15 Years Ago Today

[vmax]

 

 

Ravens, Ray Lewis won their first Super Bowl 15 years ago today...

The 11th straight victory for the Ravens followed what became an unbeatable formula that season: relentless defense, opportunistic special teams and timely big plays on offense.

Trent Dilfer gave the Ravens an early lead with a 38-yard touchdown to Brandon Stokley. Jermaine Lewis clinched the city of Baltimore's first Super Bowl in three decades with a 84-yard kickoff return for a score.

That Super Bowl, though, will be forever remembered as the crowning glory for one of the best defenses in NFL history. After setting the record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game season, the Ray Lewis-led defense intercepted Kerry Collins four times and shut out New York's offense.

"This win is something they can't take away from us," Lewis said after the game. "We are the best ever, the best ever right now. We didn't just break records, we shattered them. We dominated, literally."

Baltimore's defense allowed the Giants just 33 total yards in the second half, and 152 for the game. The Giants were only 2-for-14 on third down.

In four playoff games, the Ravens' defense gave up just one touchdown, and Baltimore outscored its opponents by a combined 95-23 -- an 18-point average margin of victory....http://espn.go.com/blog/baltimore-ravens/post/_/id/25473/ravens-ray-lewis-won-their-first-super-bowl-15-years-ago-today

[Spen]

That was a good day. [/understatement]

Edited January 29, 2016 by Spen

[TBird]

LOL @ Dilfer - the ony MVP QB not invited back to the team.

 

He even went on Leno and said that would happen but all he

had to do to win was get out of the way of the defense and let

them win it.

 

Ray walked off the field after NYs first series and told

a shocked LB Coach Del Rio that the game is over. They

lost their heart already.

 

It was especially sweet since we were out of the game for 12 yrs

and had to blast our way in shooting up the place by ste aling a

storied franchise and then winning the trophy within 3 yrs.

 

Towns like Phill, Phoenix, Cinci, Buff and San Diego plus others

have never won. Then we get a 2d trophy after that while they

still suffer.

 

There is justice in the world for Ravens fans but that damn Jimmy

Irsay could have made it all right by selling us the name, colors and

history back which Art tried to buy.

[cravnravn]

LOL @ Dilfer - the ony MVP QB not invited back to the team.

 

He even went on Leno and said that would happen but all he

had to do to win was get out of the way of the defense and let

them win it.

 

Ray walked off the field after NYs first series and told

a shocked LB Coach Del Rio that the game is over. They

lost their heart already.

 

It was especially sweet since we were out of the game for 12 yrs

and had to blast our way in shooting up the place by ste aling a

storied franchise and then winning the trophy within 3 yrs.

 

Towns like Phill, Phoenix, Cinci, Buff and San Diego plus others

have never won. Then we get a 2d trophy after that while they

still suffer.

 

There is justice in the world for Ravens fans but that damn Jimmy

Irsay could have made it all right by selling us the name, colors and

history back which Art tried to buy.

It was 5 years and I don't recall us stealing a team, if that would have been the case I probably wouldn't have been a fan of the Ravens.

[TBird]

We were out of the NFL for 12 years - 85 to 97 after the Colts

left at the end of the 84 season.

 

Cleveland sure considers it stealing. In fact a lot of old Colts fans

didn't become Raves fans because we stole a team, just like Indy

stole ours. They hate Art in Cleveland just like we hate Irsay.

 

We tried to get a franchise team but Tags put us through so many

hoops rigging the expansion derby to keep us from getting a team.

 

He hated Baltimore for some reason and his daughter and grand

sons lived here. Still do. He comes into town often to see them -

usually at night so nobody knows he's here. He even told us to spend

the money on a museum instead of a stadium. A lot of us wanted to

name the new stadium - THE MUSEUM-lol. That would have been,

um, Poetic justice.

 

We could have stolen NE Patriots when Kraft tried to move them here

in 86 or 87 but the Deadskins blocked them out. Bidwell flew in and

out to see the stadium plans, so did Mike Brown of Cinci but they

were blocked out too. The Rams were moving here first instead of

St Louis but were told by Tags not to come here.

 

We didn't get the Ravens til Glendenning became guv and told the

NFL he was pulling the stadium money off the table. Any Nfl team

interested can have it but it's gone in 30 days.

 

Art jumped at it, so did Arizona and Tampa Bay. Moag had his

choice of teams to steal. The Bucs were crazy. Glazer was their

owner and tried to bring a franchise team here but nobody in

Bmore wanted another carpet bagger coming in to mess things up.

We already

had a local guy interested in Tom Clancy and Boogie Weinglass

wanted a team here. Tags didn't like him because of his pony tail

and said were interested in an owner that is conservative and has

a nice business somewhere. Boogie owned one of the biggest

retail chains in the country at the time called Merry Go Round and

was headquartered in Aspen but went bankrupt later during the

recession of the 80s and early 90s.

