Street Talk

Ravens ramblings and the NFL

by Oliver Kruszka

October 20, 2011
4:00 am

Reading Time: 3 minutes

To quote Al Davis: just win baby. Who cares if Billy Cundiff needed to kick 5 field goals, or the fact that the Texans were without Andre Johnson and Mario Williams. If a win is not just a win, what is it? It is not a loss!

Imagine for a moment the team had lost, it would be a bad “end of the world movie” in the Maryland area.

On another note, I am constantly astonished by the degree of disrespect the NFL player receives. Be it friend or foe. If the Ravens lose, or play poorly, it is attributed to a player, or players. Never the fact that the other team came to play or that the other team has talent, or the other team planned well. Sure it would have been a different game maybe had a couple of their stars been there, but the Ravens had their injuries too and have had to overcome injuries in the past.

Injuries are a part of the game.

Also, someone might want to inform Baltimore’s National Aquarium that the octopus and squid tanks were compromised between 4-8 pm Sunday. They were covering for the Houston Texans offensive lineman. Clever disguises actually, because I am not sure how a human could hold that much and not get flagged.

Then again, it is the NFL and the part time referee crew. You may think that a 9 billion dollar operation would pay its referees year round to make the calling of a game as good as it could be. But not the NFL!

They are part time, which by my definition is they are watching the game part of the time; the other part, well, who knows what they are watching, Tom Brady’s knee? I am sure at half time they call the other ref’s who are officiating Tom Brady’s game to check and make sure he is all right and no one hurt his feelings by talking badly about his hair.

Ray Lewis is now the only player to have 40 sacks and 30 interceptions. It is biased around here that he is the greatest middle linebacker ever to play the game, but I have a hard time seeing how someone could say he is not. I need not list all his other accomplishments, but to be the first man to do the 40/30 has to leap frog him over some of the competition or seriously give a heavy barrel to the ammunition in that discussion.

If you haven’t noticed, our head coach John Harbaugh has a brother Jim Harbaugh who is the 49ers Head Coach, who had an altercation with Jim Schwartz, head coach of the Detroit Lions. If you haven not watched the video here it is:

Now, there are four sides to this story! Harbaugh’s, Jim Schwartz’s, the truth, and what the hell is Ron Jeremy’s cousin doing on the field?

First, Harbaugh was a little too exuberant true, and he said it was on him. Schwartz said he got shoved and cursed at. What I saw was Jim, a little too excited and the back slap might have been harder than it looked. I also saw a Schwartz angry because he lost and did not appreciate the tap, he then flipped out, and started cursing and chasing Harbaugh, not the other way around. Then, in the middle of this, lost to most is the slightly rotund, goateed partial mullet sporting guy that jumps in the middle that looks like he could be related to Ron Jeremy or Danny McBride.

But it does not end there, because if any of you listened to the advice given by Michael Irvin on the NFL Network, he called his son up and told him NOT to watch this, because it was a poor example of sportsmanship.

Michael Irvin? Really? Sorry but lessons in sportsmanship from Irvin are on par with lesson insobriety from Charlie Sheen.

And before I forget, Mike Brown gets the Raiders first round draft pick in 2012 and a conditional first round pick in 2013 for Carson Palmer! Someone better check and make sure Al Davis did not fake his death. Just what we need here in Ravens land: when you think the Bengals are dead, they are off to a great start and now they potentially land two first round picks for a guy who was never going to play for them again? One can only hope the brain trust of their scouting department of four, which includes a two cars salesmen, Mike Brown’s daughter, and a hot dog vendor blow the picks.

And hats off to 24×7 for going forth for all 32 teams… I still think they should leave off the Steelers, but I digress.

Oliver Kruszka

Oliver is a cartographer and GIS analyst for a global energy consulting firm. When not mapping various aspects of the world, he can be found at the Maryland Renaissance Festival under the surname “Captain Silver” and as a poster here under said name, promoting his brand of humor. He is an accomplished artist in various mediums, published poet, as well as having a stint acting on stage; additionally brewing beer when not distracted by something shiny. Lifelong fan of the NFL, who’s allegiances have changed as much as Baltimore’s ability to keep a team, makes him an avid Raven fan, but also a fan of the NFL in general (know thy enemy!).