O's make statement about September 5th. O's Game will not be moved.

[Mayor McCheese]

Because we're enthusiastic fans, we're being "big babies"?

I invest a lot of money in the Ravens every year. I enjoy each game. But the ultimate goal when training camp opens each summer, the reason I spend all that $$, is the hope of seeing my team win it all. I have a close friend pushing 80 years old, who reminds me anytime my team is close to a championship, to cherish every moment, because we have no idea when it might happen again. I certainly didn't think, back in '83, that it would be at least 30 years before the O's would win again! So, yeah, I'd like the Super Bowl celebration to at least last until the season opener of the following season. I want every bit of pomp and circumstance I can get while we're the champs. These bragging rights don't last for long, so I want to enjoy every second. I would think a passionate sports fan of any sport would understand that.

You know you are still considered the Champs until someone else win the SB.... I don't think a pop concert and parade boosts bragging rights.

[Lester Freamon]

As a Ravens season ticket holder since The Move (and lifelong O's fan), here's my honest answer: I was really looking forward to attending THE major event of the NFL regular season (at least it's first month, anyway), the one game that kicks off the whole year. America's insatiable appetite for football is finally whetted on Sept 5th after an unbearable offseason, and just about every NFL fan in America is tuned in. It's a great source of pride that we get to host this game - not out of some whim of a greedy network exec somewhere who thinks we'll draw big ratings, but because our team EARNED it by winning the Super Bowl! The city will be so jazzed. The fans will be so psyched. Hard to imagine a better atmosphere. And while some laugh at the 7-year "tradition" (or whatever the short amount of time this Thursday night thing has been going on), it's a GOOD tradition, a positive reward for the team/city that won it all: Opening at home and then getting 10 days to prefer for Week 2. It may not have been around long, but it's a nice perk for the Super Bowl Champ that should continue, whether this is its 2nd year or 30th year.

And, one negative that hasn't been mentioned is that it's more likely than not that the Ravens will play their first home game with an 0-1 record (home teams win a lot more than they lose in the NFL, and since we're likely to visit Denver on Opening Night... I don't like our chances). We likely won't even get that brief moment in the sun at M&T Bank Stadium as The NFL's Best Team, Defending Champion Baltimore Ravens. We'll just be the 0-1 Ravens, hoping to get back to .500 in their home opener, which will only be a big deal at that point to fans in Baltimore. The atmosphere will still be electric, but 1/10th what it could be the week before.

So while it will be more or less forgotten by December, especially if the Ravens are doing well, it IS a big deal to me and a lot of other Ravens fans right now. I hope I've done a decent job explaining why...?

As someone who is not at all a football fan (although I was a very big fan as a kid) I can say that, yes indeed, you've done a very good job explaining, IMO, why it would be important to a Ravens fan to host the opening game of the season. Nice work.

The only thing I want to add is that, hopefully, since you are also a very big O's fan, you realize that the hands of the Baltimore Orioles were completely tied in this matter. I, personally, believe the Oriole players would have bit the bullet for the Ravens and Baltimore sports fans and tried come to some sort of agreement to allow the Ravens game to be played on Thursday night. And I believe that Angelos/The Orioles would have accepted whatever compensation the Ravens/NFL were offering to "make them whole". However, when it comes down to it, again IMO, there really wasn't anything that could be offered to the White Sox to make their organization or their players put themselves at any kind of a competitive disadvantage by purposely scheduling a double header or working on, relatively, very short rest when the future cannot be predicted (extra innings/other weather issues).

I really believe that most Ravens fans who are seeing red over this issue and blaming the Orioles or MLB are not baseball fans or true Oriole fans (I am NOT saying you fall into this group). For me personally, as someone who loves baseball and the Orioles but is not a Ravens fan, I would not want the Orioles to put themselves at any kind of competitive disadvantage whether they are in a pennant race or not. That being said, I most certainly can understand how cool it would be for the city if there had been some way for the O's and White Sox to move up their game and still have the Raven's playing in the evening. Apparently the city balked at this idea from a logistical standpoint - again, not really the Orioles fault.

