Week 14: Indianapolis Colts At Baltimore Ravens

[theFRANCHISE]

*tisk tisk* Drkraven WOULD miss out on all the fun in here when I was at my most-entertaining...

I had to carry the mantle in Jon's place since he's probably still recovering from that Pats game last Monday...

[Drkraven]

I'll have know I was doing the back stroke at the stadium freezing my you-know-what off!

[theFRANCHISE]

Pshhh...

My cheap plugs of UD's national title game this Friday on ESPN2 > you in the pouring rain during a Colts/Ravens blowout.

[Marjax]

I'm sure BrownsFan will agree how touching the piece about the Baltimore fans heartbreak was when the Colts up and left in the middle of the night.

I know I shed two tears: one orange, and one brown. Because I don't feel sorry for you guys at all.

And I'm not on here to talk smack, really, I just need to vent at my frustration over something like that. This isn't the first time they've showed a video like that. While sure, it was tragic, no sympathy should be evoked from anyone in the know because your town did the same thing. I can understand being upset about the namesake and history being taken away, but that's never what the pieces on TV focus on.

How do you Raven fans feel about stuff like that? I don't mean about how horrible it is for the team to relocate and take the history with them. But I mean more about how your team is like Indy? Wouldn't you have rather been expansion? Although you might now just be getting your 2nd winning season instead of having a Lombardi Trophy.

[Raven07]

expansion teams arent really that good lol (the past few seasons of the Texans) and what not....the People of Baltimore always love to have winners on their side of the deal...but when the hardship times come (which they have and will continue to come in the future) we must remember to band together as One Unified and One Loyal fanbase...one that is known for its high respectability.

[Marjax]

So if you take the stance that you don't want to deal with the building process of an expansion team, then you shouldn't complain about the Colts moving to Indianapolis. Not saying you have, but just in general, for any fan. Because if you're okay with taking a team from another city instead of building one from scratch, you shouldn't pout about it happening to you. Just makes logical sense to me.

After all, it seems the Colts franchise has its history, but the Ravens franchise acknowledges the "Baltimore Football" history.

[Drkraven]

Personally I would have rather had an expansion team. I did not really follow the Ravens until 1998, I did not really want another cities team after our hearts were ripped out the decade before, that being said Browns got a much better deal and were back in the league records and colors intact.

At least when the Ravens and Browns meet twice a season they don't rake history over the coals, I want to cry and get very pissed when they replay the Mayflower moving vans ad-nauseum every time the teams meet. It brings back awful memories and and makes me very sad for the memories that my brother and sister do not have of going to games with our father. We all now tailgate together since 1999 when we bought PSL's and season tickets and are raising another generation of football fanatics, my 12 yo son is almost as bad as I am.

[Raven07]

lol..yea i see what your saying, i hate it too when they keep bringing up those past memories from years ago. i think that it only adds to the hype and gives "older" fans out there....a sense to have to re-visit those days...

[Stover4Prez]

B-more did try the expansion thing. We should have gotten either Carolina or Jacksonville. We were seriously in the running for those two teams. But the NFL decided it wasn't to be for us. I think it had a lot to do with Jack Kent Cook not wanting a franchise sharing the are and that Tagliabue really didn't like us. Either way, that is when we started going after another team. But honestly, taking another city's team was the last resort.

[bmorelover]

I'm sure BrownsFan will agree how touching the piece about the Baltimore fans heartbreak was when the Colts up and left in the middle of the night.

I know I shed two tears: one orange, and one brown. Because I don't feel sorry for you guys at all.

And I'm not on here to talk smack, really, I just need to vent at my frustration over something like that. This isn't the first time they've showed a video like that. While sure, it was tragic, no sympathy should be evoked from anyone in the know because your town did the same thing. I can understand being upset about the namesake and history being taken away, but that's never what the pieces on TV focus on.

How do you Raven fans feel about stuff like that? I don't mean about how horrible it is for the team to relocate and take the history with them. But I mean more about how your team is like Indy? Wouldn't you have rather been expansion? Although you might now just be getting your 2nd winning season instead of having a Lombardi Trophy.