 

Boogie is featured in Barry Levinson's movie DINER, a must see

for all football fans everywhere especially in Bmore. It's about

growing up in Fells Points where these 4 friends met all the time

after taking their dates home. Boogie was one of Levinson's best

friends but they grew up in West Baltimore in the Jewish section

not the Fells where there weren't many Jews at the time. The

real diner was out by Carlins. The Jewish leaders reminded Berry

of that so he made another movie called Park Heights where he

really grew up.

 

I used to work out in Ballys in White Marsh and Boogie used to

work out there when he came to town. Herb Belgrade had Moag's

job at the time to bring a team here and took him to the gym. I

was the only guy who knew who they were. I stepped into the

hot tub and saw them sitting there and I yelled Boogie, Boogie.

Thanks so much for bringing us a team. He said, well, Im trying

to. I said was the movie true. He said everything about him was

true except following the girl on a horse out in the valley. I never

made it north of Belvedere Ave. I said that's my old neighborhood

in Govans and we laughed. Boogie laughed his ass off when I

asked Herb if he was still making crab cakes for all the owners.

He got really pissed. I told Boogie he rented a room across from

the owners when they had their expansion meetings and he made

crab cakes and handed them out to them as they went in. It worked

to or almost.

 

The night Tags announced the two new teams - JAX and Carolina

which is going to the SB Sunday got the teams and our guv who

was Schaeffer sat on national TV and cried his eyes out. Anyway

Shaw the Rams president told Belgrad you will be hearing from us.

Then the Rams said they were going to Baltimore but Tags stopped

them. He even stopped Peter Angelos from buying the Bucs and

moving them here by getting Glazer to buy the Bucs down there.

Culverhouse's wife wanted to sell the team to a local buyer while

the son wanted to sell to Petey who offered way more money, more

money than had ever been offered for an NFL team. The attys

of the estate threatened the son saying they'd tie his inheritance up

in court for 3 years if he got Petey so that's how Glazer got the

team.

 

Glazer finally bought the Bucs and said the buck stops

here, not Bmore. That was a slap at us for not wanting him.

 

Then when the guv pulled but money off the table he jumps at it

to get the new stadium and concessions deals. Moag wanted no

part of him and wouldn't take his calls. He wanted Art to come here

with the Browns. We were going to call them the Browns til

Cleveland sued Art and was able to keep their name, colors and

history which we couldn't when Indy got out team.

 

Finally they come and change the name to Ravens and Moag said

the buck stops here, not Tampa-lol

and he got his team - a SB team in 3 years and that is how you steal a team,

an NF team.

 

It was funny that Glendenning did in 30 days what Schaeffer tried

to do in 8 years as guv. Steal a team or buy one.

 

I voted for him because he promised to bring us a team and the

second time he ran because he's the only politician of my life time

to keep a promise. Oh, he also shut Jack Kent Cooke up in DC by

paying for the roads to his new stadium, something Cooke couldn't

afford. He spent his own money on the stadium. He got the roads

in exchange for his vote to let Art move.

 

And that stadium is a piece of shit. It does have elevators all the way

to the top - when theyre working.

 

Sauerbrey didn't care and was going to use the stadium money for

other things. Mike Miller, delegate from Talbot County raided that

fund for several million. He didn't care if we got a team or not. All

the eastern shore politicians wanted that money. It came from

the lottery earnings.

 

So Glendenning came up with the idea to take the money off the

table. If no one claimed it then no one was coming anyway but 3

teams jumped at it.

[cravnravn]

I'm old enough, but young enough to still have my senility, and comparing that prick irsays sneak out to what happened in leaveland, well there is no comparison, why in the hell idiot irsay even traded clubs with Rosenbloom is also a mystery, he shopped the Colts in 74 in Florida, I still remember the bumper sticker on my dad's car "Don't Tampa with our Colts"

[Spen]

Art was a nice guy and a respected owner; Irsay wasn't. Beyond that the moves are far more similar than they are different.

They wanted new stadiums, cities said no. See ya. Super super simplistic but anyone who says one move was just and the other one a theft is just being silly.

 

Anyhow, fuck the Colts. They've been in Indy longer than here.

 

Maybe NFL films could CGI Ravens uniforms over the Colts ones in old footage.

[TBird]

Art was a nice guy and a respected owner; Irsay wasn't. Beyond that the moves are far more similar than they are different.

They wanted new stadiums, cities said no. See ya. Super super simplistic but anyone who says one move was just and the other one a theft is just being silly.

 

Anyhow, fuck the Colts. They've been in Indy longer than here.

 

Maybe NFL films could CGI Ravens uniforms over the Colts ones in old footage.