All this, and the point I'm really trying to make is I hope you realize that the main entity, really the one and only entity IMO, that is keeping you from seeing the opening game of the season being held in Baltimore is the NFL. They could have played on Wednesday. I'm not too sure why they couldn't play on Tuesday, although I'm sure there is an excuse for that date as well. You might be able to harbor some resentment toward MLB, the MLBPA or the White Sox but I don't really think that is fair at all. One thing is sure from my view however and that is that no animosity should be aimed at the Orioles. Hopefully, since you are a fan of both teams you are seeing it this way and you can try and talk some sense into the minds of any friends you might have who feel differently or who maybe haven't attempted to try and think this process all the way through.

[BMann]

You know you are still considered the Champs until someone else win the SB.... I don't think a pop concert and parade boosts bragging rights.

I'm starting to think this subject has divided the O's fanbase not really into O's fans vs. Ravens fans, but "O's fans who are also Ravens fans" vs. "O's fans who are not Ravens fans."

I think I've explained "why it matters" as well as I can. I could actually go into more detail, about the camaraderie I feel with the fans who've sat in my section for the last 15 years, about the joy of watching the opener with them in prime time, starting a brand new season as The Champs... (Couldn't care less about the "pop concert" or another parade.) It will still be great in Week Two, but not as great. I don't think my explanation would matter to those who just don't care, one way or the other. That's fine. But your opinion doesn't invalidate mine, because just as there are many people like you who don't care, there are also many others who feel as I do.

I don't blame the O's for this mess - the game clearly should've been played on Wednesday.

[TonySoprano]

What is the big deal about opening on the road? Is this a Thursday opener tradition for Super Bowl champ or something? How far back does this go? 5 years? This is so stupid.

In this game, the Ravens will likely have to face a rival outside of their division, such as New England or Denver. Given that they only play them once during the 16-game regular season, obviously it's a big deal to get to play that game at home instead of on the road.

The Ravens were 6-2 at home, 4-4 on the road during the season. In 2011, they were 8-0 at home, and 4-4 on the road. They were 7-1 at home in 2010, 5-3 on the road. In 2009, 6-2 at home, 3-5 on the road. In Harbaugh's first year, it was 6-2 at home, 5-3 on the road. So over the past five years, the Ravens are 33-7 at home, 21-19 on the road. So yeah, playing a tough opponent at home is a big deal.

[jgibson24]

I really believe that most Ravens fans who are seeing red over this issue and blaming the Orioles or MLB are not baseball fans or true Oriole fans (I am NOT saying you fall into this group).

I would go further... Anyone who is blaming the Orioles are MLB are victims of the NFL spin machine and need to look at the issue with a basic level of common sense. The Ravens game should be played on Wednesday night. Everything else being brought up is a smoke screen to for the NFL to hide it's greed behind. The Rosh Hashanah excuse is complete nonsense. In a couple of years Rosh Hashanah will start on a Monday night in October and I don't think anyone honestly believes there won't be a Monday Night Football game that week just like there has never been any disruption in the past when a game was scheduled for the beginning of Rosh Hashanah. I find it disgusting when I come across anyone spinning this as something the Orioles or MLB are not doing to be cooperative when the entire issue is on the NFL and their refusal to do what they did last year - open the season on Wednesday night.

[elextrano8]

I'll tell you why I'm mad. I booked an event to come film in Baltimore the weekend of the 7th for a reduce rate ONLY BECAUSE it gave me an extra reason to fly across the country for the Ravens home opener. The last time we won the Superbowl, for some reason we didn't get the home opener as well, instead getting the 2nd Monday night game, to which i bought tickets and a flight, (as well as two 3rd baseline tix to Orioles home games for Cal Ripken's last home games), and after 9/11, none of that happened either! I was extremely excited about going to the season opener, and now am very annoyed that I have to fly home to film an event and get no Ravens game. I'll go to some O's games, but I'm already flying home for a couple O's games this summer.