Marjax-

No one in Baltimore asks for or wants your sympathy. And it was soooo not the same thing.

Baltimore literally woke up to no football team the next morning.

Irsay moved them in the middle of the night.

Took the colors.

Took the logo.

Took the stats and legacies.

The COLTS were STOLEN.

It was dirty all around. Cry your orange and brown tears, and we will still be giving the Colts the finger.Forever.

[Marjax]

And the BROWNS were STOLEN, whether it was in the middle of the night or not.

It was the same thing, save for the details of the team's history. I don't care if you give the Colts the finger, but I don't feel bad for those who enjoyed stealing another town's team just to replace the one stolen from you. And I certainly don't care if anyone wants sympathy, but that is obviously the goal of the ridiculous video they show whenever the Colts play Baltimore.

[Jamal]

People on this forum were complaining on how ESPN doesn't give us a chance. Heres a textbook example why.

[Drkraven]

I think the media shows the video to stir up peoples emotions to get ratings. Its money bottom line.

[Stover4Prez]

Marjax, you have obviously not forgotten about losing your team. It is part of your city's history now. And so is losing the Colts to Baltimore. I agree we did a similar thing to Cleveland, and for that I am sorry. However the enormity of losing the ENTIRE team, colors, etc for over 20 years! Well that most people won't understand, and I don't expect you to. It was devastating to the city, to the mayor and mostly to the fans. Even after the Ravens being here for over 10 years, we still embrace the BALTIMORE Colts. They were legendary in Baltimore and always will be. There are true fans who STILL cannot identify with the Ravens and just want their horshoe, fight song, and colors back. But Indy has taken that forever. Your town was without a team for a couple years. Which is hard. I know! But you retained your name, your colors, your traditions, and everything else that is the Cleveland Browns. There are people out there who probably don't even know you lost a team, because it looks exactly the same.

Let me make it simple. Losing the Colts was kind of like losing a child. Then having another kid to "replace" the first one.

Losing the Browns was like your child leaving town for a couple years, then showing back up. Same kid.

Think of it that way. The Colts will always be a legacy in Baltimore and that fateful day in 83 cut deeper than you can imagine. That team has NEVER come home. At least yours did.....

[Marjax]

Yeah, I appreciate the details of your loss. And it would be terrible to lose the deep tradition of a ball club that has had a very successful history in years past. I can't claim to experience the same level of hurt that Baltimore fans have, but I can estimate what it's like. All I'm saying is, to anyone who feels 100% okay with the details of football returning to Baltimore (being that a team was relocated) I don't feel bad for the hurt that person experienced when the Colts left town. I've never really talked to any Ravens fans about this, and part of me coming here was to see what you fans thought of it all. And it seems most people see it as an unfortunate situation that you got a team by taking another one, which is good to know. Also, I wasn't really aware of Baltimore losing out to Carolina and Jacksonville for an expansion team. So the whole last resort sheds a little more light on the big picture for me.

But I still hate your team.

[Raven07]

if anything....it only calls for a much added motivation and elevated playing style when we do in fact play our former teams and what not....and yea there's a bit more history behind the lines....you just have to learn to read between them sometimes...to really find out the details..no matter how big or how small they may be..that bit of information be a pretty big part of something.

[Marjax]

I kind of wonder now about the circumstances with the Oilers move to Tennessee. I know the team name/history went along with the move originally but it wasn't long before the Oilers became the Titans. And why then couldn't the expansion Houston team reclaim the Oilers nickname? After all, Tennessee's not the first football team to be called the Titans. Take a look at the Jets' throwback jerseys for the previous football Titans.

[bmorelover]

Marjax, you have obviously not forgotten about losing your team. It is part of your city's history now. And so is losing the Colts to Baltimore. I agree we did a similar thing to Cleveland, and for that I am sorry. However the enormity of losing the ENTIRE team, colors, etc for over 20 years! Well that most people won't understand, and I don't expect you to. It was devastating to the city, to the mayor and mostly to the fans. Even after the Ravens being here for over 10 years, we still embrace the BALTIMORE Colts. They were legendary in Baltimore and always will be. There are true fans who STILL cannot identify with the Ravens and just want their horshoe, fight song, and colors back. But Indy has taken that forever. Your town was without a team for a couple years. Which is hard. I know! But you retained your name, your colors, your traditions, and everything else that is the Cleveland Browns. There are people out there who probably don't even know you lost a team, because it looks exactly the same.