Speaking of old films, the movie DINER mentioned above has some sound bites

of Chuck Thompson doing the Colts games. He was still doing the Os at

the time but retired and passed away. What memories going to the pool

or beach and listening to Chuck Thompson every summer. Chuck always

went with us. I met him about 15 years ago and he autographed his book

which was basically about all his drinking binges with his best pal Bailey Goss-sp?

 

Speaking of old unis, Levinson came out with a documentry film a few years

ago called THE BAND THAT NEVER DIED about the Baltimore Colts marching

band, now the Ravens marching band. Irsay tried to take the band unis to but

the were locked up someone. They had a court order but the band leader said

they were privately owned by the individuals and not by the club and he wasnt

telling anyone where they were-lol. The office just gave up asking because

there wasn't much time. They had to leave.

 

Frank Kush was the Colts coach at the time and said it was the most

bizarre moment of his life seeing them come in and taking everything out

including his desk and everything in it. No one in the bldg knew the movers were coming.

 

Irsay's lawyer hired a college frat from Hopkins to help the movers with

the boxing. A lot of them were from out of town and didn't care but

once they saw all the trophies they had to box up he knew they were

something special and something sinister was going on.

 

When Kush got here he heard that Irsay had been shopping the team

and got the movers and pushers in Phoenix to make a pitch it. They

met but Irsay did nothing. Then Indy hears about it and said what about

us, we even have a brand new dome stadium waiting for you.

 

Irsay still didn't move until that dumb mayor Donald Scheafer got the

imminent domain law pass, an idea from his assistant, that condemned

the team. The law was immediately passed the same day in

Annapolis and to be signed by the guv the following day.

 

That was just enough time for Irsay to sneak out of town in the night

and a snow blizzard.

 

Irsay always said he was the one that was ambushed and had his

property threatened. He wasn't going to move til then.

 

Yea sure, but he had a place to move to and the seats were already

painted with the Colts colors of blue and white in there.

 

We went to the last playoff game in Indy. I had refused to visit any

games or spend money there but when the guys said they were going

to visit Irsay to shit on his grave I jumped at the chance.

 

It was a weir cemetry. As soon as you drive in there are signs all over

the place offering rewards for any vandalism. We finally find Irsay which

is in an appropriate place on a hill over looking the slums of Indy. I

mean all the houses across the street were boarded up-lol. It was all

shittsville - worse than Pissburgh.

 

So we start to get out of the car and I said wait a min. This is a set up.

They have cops all over the place. There was an unmarked car on top

of the hill and a man pretending to be mourning the grave next to

Irsay but if you looked reallyhard you could see the outline of a gun

under his coat. There was another car at the bottom of the hill. Sorry

guys, Im not getting out.

 

It seems a whole lot of people from Bmore shitted and pissed on his grave

and the cops patrol it whenever Ravens go to Indy-lol. It's the most

well guarded grave in the country-lol.

 

I told that story and everyone laughed their asses off on Tony's board

and a lot of guys said they went out there to do that too but then

they were all pissed off when someone pissed on Art's grave here.

What hypocrits and I reminded them how they laughed when we did it

to Irsay or tried to.

[TBird]

LOL - The good old DON'T TAMPA WITH OUR COLTS bumper

stickers. I had one on all our cars. That's what started the move

and Irsay wasn't even here. It was started when Rosenbloom

wanted a new stadium in the 60s and was basically told to

forget it. St Louis did it to the Cardinals and they moved too. Now

the cities are quick to keep their teams although St Louis might

lose the Rams. The Jags in JAX is in even worse financial

condition and JAX got a franchise team over us. They knew they

couldn't match our offer of a new stadium plus all parking and all

concessions profits for twenty years, so they dropped out of the

bidding.

 

Then Tags went down there and said to re-enter or he'd have to

give the ball to Baltimore. They knew then they had the team.

Thev'ye kept thousands of upper deck seats covered because they

can't sell them. They never have sellouts and get blacked out of

games on TV.

 

Back to the bumper stickers, Rosey played an exhibition game in

Tampa vs the Steelers around 1969 or 70. There was no hate for them

in those days because they always lost-lol. They lost for 50 years

before winning.

 

It was a game in which Bubba Smith busted his knee when he

stumbled into the chains of the chain gang on the side lines. Rick

Volk, our Ed Reed of the day, intercepted a pass and Bubba was

blocking for him and the play was pushed out of bounds and he

ran into the chains getting his knee twisted up bad. He was never

the same after that.

 

But Rosey was making his good will tour shopping the team around.

Irsay knew and did the same thing as soon as he got here and

couldn't get a new stadium.

 

Rosey wanted the NFL to expand and to name Tampa as a city and

he was moving the Colts there and Pete Rozelle the comish basically

told him to go to hell. We're not a nomad league and nobody is moving

anywhere.

 

So Rosey's lawyer puts him in touch with Hugh Culverhouse the famous

tax attorney in Tampa. He engineered the trade with Irsay for the

Rams which would be bought by Irsay.

