It was August ’96 and I had just celebrated my 13th birthday. That August was different than any other I had experienced, though. It was the first year I had (outside of the first five months of my life) an NFL Football team in Baltimore to root for. Until now I had rooted for two professional sports teams: the Orioles and a football team that was 3000 miles away in the 49ers (I quickly threw out my red and gold for the purple and black of my new local team, the Ravens, of course.) The man who made this possible was Art Modell. He was the man who made Baltimore a two sport town for the first time in 12 years.
Not knowing what it was like, I was conflicted for the first time in my life when the Orioles and Ravens both played on the same day. I knew what the city was like on Sundays up until that point, but that year, and for the next 16 years, things all changed. Sunday’s in Baltimore were like Sunday’s nowhere else in the world. I was quickly becoming a huge football fan and, luckily for me, my beloved Orioles were also really, really successful. Life was good, I was a kid with no responsibilities and I now had two sports teams to root for.
How quickly things changed.
The Orioles suffered two gut wrenching playoff defeats falling short of their first World Series since I was born, and Baltimore was becoming a football town first and foremost.
A few years later, the Ravens won the Super Bowl and the face of the Orioles franchise, and the man who embodied everything that was good about sports, Cal Ripken, decided to retire.
The Baltimore sports landscape was changing as there was little orange and black worn anywhere in the city and very little, to no, talk about the Orioles on the local news, radio or newspaper. That was the time in my life where I was becoming obsessed with sports and the time where I was growing an appreciation for my hometown of Baltimore.
I was obsessed with the Ravens and despite their lack of success, I still loved the Orioles, but I was one of the few who echoed those sentiments. The once proud baseball tradition Baltimore had was now mocked locally and nationally and the Orioles were a laughing stock and viewed as one of many black marks for the city. Thankfully, we still had the Ravens. They sold out every game and were, and continue to be, one the most successful, classiest and well-run franchises in all of sports. It was the Ravens, not the Orioles, that represented everything that was good about this town.
Yet the Orioles still had a special place in my heart. I was yearning for the day that there would be a Ravens regular season game and meaningful, and God forbid, playoff baseball game on the same day in Baltimore.
Now I finally get my wish.
It all started with Art Modell and on the day of his death, everything finally came full circle.
So as the Orioles started the series against the Yankees in a match-up that will likely determine who wins the AL East and on the day they enshrined Cal Ripken with a bronze statue, we remembered that it was Art Modell who made this a two sport town. It was very fitting that on the day we honored his life, Baltimore become a two sport town again.
Right now Baltimore truly is the land of pleasant living.
RIP Mr. Modell and thank you.
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