A Different Thanksgiving

If you had told me a few years ago that I would spend a Thanksgiving outside of a football stadium, I would have said you were crazy.

I would have had to eat those words.

Last summer when the Ravens announced their schedule, I saw that they were playing the 49ers.  This was right after the news that Jim Harbaugh (Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh's brother) had been hired as a Head Coach of the 49ers.  I was on Ticketmaster the morning tickets became available to the public and in my search for games, I decided for fun to try and see if I could get tickets to the Thanksgiving game, or Harbaugh vs Harbaugh as I was calling it.  Well no upper deck sideline tickets were available, so I decided to try for the corners.  There were tickets available so I snatched them up.

That was in July.  The working plan in mind was I would likely spend Thanksgiving with my cousins in the morning and then head up to the game that night with CW.  Of course life doesn't always go according to plan, but it can come up with something more interesting.

A month or so ago I went to a bull roast fundraiser for one of the Ravens Nest organizations and I made friends with a few folks at our table.  I ended up talking a lot with CS and of course, being fans, you make sure to keep in touch with them, especially when you belong to one of the best fanbases in the NFL.

So then it turns out that CW has a conflict, and some of my cousins will be out of town, plus I was asked by some other friends if I could dogsit for them so they can go visit family for Thanksgiving.  All of that adds up to I'll be in Baltimore anyway, but now I need someone to go with me to the game.  So I check with a few direct friends, they can't go, so I put the word out on Facebook that I have an extra ticket to the Harbaugh Bowl (as it's now being called).  CS sees it and is interested, so we're set up to go to the game.

Now we get to the plan, CS knows other folks at the game, so I will be tagging along with her as we tailgate before we head on in.  I hear there will be turkey and all of the fixings, so my Thanksgiving will be spent in the parking lots outside The Bank, then going in to watch what should be a hard-hitting game and football at it's finest.  The Harbaugh Bowl is the first time in history that two teams are playing where they are coached by siblings, and now it's a Thanksgiving game on top of that.

There will also be no doubt that I was at that game, thanks to the planned FanCam: http://www.baltimoreravens.com/News/Articles/2011/11/Press_Release_-_Ravens_FanCam_Coming_to_MT_Bank_Stadium.aspx

You know I will make sure to be in my seat by 8 PM.

So anyway, It should be a fun Thanksgiving, even if it's non-traditional.  I can't wait.  I hope everyone I know has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

GO RAVENS!

End of Season

Well unfortunately the Ravens did not beat the Colts for the divisional championship, so our season is done.

It was one hell of a roller coaster ride this year when it came to watching the Ravens.  After their amazing run in 2008 to the AFC championship, they came into the next season with some high expectations.  After the pre-season and the first three games, people were already talking Superbowl for us.  Unfortunately, that talk would quickly disappear as we would hit a stall with our offense and some of our defense.  Compound that with a kicker who was choking under pressure and we started losing some close games.  On the other hand, we did show that Tom Brady can be a real pussy at times.  Anyone who saw that Terrell Suggs brushing of his knee and Brady crying to the ref for a flag (and getting it) wasn't impressed.

Later on though, we would get our revenge in prime time against the Steelers for sweeping us last year.  Some argue that the win wasn't real because Roethlisburger was out with a concussion, but they're wrong.  The Steelers were still the number one defense and one of the top offenses when they went up against us.  So we worked hard and pulled it off.

Anyway, so still, the season from then on became a nailbiter up until the final games to make the playoffs.  It was definitely do or die for us against the Raiders, and they had this weird luck of beating elite teams such as the Steelers, then completely blowing it against teams that should have been easy wins.  Either way, we won and moved on to the playoffs. 

In the playoffs we were on fire when we played the Patriots again and utterly destroyed them by the first quarter.  It was unfortunate that we stalled against the Colts the next week.

Still though, it was a good season to be a fan of the Ravens, since there were some exciting games to watch.  There wasn't a week that went by that you didn't see me wear a Ravens jersey on Purple Friday, and I always looked forward to Sunday (or Monday), even if there was a reason to worry.  I know I drove some of my friends crazy with the fandom ;-) I got to get to more games this season at M&T Bank Stadium, including my goal to see a live Ravens vs Steelers game.  I got to witness Derrick Mason's 800th catch, Ray Rice reach 1000 yards rushing, and Billy Cundiff making the game-winning field goal under major pressure in overtime to beat the Steelers.  Totally worth it this year.

