As the Ravens wrap-ped up their victory over the Patriots to land the AFC's spot in the Super Bowl against the 49ers, the comments and questions started.
Text from a relative: "Wow go ravens!!"
Email via Facebook from an old high school pal: "What can u say bout those Ravens Tom? How will u decide?"
And from my friend Bart: "Dang, son, you get two teams in the Super Bowl? Which one?"
It's a no-brainer.
As I've written before, I was born in Baltimore and raised a Colts fan. My dad talked so much about Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, Lenny Moore, Art Donovan, "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, Gino Marchetti, et al, it was almost as if they were part of the family. And remember that scene from Barry Levin-son's "Diner"? Steve Guttenberg presents his fiancée with a Colts quiz as a condition of marriage, only a slight exaggeration of Baltimiore fans' devotion for the Colts.
In our world, the Redskins (30 miles south) and the Eagles (80 miles north) didn't even exist. And certainly no one would have imagined that a team called the Ravens would one day be Baltimore's NFL team.
I left Baltimore for Sacramento in 1984, about six months after the Colts fled in the night for Indianapolis, and my timing couldn't have been better.
Just three months later, after the Colts wrapped up their first season in Indy with a 4-12 record, the 49ers – led by Joe Montana and Roger Craig – beat the Dolphins 38-16 to win the second of their five Super Bowl rings.
For a young man in search of a new football team, Montana quickly became my new Unitas, Craig my new Moore. The 49ers won three more Super Bowls over the next 10 years.
If you could only root for two NFL teams in your lifetime, it would be hard to top those old Colts teams and the 49ers of the past 30 years.
As 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh would say, who's got it better?
Weekend poll
What's the best part of Super Bowl Sunday?
• The game
• The food/party
• The commercials
• The halftime show
• All of the above
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