First and foremost, congratulations to the mighty men of the Baltimore Ravens for not only winning the AFC North in 2011, but sweeping it with a perfect 6-0 record. That’s no easy task. The AFC North must be considered the NFL’s best division because it is the only one with three teams still playing as the postseason begins this weekend.
Throughout this long season I have been critical of the Ravens both on and off the field. I have made it no secret that I believe the team on the field is capable of winning of Super Bowl and that off the field they no longer care about building their fan base. In my opinion, the fans have bought into everything that the organization does, for better or for worse. They have accepted more losses of their benefits in replace of wins on the field. I’ve said since August that this philosophy is okay, but only if the Ravens hoist the Lombardi Trophy in February. Just don’t expect them share that experience with you.
There’s no longer any need to go on about my opinions of the Ravens taking training camp away from their fans. I’ve babbled on about that slap in the face for far too long and I’ll let it rest until the summer.
After Baltimore’s 24-16 win, the team squashed another tradition that brought their fans close to the team. Typically after big wins, fans rush out to the Ravens complex at Owings Mills with banners and signs and cheer the team bus at it arrives from BWI and the players as they individually leave the Castle to return to their homes. It’s a fun fan moment that I’ve experienced a few times and a way for fans to show their appreciation and get up close and personal with the team. But this week the Ravens snuck past their fans and told them to stay at home after they came back from Cincinnati with the AFC North crown.
“To make this very clear. The #Ravens are not going to the stadium or the facility or anywhere tonight. No place to meet them,” The Baltimore Ravens official Twitter snidely commented on Sunday. This followed a tweet that informed fans that the Ravens will see them “at M&T Bank Stadium!”
@1WinningDrive
Baltimore Ravens To make this very clear. The #Ravens are not going to the stadium or the facility or anywhere tonight. No place to meet them
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This is the new Ravens. If you want to get up close — or hell if you want to see them at all — you better fork over $100 bucks and come out the stadium on game day. You’re not going to get anything free from this team and the coaching staff finds it inconvenient to be in front of an audience outside of 60 minutes on Sunday. This arrogant personality is overlooked by the Baltimore public and I’ve come to the conclusion that I personally will only accept it if in return I get a win on Sunday February 5th. Anything less than that and you’ll find me bitching about the pompous attitude of this organization everyday here on BSR. You’ve got a lot to look forward to.
If you’ve accepted this attitude and personality shift from the Ravens, please help me understand why. Please tell me why it’s okay to get less from the organization or if the wins help ease the pain. Explain to me how professional sports are more than just entertainment for the millions of fans that pump billions of dollars into these organizations and why they shouldn’t come first.
I’m proud of the on-field success, but the behind the scenes day-to-day operations make it difficult for me to be excited unless a Super Bowl title is in this organization’s future.
Zach Wilt is the Founding Editor of BaltimoreSportsReport.com and host of the BSR Podcast. You can email him at zach@baltimoresportsreport.com or find him on Twitter @zamwi.
Why is it OK? Because you can take it or leave it, no one’s forcing you to support anything. I’ll take a more successful team over your fond memories any day.
We’ll see what happens if they win the AFC Championship in New England. I’d think at that point there would be some welcome home thing. In 2008 the team arranged to come to Owings Mills Mall after the AFCC in Pittsburgh (though it ended up not happened because their flight got really delayed). Having thousands of fans at the airport is just not as realistic as it used to be (pre-9/11 days). That said, I do hope they would do something as it is always a great time and something really special. And if not, we’ll see them at the Super Bowl parade in February.
As far as the move to restrict access to summer training camp, I believe it made sense in a lockout shortened preseason. There was little time available for coaching the team up to speed by the start of the season, let alone expending time on extensive PR.
What is most important to me , as a fan, is that they win. If trimming public access time helps to that end, so be it, I will not take it personally. Is this the case here? I don’t know.
The Ravens just won the league’s toughest division.I am willing to spot them some personal time if it helps them in the post season.