These were my top plays to see this season (in no particular order):

1.  Jarrett Johnson sacking Broncos QB Kyle Orton on the very first play of the game.

2.  Ray Lewis nailing Darren Sproles at the end of the Chargers game

3.  Paul Kruger's interception in overtime against the Steelers that would set us up for the game-winning field goal.

4.  Terrell Suggs stripping the ball from Tom Brady and running it back to the red zone in the playoffs.

I can't wait to see until the next season starts.  The spring fan fest is coming up in a few months, and you know I will definitely be there.  I'll be watching the draft and trades closely because I think we're primed to have an explosive 2010 season.  Now if I could just complete my goal of being a season ticket holder by then, but that can wait.  I should be in a position to become one in the future.

Thanks for a great 2009 season Ravens, can't wait to see what we do next.

Hurray Ravens!

It's almost Saturday and I am getting rather excited about the Ravens vs Colts playoff game coming up.  I think we have a good chance to win, and it would be a major feather in our cap if we do.  With the intensity we played last week against the Patriots, I hope we can keep it up because that could be the difference between a W or an L in this game.  Plus Peyton Manning can suck it.

Found this joke on the Ravens message board, and it has to be shared, I'd totally do this if I could.

A man goes to the Pittsburgh Steelers ticket office and inquires about purchasing play-off tickets. The ticket teller replies that there weren't any tickets for sale because the Steelers did not make it to the play-offs.
The following day the same man goes to the Steelers ticket office and inquires about purchasing Steelers play-off tickets. The ticket teller politely replies that there weren't any tickets for sale because the Steelers did not make it to the play-offs.

This goes on for an entire week. The man goes to the Steelers ticket office inquiring about play-off tickets and the teller says none are for sale because the Steelers did not make it to the play-offs.

Another week of this goes by and the man still is asking the ticket teller about Steelers play-off tickets. Finally the ticket teller in a loud voice says, I'VE TOLD YOU FOR THE LAST 2 WEEKS THERE WERE NOT ANY TICKETS AVAILABLE BECAUSE THE STEELERS DID NOT MAKE THE PLAY-OFFS!

The man replied, "I know. I drive all the way from Baltimore just to hear you say that!"


GO RAVENS!

Latest Pictures

I am finally playing catch-up on all of my pictures and uploaded a bunch tonight to Flickr.  You can either start here, or click on one of the pictures below to jump* through and see whatever you want to see.


St. Georges Oktoberfest


King's Dominion


Washington Capitals


Baltimore Ravens


White House Christmas Tree

I hope you enjoy viewing these pictures :-)

*Photos will start at the beginning of the set and may be different from what appears here.

Paying Up

One of the many things I tend to get into as a sports fan is doing the trash talk with fans of rival teams, especially when their team is playing my team that week.  Perhaps sometimes it can get me into a bit of trouble.

A few weeks ago, the Ravens were going up against the Vikings and there is a woman at my church who is a Vikings fan.  Of course we are giving one another hell about who is going to end up losing the game and the conversation became a bet.  If the Ravens won, she had to wear a Ravens jersey to church, if the Vikings won, then I had to wear a Vikings jersey to church.  Well unfortunately the Ravens lost (thank you Hauschka) so that meant I had to pay up on that bet.



Don't I just look thrilled?  Not only did I have to wear a Vikings jersey, but it had to be a Favre jersey.  I also paid up on this bet the weekend that the Ravens were going to play the Steelers, so it did make me worry that I'd be bringing the Ravens some bad luck.  However, the Ravens would go on to smack down the Steelers that evening, and I got to watch it all happen at The Bank :-D

So I guess that one could say that I should really watch my mouth and not make stupid bets like this, but really, it was all in good fun.  At least I am not like the guy who bet his TV on the outcome of the Redskins game!

The Blind Side

I, like many other people, have now gone out to see what is currently the number one movie in America, The Blind Side.  It is based on the book The Blind Side: The Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis.  The book itself talks first about the left tackle and how it would become an extremely important position in football, especially after Joe Theissman's career was ended because his "blind side" wasn't covered.  A big part of the book focuses on Michael Oher, who at the time the book was written, was playing for Ole Miss.  Now he plays for the Baltimore Ravens and was their first round draft pick in 2009.

