Sunday’s game between the Ravens and Eagles in Philadelphia was not only the best game of the day but the most important game I have attended and watched in the past four years. Eagles fans will always remember that game in 2008, which Donovan McNabb was benched for Kevin Kolb, Ed Reed broke the INT return record and the Ravens thrashed the Eagles 36-7 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Now that season, both teams made it to their respective Conference Championship games, ending in disappointment (something common if you root for the Eagles). Many things have changed since then, as for the teams and me personally. McNabb is gone and Vick has taken over, Haloti Ngata has taken over as the best defensive player in Baltimore and I have advanced drastically in my sports media career. I respect a lot of things about the Ravens organization; a first class ownership and front office, an excellent Head Coach from the Eagles organization, a RB and QB from my home state of New Jersey and the best Defensive Tackle in football. Now working for WNST, I take pride in the people I work for, with their dedication of their ideals, while I truly enjoy covering Baltimore teams as a professional. Now this does not interfere with my allegiance to Philadelphia 99% of the time (as both teams are in different conferences/leagues), but Sunday was a rare case that it did.
I was at that game four years ago, fully cloaked in Eagles attire, face painted and enjoying the tailgating festivities (maybe a little too much). As I found my seat in the stadium that day, I realized I was all alone; not a single Eagles fan in my section. So whenever I began to cheer, which was not very often, it turned ugly for me. Now I know the Eagles fans reputation and don’t even deny witnessing some of the horror stories, but we have pride in our team; something I realized Ravens fans have as well that cold Sunday afternoon. I was cursed at, called names and had things thrown at me (some of which by children and women); I took it all in stride, knowing I was in foreign territory and all they were doing was just defending their turf. I do not hate a single person in that section that day (I don’t remember anyone anyway but that was more a result of the pregame), they did what fans should do; they forced me out of the stadium. I do not hate any of my friends with their text messages, insulting me to beyond anything appropriate here.
Ravens vs. Eagles 9/16/12
But after Vick plunged into the end zone with little less than 2 minutes left two days ago, I could feel my personal redemption starting to alleviate. And once the game was over, I left the stadium with a sense of accomplishment; I could tell Ravens fans “have a safe trip home” and “start heading about an hour 45 minutes south on 95.” Nothing to extravagant, just a personal good bye to those in Purple Camo; a good bye to the worst sports experience of my life, four years after the fact.
