Do Ravens Fans Care About Playing the Redskins?
The simple answer is yes, but the complexity comes when you ask why?
The Ravens rarely play the Redskins. They play in two separate conferences that only matter to each other in the Super Bowl. And in the Baltimore-Washington region, even with Charm City’s richer sports tradition, Baltimore has always played second fiddle to Chocolate City.
Take away the fact that all Baltimore has in the way of professional sports are the Ravens and the Orioles, and you are still left with a deep hole of nothingness for teams coming out of D.C. Maryland Terrapins basketball has more marketing effort up here than the Washington Wizards, the Orioles owner tried desperately to block the arrival of the Washington Nationals, and college lacrosse is bigger in Baltimore than Washington Capitals hockey.
It’s not that Baltimoreans don’t care. They just don’t know why they should care.
But what they do know is that the Ravens are a sure ticket for emotional investment. They’ve won a Super Bowl in recent history, they have two legends currently on defense, and in relative terms, they are worlds better than the Orioles.
Ravens fans will quickly acknowledge that their passion for the team is two-parts animosity from the Colts leaving, one-part having a local team to root for, and one-part having another pro football option other than the Redskins. The Redskins never cared about Baltimoreans showing up at RFK, because their money was in the District and Northern Virginia. Ravens fans haven’t forgotten that, and it shows on gameday.
It also doesn’t hurt that the Ravens have a blue-collar aura around the team, spawned mostly by Ray Lewis being the face of the franchise. But given the front office foibles for which the Redskins are notorious, its no small assumption to say that personnel moves mean as much to the perception of the game as anything else.
The Ravens draft well, the Redskins draft horribly. The Ravens tend to keep coaches around, the Redskins go through them like Metro cards. You rarely see Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, you always see Redskins owner Daniel Snyder.
And Purple City loyalists take pride in the fact that their team goes to work, occasionally talks a little trash, and has enough swag to back it up.
So yes, Ravens fans care. Just as they should.
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