Ravens-Steelers: what's wrong with this picture?
An 8:30 p.m. start, tailgaters sucking down beers in the parking lots hours earlier, Baltimore fans and Pittsburgh fans wearing their colors and jawing at each other . . . the Ravens-Steelers game Sunday night definitely had the potential for mayhem.
Alcohol was flowing and IQ's were lowering everywhere you looked.
But the strangest sight of the whole evening was Ravens fans and Steelers fans trying to out-do each other in the towel-waving department once the game started.
Steelers fans waved their Terrible Towels and Ravens fans waved their, um . . . well, whatever you want to call those purple and white towels the Ravens handed out to their fans.
Unlike Steelers fans, Ravens fans aren't notorious towel-wavers. Which is a good thing, since a lot of the ones I observed didn't have the whole towel-waving thing down pat.
Maybe it was the lateness of the hour, maybe it was the effect of all that beer.
But whatever it was, the Ravens fans I watched seemed to wave the damned things half-heartedly, as if they felt slightly embarrassed by the whole exercise.
I kind of felt embarrassed for them, if you want to know the truth.
Comments
the towels are embarrassing. Those obnoxious towels those pittsburgh clowns wave are ridiculous. why would we wanna be anything like that. Note to Ravens: NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!!
Posted by: wood | November 29, 2009 10:47 PM
Thank goodness, on TV you hardly noticed the towels. What I did notice was we played a 1 legged team both on offense and defense. It hurts me to say this but they played tougher, smarter, and were much better coached. This was our worst effort since the championship game against the Kolts 4 years ago. Even than our defense was great. Tonight it was medicore at best. Harbaugh and the players all agree they played great. Hopefully they will wake up by next week. Harbs is different this year. Maybe he is going out Hip-Hoping with the boys during the weeek. Any good team beats these Steelers at home by 15-20 pts. Penalties? Can't wait for the Packers. We need to straighten out now. But of course a victory is a victory.
Posted by: Rich | November 30, 2009 1:31 AM
I think the towels were the brainchild of Steve Bisciott. Had the call to go for it on 4th and 5 had failed, I think the fans would have been waving those towels at coach John Harbough and singing:
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye. Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye.Listen to me now. He's never near you to comfort and cheer you. When all those sad tears are fallin' from the Ravens fans eyes.He might be thrillin' baby but a-my love (my love, my love) So dog-gone willin'. So kiss him (I wanna see you kiss him. I wanna see you kiss him) Go on and kiss him goodbye, na-na na-na-na na na. Na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye [fade in] Hey hey-ey, goodbye Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye [repeat many times and fade out] Cause if he did, no no, he wouldn't make the fans cry. He might be thrillin' baby but a-my love (my love, my love).So dog-gone willin' So kiss him (I wanna see you kiss him. Wanna see you kiss him) Go on and kiss him goodbye, now. Na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye.
Reliable sources have stated the Mayflower moving vans had specific orders to pack the coaches personal items and to standby for a state troopers escort out of town should the Ravens loose this game.
The play of 4th down and 5 yards to go turned out to be the guttiest call I'd ever seen in that situation as I was expecting another boneheaded red flag type of play where we lose a timeout because we somehow didn't have the kicking team on the field. The play worked and now John looks like a genius tactician.
Seriously though, we found out that Lardarius Webb is a pretty good Corner back and Paul Kruger is a pretty good Defensive end. You don't see that type of interception from someone that wears the number 99. The guy looked like a D back on that intersection.
Hopefully, next Monday night the Ravens beat the Packers and Huston beats the Jaguars.
Foxworth needs to crank up his game, right now he seems to be the weak link on the defense. The offense needs to get more rhythm in their drives as well.
If the Ravens win next week, the final four games will be real exciting. The Ravens would have been a little better off if they had won by 10 or more points, If Pittsburgh wins the next showdown by 4 or more they win the head to head tiebreaker,
Posted by: steve2074 | November 30, 2009 2:49 AM
Not into the copycat thing, they should have passed out purple scissors.
Posted by: rojamojr | November 30, 2009 9:45 AM
What's next? A purple cheese head promotion.
Posted by: Rich M, Perry Hall | November 30, 2009 9:55 AM
Towel waving is stupid, like doing the wave. Only follow the crowd types like Pittsburgh wave towels. They remind me of the little old ladies at church conventions who wave hankies as they send off missionaries. It's just not manly.
Posted by: Bryan | November 30, 2009 10:17 AM
"... as if they felt slightly embarrassed by the whole exercise."
You nailed it there.
At least the towels were pretty neat this time.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 30, 2009 11:06 AM
I didn't like the towel idea when I heard it, and I still don't.
However, I must be honest ... there were enough towels being waved that it was hard to tell when or even if Pittsburgh's towels were being waved. At least, that was my take watching on TV.
Posted by: waspman | November 30, 2009 11:59 AM
The towel thing is an embarrassment, though I will admit that as I sat in the stands, the yellow towels were not as obvious in the sea of swirling towels. But this copy-cat stuff is ridiculous. Pittsburgh has their towels - fine! So why don't we ban the swinging of the towels in M & T Stadium? If someone (aka a Steeler fan) swings one, it is confiscated. We don't need them, if anything they are a pain-in-the-neck when you are trying to watch the game and a stupid towel is twirling in front of you.
What is so hard about this? Just ban them as an obstruction to other fans viewing and we don't have to deal with that Steeler B.S.!
On another point, I was waiting for the National Anthem singing to butcher the song again by changing key in the middle of it, and thus embarrassing us again by the lack of talent that the production department finds for this special moment at each game. For the first time this year (and I admit, I missed 2 games earlier this year, so he may have gotten it right then), he actually stayed on key while singing it (check the tape of the Colts game, he changed keys twice in the same phrasing!).
HOWEVER, I get totally disgusted (as do many folks in my section because it always gets discussed) when he has to stylize "The Star Spangled Banner". Yes it is a difficult song to sing, but why can't he sing it straight like it was written? He has the job already (apparently, the Ravens have no inkling of how to sing it or he would have been replaced years ago), why does he have to seem to audition with a new version every week? Sing it straight, SING IT RIGHT!
And by the way, YES, I can do better (ask the Washington Capitals and anybody that has ever been to Dewey Beach)! I am an original PSL owner, I have made these points before to the Ravens and no one ever responds, but I still care!
Posted by: Dewey Elvis | November 30, 2009 12:21 PM
Dewey-
I've heard you sing. No, you can't do better. Sorry.
Posted by: Frank Raines | November 30, 2009 2:22 PM
Towels bad. Never wave a white towel when you are trying to win.
Posted by: Jay | December 1, 2009 9:47 AM
Too bad the Ravens only beat the Steelers by 3 points and we had our 3rd string Quarterback in the game!!! See you on the 27th!!!!
Posted by: steelers1 | December 1, 2009 9:55 AM
that guys rendition of the star spangled banner is amazing. It's someone I look forward to every game. I don't care if it isn't "traditional." Its good and thats all that matters.
Towels were a bad idea but I must admit they weren't as prominent as they usually are.
Posted by: jemaine | December 2, 2009 9:00 AM