Land of Pleasant Living Indeed
Nothing can bring an entire city together like sports can and Sunday night was just another example of that. I have been to a few different cities and know there are some amazing fans out there, but I seriously doubt any city was like Fells Point, Federal Hill and Canton were on Sunday. And, there may be only one or two other fan bases in the country in any sport that travel to opposing stadiums like Ravens fans – it’s a beautiful thing to hear a loud “O” during the anthem in an opposing stadium!
The beautiful thing about sports is that it does not matter your age, sex, income level, race, etc. – everyone can enjoy them. There are two things that almost every person who has ever lived, or still lives, in Baltimore has in common: we love our city and we love the Ravens and Orioles.
To many of those outside of Baltimore, our city is just the place you drive through when you are driving from Philly to DC and there is nothing but crime, drugs and poverty. While the city certainly has its flaws, anyone who has lived here their whole life, like I have, has seen the progress this city has made in getting away from the bad things that formerly defined it.
That’s where our sports teams come in. No matter what people think about the city, they can’t take away the success of our sports teams. It started in October when the Orioles made the playoffs and fans waited 2+ hours through a rain delay to attend the game and there was not ONE empty seat or person who wasn’t cheering every pitch. It continued with another playoff appearance for the Ravens and, this time, Baltimore didn’t fall short. We WON and it’s BALTIMORE that will be on the national stage for the Super Bowl.
On February 3rd nobody will be talking about the murder rate in Baltimore (which has significantly decreased in the last 10 years), they won’t be talking about the drugs and poverty, they will be talking about how our football team and our city is one step away from being the WORLD CHAMPIONS. Certainly next year if you were to ask anyone outside of Baltimore what they knew about the city their response would likely be “oh yeah, don’t they have good sports teams?”
So THANK YOU to the Orioles who got the ball rolling in October and to the Ravens for continuing things and being one step away from delivering the Lombardi Trophy back to Charm City. You guys have done more than you know for this city. You have given it a new identity and changed the way outsiders view you it. And, for the next two weeks Baltimore will be in the national spotlight
You have truly made Baltimore “the land of pleasant living.”
LET GO RAVENS!!! And RIP Earl Weaver.
Follow Marco on twitter @mromanell and Southbmore.com @southbmore1