So the movie is based on the story of Michael Oher.  He was one of those kids who was kind of lost in the system and looked like he had no future until Leigh Anne and Shawn Tuohy take him under their wing and make him part of their family.  That's all I am really going to say about it because to say much more will give away the movie, even if it is known how it ends :-P  

The characters were well played, I enjoyed watching Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron.  Remind me to never mess with Sandra if I were to meet her.  I am surprised at how much different Tim McGraw looks when he's not sporting a goatee.  Kathy Bates was good as well, one scene made me go "you bitch!"  The movie itself was also well paced, I didn't feel like any scene was dragging on for too long, and there was enough going on to keep things interesting.  Just be prepared for some emotional moments.

If you haven't seen the movie, go see it in the theaters, it's definitely worth it.  I will be adding this movie to my "must buy" list of DVD's.

Jacket Hunting

Last Friday, I did go out to take advantage of Black Friday, and one of my places to hit was Macy's because I can usually find some rather insane deals there.  In fact, it has come to where my Mom and I will call one another with "damage reports" to see who bought what, and how much money we saved off of retail.

I'm perusing the racks, and I happen to wander into the sportswear section, and I run across this nice jacket at 50% off.  One problem though, I'm at the Macy's in Marlow Heights, smack dab in the middle of Redskins territory, and I'm a Ravens fan, so no, I was not buying it that morning.

I decided to do a little online hunting to see if there were any online stores selling the jacket for that price.  There weren't any, they were all at the full price.  Now of course it became my mission to obtain said jacket in Ravens colors.  My next step was to try another store, in this case, the thought was to try the Macy's at Columbia Mall since it was between Baltimore and DC.  I ended up meeting with my buds TB and CW to hunt for the jacket and possibly do other shopping as well.  I get to the Macy's and start walking through the men's section...I can't find any team apparel anywhere, so I ask someone.  It turns out that this Macy's doesn't sell team apparel.

Say what?  With the sheer number of folks I saw walking around in team apparel at the mall, there's a market that particular Macy's is not tapping.  We tried looking through JCPenney and Sears for the same item, but they weren't carrying the jacket.  I did run across the jacket at a Foot Locker, but they wanted full price for it.  Screw that, not when I can get it for half off.

My next tactic was to start calling other Macy's (thank you VZ Navigator business search).  I tried the Glen Burnie and the PG Plaza Macy's before I started to look at some of the entries on the list.  It occurred to me that my next call should be to the Owings Mills Macy's.  (Trivia for Ravens fans: Why would I think to call the Owings Mills location?)  I make the call, and sure enough, they report they have a section of Raven's gear.  Half an hour later, I'm pulling into the town center and heading into the Macy's.  I find the jacket in the size I want, confirm it's still at the sale price, and make the payment.  The guy at the register recognized me as the slightly crazed person who had called looking for Ravens gear.  Seriously, the phone call went something like:

Him: [Intro]
Me: Do you carry sports team apparel?
Him: Yes we do
Me: Do you carry Ravens apparel?
Him: We have a big section of that.
Me: I'll be over immediately, I've been searching for this particular jacket all day but I was stuck in Redskins country!

(Yeah, I get crazy when I'm on a mission for a bargain).

So mission accomplished, I got the jacket and I love it, and at a price that no one else had it for, even if it took some work to find it.  Macy's also is not helping me right now by handing me coupons for stuff, because I can think of a few more bargains I wouldn't mind getting my hands on.

New Pictures

Since I'm still stuck at home, it gave me a chance to go through my pictures and get them uploaded to my flickr site. You can start here to view all of the latest acquisitions, or click on any of the pics below for what you're interested in:

Capitals Games




Exploring DC


Baltimore Ravens Spring Football Fest


Baseball Games

Football Fest and Game

Just over a week ago I was in Baltimore attending the Ravens Spring Football Fest at M&T Bank Stadium, and it was a blast to be at.

I got there around 1:30 because I knew it was going to be packed.  Luckily, parking was very easy since the football fest started at 3 PM and most people had not arrived yet.  I parked and walked around part of the stadium to see where lines were.  I got into the line to sign up for an autograph session.  At 2 they opened up the line and started giving out the wrist bands.  I managed to get one of the last bands to get the autographs of Jameel McClain, Le'Ron McClain, Brian Johnson, and Matt Lawrence at 5 PM.

