Baltimore Ravens: WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

When the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2001, I have to admit, I just wasn't a big football fan yet.  I had been into the Stallions a bit, but when the Ravens moved to town, I just followed them with a lazy eye.  During that year's run, my interest picqued a bit, and I followed the playoff run, but while it was great then, it just didn't dawn on me the true feelings of it.  Really, it was freshman year of college that I started REALLY following the games closely.  And with each passing year, it became more and more of a passion...

I could write a novel on what I felt in the past month when it came to the Ravens.  I have to admit, and I told this to Shannon...around the Broncos game, I was basically ready to call it a season.  I loved the way we played in the Giants game and the Colts playoff game, but I could see that the Broncos were this gigantic brick wall ahead of us, and I just didn't know if the jump was going to be enough to scale it.  So I prepared for defeat and...it didn't come.  Instead, I saw the unbelievable miracle that was the win in Denver.  And then the rest (like I said, I could really write a novel, so I'm going to brush it aside) was just amazing.  I had always had in my head, if we won a Super Bowl, I was taking Noah and we were doing the damn victory parade!  I wished I had been into it as much in 2001 to go then, but mostly, I want Noah to have something he can look back on and say "Man, I was THERE!"

So, once the win was in place, we made the preparations.  This time, they did it a little differently.  A parade going from City Hall to the stadium, then a ceremony at the stadium.  So first things first...forget the parade.  I want to see them giving the speeches!  So, parking lots opened at 9, stadium gates at 10.  So, knowing that 200000 people came last time, I planned to get to Light Rail by 9am.  I got there at 9:15, and it was already JAMPACKED.  Crap.  So we parked on a shoulder of the road, like about 75 other cars at that point, and rushed to the Light Rail.  By luck, the first train stopped RIGHT in front of where Noah and I stood, so we rushed in quickly and got him a seat.  As we passed the other stops, it was shocking to see the amount of people at those stations, unable to board because the trains were FULL from the first stop onward.  We got to the stadium at 10:10am, and I was already pretty certain we wouldn't even get in the stadium.  But as I got off...the gates were open, and there were no more lines!  I rushed in, and we found seats in Section 107, lower level!  Perfect.  We had a comfortable setup with the people around us (They were helpful when I had to use the restroom and get Noah water bottles, they made sure our seats weren't taken).

So we got to watch the parade on the jumbotrons.  The parade was delayed, because of the sheer SIZE of the crowd.  How bad was it?  The Ravens busses got stuck in traffic.  On the way to their own parade.  So around 10:45am, Stadium was already nearly full on the lower levels, but Upper level had lots of seats left.  By 11:30, when the parade started, the stadium was basically at capacity.  The crowd was JUMPING.  I mean, every time they showed a highlight, there were thunderous eruptions of cheers and clapping.  And the cheers when John Harbaugh and Steve Bisciotti came out, just to say "we'll be back shortly"???  WOW.  I'm also very glad, side note, that I packed lunch for Noah and myself.  Saved me money and hassle of getting food at the stadium.

Finally, the team arrived.  I have an 8 minute video of the introductions.  Let me just say, blown away.  They had rigged up fireworks at the top of the stadium, plus the usual gameday setup.  So, how great was it that I could have Noah watch Ray Lewis dance at M&T Bank his FINAL time?  With a Lombardi Trophy no doubt.  That one hasn't truly hit me yet, that may be THE moment that he should take away from this.  So, to shorten this up, all the players were introduced and came out.  They had the "key players" give speeches...Ray Lewis, Joe Flacco, Ed Reed (he mainly sung his two tickets to paradise thing), Steve Bisciotti, John Harbaugh (who for the 2nd time in the day, led us in "What's Our Name? RAVENS!" chants).  I also loved that they made sure to give a special shout out to OJ Brigance, who was absolutely BEAMING.  And as they wrapped it up, the little moment that sent me over the edge, was getting to sing "We Are The Champions" with 100k other Raven fans.  Here's the youtube of it: http://youtu.be/WqRUAdvkOx4.

So, getting home.  Of course, this couldn't be all amazing.  I knew Light Rail would be a total cluster f.  I knew that...but if you had told me that after 2.5 hours, I would only have watched 2 trains leave our side?  And for the next hour after that, 3 more arrive FULLY PACKED NO ROOM AT ALL?  wow...It was THAT bad.  Basically, from what I gathered from the MTA worker (Who I felt horrible for, there were some real asshole fans giving him a TON of crap, when it was obvious he was doing his best to try to keep things moving and helpful.), people were simply riding Northbound trains to the turnaround, then using that to get a seat on South bound trains.  So by the time the train got to us, it was still full.  They had ABSOLUTELY no idea when it would clear out.  So thanks to my Dad, he left work, got my Mom's van with a carseat for Noah, and met us at the Science Center to get picked up.  By the time we got to the Light Rail lot, it was STILL full (At 4:30p, 3 hours after the event had ended).

So, that is what happened today.  Did the MTA stuff suck?  Yes.  Did Noah and I have an amazing time doing something that many football fans can only dream of getting?  Absolutely.  Being in that stadium with 100k other fans, being someone who can't go to the games most of the time due to costs...that was AMAZING.