Extremely frustrated...

To summarize, you are mad because:

1) You booked an event (it sounds as if this is job-related; forgive me if it isn't) as an excuse to come to watch a sporting event which was not, as yet, firmly scheduled. Or, to phrase it another way, an assumption, albeit one with precedence going all the way back to 2003.

2) This annoyance is reinforced by the fact that you were inconvenienced previously due to 9/11.

Please, please tell me that I'm missing something crucial here or misreading your post entirely.

[frankpembleton]

I love the O's and Ravens equally and generally agree that the real villain in all of this is Goodell.

I will say, however, that there seems to be more vitriol thrown at the Ravens and Ravens fans by Oriole fans on this site than I see going the other way. There does seem to be an undercurrent of jealousy, though, I suppose that may be fueled by non-Baltimore based fans. Both teams are incredibly important to the region. You may hear random loons talking about boycotts, etc, but it's hardly a pervasive mentality. I think there is a huge amount of over-generalization of Ravens fans on this site by quite a few posters.

I would also say 95% of Ravens fans are Oriole fans. Going the other way, probably 70% of Oriole fans are Ravens fans.

[MurphDogg]

1) You booked an event (it sounds as if this is job-related; forgive me if it isn't) as an excuse to come to watch a sporting event which was not, as yet, firmly scheduled. Or, to phrase it another way, an assumption, albeit one with precedence going all the way back to 2003.

And knowing there was a conflict with the Orioles game on Thursday night.

[olehippi]

It's done.....over....finis. Perhaps there are more important things we should be thinking about.

[Lester Freamon]

I love the O's and Ravens equally and generally agree that the real villain in all of this is Goodell.

I will say, however, that there seems to be more vitriol thrown at the Ravens and Ravens fans by Oriole fans on this site than I see going the other way. There does seem to be an undercurrent of jealousy, though, I suppose that may be fueled by non-Baltimore based fans. Both teams are incredibly important to the region. You may hear random loons talking about boycotts, etc, but it's hardly a pervasive mentality. I think there is a huge amount of over-generalization of Ravens fans on this site by quite a few posters.

I would also say 95% of Ravens fans are Oriole fans. Going the other way, probably 70% of Oriole fans are Ravens fans.

I don't quite see it the way you do as far as "vitriol" is concerned. I also think it is a shame that Ravens fans and the city of Baltimore are missing out on the season opening event. My bottom line is I just don't want to see the O's blamed for this in any way. It's completely unfair, IMHO. I don't really think that many, if anyone, posting in this thread really feels that way, at least not anymore. However, headlines, news reports (granted, mostly national) and the such still paint this as though the O's could have done something differently or were somehow holding this up.

I'd rather see the Baltimore sports fans come together, in support of both their teams, over this issue and how unfairly the NFL is treating Baltimore rather then be duped by the NFL and separated. However, I don't live in MD anymore and haven't for a long time. I fully admit that I may be reading this whole thing entirely wrong - especially at this point, but not so much when the story first broke when the "vitriol" was clearly coming from the Ravens side.

[SteveO]

I love the O's and Ravens equally and generally agree that the real villain in all of this is Goodell.

I will say, however, that there seems to be more vitriol thrown at the Ravens and Ravens fans by Oriole fans on this site than I see going the other way. There does seem to be an undercurrent of jealousy, though, I suppose that may be fueled by non-Baltimore based fans. Both teams are incredibly important to the region. You may hear random loons talking about boycotts, etc, but it's hardly a pervasive mentality. I think there is a huge amount of over-generalization of Ravens fans on this site by quite a few posters.

I would also say 95% of Ravens fans are Oriole fans. Going the other way, probably 70% of Oriole fans are Ravens fans.