John , you are wrong and Zach , you are right,,,,,,,,,,it is those fond memories that build a strong fan base,,,,,,,,,,,, why is this important , you ask ? Because when the Ravens have a down-turn and they will , the fan base becomes more important to the players and organization,,,,,,,,,,If you don’t believe this , just look down the road at the O’s , they pissed on their fan base when the going was great and when they caved in they didn’t have a strong base to turn to and look at them now,,,,,,,,,,,,you think it can’t happen to the Ravens , it happened to the Colts didn’t it,,,,,,,,,,bottom line to quote a player at the end of the road , the fans are the twelfth man and the players need them , the owners better not forget it,,,,,,,,,,,you can bet John Harbaugh is behind most of this , you can see it in his face , he knows he is better than us and shows it,,,,,,,,,wake up people , Zach is right……………
I must be drunk… I’m agreeing with Spy… And the worst part is that its the second time in a week…
Spy, have you finally seen through your assinine ways and are embracing The Intimidator and MGW?
I’m goina have to stop busting on SPY and tell Chow he needs to lighten up on him also…
I may have seen the light………
Thanks Intimidator……..
John, Jim, and Ryan,
You guys are the exact brand of fans the Ravens want. They want you to sit back and take it and not complain. This is NOT national security fellas, it’s a freaking football team that plays a game. Fans are what drives this leage, but if you keep putting a barrier between the team and the fans, it’ll eventually cost you.
As Spy said, the winning ways will not continue forever and then the organization will have to reach out and start doing the little things they stopped doing.
Why not do both…why not win AND be fan friendly, is that too much to ask?
You want to talk fan unfriendly- How about the hour long waits in huge throngs of people outside the gates every Sunday? How about the invasive pat downs that treat everyone like a criminal? A lot of people make it to the stadium gates 45 minutes early and then miss kickoffs anyway waiting in line. Their space and privacy is invaded when they finally do reach the front of the line. If you want to focus on the organization being fan unfriendly, I’d love to see you cover that angle more as part of it.
Going to games has gone from a fun thing to an infuriating thing at times. And how wants to sacrifice to pay to do something that’s infuriating? Things are fine once you’re in your seat (Unless some jerk is yelling at you to sit down), but it’s hard to just put the last 30-60 minutes of being involved in a scene that’s a lot of people’s conception of hell (huge throngs of people everywhere not moving and then some random dude feeling you up) and maybe even missing part of the game out of your mind. It takes a good quarter or two to settle down and stop being pissed and enjoy the game.
Personally, I can’t afford to go to games in the first place, but people take me along a lot. And they can’t stand what’s going on at the entrance gates either. They’re very close to just dropping their season tickets and watching on tv- and those are fans who’ve been with the team since the beginning through 4-12 and 6-10 and so on and so forth.
I know the NFL is pushing this league wide, but that’s not really an excuse, that just means the NFL needs to take part of the blame.
I know people will shout security and terrorism prevention at the top of their lungs, but you have more chance at getting in a car crash on the way to the game than getting hit by a terrorist at the game. There has never been a terrorist attack on a sporting event on American soil- not an NFL game, not an MLB game, not an NBA game, not an NHL game, not an arena football game, not a minor league game, not a wrestling event, not a boxing match, not a UFC fight, nothing.
Security is fine and even a good thing, but they’ve got to find a way to make it non-invasive and so it doesn’t create long waits in uncomfortable conditions. And you want to talk security– how secure are those giant throngs of people waiting to be patted down where you couldn’t move or run even if you wanted to? If someone were to pull something, at least in the stadium you’d have room to try to run away or to run toward the dude and tackle him to the ground. Outside in those throngs, you’re just a sitting (standing) duck. The only way to run away would be to start leveling people ala Vonta Leach.
Think this is a bit exaggerated. I haven’t missed a home game since 2005, usually get to the gate about 45 minutes before the game after tailgating and have never waited more than 15 minutes to get in (this is at the main gate at Unitas Plaza, too). Sure theres tons of people but it really is not so much of a hassle that it is worth dropping season tickets, as you say people have threatened. The craziest its ever been out there was at the 2006 playoff game vs. Indy. Even that could not have taken more than 25 minutes. I’ve never not been in my seats by pregame festivities.
Most of these things are standard operating procedures at most parks,,,,,,,,,,you know why there hasn’t been a terrorist attack at any sporting event on American soil , it’s because of this standard operating procedure,,,,,grow up…….
Wasn’t standard operating procedure until pretty recently, and there were no attacks. In fact, major league baseball still doesn’t have these procedures in place for regular season games, and they do alright.
