"Trip" Report: Baltimore Ravens Stadium - Ravens versus Raiders

[autorank]

Well, lets get the hard stuff over. This was the final score. And they had a right to taunt.
They're lousy offense beat our unpracticed offense and pretty decent defense. Aaron Brooks fumbled on each of his first two drives. They replaced him with Andrew Walter, the guy with the cannon arm from Arizona State University. Damn good player, poised. He got better as the game went on. Three good drives, Hell I'll take it.

So am I bitter. Nah...I got to watch Ray Lewis live, foot ball demigod that he is and we had a great time.



I'll say this. Baltimore's stadium is Paris compared to the Marseilles that is Redskins stadium (I'm near DC).

You get to park near the stadium. It's in a city which makes for cool tail gating and a general sense of reality. The food is pretty good inside (outside vendors are awesome). And when you go in they say "Welcome to the stadium and they give you a FREE program.

Now none of that happens at Redskins stadium. It's nowhere, its a pain to park, the food is prison planet quality, and when you get in they say, "move along" and you get to buy a program for $10 or something (I don't even check).

Now here's something for Raven's fans.

You are the "Goth Team." That's right. For all you macho, you are goths.

Think about it...named after a poem, "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. Double Goth points - poem and Poe.

Your color is Purple...very Goth.

You've got that weird plaque...which I like, but to have it carried out for the crowd to cheer...tres Goth.

And, those Diabolical fire works...

Here's your new mascot...enjoy...

[Awsi Dooger]

1. First system winner of the year

"Bet against any NFL team that played on Monday night, then plays a non-division opponent on the road."

That simple trend had a very good year last year, starting out 4-0, and begins 1-0 in '06.

It's particularly strong in the first half and the Ravens covered the first half on Sunday.

Yeah, Walter throws a nice ball and Warren Sapp is much more effective at his current weight, near 300. He really threw away some seasons after the Super Bowl by playing in the 325 or 330 range.

[BOSSHOG]

2. Its great to see

Aaron Brooks in something other then a Saints Uniform.

[underpants]

3. I went to the very first game at that stadium

I actually went to the second event there-a team scrimmage. I didn't get to go to the "big flush" (every new stadium has a day when they bring fans in to flush all the toilets at once to see if the system is working) but I worked, at the time, for a company that sold a lot of the pipes and fittings.

I loved the stadium. Since I was at a corporate tent it was really great. I took a taxi into town ($5) and you just walk on in.

Now once the game started everyone stands up and they kick off and everyone is raising hell...then I hear right behind me some very upset man screaming at the top of his lungs "SIT DOWN YOU (sexual act)-ING PIECE OF **** ****ING FAG (same sexual act again)"

I thought "wow he sure is upset at someone" and as I turned around to see who he could be yelling at I realized that everyone had sat down (I have been to several college games where no one sits down for the whole game). It turns out that *I* was the (sexual act)-er he was referring to. This from a guy who had his wife and son and daughter sitting with him while he was doing this. Maybe it was their Ravens uniforms but they all oddly looked quite a lot alike.

The rest of the game featured fistfights and language that made ME blush a bit. Kordell Stewart was not very popular and neither was the guy sitting three rows in front of me (they had the corporate tent beside us) who apparently, like Kordell, performed the same sexual act that I had been accused of performing-they knew all of this about the guy because he was wearing a Kordell Stewart jersey.

Being that I was with my bosses and big time clients I couldn't let the mutant behind know what I thought of him.

I wouldn't take my wife to a game let alone a kid. The NFL really needs to do something about that....oh and the disgusting Coors Light ONLY policy too.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Ravens' stadium is taxpayer-funded welfare for the wealthy.

We paid for it. And it gets used, what? About 15 days out of the year?

There's a reason football teams played in baseball stadiums. It's the cost-effective way to do it.

Football stadiums are a collosal waste of money. In this case, TAX payers money.

[underpants]

5. That is completely accurate

the supposed increase in sales tax revenue, to date, has never paid for the bonds that have to be issued for any of these stadiums. I am sure that you are aware of the Ballpark in Arlington arrangement that made W all his money-that is typical of all such taxpayer financed stadiums. But hey you can't be a major city without a major team....right?

[Captain Hilts]

6. Yes. W made his money having govt. seize private property for private...

interests.

At least the baseball park employs a ton of people. It helps the restaurants in the area, the homeless people who clean the stadium, the vendors in the stadium. Baseball generates an economy in a way that football does not.

Do a search on W's role in the Rangers stadium. There's a great Texas Monthly artilce that outlines it beautifully.