens in it. Been a fan since day one. Plus they wear purple and called Ravens(Poe).

Super love this team, I bleed purple, even with me now living in Shitsburgh,12yrs, I bleed PURPLE!! Ray Lewis was Baltimore , Baltimore is Ray Lewis. Tough, hard working,action speak louder then words, Chram City Baby!! He will be missed, but I'm Wacko for Flacco, since day 1.

We have a great Organization, and Im cool with anyone who bleeds Purple. RavenNation will get as big as those dumbass sqeelers fans. We will have more Superbowls then everyone sooner rather then never. Sry I live here and I really hate the sqeelers.

But glad to know the lovefor the Baltimore Ravens is Wordwide. Purple Pride!!

[ballhawk]

I'm 35 years old and was born and raised in Baltimore. The Colts left town when I was 5 years old so during my childhood I never had a team to call my own. But I was fascinated by the stories that my grandfathers would tell me about Unitas, Moore, Berry, Mackey, and all those glorious Colts teams. I met Unitas as a kid when my grandad took him fishing on his charter boat. We had a good day out there, catching our limit of rockfish. When we got back to the dock grandad asked Unitas if he wanted his autograph, lol. My other grandfather must have done taxes for about a half dozen of those old Colts. My dad would tell me stories of the greatest QB that never was, Bert Jones and the epic ghost to the post game. Needless to say, I was raised in the tradition and mystique of the Baltimore Colts. I just knew that Baltimore would eventually get another team. I was patient and casually rooted for those great 49'ers teams during our 12 years in exile, but I never gave them my heart.

1996, the fall after I graduated high school, we got the Ravens and that was it for me. I was onboard from day 1. Saw the last game at memorial stadium with dad, grandad, aunts and uncles, and a whole bunch of cousins. In 1997 I Had a job delivering office supplies downtown and would drive by the new stadium everyday, pretty much watched that thing go up brick by brick. When they moved in there for the 1998 season it really sunk in that we were legit, we had a team to call our own. That was also the year I realized we had the absolute greatest defensive player in the game, the legend, the "new Unitas", Ray Lewis. And of course the 2000 season was our great vindication and fuck you to Tags, Cooke, and the Irsays. 2002 my brother and I got our psl's and I have managed to make it to 5 or 6 games a year ever since.

I am a Ravens fan for life!

[The Excellector]

The Sword of Light is 26 (And doesn't act nearly as nerdy away from the message board, by the way), born and raised in Baltimore. By the time I was born, of course, the Colts had moved. All I could hold onto were stories about the old Colts greats. Never being able to feel those stories as they happened, made me yearn for my own team.

When I was old enough to start watching football, I too took to the 49ers. Jerry Rice was my favorite player and I also enjoyed watching Ken Norton Jr. He was one of the few defenders who also had a cool TD celebration: punching the padded portion of the goal post, like a punching bag, in honor of his father. I couldn't stand Green Bay, because they always managed to get in San Fransisco's way. I remember the game when they finally broke through: The TD pass that really spring boarded Terrell Owens' career. Even back then, I was surprised as hell that he caught it, because he dropped so many passes. Outside of the 49ers, Barry Sanders was my favorite player.

At the end of the day, however, I didn't take to them as if they were my own. I wanted my own team to root for. What made it even worse is that I was force fed the Washington Redskins every Sunday on FOX. I didn't want anything to do with them. I was still a kid and already tired of how Baltimore and Washington constantly got lumped together.

I was thrilled when the Ravens came back. I finally had a team of my own.

[RavenScallywag]

Johnny Unitas' Former Home To Hit the Market

Scott Van Horn grew up in the home where Colts great Johnny Unitas once lived while building a football legend.
.......
From a Patch. article on Johnny Unitas's House.
This is me, I guess I was just born to be a fan. I have never missed a Raven game or a Baltimore Colt game since I was 8 and now 43. I prefer to watch games alone.

WOW. That's an amazing thing, to know you grew up in the house Johnny U called home when he was in his prime!

[RavenScallywag]

I was born in 1983, so the Colts while they were in Baltimore didn't even register to me. My parents...I never got a great read on what kind of football fans they were during the Colts era, I'd probably say casual fans. My dad told us about the Colts leaving, but it never seemed to affect him as much as diehard fans. So my childhood, I casually followed the teams who were doing well. Namely, probably the Cowboys and Redskins mostly. When the CFL Stallions came to town, my Dad took us to a game or two, and I know I really liked them and was sad when they had to leave after the NFL came to town.

I casually followed the Ravens from 96-2000. In 2000, with the Super Bowl run, obviously my interest started to perk up a bit more. I'd say the turning point was between the 2002 and 2003 season, that was about the time I joined the Scout message board and started being as obsessed as I am today. I still recall mock drafting and dreaming about what team we'd build, debating between Byron Leftwich and this kid who could chuck a ball through the goalposts from midfield, on his knees no less!

I still regret that I never picked up Ravens football as much between 1996-2001 as I have by today, but that could also be somewhat due to my high school experiences. I still recall when we opened the season vs the Panthers in 2002 and got beaten by 36 year old Rodney Peete at QB, to a team with a rookie HC who hadn't won but one game the year before.

