A Ravenous Fan for Life

Can we agree that usually good things come from hard work? You know, you spend time marinating that steak to perfection in order to have a glorious outcome on the grill. Or, maybe it’s your endurance of the extreme heat in order to ultimately benefit from that plush garden. Whatever the “thing” is, hard work has to be a main ingredient for success and this concept is no different in my “fan-cination” of my favorite NFL team.

Hands down, it is without question that I was first mesmerized by the Baltimore Ravens' defense during the 2000 season. They dominated their division, and the NFL for that matter, ranking first by allowing only 165 points. This translates into about 10.3 points a game. How ludicrous is that? The defense came out each and every week with a hunger that was unstoppable and at the end of the day, unbeatable.

It's no secret that the Ravens' defense carried the entire team, but the fact that they were able to take the team all the way to a championship is mind boggling.  Along with all the other indomitable statistics that the Ravens acquired during that season, one worth noting is their take-away, give-away differential of plus 23. How crazy are those numbers? This means that the Ravens caused a little more than one more turnover a game than they committed.

However, the squad’s personality was enough to make you want to sign up to just sit on the bench. Namely, Ray Lewis, Shannon Sharpe, and Tony Siragusa were the players that carried a distinct swagger, a swagger that would have been too much for most to shoulder. The team’s identity was extreme swagger personified and a fan couldn’t help but be taken in by the electricity of it all.

Besides the fact that it was awesome to actually be in Baltimore during the 2000 victory, the hard work and smash mouth play exhibited each week on the field was more than enough to make me a fan forever...2000 meant a new millennium, a new record setting defense, and a new fan for life.