 

Irsay was known by Joe Thomas, the GM and Ozzie of his day who put

together Shula's Dolphins SB teams and later built the Colts with the

Sack Pack and Bert Jones, Lydell Mitchell and Roger Carr on offense.

He also left Walter Peyton on the board because they had Mitchell who

became the best runner in history while Colts drafted a lineman-lol.

 

Back to Thomas, as a finders fee,

Thomas would be the GM for Colts. And when the NFL did expand

Pete remembered that game in Tampa and gave them a franchise and

Culverhouse, the tax atty became it's owner. See all the connections

here.

 

Forbes and the Wall Street Journal called the swap the worse trade in

business history. Irsay was trading the 2d largest city for the 24th largest.

He obviously failed math in school but Irsay always said the Colts were the

team he wanted the most and could have kept the Rams after he bought

them. He even named the name of his construction company to Colt

Construction. He won the air conditioning and ventalization contract for

all of Disney World when it was built. He would later lose his company

after selling it to a conglomerate but he stayed on as president. The

company that bought it was embarrassed by his threats and acting

in Baltimore and shopping the team that they basically fired him from

his own company-lol.

 

When he got to Indy the Colts became his only business but he loved

the name because he took so much heat from it that he was never

giving it back and made Jimmy to

promise he never would and he never did telling Art he could buy it

for $25M which Art didn't have.

 

So back to the Tampa stickers, all Colts fans in Bmore

got all these stickers on their cars but that's how all the shopping

got started.

 

When he didn't get a new stadium Rosey said Im going to teach

Baltimore a lesson and he did and it was his home town but he

didn't give a shit.

 

He swindled the family business from his siblings. He father owned

a denim pants factory. He had 4 sons and a daughter and they were

all to own it when he died. He loved Rosey who took good care of him

when he was sick and dying and got him to change the will.

 

His dad died and Rosey kicked his siblings out. He expanded the

factory to making denim shirts and took over the industry. He was

ruthless but had a weakness for gambling. He owed Vegas a lot

of money.

 

Rosey, an expert swimmer even at 70, drowned off his beach front

estate in Florida and Arty Donovan

called Unitas and said mafia frogmen just got Rosey. There was a

police investigation and his wife was even questioned which upset

her. She got the team and promptly remarried before Rosey's body

was cold.

 

She was a stripper when Rosey met her and a damn good looking

women. She was great looking at middle age and did all those

American Express commercials back in the 80s and 90s.

 

I wrote her a letter and said thanks for moving the Rams here and told

her I had a Baltimore Rams t-shirt and coffee mug. Never heard from

her as the Rams never came. I also have a Baltimore Cardinals

t-shirt and hat-lol.

 

There was also the incident about the SB 5 trophy. Rosey stole it and

took it with him to LA. Everything was to go to Irsay including all

trophies and memorabilia. Irsay was furious and demanded that Rozelle

get it back but the comish was afraid of Rosey so he ordered the only

replica ever made of the SB trophy.

 

It's now in Baltimore in the sports museum. Colts gave it back to the

city and a lot of the memorabilia in exchange to drop the law suit vs

them and they promised to vote for Baltimore to get the expansion

team.

 

The original SB 5 trophy was last seen in Georgia's sun room. She's

now dead and her daughter sold the Rams, very smart, so she

probably has the trophy some where.

[cravnravn]

Speaking of old films, the movie DINER mentioned above has some sound bites

of Chuck Thompson doing the Colts games. He was still doing the Os at

the time but retired and passed away. What memories going to the pool

or beach and listening to Chuck Thompson every summer. Chuck always

went with us. I met him about 15 years ago and he autographed his book

which was basically about all his drinking binges with his best pal Bailey Goss-sp?

 

Speaking of old unis, Levinson came out with a documentry film a few years

ago called THE BAND THAT NEVER DIED about the Baltimore Colts marching

band, now the Ravens marching band. Irsay tried to take the band unis to but

the were locked up someone. They had a court order but the band leader said

they were privately owned by the individuals and not by the club and he wasnt

telling anyone where they were-lol. The office just gave up asking because

there wasn't much time. They had to leave.

 

Frank Kush was the Colts coach at the time and said it was the most

bizarre moment of his life seeing them come in and taking everything out

including his desk and everything in it. No one in the bldg knew the movers were coming.

 

Irsay's lawyer hired a college frat from Hopkins to help the movers with

the boxing. A lot of them were from out of town and didn't care but

once they saw all the trophies they had to box up he knew they were

something special and something sinister was going on.

 

When Kush got here he heard that Irsay had been shopping the team

and got the movers and pushers in Phoenix to make a pitch it. They

met but Irsay did nothing. Then Indy hears about it and said what about

us, we even have a brand new dome stadium waiting for you.

