The Ravens won 23-16 on Monday night, regaining their spot as the 6th AFC playoff team, and I bet you’re pretty jazzed.
As for me? I’m in the same place I was following the shutout over the Packers: the Ravens defense beat up a bad quarterback, while the offense struggled mightily again, using mostly trickery and fortunate field position via turnovers to put points on the board.
Not a bad team, just not a true contender, and I still think the Bolts nab that 6th seed by the end of Week 17.
Alas, I’ll opt to leave that narrative to simmer this week, and hone in on a very specific takeaway from Monday night’s game:
The Ravens’ inability to put on a solid in-game experience, again, despite being on a national stage.
It’s no secret that the Ravens stadium was half empty on Monday night – their first home Monday Night Football game in 5 years – and while there’s likely numerous reasons/excuses/false narratives that drive the ticket sales down, it’s up to the Ravens to find a way to get those fans who are in attendance involved, bring the volume of the home crowd up – be it cheering, or getting loud on defense – and portray this Ravens team as the heartbeat of this city and fan base.
Needless to say, at roughly 50% capacity (my guess based on the eyeball test) they failed to capitalize.
The shortcomings started even before the game, flying under the radar, with the team’s decision to not entice fans to attend. Understanding attendance has struggled all season, coupled with the fact that your stadium is about to be in the national spotlight, I would have expected the Ravens to entice fans with some sort of handout. A gimmick. A freebie.
Would it fill the other 50% of the seats? Surely not! But every ticket scanned creates a better atmosphere and a better showing for the Ravens. Towels, flags, hats, salute to service pins – anything would’ve helped fans show up at this game, but the team continued their streak of no handouts that’s been running a few years strong now.
Meanwhile, the Orioles across the way have giveaways weekly to help boost attendance, but I guess they get spending money to make money… (that’s a joke and if you don’t get it, Google Angelos, Peter).
Then there was the decision to announce the offense pregame, as opposed to the Baltimore defense…
…following a shutout…
…with Matt Judon, the AFC Defensive Player of the Week…
…and a national audience tuned in.
I don’t think it’s any secret that this Ravens team lives and dies by its defense, and as such, fans are 500% (true statistic) more likely to get hyped up with the defense being announced, in lieu of the offense that is less exciting than watching grass artificial turf grow.
Of course, the excuse is obvious to any Ravens fan that has ever attended a game – “they always alternate offense and defense being announced!”
Fine, you die on that hill, but I’m a realist and see no reason they shouldn’t have run the defense out this week.
The problem here comes back to crowd noise; you have a half-empty stadium (the pessimist in me), and want to turn up the volume to sound like a full stadium to those watching at home, and the Texans on the field. That volume is a huge part of the home field advantage.
But due to ‘we do it this way,’ the Ravens opted to announce the offense, which (deservedly) received slightly more than a golf clap. To the Ravens’ credit though, they did try to entice the fans by referring to every player on the offense that has ever made the Pro Bowl at any juncture in their career, which is sort of funny when Bruce Cunningham announces “Pro Bowler Mike Wallace!” and you instantly think “yea… like a decade ago in Pittsburgh…”
Then there was the music selection.
Sure, it’s easily brushed off as a trivial factor, but the fact of the matter is that music at a game can drive fans into an uproar… or it can lull them to sleep.
Don’t believe me?
Let’s start with an argument about the most obnoxious, overplayed song at the stadium.
SEVEN NATION ARMY.
I harp on this weekly, but the hit song (from a decade ago) by The White Stripes is just… tiresome. There are a slew of folks who seem to think Baltimore is the home of the 7NA chant at games, while failing to realize this song is played by literally every single professional, semi-pro, collegiate, and even high school level sporting team at their games. It’s unoriginal, it’s not ours, and we’d be better served with a new ‘chant’ song for scoring plays, turnovers, etc.
In fact, I believe fans are starting to see the light here, as I’m starting to notice a few major changes in the chant at Ravens games, namely the lack of self-induced chanting (everyone only does it when the DJ plays it now), and it’s been shortened (used to go on and on, through TV timeouts, into the kickoff, but now we hear like 5 seconds and fans quit on it).
Up in arms yet? Good! Now you see how important the music can be at a game!
Moving on…
I’d like to take a minute to talk about the song selection as a whole, and I promise, this about much more than Taylor Swift.