No doubt. Boycotts are ridiculous. There are always a few stupid fans in every fan base the Ravens and Orioles are no exception.

I still think that what the fans who are MLB/O's only fans don't quite understand is that as a Raven/Oriole fan I blame the NFL first and foremost for this mess. That said however I feel as if MLB basically said we could care less about the wants and needs of our customers who also happen to be NFL/Ravens fans. Say what you want but if it rains like cats and dogs that night both the Orioles/White Sox and MLB will find a way to have the game played.

So basically they can do it if they have to they just felt they did not have to do it. That's fine and MLB is well within their rights to feel and act that way but don't expect me to have a positive view of that. I would guess if you polled any home game about 75% + of them would be self identified Ravens fans. That's who MLB should have been working to help out here and what is lost in the way they handled it. It should have been more about caring about paying MLB customers/potential customers than taking an opportunity to stick it to the NFL.

[Lester Freamon]

No doubt. Boycotts are ridiculous. There are always a few stupid fans in every fan base the Ravens and Orioles are no exception.

I still think that what the fans who are MLB/O's only fans don't quite understand is that as a Raven/Oriole fan I blame the NFL first and foremost for this mess. That said however I feel as if MLB basically said we could care less about the wants and needs of our customers who also happen to be NFL/Ravens fans. Say what you want but if it rains like cats and dogs that night both the Orioles/White Sox and MLB will find a way to have the game played.

So basically they can do it if they have to they just felt they did not have to do it. That's fine and MLB is well within their rights to feel and act that way but don't expect me to have a positive view of that. I would guess if you polled any home game about 75% + of them would be self identified Ravens fans. That's who MLB should have been working to help out here and what is lost in the way they handled it. It should have been more about caring about paying MLB customers/potential customers than taking an opportunity to stick it to the NFL.

Just keep in mind that they also have customers who are White Sox fans and much more weight should be given to their concerns then to those of NFL/Ravens fans. The White Sox also have customers who are White Sox fans and I think they also give more weight to their concerns over those of NFL/Ravens fans. To be clear, I am not trying to be snarky and my comments could be read that way. I'm just saying, keep that in mind when judging this whole event.

[crissfan172]

Because we're enthusiastic fans, we're being "big babies"?

I invest a lot of money in the Ravens every year. I enjoy each game. But the ultimate goal when training camp opens each summer, the reason I spend all that $$, is the hope of seeing my team win it all. I have a close friend pushing 80 years old, who reminds me anytime my team is close to a championship, to cherish every moment, because we have no idea when it might happen again. I certainly didn't think, back in '83, that it would be at least 30 years before the O's would win again! So, yeah, I'd like the Super Bowl celebration to at least last until the season opener of the following season. I want every bit of pomp and circumstance I can get while we're the champs. These bragging rights don't last for long, so I want to enjoy every second. I would think a passionate sports fan of any sport would understand that.

Yeah...now the celebration lasts until the 2nd week! You've been given an extension. Cherish it.

[SteveO]

Just keep in mind that they also have customers who are White Sox fans and much more weight should be given to their concerns then to those of NFL/Ravens fans. The White Sox also have customers who are White Sox fans and I think they also give more weight to their concerns over those of NFL/Ravens fans. To be clear, I am not trying to be snarky and my comments could be read that way. I'm just saying, keep that in mind when judging this whole event.

That's a very fair point. Take care of your own first is a reasonable approach. Unfortunately it just seems like a situation were someone was gonna end up unhappy. Like I said its the NFL's own doing. I just tend to believe that MLB could have worked out a solution that would minimize any impact on the O's/White Sox if they were so inclined. I think the benefit and goodwill they would have gotten for doing so here in Baltimore would have outweighed the potential negative.

[SteveO]

Yeah...now the celebration lasts until the 2nd week! You've been given an extension. Cherish it.

lol I have to admit this made me laugh.

Good way to find the bright side lol