A Baltimore native says that Ray Rice scandal has shifted sports culture in his hometown.
If you’ve been to my hometown of Baltimore, you know that it is covered in purple.
By that, I mean that it is all Baltimore Ravens, all the time. Ravens banners adorn the street posts on the main streets, Ravens flags fly right next to the American flags in front of the houses, and Ravens jerseys are worn by teachers and student alike on Fridays.
The Baltimore Ravens aren’t just a sports team in Baltimore, they’re a way of life and their players are larger than life.
Parents are proud to have the Ravens be their son’s or daughter’s role models and for as long as I lived in the state of Maryland, that’s the way it has always been.
That’s why these past few months have been so strange.
Since Ravens running back Ray Rice was arrested in February, the organization has been widely criticized in the media, and rightfully so. In short, the good name of the Baltimore Ravens became ruined by domestic violence and accusations of lying and cover-ups.
Fans started questioning the team’s integrity, the Ravens became the punch line of jokes among NFL fans, and trash cans in Baltimore began to fill with black and purple No. 27 jerseys.
All this has happened while the Orioles, the red-headed stepchild of the city, have won the American League East and become one of the hottest teams in all of Major League Baseball.
The city that was purple became tinted a new shade of orange.
As fall began, Orioles banners hung from the street posts, Orioles flags hung next to American flags and students began donning the now very recognizable cartoon bird hat during school days.
Essentially, the culture of Baltimore shifted.
As the Ravens begin the early weeks of their 2014 schedule, the reputation of this team hasn’t improved in the public’s eyes. As a matter of fact, it’s gotten worse. ESPN came out with a report saying that owner Steve Bisciotti knew of the Ray Rice video weeks after the incident, but turned a blind eye. The report also specified that minutes after the full elevator video was released to the public, Bisciotti sent Rice a text message offering him a job when he’s “done with football.” Rice allegedly took that text message as a bribe saying that he would be promised a job if he were to be quiet about the whole situation.
After all this new information, will the reputation of the Ravens ever improve? Sadly for me and the rest of my Baltimoreans, probably not.
One could probably point to the Ray Lewis case in 2001 and say that the Ravens have become one of the model organizations since then, but it’s a different time now. There was no evidence then. In Rice’s case, there’s video evidence, there’s police statements, and more has yet to be released.
For now, my hometown enters the month of October in a strange situation. The Orioles — the team that was in the shadow of the Ravens for nearly two decades — enters the playoffs as division champions and a favorite for the World Series.
For the Ravens, they’ll not only try to win their games, they’re trying to win their fan base back.
ef684013@ohio.edu
@efelderstein14