 

Irsay still didn't move until that dumb mayor Donald Scheafer got the

imminent domain law pass, an idea from his assistant, that condemned

the team. The law was immediately passed the same day in

Annapolis and to be signed by the guv the following day.

 

That was just enough time for Irsay to sneak out of town in the night

and a snow blizzard.

 

Irsay always said he was the one that was ambushed and had his

property threatened. He wasn't going to move til then.

 

Yea sure, but he had a place to move to and the seats were already

painted with the Colts colors of blue and white in there.

 

We went to the last playoff game in Indy. I had refused to visit any

games or spend money there but when the guys said they were going

to visit Irsay to shit on his grave I jumped at the chance.

 

It was a weir cemetry. As soon as you drive in there are signs all over

the place offering rewards for any vandalism. We finally find Irsay which

is in an appropriate place on a hill over looking the slums of Indy. I

mean all the houses across the street were boarded up-lol. It was all

shittsville - worse than Pissburgh.

 

So we start to get out of the car and I said wait a min. This is a set up.

They have cops all over the place. There was an unmarked car on top

of the hill and a man pretending to be mourning the grave next to

Irsay but if you looked reallyhard you could see the outline of a gun

under his coat. There was another car at the bottom of the hill. Sorry

guys, Im not getting out.

 

It seems a whole lot of people from Bmore shitted and pissed on his grave

and the cops patrol it whenever Ravens go to Indy-lol. It's the most

well guarded grave in the country-lol.

 

I told that story and everyone laughed their asses off on Tony's board

and a lot of guys said they went out there to do that too but then

they were all pissed off when someone pissed on Art's grave here.

What hypocrits and I reminded them how they laughed when we did it

to Irsay or tried to.

I also went to Indy and had the same thing happen, there were too many people around his site, I had local Colts fans take me out there.

 

I've had that discussion a few times as to the whereabouts of SBV trophy. I figured that bitch Georgia had it hidden.

[cravnravn]

 

Speaking of old unis, Levinson came out with a documentry film a few years

ago called THE BAND THAT NEVER DIED about the Baltimore Colts marching

band, now the Ravens marching band. Irsay tried to take the band unis to but

the were locked up someone. They had a court order but the band leader said

they were privately owned by the individuals and not by the club and he wasnt

telling anyone where they were-lol. The office just gave up asking because

there wasn't much time. They had to leave.

 

I delivered every one of those uniforms to Zienmanns house in jarretsville, my truck was jammed backed from front to back. Of coarse I make his house my first stop and nobody's home, thank goodness I knew where his wife worked so I could get that bulk off my truck.

[cravnravn]

Art was a nice guy and a respected owner; Irsay wasn't. Beyond that the moves are far more similar than they are different.

They wanted new stadiums, cities said no. See ya. Super super simplistic but anyone who says one move was just and the other one a theft is just being silly.

Anyhow, fuck the Colts. They've been in Indy longer than here.

Maybe NFL films could CGI Ravens uniforms over the Colts ones in old footage.

Explain how its silly, the theft was just that, it was a sneak out in the middle of the night, Cleveland's move was an advertised decision, Art didn't just wake up one morning in 1996 and decide hey we moving pack your shit we outta here. The govt officials ignored the man's request for a new stadium and instead used funds to build the Rock n Roll HOF. That city had a years notification that modell was leaving.

 

Where our knucklehead owner continually lied, denied any question that he wanted to move the team, bitched about a stadium that was only 20 years old at the time, and then snuck out of town in the middle of the night.

[TBird]

That's about how long a stadium lasts with all the new inventions

like sky boxes which Memorial Stadium didn't have plus it was

outdated before it was even built with many poles obstructing

views. The new stadium has none of that and all the seats are

closer to the field.

 

Jimmy got a new dome a few years ago which was just about 20

years or so. He threatened to move to LA. The cities are now

quick to build.

 

Bob said he could have made more money staying in Bmore but

in the end he became one of the richest owners in that stadiums.

 

When he bought the team he paid $19M for it and Rosey told him

it would be worth $100,000 in 10 years. Today, Colts are worth

a little over $1B partly due to the new dome and its revenues.

 

I guess Bisciotti will want a new one in about 5 years or so. He

just got millions in updrades to Ravens Stadium.

[thundercleetz]

Why didn't the state make more of a stink to keep the Colts history and name? I find it hard to believe they would drop a lawsuit in favor of a handshake agreement.

 

I don't care that the Colts left, or that we lost out on an expansion franchise in the early 90s. We were saved from having either Irsay or Angelos as our owner. However, it would be cool to have the Colts history in Baltimore as part of the Ravens history.

 

The Charlotte Hornets (formerly Bobcats) and the New Orleans Pelicans (formerly Hornets) of the NBA recently made a deal where Charotte got back the Hornets history when they were in Charlotte, and the Pelicans kept the Hornets history when they were in New Orleans. Seemed like a win-win for both cities and franchises. Of course, both cities have different owners now.

