Well, another NFL season is in the books. Congratulations to the New York Giants and their fans for a magnificent post-season run and becoming this season’s Super Bowl Champions. With the season coming to a close, we’re approaching that time where each team looks ahead and starts planning for next year. No doubt the headlines over the coming weeks will center on the "other" Manning brother in Indy and the drama mounting there. Super Bowl XLVI will be analyzed and dissected more than a hundred times by media outlets around the world, and with the NFL draft just months away, the football season doesn’t ever truly take a break.
The start of 2012-2013 regular season play starts in roughly 200 days. The seasons will change. Many days will pass. One constant that will remain is football. There’s something I’ve been wondering about lately: is there any longer an off-season than there is in Baltimore? Hear me out on this one.
When I was growing up, I didn’t care about football. For those of you who have read some of my other ramblings, you’ll know my story about how I came to be a crazed Baltimore Ravens fan. I was a baseball person - specifically, the Baltimore Orioles. I watched every game. I knew every player. I even pretended to be standing at the plate when one of my favorite players was at bat. I’d swing my arms as the pitches came at me on the T.V. If they got a hit, I’d run around the living room imagining that I was at Camden Yards running the bases.
While many pro football fans around the country will move on this off-season to their other respective rooting interests, whether it be basketball or baseball, or whatever, Charm City has lost its luster in providing its citizens the chance to cheer on a successful franchise other than the Ravens. For me this means all Ravens football all the time. Like many of you, I’ll immerse myself into the NFL draft and training camp just to get that taste of what I miss so much every off-season, and though these things aren’t the same as watching our beloved Ravens play, it’s just enough to get me through the slower months.
Though the likes of Cal Ripken and Brady Anderson have been replaced by Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, I get the same feeling now that I got as a kid watching the Orioles. And for the record, I still jump around the living room just as much as I used to.
So, 200 some odd days and counting, Ravens faithful. In the words of ex- Baltimore Ravens linebacker, Bart Scott: "Can’t Wait!"