And a different window closes

[Phantom]

It sure is tough to identify with a franchise that treats its players, fans and community so well.

[LookitsPuck]

To you, maybe. Not to me and anyone else who followed that case and has seen what Lewis has done since then...

The Ravens are Baltimore's chance to know what winning feels like. Can't wait for the season now that this stupid work stoppage is over.

Actually Ray Lewis is a big reason why I'm not a huge Ravens fan.

[Phantom]

Actually Ray Lewis is a big reason why I'm not a huge Ravens fan.

The Orioles' rampant PED cheating bothered me more as a fan than anything Ray-Ray did.

[Tony-OH]

I guess I just don't consider 15 years "history", especially when our history left back in 1984.

It's tough to truly embrace a football team when I was born in 1983, and we didn't have a football team until 1996. It was never a part of my childhood. Baseball is all I've ever known.

Go ask the next generation of fans whether 15 years is history. My son is 15-years old and loves the Ravens. Since he's been alive, the Orioles have had two winning seasons (96-97) and none that he can remember. AS for me, I've adopted the Ravens and love them just like if I had adopted a dog and made him part of the family. People can have any opinion they want, but the Ravens are owned by a fantastic Baltimore guy in Bisciotti and they are the best organization in Baltimore by far. By the way, calling the Ravens the cleveland Browns and like calling the Orioles the St Louis Browns. Turn the page because the Ravens are hear to stay and most of us in this city are huge fans, even if they've only been here for 15 years.

I'll always be an Orioles fan because by the time I was 15, the Orioles had never had a losing record and had only won less then 90 games three times in my lifetime. While working on their 14th straight losing season, the Orioles are losing a generation of fans and making it tough on those of us who bled orange and black.

[NewMarketSean]

The Ravens have been here longer than Baltimore went without a football team.

In three years, the Colts will have been in Indy longer than they were in Baltimore.

Times are a-changin'. I know there are still deep wounds from the Colts leaving, but the more the Ravens win, and as the younger generations grow up, these Colts remnants will slowly disappear forever. As they should. It'll be 30 years in a few years.

[DannyO]

That's really been my problem with the Ravens. They have no history and a generic, concrete, corporate jungle of a stadium....why would I adopt them with the passion that I do the Orioles? Granted, they're a winning franchise, and I'd love to feel that with the modern day Orioles...

I follow the Ravens, and I cheer for them...but dammit I just can't embrace them the way I do the Orioles.

My problem with NFL football in general, and the Ravens in particular, is that the game is dominated by Ghetto Thugs and consequently it makes me ill to even think about it. They'll be "makin it rain" and "drinkin the purple drank" now that money is flowing in again.

Long gone are the days of Roger Staubach and Alan Ameche.

Compare a post game interview of a basbeall player and football player. Quiet a difference on the bell curve.

Baseball was always so much better than football, and it is even more so today, particularly when comparing the NFL with major league baseball. College football, on the other hand, is no where near as polluted as the NFL.

The window referred to never closes for me for the reasons I cited.

[Frobby]

The Orioles are interesting, but they are really the St. Louis Browns, and a Baltimore team by proxy. If we could get the Yankees back, and history, I'd be excited. It would be like the Dodgers coming back to Brooklyn.

Fixed that for you.

[frankpembleton]

My problem with NFL football in general, and the Ravens in particular, is that the game is dominated by Ghetto Thugs and consequently it makes me ill to even think about it. They'll be "makin it rain" and "drinkin the purple drank" now that money is flowing in again.

Long gone are the days of Roger Staubach and Alan Ameche.

Compare a post game interview of a basbeall player and football player. Quiet a difference on the bell curve.

Baseball was always so much better than football, and it is even more so today, particularly when comparing the NFL with major league baseball. College football, on the other hand, is no where near as polluted as the NFL.

The window referred to never closes for me for the reasons I cited.

Who on the Ravens are you referring to specifically as a "Ghetto Thug?"

It's unfathomable to me how people can look at a professional sports league like the NFL and think that MLB is better, particularly from an Orioles fan's perspective.

I'm not saying the sport of football is better than baseball, I'm saying the NFL is just leaps and bounds ahead of MLB. And obviously the Ravens are so far ahead of the Orioles in everything that there's not even a reason to debate.

[NewMarketSean]

My problem with NFL football in general, and the Ravens in particular, is that the game is dominated by Ghetto Thugs and consequently it makes me ill to even think about it. They'll be "makin it rain" and "drinkin the purple drank" now that money is flowing in again.

Long gone are the days of Roger Staubach and Alan Ameche.

Compare a post game interview of a basbeall player and football player. Quiet a difference on the bell curve.

Baseball was always so much better than football, and it is even more so today, particularly when comparing the NFL with major league baseball. College football, on the other hand, is no where near as polluted as the NFL.