Then it was time to get in line to get into the stadium, I walked, and I walked, and I walked because by this time the line was almost halfway around the stadium.  Eventually I reached the back of the line, and then the ticket office door next to me decided to open up and let us in.  I got inside and walked around to get familiar with where everything was.  I went to the team store and picked up a few items at discount, then went to the rummage sale.  I picked up a framed picture of Joe Flacco that was autographed by him.  I brought the stuff back to my car before heading inside to explore some more.

I came back and walked around, exploring booths, picking up free swag before I made my way down to the field.  It was a blast to walk around and actually be on the field with all of the fans.  I snapped several pictures of what was going on before eventually heading back up to get to the autograph session.  I got to my section and sat and chilled while the draft was being shown on the jumbo screen.  Got up later, got my "What's Our Name?" poster signed, then headed back to the field to see if I could catch a locker room tour.

By the time I got back down there, the tours were over because the Columbia Ravens vs Mascots game was about to start.  The mascots for the University of Delaware, Papa Johns Pizza, Baltimore Blackhawks, Washington Nationals, Washington Capitals, and of course, Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore Ravens were playing against a junior football team.  It was fun to watch because of course wacky things do happen.  I will say don't mess with Slapshot from the Caps, he sacked one of the players pretty good.  Of course the kids won.

After that I watched a hot dog eating contest where one of the SFF staff members managed to win by eating something like 23 hot dogs in 5 minutes.  At that time the Ravens made their first pick of the NFL draft, drafting Michael Oher (T).  It was around 6:30 and things were winding down there, so it was time to take off from the stadium, but my day wasn't quite over yet.

A deal the Ravens had going on with the Orioles was that if you bought a ticket to the SFF, you got a ticket to the Orioles game that night.  Of course I went over to watch baseball.  The seat I had was decent for a $5 seat, however, things were hellaciously busy at the stadium.  It did take a while to find an usher to direct me to my seat and such.  I got through about 6 innings of checking every so often to see if the lines for food had gone down.  That didn't happen and I was starving by then (plus we were losing by 5) so I decided to take off for home.

So the SFF was a blast and such, I would definitely do it again.  I should have pictures up sometime this week.

Spring Football Fest

Today is the day when thousands of Baltimore Ravens fans are going to descend on M&T Bank Stadium to enjoy a day of meeting players, cheerleaders, and other fans while the NFL Draft goes on in the background. I have never been to one before and so I am excited to go. I'm hoping I can get a few autographs on my Ravens poster and find some cool stuff at some of the rummage sales as well.

It looks like it is going to be a hot day so unfortunately I don't get to wear my new Ngata jersey because it is a replica, and those screened numbers tend to stick to you in the heat, especially when your jersey is the color black. So it looks like I am going with the white Flacco jersey today.

The bonus is that I got a ticket to go to the Orioles game as well this evening, and it looks like the seats are decent.

Any other Ravens fans who read this, maybe I'll see you down there today ;-)

Progress

My paper is nearly finished, I just have to write one last section, the conclusion, and then my first draft is done.  It is due to my bosses next Tuesday so I will have plenty of time to review and edit it before sending it to them.  I want to polish it up as much as possible because I know they are going to review and make changes as well, but I hope it is polished enough that they won't have to spend a lot of time editing.

Once my paper is edited and polished I will start writing up my presentation for the conference.  There will be lots of practicing because essentially it will be timed and I have to make sure I can keep it to 15 minutes.  It may not sound like much, but I have to make sure to hit that right time.  One practice will be at our monthly staff meeting, which will help because some of them will ask questions and it will give me an idea of what to be ready for at the conference.  I have this fear that I am going to present and I'll be asked some really difficult question or be critiqued by an audience member on some of the methodology presented.  Once I write the presentation and present the paper in a few practice runs, I'll get over it.  TB might have to suffer with at least one practice run at home.

I got a packet the other day from the Baltimore Ravens.  I am now number 2928 on the waiting list to become a permanent season ticket holder (AKA PSL's).  It is a start, considering the list is limited to 3000 and was full last year.  This is one place where the crappy economy could work in my favor because if people decide to give up their PSL's, then people at the top of the list will be offered PSL's, and if they decline them or even take themselves off the waiting list because they can't afford PSL's in the future, then it just means I get to move up faster than I would in years past.  Here's hoping I become a holder in the future.

While we're on the subject, my new Ravens license plates arrived, so I'll be sporting those as soon as I can get to the MVA to drop off the old ones.  It figures that they arrive the week I already had my AWS day, so it will be about two weeks before I can do it.  Oh well, that's how life goes.