[Spen]

Explain how its silly, the theft was just that, it was a sneak out in the middle of the night, Cleveland's move was an advertised decision, Art didn't just wake up one morning in 1996 and decide hey we moving pack your shit we outta here. The govt officials ignored the man's request for a new stadium and instead used funds to build the Rock n Roll HOF. That city had a years notification that modell was leaving.

Where our knucklehead owner continually lied, denied any question that he wanted to move the team, bitched about a stadium that was only 20 years old at the time, and then snuck out of town in the middle of the night.

Cleveland's move want exactly advertised. The move was a done deal before most people even knee it was a possibility. Kind of sneaky.

 

Our officials ignored new stadium request and lease changes for years. Irsay was a drunken liar but it was known her was looking for a new stadium for years and years. Seriously, look up how much of game day revenue, parking and concessions, went to the Orioles. It was an awful deal, and they wouldn't change it. That directly affects the value of the franchise.

 

Then the state begins passing a law that might mean they could take the team away from him. Irsay leaves before its passed. The government feigns surprise.

[TBird]

Irsay said he would have made more money staying in Bmore

but had to get the hell out when the state passed the domain

law. He had a place to go to.

 

Denver figures in all this too with Elway now the GM. Irsay took a lot of

heat for trading Elway for a lineman but Elway said he would never

play in Baltimore. The Yankees offered him a contract in the minor

leagues but he was just a slap hitter with a strong arm. He would

have never toiled in the bushes when he could have made millions

in football.

 

The problem was with Kush who was the Colts coach. Johns father

who was a college coach hated Kush. Maybe he stole some recruits from

Jack but Jack wasn't about to let his son play for Kush. John always

said it wasn't about Baltimore but Kush.

 

I think OAK offered Irsay 3 high draft picks including 2 #1s and Irsay

turned them down. It wasn't til the last min he caved in and made the

deal. He actually drafted Elway to call his bluff but Elway still didn't

sign.

 

Then Irsay caved in but his GM whom he didn't even consult said

Elway's pen was raised and was going to sign when Irsay caved in.

Accorsi the Colts GM.

 

Irsay hated John Steadman and Jackman of the Sun for crucifying him

and actually blamed them for leaving when he got to Indy. Steadman

went to the first game out there and was working in the press box

when Irsay barged in cussing him out and saying how does it feel

now not to have a team. Local reporters were shocked. They just

saw Irsay in the flesh.

 

Elway wouldn't have stopped the move. Irsay was determined to

leave since he got here and would have taken Elway with him had

he signed.

 

But we've always hated Elway and that smug look on him and we

always root vs Denver. Elway became a good GM though and built

this SB team in Ozzie Newsome fashion. This could be Elways

crowning moment getting a ring as a GM.

 

GO PANTHERS.

 

BTW, they have a former Baltimore Colt as an owner - Richardson.

He was a WR here during the 59 Chamionship victory vs NY. He

schocked teammates not showing up in 1960 but stayed home flipping

burgers in a new fast food called Hardees. He used his $6,000 earnings

to buy the franchise and kept buying restaurants including one called

Dennys which he owned when he got the Panthers.

 

He's the only player owner in NFL history to be a player and

owner, well except for maybe Halas.

Not sure if he played in NFL.

[thundercleetz]

TBird, did you see the 30 for 30 Elway to Marino?

 

Major botch job by all involved on the Colts side, from Accorsi to Irsay. Accorsi was young and inexperienced. He regretted not accepting any of the multiple offers and taking Marino. Accorsi got plenty of sufficient offers. Elway's agent even brokered some great offers for him. Accorsi just couldn't pull the trigger. On draft day Accorsi had full autonomy. After draft day Irsay lost patience and intervened. Accorsi learned his lesson and did not hesitate to trade for Eli Manning in 2003.

 

Whereas Elway hated Kush, Marino liked him. Kush coached Marino at the Senior Bowl and they both had extremely competitive personalities. Marino wanted a guy who would push him like Kush.

 

The Raiders would have met Accorsi's insane demands for Elway, and the Colts would have drafted Marino. However, Al Davis was busy suing the NFL about moving to LA and had not had time to scout Elway. Elway was the perfect Al Davis player: athletic, flair, huge arm strength, SoCal kid. Davis couldn't pull the trigger because he hadn't done his homework. Of course, there were those that believe the NFL didn't want the Raiders to get Elway.

 

Not only did Accorsi regret not getting Marino, Dan Rooney from the Steelers regretted passing on him big time. Marino grew up, went to high school and college in Pittsburgh. Steelers could have been a dynasty with Marino. Rooney said "when I get to the Pearly Gates the first thing my dad will say to me is 'Why didn't you draft Marino?'" Ironically Marino and the Dolphins beat the Steelers in the 1984 AFC Championship.