So here’s the skinny – the DJ has recently had better selection overall! Yay for you pal! Pat yourself on the back!
Now give one of those pats back, because this week had some major issues.
Of course we got a dose of Taylor – not just a clip, but nearly a full song during a timeout that had no place at the game. It wasn’t pertinent to the play on the field, it was just filler. And while some will come to the defense of said song with ‘well you have to accommodate everyone!,’ I’ll go ahead and say that’s a fallacy. If anything, during a TV timeout, you’d want to keep the fans focused on the game, instead of zoning out into their phones, not realizing the play has returned, and incidentally having no idea what’s up.
In stark contrast to the T-Swift selection, when the cameras panned around the stadium to a song people were dancing to (cannot recall the name, but 3rd quarter it went down), fans took that timeout to dance it up in hopes the camera found them, while others watched folks make a fool of themselves on the jumbotrons.
But this wasn’t all – not by far.
After Tony Jefferson’s interception, they played Despacito. TJ danced. Fine. I get it.
BUT IT WAS PLAYED THREE TIMES DURING THE GAME!
Kinda excessive, no?
And honestly, what ever happened to playing music that was tied to the game? Now we just hear ‘today’s greatest hits’ and a couple ‘oldie but goodies’ and that’s the extent of it. Nothing played truly has the pulse of the game, nothing gets the fans amped up, and nothing has the players jacked up on the field. Remember “Lose My Mind” (played once Monday for like 10 seconds!) and Suggs spinning his fingers around his head while the fans joined in? We need more of that and less “Look what you made me do” where nobody is paying a lick of attention, sans a few random drunk girls in the nosebleeds screaming “OMG THIS IS MY JAM!” and singing along…
I honestly think we need to step back, and get some music on standby that reflects the play on the field, ready to rip for every turnover, official review, first down, etc. (teaser for tomorrow’s Top-5 in the 2 Minute Drill! Stay tuned!).
But this isn’t just about the DJ. I’m equal opportunity here, so let’s go after another shortcoming with the music, not only from this past Monday, but for a while now…
The Marching Ravens.
Don’t try to use the defense of ‘tradition.’ It’s less effective than a Dean Pees 3-man rush.
In essence, the Marching Ravens simply exist. They don’t add anything to the game day experience whatsoever.
Case in point – while they were busy doing formations of a Raven bird or some letters or something pre-game on the field, everyone was either in their seats finalizing their fantasy rosters, or in concession lines waiting for the opening notes of Lee Greenwood’s “God bless the USA” so they knew when to get to their seats.
Even those paying attention pre-game or at halftime need to deal with the fact that the mics on the field versus the actual sound being pumped through the instruments provides fans with quite the echo-effect, rendering the music essentially unrecognizable.
On scoring plays they pump out the Ravens Fight Song that nobody sings, nobody knows, and nobody cares about.
I think every once in a while I hear them just blurt out a collective note too… maybe after a 3rd down stop? Or a first down? I don’t even know, which is very telling, amirite???
And what’s with the ‘rock band’ that plays alongside the marching band (full disclosure, every time I watch them play I just think ‘wow they are way too into it!’)? Again, totally unrecognizable music due to the echo, and adds absolutely nothing to the experience at the game. Personally, I’d prefer the two buskers outside the stadium drumming away on buckets & trashcans over the geriatric band fronting the Marching Ravens…
The only reason I’d keep the marching band at the game?
They are a steady source of full seats in their designated section. Without them, the attendance would look even lower than it is…
Ultimately, the Ravens missed a huge opportunity, not only to show the nation that this fanbase and this crowd can get up for a game like the rest of the big dogs, but also a chance to show those Ravens fans at home on their couch what they are missing by not attending, in hopes to regenerate an appetite among the masses to start attending games again, and put butts back in seats down the home stretch with their team still in playoff contention.
Instead, the same shortcomings in the gameday experience reared their ugly heads on a primetime stage, and all I see ahead are 3 more home games against teams that won’t draw any fringe fans (Lions, Colts, Bengals), leading to even more empty seats.
The Ravens better hope this team remains in the playoff hunt as the season winds down, or those final two home games versus the Colts and Bengals could resemble an Orioles Tuesday home game against the Rays…