As for my car, I love it when a simple act of maintenance turns out to be more than I expected.  I went in for an oil change and tune-up the other day and decided to get the fuel system cleaned out since I don't think it had ever really been done by a mechanic except maybe during one of the major servicing intervals.  Well that thing brought out an underlying issue that I had a misfiring spark plug, so there went some extra cash to get those replaced as well.  I just have to remember to look at it as preventative maintenance and pushing back the day that I need a new car.  Besides, with the misfiring spark plug I would have failed my emissions test a few months from now when they plugged into my car's computer to check it, then I would be in the shop getting it fixed anyway.

I noticed the other day that the Midas I used to go to is gone now, I wonder what's up with that.  Did they end up driving away a bunch of customers or what?  I know after how much cash I dropped at that place I didn't feel like going back there.  I'm just hoping this new place works out better.

"The List"

"The List" is something I have wanted to be on for years, and something I thought would take a while before I could get there. However, opportunity knocked the other night and I took advantage to finally land on "The List." It's just one step forward towards my ultimate goal.

So just what the hell is "The List"? It's the waiting list to become a season ticket owner for the Baltimore Ravens. To be a season ticket owner, you buy a Permanent Seat License (PSL) for a one-time fee, and those seats are yours, now and forever, so long as you buy the season tickets every year. Well of course all of the licenses have been bought up at this point, so a waiting list was created for those who want to become PSL owners, and since it is limited to 3000 people, that filled up quickly as well. So I figured that unless I found a PSL owner who wanted to sell their license, or someone who had a spot on the list and wanted to sell it, I wouldn't be moving towards being a season ticket holder anytime soon.

Fortunately I was wrong when I was reading my E-mail and was going through the newsletter I get from the Ravens. One of the links at the bottom said that spots were open on "The List" I immediately jumped to the site and purchased a spot for myself. So now I am somewhere on the list and when my name finally reaches the top, I will be able to buy two seats for myself and be able to watch the Ravens as often as possible. It's rather cheap to get started there, I paid $50 per seat to get on the list, and I will have to pay $25 per seat each year to stay on the list. However, that money will be applied towards my PSL cost when I do finally get to purchase my seats.

I think what made opportunity finally knock for me is the economy, people are likely giving up their season tickets because of costs, so that opens up seats for new owners, taking them off the list and opening up spots for people like me to land on the list. Hell, there could also be people taking themselves off the list as well because they get up there but now they can't afford to be on the list. I know it will likely take a few years for me to get there, but when I can be a PSL owner, I will definitely be good and ready for it.

One More Project

To add something fun to my wall I framed a few of the items I got from my last Purple Friday. I think I might make this my rally sign and also get player autographs on it.

Goodbye Playoff Beard

When the Ravens made it into the playoffs, I vowed to stop shaving so long as they were in the playoffs. Unfortunately they lost last night, so off came the beard today.

Before:



After:



I was hoping I would get to wear it for another two weeks...

Heartbroken but Amazed

By now you have likely heard that the Superbowl is going to be the Arizona Cardinals vs the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's how it is after the Baltimore Ravens lost to the Steelers last night. I was out at the bar watching the game as it unfolded and hoping that we would have a Cinderella story on our hands by winning in our third faceoff against the Steelers this season. Unfortunately, I ended up heartbroken. However I have no hate for the Ravens or how they played tonight. Were mistakes made? Sure, but their heart was in the game and they gave us a great performance.

This season has been amazing for the Ravens because no one expected them to do what they did. Last year their record was 5-11 and so we fired the coach and hired a new one. On top of that, we had a rookie quarterback who by a twist of fate was thrown into being the starting quarterback for the Ravens. All of the national media pundits and even many fans had counted out the Ravens as playoff contenders this year. However, the Ravens blew away everyone's expectations by going 11-5 in the regular season and making it into the playoffs. On top of that, they got all the way to the championship, everyone counted the Ravens out, but they proved them wrong, and I love it.

Joe Flacco did amazing work this year for being thrown into the fire. He stepped up and showed that while he may be a rookie, he has a ton of potential to be one of the great quarterbacks in the NFL. He was coached well by John Harbaugh and Cam Cameron (Offensive Coordinator) and I think we will see a lot more out of him next year. From talking with many fans of rival teams, the common thing I heard was "I don't like the Ravens, but I like Flacco." People paid attention to him, and that's a great thing. I immediately saw in the pre-season that Flacco was not one to panic under pressure, unlike Kyle Boller, and that is something the Ravens offensive line desperately needed. After watching him play in the regular season, I was hooked, he's got a fan out of me. Now he's made a name for himself and done something no other rookie quarterback has done. He got to the playoffs and won two playoff games; any other rookie has only won one game. That's something he can hold for himself now.