 

As far as the Yankees and Elway. Steinbrenner loved Elway. Reportedly Steinbrenner in a management meeting penciled in Elway and Don Mattingly as starters for his 1985 team (two years from then) and said we are building around these guys. Steinbrenner didn't even make Elway return his $140k signing bonus. I have no doubt Elway would have taken at least a year off of football.

[TBird]

No, I didn't know any of that and I thought I knew everything about the

moving of the Colts. I didn't know Elway signed with Yankees, thought

he used them as a pawn, that's all and he kept the bonus? Yea, Elway

might have toiled a year in the bushes but not much more. He wasn't

no where near Mattingly as a baseball player so you don't build around

slap hitters like Elway.

 

Further proof of how Elway used the Yankees was he signed that football

contract really fast in Denver. Irsay said at least I got him 500 miles from

the beach. He won't be riding any waves in the cold mountains. ILMAO

 

 

I always thought Acorsi never had a say in the matter. It was all Irsay.

He drafted and tried to sign Elway and almost had him when Irsay

caved in.

 

Marino was the guy I wanted and was surprised Squeelers didn't make

a play for him. If it was a pusher he wanted he found a hell of a lot

better one than Kush in Miami - good ole jut jaw Shula who should have

one at least one SB with Marino but he kept Shula in the game and from

forced retirement for a long time.

 

Acorsi would have been the GM for our expansion team here. He went

from the Colts front office to the Browns and then ended up in NY for

George Young, the famous high school coach from City in Bmore. When

I went there Young had the 5th ranked hi school team in the country. I

mean do you know how many hi school teams there are in the country

that have football teams. Everyone on that team played college ball

including Tom Gatewood, All American at Notre Dame and then the

NY Giants during the 70s.

 

The guy that beat me out for RB scored 2 TDs in 1 game vs OKlahoma

a few years later for U of Pitt and was then drafted by Squeelers but

was beaten out by Franco Harris.

 

Well Shula knew Young and asked him to grade some players and liked

him so much he gave him job as o-line coach. Then he took Young to

Miami where he moved into the personnel office under Joe Thomas

when he became the GM here. When the Giants needed a GM they

asked Tags for a recommendation and he said Young who discovered

someone named Parcells who drafted Lawrence Taylor and won 2

SB in the 80s.

 

Young retired in the 90s and Acorsi became the GM and built their

SB35 team that we beat. He finally retired a few years ago and named

Reese as his replacement who promptly won 2 SBs but those teams

were already built and set up by Acorsi.

 

Since then the Giants have gone down hill because Reese went away

from drafting the BPA and has drafted for needs. Acorsi said he got

his masters degree in the draft in Bmore when GM Joe Thomas left

Walter Peyton on the board and took a lineman. Colts had a good

RB but Peyton became the best there ever was.

 

Yea, I remember that Al Davis mess. Pete Rozelle hated him and called

him a rogue. Davis retorted saying Pete was Nixon's PR man-lol but

OAK made some nice offers the Colts should have accepted.

 

Acorsi didn't have the power to make any decisions himself on trades

and had to wait on Irsay.

[cravnravn]

Why didn't the state make more of a stink to keep the Colts history and name? I find it hard to believe they would drop a lawsuit in favor of a handshake agreement.

I don't care that the Colts left, or that we lost out on an expansion franchise in the early 90s. We were saved from having either Irsay or Angelos as our owner. However, it would be cool to have the Colts history in Baltimore as part of the Ravens history.

The Charlotte Hornets (formerly Bobcats) and the New Orleans Pelicans (formerly Hornets) of the NBA recently made a deal where Charotte got back the Hornets history when they were in Charlotte, and the Pelicans kept the Hornets history when they were in New Orleans. Seemed like a win-win for both cities and franchises. Of course, both cities have different owners now.

Because Silver bullet Bob wanted 60 million dollars for the colors and the history. Shaffer and Hughes told him no way..

[cravnravn]

I still believe to this day that if that drunken idiot would have called elways bluff the blue horseshoe would probably still be here. But for him to basically give elway to Denver for nothing in return, just soured an already sour relationship the fans had with idiot irsay.

[oldno82]

I still believe to this day that if that drunken idiot would have called elways bluff the blue horseshoe would probably still be here. But for him to basically give elway to Denver for nothing in return, just soured an already sour relationship the fans had with idiot irsay.

Yeah I think that was the stake through our heart. After the pittance we got for Elway combined with Bullet Bob's crappy treatment of everybody, the interest just melted away. And so did the fans at Memorial Stadium.

[TBird]

Irsay called Elways bluff and lost. He still didn't report to the team

for the conference to introduce him. He was heading to NY and

said Colts could have had 3 high picks for him and have nothing.