The window referred to never closes for me for the reasons I cited.

God you're a bitter old man.

[jamalshw]

I am a baseball fan far and above any other sport. In fact, baseball is the only sport where I have a favorite team. It's the only sport where I can name every player on any team (though for baseball I can do it for just about every team).

I follow football when it's on. Admitedly, I do so more because I play and enjoy fantasy football than because I actually enjoy the sport itself. I love baseball for the strategy, history, and athleticism. My biggest issue with football is you don't have to have several different skills and do several different things unless you play a small selection of positions. Most positions in football are like the DH in baseball. It is where people are good at one thing and one thing only. Several players in football get paid millions because they are merely large or they can kick, etc.

Still, football is fun to watch. As is hockey. As is basketball. As is soccer during the World Cup. But none of these sports has a place in my heart like baseball.

[frankpembleton]

Actually Ray Lewis is a big reason why I'm not a huge Ravens fan.

Interesting. What don't you like about him? Not good enough of a player? Doesn't leave everything he has on the field in every game he has ever played in? Not one of the most respected people in the NFL today? Doesn't do enough in the community? Doesn't love and embrace Baltimore?

I'd pretty much say he's the best thing to happen to this city sports-wise since 1983 (maybe since 2131).

[DannyO]

To you, maybe. Not to me and anyone else who followed that case and has seen what Lewis has done since then...

Sure. Nothing unusual about being implicated in a double homocide. It happens to a lot of people, just one of those things. And he's been such a model citizen since then, making all those "charity appearances" in his white mink full length coat with feathers sticking out of it, sporting those tatoos. Just the epitome of class and someone you would inspire your male children to emulate.

As for the Ravens winning, when was the last time they won anything significant? They get to the playoff like a lot of NFL teams; nothing unusual or significant about it. They haven't been in a Super Bowl in over twn years, and since so many NFL teams make the playoffs, nothing short of appearing in the Super Bowl is much of an accomplishment. I'll tell you how the season will go right now; they'll make the playoffs and lose in the playoffs. No drama involved. Save your time, do more productive things with it.

[jamalshw]

Who on the Ravens are you referring to specifically as a "Ghetto Thug?"

It's unfathomable to me how people can look at a professional sports league like the NFL and think that MLB is better, particularly from an Orioles fan's perspective.

I'm not saying the sport of football is better than baseball, I'm saying the NFL is just leaps and bounds ahead of MLB. And obviously the Ravens are so far ahead of the Orioles in everything that there's not even a reason to debate.

The NFL is just as flawed as the MLB, it's just the MLB flaws have been more publicized. The steroid fiasco was much bigger for baseball when the percentage of users in football was just as high. The salary cap has long been idolized by many baseball fans, but salary caps don't include signing bonuses. A player can get $10 million for signing his name to a piece of paper but only marked as $3 million against a salary cap. And player deals can be restructured from $10 million in a year to be $5 million with a bonus. It's obvious that a salary cap is needed in baseball, but I think it would be foolish to dublicate the NFL's which is flawed by itself.

[frankpembleton]

The NFL is just as flawed as the MLB, it's just the MLB flaws have been more publicized. The steroid fiasco was much bigger for baseball when the percentage of users in football was just as high. The salary cap has long been idolized by many baseball fans, but salary caps don't include signing bonuses. A player can get $10 million for signing his name to a piece of paper but only marked as $3 million against a salary cap. And player deals can be restructured from $10 million in a year to be $5 million with a bonus. It's obvious that a salary cap is needed in baseball, but I think it would be foolish to dublicate the NFL's which is flawed by itself.

No, it's not just as flawed. And it's not the salary cap, it's revenue sharing that makes the NFL great.

The Baltimore Orioles do not have an equivalent in the NFL. Not the Bengals, not the Browns, not the Raiders.

[jamalshw]

Sure. Nothing unusual about being implicated in a double homocide. It happens to a lot of people, just one of those things. And he's been such a model citizen since then, making all those "charity appearances" in his white mink full length coat with feathers sticking out of it, sporting those tatoos. Just the epitome of class and someone you would inspire your male children to emulate.

As for the Ravens winning, when was the last time they won anything significant? They get to the playoff like a lot of NFL teams; nothing unusual or significant about it. They haven't been in a Super Bowl in over twn years, and since so many NFL teams make the playoffs, nothing short of appearing in the Super Bowl is much of an accomplishment. I'll tell you how the season will go right now; they'll make the playoffs and lose in the playoffs. No drama involved. Save your time, do more productive things with it.

I'm on your side when trash talking football in comparison to baseball, but this is a bit extreme. You can't argue that the Raven's have been far more successful than the Orioles. It's true that the more teams make the play-offs in football than in baseball (12 to 8), but have the O's even been a top 12 team since 1997?