Let me make it simple. Losing the Colts was kind of like losing a child. Then having another kid to "replace" the first one.

Losing the Browns was like your child leaving town for a couple years, then showing back up. Same kid.

Think of it that way. The Colts will always be a legacy in Baltimore and that fateful day in 83 cut deeper than you can imagine. That team has NEVER come home. At least yours did.....

I could not have said it any better myself.

[theFRANCHISE]

I kind of wonder now about the circumstances with the Oilers move to Tennessee. I know the team name/history went along with the move originally but it wasn't long before the Oilers became the Titans. And why then couldn't the expansion Houston team reclaim the Oilers nickname? After all, Tennessee's not the first football team to be called the Titans. Take a look at the Jets' throwback jerseys for the previous football Titans.

Playing devil's advocate here a bit, but I think the only reason the city of Houston may not have been so vocal after years had passed about losing the Oilers is mainly because they had other football teams within the state to support on ALL levels (prep school, collegiate, AND pro).

I mean, obviously, there's the Texas Longhorns...Texas Tech Red Raiders...Dallas Cowboys...and numerous other teams, just 'cause Texas is such a big state and football is their passion. Almost to an obsessive level.

Of course, once the Texans came to town, the city's passion for pro football was reignited, and when the team started losing horribly, they probably DID start to miss the Oilers again. But regardless, I think it was just a different situation, given the location.

[Marjax]

Yeah good point. Dallas and Houston aren't rivals, so Oiler fans still had their Cowboys. Once the Browns left, I doubt many Dawgs turn to Cincinnati just because they were in state. Except, of course, for when they played Baltimore.

[Drkraven]

.... Also, I wasn't really aware of Baltimore losing out to Carolina and Jacksonville for an expansion team. So the whole last resort sheds a little more light on the big picture for me.

But I still hate your team.

I remember sitting up with my husband crying when they announced the expansion teams. The Jags should have been the team here, because of the other 2 NFC teams in the area. The NFL wanted a large market for the Jags. Jacksonville is huge geographically, but not population dense which is why they had to cover something like 10,000 seats reducing the stadiums seating capacity by 13%.

The moves were a mess and could have been handled better, but Cleveland and Baltimore both have teams worthy of fan support. Will I ever get over the Colts move? Probably unless the records and colors are retired, but I will support my Ravens until the day I die.

[JonM229]

If last week was our Super Bowl, does that make this game our Pro Bowl?

I sure hope not, because nobody really tries in that game.

I totally called this one.

[Raven07]

lol umm well seeing as though it wasnt the LAST game of the season i wouldnt call it the Pro Bowl but certainly something along the lines of Superbowl in our own minds of thinking

[theFRANCHISE]

I totally called this one.

I blame YOU for the loss.

Because you had so much fun at the Pats game (despite the heartbreaking loss), there was nothing left to top that experience for ragnorok99.

Shame on you, Jon. FOR SHAME...*tisk tisk*

[Raven07]

lol...its not enough that we lost the game but we now have our own fans, jinxing us LOL! j/k

[JonM229]

I blame YOU for the loss.

Because you had so much fun at the Pats game (despite the heartbreaking loss), there was nothing left to top that experience for ragnorok99.

Shame on you, Jon. FOR SHAME...*tisk tisk*

lol...its not enough that we lost the game but we now have our own fans, jinxing us LOL! j/k

Oh my God, WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!

[Raven07]

lol CURSE YOU!!!!!!!!!!! CURSE YOU!!!!! j/k j/k

[JonM229]

This would be a great time to use a crane shot:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

[Raven07]

you are arguably the most entertaining poster on this board haha...at least in my mind you seem to be! from what all you say.....makes for a Brighter Side of things for a change despite whats going on with the team.....i like it! lol

[JonM229]

Gee, thanks