Flacco, combined with guys such as Ray Rice, LeRon McClain, and Willis McGahee created a much better offensive line than we ever predicted, especially under the coaching of Cam Cameron as the offensive coordinator. Add to that our well-known defense, and we became a force to be reckoned with. What scares me a bit now is that we could lose Rex Ryan, our defensive coordinator to another team, and some of our defensive players are getting up there and might be looking to retire or go elsewhere, we shall see.

Despite what happened tonight, I am extremely proud of the Ravens and how far they made it. They earned their season and they have a shot at earning a ring next year. Pittsburgh had better look out though, now they have intensified their rivalry, and we are going to want that win!

As I was writing this, I was waiting at the Owings Mills mall for the bus with the players to arrive for a rally. There were lots of fans there ready to cheer on their Ravens when they rolled back into town. People were beating drums and yelling rally chants, along with plenty of "STEELERS SUCK!" Eventually a cop got on the loudspeaker and announced the Ravens would be rolling in around 2 AM since the plane was on the tarmac still. Okay, fine, I can sit in my car and warm up a bit. 1:30 rolls around and now it looks like 3 AM. At 2 AM they announce the plane is still in Pittsburgh so they are going to have to cancel the meetup. Lots of people start rolling out, I hung behind writing this and on the phone with TB before a cop came up and told me I had to leave.

I hope the Ravens set up a rally soon, I want the chance to cheer them on for an awesome season. 2009 should be a great year for us.

Last but not least, GO CARDINALS! I do not want the Steelers to get another Superbowl ring.

What's Our Name?

Since I had today off, I attended a Purple Friday pep rally in Baltimore. The cheerleaders and mascot come by, they give away free swag, and they raffle off an item as well, usually game tickets or an autographed item. I went to a Verizon Wireless store to try and win the Joe Flacco autographed helmet, no dice but it was a good try.

Later I went a few doors down to Smyth Jewelers, which was their next stop, and hung out there with even more fans. It was fun to see all the Ravens fans out there cheering for the Ravens. By the time all was said and done, I had a few posted, a cheerleaders calendar signed by a few of them, and a shirt. I would totally do it again if I had a Friday off during the season. Some people go as far as to follow the bus all day. I think I would get bored with that after a while ;-)

Wow...What A Weekend

This weekend was full of trying new things.

Friday night I met up with JS and his partner BX since I hadn't seen either of them for a few months.  The night was fine, had a home-cooked dinner and played cards and caught up on what had been happening in our lives.

Saturday I ran some errands in the morning before heading to the bar to watch the Ravens play against the Titans.  As usual there were very few Ravens fans where I was at.  There was one guy who had placed a bet for the Titans, so he was being rather obnoxious every time the Titans made some sort of play in their favor.  Unfortunately for him the tide would turn late in the fourth quarter and the Ravens won, 13-10 :-D.  Joe Flacco has now made a name for himself being the first rookie quarterback to win two playoff games.  I hope he can make it three, and then four with a Superbowl win.  This week we will face the Steelers, that will definitely not be easy.  There is some controversy about whether a delay of game penalty should have been called on the Ravens in the 4th, and to that I say STFU and quit whining.  Last week the same thing happened in the Dolphins vs Ravens game, but no one bitched about the Dolphins not getting the penalty.  This just continues to prove that non-local media give no love to the Ravens.

After the game I went down to Cheverly to see TB since we had plans to go to Baltimore and meet several of his friends.  We drove to Baltimore and went to their apartment, which clearly was an old townhouse that was converted.  It was very well built and TB was just all over how nice it was; he says he'd like to live in a place like that one day.  We first went to the Phoenix bar and had a few drinks before heading over to the Baltimore Eagle.  I had never been to the Eagle so that was something new for me.  I ran into another guy I had been talking with online who was a fellow Ravens fan and of course we couldn't shut up about the game.  TB and I hung out for a while before heading back home from Baltimore.  It was definitely fun to try a few new places that night.