[Mista T]

Born & bred in Annapolis. Outside of a pair of job stints in Alabama and Louisiana, I've lived in this area all my life. Orioles & Colts. My Dad, who had a couple of restaurants & bars, used to sponsor busses to Colts game. We would fill a couple trash cans with sandwiches & cans of beer. The bus would pull up to Memorial Stadium, and we would stay on it until game-time if it was cold (why was Memorial Stadium always so damned cold in late Fall? - Seemed to be a like a big fan pushing wind from the open end). Easy in & out. And I got away with drinking beers on the bus as a teen!

Colts left, so I stopped watching NFL for 12 years ... fuck 'em! Terps and Navy got my money for occasional football games, plus we did a lot of camping, fishing, and weekend trips with our children. Stars and Stallions (season ticket holder in 1994). Plus attending events featuring Colts players -- we spent a good 15 minutes kibbitzing with Johnny U at the Convention Center. I would never have accepted the Redskins - rammed down my throat by CBS and Jack Kent Crook - as a replacement.

Ever since Mark Viviano broke the news in November 1995 about Modell's franchise moving to Baltimore, I have been on-board. Season ticket holder since 1996. I attended almost every home game (illness/injury excused absences for a few games) and about 2 to 4 road games per season. Plus training camp - I love the new set-up, with the TC exhibition in Annapolis. My streak has been broken, when unexpected & prolonged hospitalization cost me the bulk of the 2012 Ravens season, but I did regain strength & stamina to attend the Super Bowl.

I am really looking forward to the 2013 season. I believe that the fun is just beginning. I would take Flacco & Rice & our recivers over any others in the NFL!

[HoustonRaven]

Born in DC, raised in Columbia, with my very first football memory of my Dad standing in our living room watching the TV coverage of the Mayflower trucks, sobbing as they leave town.

So of course, being in proximity of DC and being the contrarian I am, I grew up a Redskins fan.

My family always had stronger ties to Baltimore though, through work and both of my older sisters going to college in and around Baltimore. We also spent so much time in the city in general.

So in 96 it was a no brainer. Put on the purple and never looked back.

[Whibbley-O!]

My first encounter with the Ravens came on the eve of the true Millennium; I was a prison guard at Armageddon; and my enthusiasm came as a complete surprise to me.

Grew up in Baltimore watching Colts and Orioles, but I tended to favor baseball. Nevertheless, was enough a fan of Bert Jones and Roger Carr to have huddled next to a SW radio to listen to the Colts lose to Oakland in December 24 while I was in the UK on a family trip. Lost interest in football after that, since the O's were more fun to watch then; World Series '79; went to college and grad school; read about the Colt's leaving town. When I returned to Baltimore in '88, only the O's were left, but that was OK: Frank and the Losing Streak, Why Not? and (finally) the opening of Camden Yards.

I emigrated in 1993 and lost all interest in sports. I really hate soccer, which is of course the popular fixation everywhere else. My wife thought she hit the jackpot and married a "sports free" guy.

Until December 2000. Where I lived at the time, I had to do a month's military service every year, and at the end of December 2000, I was assigned to a security prison at the "Meghiddo" junction -- adjacent to the historical site of the age-old city called (in Greek) "Armageddon." Guard duty entailed sitting up in a tower watching the prisoners play volley ball; the teams playing were organized by political faction: Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad. At least volley ball is more fun to watch than soccer.

After what is called "Sylvester" (New Year's), and while off-duty, I overheard another soldier talk on his cell-phone to his buddies: "Blah-blah-blah Broncos blah blah Blah Titans blah blah blah Ravens." That was weird. He was talking apparently about American Football. After his call, he looked at me and said, "You're from Baltimore, right? Your team's doing pretty good."

"What team?"

"The Ravens."

Evidently, among this soldier's social/ethnic group (young, religious, British-expat lawyers ... !), American football had become a fashionable interest. He said, "The Ravens, they're in the playoffs, it's pretty exciting."

Huh?

After my reserve service was over that week, I returned to my home. I don't know why, but late Sunday night -- I mean, late, it must have been midnight -- I got up to turn on the Oakland playoff game on ESPN, which we had as part of our cable package. I had read up on the Internet about it: the Raiders were "unstoppable," the Black Hole, the Ravens would be crushed! But the game was a revelation; the Ravens were a force of nature. You just couldn't move the ball on them. "The Goose" would just sit on you.

Two weeks later, this time almost at 2am, I got out of bed and woke the kiddies up to join me. We watched SuperBowl XXXV together. In her sleep, my wife turned over and found that I had left the bed. What was wrong? She found us at 3 in the morning watching sports, and -- for her -- the Sports Free Man was dead.

Returned to Baltimore in 2003, and so I no longer have to get up in the middle of the night to watch the games.

[lowrider]

Been a Maryland boy all my life. Loved the Colts. As a child growing up in the sixties I was fortunate enough to be able to watch the legend Johnny Unitas. There was so much excitement about Baltimore football in those days, and through most of the seventies. There were ColtS coralls (now Ravens Roosts) all over the state. The state of maryland was in love with their Colts. Then came the Mayflower moving vans, and the end of a legendary franchise. The 12 years that followed were the worst years of my life as a fan.

When the Ravens came in 1996 there was never a second of doubt about who I was going to root for.