A Son, A Father, and A Baltimore Ravens Football Game

In honor of Father’s Day I thought I’d write a different sort of article today. This is not your normal article breaking down the Ravens; this is a story of going to my first and only Ravens game (thus far) with my Dad.

The way I became a Ravens fan is very unorthodox. My dad’s company headquarters was in Baltimore, but we lived at the time in McKinney, Texas. He brought back a Ravens Super Bowl XXXV hat from their first Super Bowl Championship, and I never took it off. Below is a picture of me in the hat, along with my two sisters.

That picture was taken in 2005, when I was only ten years old. Ever since my dad gave me that hat, I slowly became the die-hard Baltimore Ravens fan I am today. Although my family is from Chicago and my Grandpa and Dad remain Bears fans, I am the outcast of the bunch.

In early January 2011, I joked with my dad that I had never been to a Ravens game in my young lifetime and asked him if we could go to the Ravens playoff game, which would either be against the Texans, Steelers or the Broncos (because the Ravens were the second seed and were awaiting their opponent after their bye week). To my surprise when I got home the next day, we went on his computer and bought tickets for the AFC Divisional Playoff Game.

The Broncos and Tim Tebow beat the Steelers in overtime and the Texans beat the Broncos, which set up a Texans at Ravens matchup. We flew from DFW Airport to Baltimore and stayed in a hotel right across from Camden Yards and about a mile or two from M&T Bank Stadium. We arrived the Saturday night before the big game and then woke up early the next morning to head to the game.

My Dad and I were very accustomed to Texas warm weather and were quite shocked when the temperature for the entire game was 17 degrees. Seventeen degrees may not be cold to many, but to us Texans it was awfully frigid. We walked through the tailgaters and took my picture in front of M&T Bank Stadium (which is the main picture at the top of the article). We arrived to the game almost two hours early because of my high anticipation. This was the first football game I had ever been to, and it was a memory I will never forget.

Even though he was not a Ravens fan, my Dad even got into the third-down cheers, along with the other 70,000 something Ravens fans. Even though I could not feel my feet for almost the entire game, there is no experience like watching your beloved team in a playoff game. This is a picture of my Dad and I on the fan cam at the game. You can see me sporting the Ravens’ Santa Cap and the Ray Lewis jersey, and my Dad in the navy-hooded sweatshirt to my left.

Sports have always provided a topic of conversation for my Dad and me. Along with seeing our Cubbies play at Wrigley Field, this is my favorite memory of us together. I can’t thank you enough for flying us out to Baltimore in a week’s notice and making my childhood dream come true. Let’s go back to M&T Bank real soon.

Love, Your Son.