I'm playing baseball.

 

The lesson we should all know by now is that Irsay was always

going to move even with Elway. It would have made matters

worse losing the team and him. He had been shopping it for

12 years and even had a place to move to when he had to sneak

out of town because of the new law.

 

Elway would have put seats in the stadium for a while so would

Marino but not long enough to keep the team.

 

They were going to move - plain and simple unless a new stadium

was suddenly built and Bmore wasn't getting one at that time.

 

Does anyone remember Bert Jones going out to give Elway the bad

word about Irsay and all his drunken tirades like the one when Irsay

interrupted a radio interview Bert was given in a drunken state and

they had to cut the line off the air. He was cussing Bert out good on

the air. Elway didn't need to hear them because he wasn't coming

anyway.

 

When ERick Dickerson went to the Colts he said he just didn't believe

all those Irsay stories he heard. He does now. ILMAO

 

Then there was the time Bert called the comish and said you better get

your ass to Bmore or there won't be a game Sunday. It was Tuesday.

The team will be revolting. He said they'll be doing what? Bert said

revolting. He told Pete how there was a dispute between the GM Joe

Thomas and coach Ted Marchibroad who wanted more control over

player actions like trading my fav Ted Hendricks to GB for nothing.

He moved on to OAK and made the HOF as a Raider and got two

more SB rings - hugh. He also gave Unitas, Matte and Mackey to

SD for nothing and Bubba to OAK. That was the heart out of our

2 SB teams. Strangely, Bruce Laird stayed for the duration and so

did Mike Curtis, I think. When SDs QB joined the

HOF he thanked Unitas who was dead but said thanks John. I

finally made it thanks to you. Unitas took a young Dan Founts under

his wing and taught him everything for two years. Unitas in SD - HUGH.

 

So Pete gets Irsay on it and he has this big summit meeting on his

Yacht in the Great Lakes. Irsay said both guys nearly threw each other

off the boat. He liked what Thomas had done but knew the team was

behind the coach and wouldn't play for Thomas at all so he fired

Thomas and things had settled down by Saturday.

 

It was always a riot in Baltimore during the 70s.

 

No one will forget the biggest riot at the airport when he flew in to meet

the mayor after meeting with those Phonix officials about moving

out there and he's drunk and slobbering over the mike and says they're

my GD team and I will call the mayor and tell him if I ever move that GD

team. All the reporters are like wow, just wow. They couldn't believe

what they just witnessed accept for Steadman and Jackman. They'd

seen it too many times. ILMO.

[cravnravn]

Phil was my grandparents next door neighbor in Baltimore.

 

We will never know T-bird, I'd like to think we would of filled the stands if elway or Marino( my 2nd fav qb after #19) would have been the qb here, we did a dam good job of filling them 74-77.

Edited January 31, 2016 by cravnravn

[thundercleetz]

I have no doubt Elway would have sat out football for a year, played with the Yankees in the minors for a year, then re-entered in the NFL draft the next year. The Colts should have taken whatever picks they could on draft day and picked Marino.

 

In fact, I read Johnny U told Accorsi to draft Marino but Accorsi was dead set on picking Elway.

 

Phil was my grandparents next door neighbor in Baltimore.

 

We will never know T-bird, I'd like to think we would of filled the stands if elway or Marino( my 2nd fav qb after #19) would have been the qb here, we did a dam good job of filling them 74-77.

It's so hard to play the what-if game. I've read the O's were thinking of moving as well, but were waiting on the Colts first. If the Colts stay, and the state pays for the bare minimum for renovations to Memorial, maybe the O's don't get Camden Yards and move.

 

I think the worst mistake was not fighting harder for the name, colors, and history. The state should have filed lawsuits against the team and NFL, and stalled them out as long as possible making it difficult.

[Spen]

I have no doubt Elway would have sat out football for a year, played with the Yankees in the minors for a year, then re-entered in the NFL draft the next year. The Colts should have taken whatever picks they could on draft day and picked Marino.

In fact, I read Johnny U told Accorsi to draft Marino but Accorsi was dead set on picking Elway.

 

It's so hard to play the what-if game. I've read the O's were thinking of moving as well, but were waiting on the Colts first. If the Colts stay, and the state pays for the bare minimum for renovations to Memorial, maybe the O's don't get Camden Yards and move.

I think the worst mistake was not fighting harder for the name, colors, and history. The state should have filed lawsuits against the team and NFL, and stalled them out as long as possible making it difficult.

It's impossible to know for sure but I think everything ended up as good as possible for Baltimore. The Colts moving made the city realize it couldn't drag it's feet in regards to stadiums and improvements. This led to Camden Yards.

 

Baltimore got another team that won a SB before the old team every did. If the city could have gotten the name and colors before they ever played in Indy, I'd be fine with it. As soon as the were worn in Indy it felt tainted.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Spen