I think my coming here was inappropriate.
It’s all fine and good to try to blend in with Redskins fans; that team’s not going anywhere, they know that, and if you want to hop on the slow train to “not god awful”, the more the merrier. Ravens fans, on the other hand? They’re convinced that this is the season. They have all the pieces: a premier wide receiver acquired in the off season, a couple of monsters in the Rays (Ray Lewis and Ray Rice) and a quarterback who’s – improving (more on that later). On paper, these guys are comers, and when you’re a comer – as opposed to a been there or a no chance in hell of getting there , everything has got to be deadly fucking serious. I get it. It's fine. All I’m saying is it makes for an awkward setting for a casual man like myself to try to get their mingle on.
Case in point: No one’s talking, here.
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| Pre-game smile, I assure you |
Honestly, no one. There’s beer (check), fairly balanced numbers of men and women (a surprising check), and the floors are still sticky from the Saturday night crowd in the way the way a good sports bar’s floors ought to be, all of which should roll into a party vibe. Only this isn’t a party, it’s a Jesuit school seminar. The Undefeated Ravens (1-0) Manifest Romp to the Superbowl 365. You don’t watch the game, you study it. You don’t hope for a win, you wait for it to confirm what you already knew (the Ravens are some g.d. BEASTS). But as in every faith, the Ravens’ fans have a complicated relationship with doubt, and in their case, doubt is a third year quarterback out of the University of Deleware: Joe Flacco.
Say this for the Ravens' fans: they picked a good place to watch the game. McFadden's in Fogy Bottom is like a football carnival. Two levels. A mini-flatscreen at every booth. On game day the it’s divided into 4 sections for each of the team viewing parties (Green Bay, Buffalo, Carolina and Baltimore on this particular Sunday), which makes for an interesting dynamic - you're forced to you can hear other teams’ fans react to what’s happening in their games. The Carolina group is directly above us, and they seem to be celebrating every two minutes. Celebrating what? I can see on the sports ticker that they're getting murdered. Meanwhile, the Ravens game, while ugly, is at no point out of reach, but the fans are stress-eating the crab cake sandwiches in silence (which were fantastic, thanks for asking) and shooting death glares at anyone having non-Ravens- relevant conversation.
I can’t blame them, I guess. This one's brutal. Inept passing. Broken ground game.
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| Not Aaron Rogers |
Dropped passes. And Flacco looks like garbage. I wouldn't call this a do or die year for the guy, but my sense is that most who follow the league believed they'd know what they have in Flacco by this season, and what they have appears to be a very, very average QB. In any case this performance isn't all on him - there are many signs that this team may be far short of dominant. This established, and the fans’ expectations modified accordingly (if unconsciously), the McFadden’s crowd loosens up a bit. A woman sitting two stools down from me orders shots for her girlfriends, and starts chatting up the bartender. My buddy Julian and I suddenly remember that we haven’t seen each other in almost half a year, and start talking about work and mutual friends - you know, catching up, something that usually comes naturally in a bar. The tension in the room remains, however. It’s as if everyone had hoped Baltimore would take control of the game while they weren’t looking. Not quite. The game is sealed with a Flacco interception with 4:30 remaining in he fourth, and, in the closing minutes - as a final insult - Patriots fans (who have the section reserved for New England’s late afternoon game) vulture around us, waiting for us to vacate our stools – which we do quietly, because, what can you say, really?
Heading to the Orange Line, I feel as if I just watched someone get their first college rejection letter. They had the grades, and the extra-curriculars, which is why I thought they would get in, and now that they haven’t, you wonder, shit, should I have not been here for this? This suddenly seems like a family matter.And at the same time, this could be a step for the Ravens and their fans. An unmarred record (and again, 1-0) can be a sort of burden; perfection can be the enemy of success, and all that. Here's to better luck later on in the season...especially if it allows them to loosen up a little.
- K.C.
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