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old_at_heart t1_jea20um wrote

Reply to comment by pistonslapper in On March 28, 1984, Bob Irsay (1923-1997), owner of the once-mighty Baltimore Colts, moves the team to Indianapolis. Without any sort of public announcement, Irsay hired movers to pack up the team's offices in Owings Mills, Maryland, in the middle of the night, while the city of Baltimore slept. by DfcukinLite

Yeah, you can't argue with the success of the Ravens - although I'd like to see a little more success of the 2012 variety.

Nonetheless, the real rape of Baltimore came in taking away the team name and identity. It was as if some powerful people were determined to hurt Baltimore as malevolently as possible. And leave it with a football museum, as the estimable Paul Tagliabue, DC lawyer, wanted to do.

Of course now the Ravens have established their own identity, a cool Gothic one. But preserving the Colts identity would have created a link between Lamar Jackson, Joe Flacco, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Ed Reed, etc., with Bert Jones, Johnny Unitas, Bubba Smith, Gino Marchetti, Raymond Berry, Art Donovan, and all the other Baltimore Colts.

So this foul deed by NFL management ripped away a unifying identity from Baltimore. It's as if it was part of a process of dismantling the city - they hoped. But Baltimore had other ideas, fought for and got a new football team, and is now still fighting for its existence as a city.

It leads into my idea for a city slogan: Baltimore - we have other ideas.

We can still see the anti-Baltimore bigotry at work. How often do we see a gloating tone over Ravens' setbacks, and only grudging respect when they prevail? Now, there's Lamar Jackson, and the media tut-tutting the evil Ravens management for not paying Lamar what he's asking.

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