Sunday morning TB and I got up and went to church.  In a classic blunder of mine, when I was setting my alarm clock, I managed to put my clock an hour ahead so we got up and got out the door before noticing that we were an hour early.  Oh well, we had a good laugh at it and it meant time for us to go grab breakfast before the service.   He enjoyed the service and the people that were there, and he would like to go back again.  After the service we picked up some groceries and headed to his friends house in Cheverly to hang out and watch the games and play with the dog as well.  We ended up going to the dog park in Bowie to let her run around and she was just all over the place; there is probably some greyhound in her.  After about an hour and a half we headed back and hung out before I headed back home (TB is probably back in Bel Air by now for work).

It was a great weekend, and I'd gladly do it again.

All Caught Up

I finally caught up on uploading my photos to Flickr. Included in my uploading are:

• Walking around DC
• Washington Capitals
• Washington Wizards
• More Caps
  
• Walking around Baltimore
• Baltimore Ravens
• Smithsonian Museums
• DC Monuments and Memorials (including drained fountains)
  
• Christmas with the family in Phoenix
• More Exploring DC
  
• Even More Caps

If you're really feeling brave, you can start from here and go through them all, but be warned, it's 135 pictures to get to the end.

One thing I have to say after going through and editing the latest batch of photos is that I really need to work with my camera settings more. One problem I have had in the past is when I have had to turn flash off, then I get the warning not to move, and of course it is impossible to keep perfectly still when you're holding the camera. I discovered last night a few changes made that problem go away at the Caps game. I'm going to continue to experiment with my camera so I can get better shots and not have to skip so many because they're blurred.

A Bullshit Win

NFL Refs SUCK!!!!

Ravens vs Squealers, we had that game, and it came down to one call on whether or not to give the Squealers a touchdown. While the receiver had their foot over the line, the ball was not over the line when our defense took them down. After a review, the ref decided to hand the Squealers a touchdown, that MOTHERFUCKER!!!! I WANT HIS HEAD!!!! AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!!!!!!!

I know that in hockey, the head of all the referees will actually e-mail individual refs with a critique of their performance the night before, complete with video to justify what he is saying. I hope they have that in the NFL as well because the ref that reviewed the play needs to be walloped upside his head for that call, it was a BULLSHIT call!! One could claim that I am biased because I am a known Ravens fan, but even the Squealers fan that was sitting with me called bullshit on the call as well.

Damn them, I hope that the refs are a bit more neutral in the upcoming Cowboys game. Speaking of, am I the only one who wishes that Terrell Owens would pull a Plaxico Burress and accidentally shoot himself?

Frozen Football

As part of the visit from the parental units, I took them to their first live NFL game.

My mom is a Redskins fan (*gag*) so when I heard that the Ravens were going to play against them, I obtained some tickets so she would be able to go.  What I wasn't counting on was the game being shifted back to 8:15 PM and to have a cold snap come through Baltimore.  According to weather.com last night, it was 24F with a wind chill down to 14F.

We started off by first hanging out down around the inner harbor for the day after riding up on the light rail.  I had to drop into the Best Buy for another memory card for the digital camera because I left mine at home (oops!).  Then we walked around various places before heading back to the light rail and then to the stadium.

Got to the stadium just fine, hung out in the Ravenswalk area for a while.  There was a game playing on one of the big screens so we watched that for a while before deciding to head in.  I got stopped at the gate because I had a backpack on, and apparently they're not allowed in the stadium.  So I handed off the blanket to my parents, and went to a bag check that was back over at the Ravenswalk, what a pain in the ass that was.

Got into the stadium and slowly made our way upstairs.  We hung around the lobby area for a while before I headed down at one point to do some shopping.  We wanted some seat cushions since we knew those seats were going to be cold.  The first team store I went to did not have any, but the second one did, which was perfect.

I went back upstairs and we got into our seats before the game started.  From there we would spend the night cheering on our respective teams and wrapping up tight in blankets to keep warm.  Victory was handed to the Ravens that evening with a 24-10 win.  Luckily for the Redskins it wasn't a shutout though it looked like it could happen.  I hope NBC got some good ratings out of that game to make it worth sitting in cold weather in Baltimore!

After the game was over we got back downstairs, I got my bag, we boarded the train and headed back to our station.  I walked Laura to her car before heading to my own car and headed home.

For a first football game, my parents did enjoy themselves.  I seriously hope that four years from now when the Ravens and Redskins play again that it is an afternoon game, preferably in October or November, when it is not so freaking cold.

It was all worth it though, I love going to NFL games when I can.