Terrorism is a recent phenomenon , as for baseball , they don’t want to go to a baseball game especially in Baltimore as baseball is already dead in Baltimore……….
I think part of it is that many fans call out players they don’t like at training camp. I’ve heard it myself. This could well be an attempt at insulating them from that type of “abuse”.
Kurt , if their skin is that thin they need to find another occupation,,,,,,,,,,,we all know it’s Harbaugh’s skin that is thin and he is most likely behind all of this ‘avoidance of the fan ‘ syndrome……….
go cry somewhere else. this world is all about me, me and this city is all about what organizations don’t do for the people. until you hear their side of the story, find something else to talk about.
The NFL instructs every team on gameday procedures.
It’s universal.
Zach, where is your outrage towards the Orioles who not only shit on their fans but lose every year!
Mark,
The NFL did not instruct the Ravens to close up camp and move to their facility. If this was true, the Ravens’ crackerjack PR staff, one of the best in the NFL, would have let the world know that Big Brother was behind it.
As far as the airport/Owings Mills fan meet and greet, if the NFL dictates that, it just started. I’ve gone to Owings Mills or seen the fans on TV after road playoff games going all the way back to their first appearances in the playoffs.
The Orioles? Why would they post an Orioles article expressing outrage? Aren’t we well beyond outrage? It would be akin to reporting that the The Vietnam war is over.
Mr Spry back in house! Grad have you back Mr Spry. Now rets bust on Mr. Un-Fan-Friendry Harbaugh. This start cause Harbaugh want it about him. Harbaugh want he way and fans mean nothing to him. Ever hear any other coach tell fan on radio if he no rike it to find another team rike Harbaugh did? Chow no can wait for Raven get rid of Harbaugh the crown.
Hey Chow , I agree with you and I’m also glad Harbaugh has taken my place as your weekly crown…………
I think I agree with you, Chow?!?
All of these “changes” seem to take place when Johnny Hardnuts arrived.
He’s known as Buzz Lightyear for his cliches and robotic personality.
Why can’t the team win and be fan friendly at the same time? The winning won’t last forever, but the bonds you form with fans will. The Ravens should look at the mistakes made in other sports. While they have a rabbid fan base now, shutting down camp and putting an end to things like greeting them at the airport shuts out younger fans, the future of the sport. I know they are mostly interested in the corporate bucks, but you have to continue to grow your customer base…it’s basic economics. This team seems overly confident that their fan base is sufficient.
That’s what the Baltimore Colts thought, too.
Hey MGW , did you read my post above ? This is exactly what I said………….
MGW
I said the NFL dictates gameday procedures (pat downs etc..).
You’re right, the Ravens did decide to stop going to Westminster. They will have to deal with fan backlash that comes with it but let’s stop making it out to be some evil demonic thing shall we?
The Best Western is an absolute dump. The beds aren’t big enough for guys our size. The facilities suck too. Westminster survived for the 12 or 13 years where Baltimore didn’t have a team didn’t it? The team stated that there will be different things done to integrate the fans with the team. Will it be enough? Probably not for you and Zach. But then again, you two would try to find something wrong with anything they did.
The VAST majority of fans could care less about not being able to greet the team at the facility. This hyperbole has gotten out of control. You bring up the Colts? Really? You know damn well how ridiculous that is. You are WAY too well versed in Baltimore sports history to do that. Bob Irsay might have been the devil reincarnated. I mean, his own mother thought he might have been. So pardon me if I don’t think the Ravens are even close entering those waters.
And BTW, the Orioles managed to escape you and Zach’s wrath since the RofR days. The notion that they were an “easy target” doesn’t change the fact that THEY are in fact the team that alienated their fan base and continue to do so. In fact, it’s worse than it was 3 years ago. That’s hard to imagine.
I feel like I take a pretty objective view of the Ravens as we’ve had many discussions regarding them. Hell, many people would consider me pretty critical of them. But damn, you two can’t seem to enjoy a division crown even a little bit! And yes, that’s not the end goal and no it won’t be a successful year if that’s as far as it goes but even I can at least sit back and enjoy it for a bit.
The Ravens window of opportunity slipped away when they let Billick go. With the talent Ozzie has brought in lately they need first class coaching to win a super bowl , and this team does not have it.