The NFL hates Baltimore

Chris Schisler

Baltimore gets no credit, they get no respect and they get treated unfairly by the media and even worse the league. Time and time again, Marylanders are told to sit down and be quiet. We’re supposed to act like we get treated like everybody else. The truth is that we don’t. Its no conspiracy theory. Its not a chip on the shoulder that we put there ourselves. Its an absolutely evidenced fact that the NFL hates the Baltimore Ravens.

Moments ago, the NFL officials gave a victory to the Cincinnati Bengals, calling back the Ravens game winning touchdown. Replay clearly shows that there was contact both ways-which is almost always called against the defense. Replays clearly show that it was the epitome of a ticky-tac call. With the game on the line that is never called (a la Jimmy Smith in the Super Bowl against Crabtree). The Ravens made the game winning play but the NFL officials (without any hesitation whatsoever) gave the Bengals the drivers seat in the race for a division championship. It is completely unthinkable that this would be called against the Bengals, if the situation was reversed.

There are mountains of examples of unfair treatment towards the Ravens and their fans, by the media and the league. The Ravens are the only team to win the Super Bowl and not host the kickoff game the following year, since that became a tradition over a decade ago. It was not the conflict with the Orioles that prevented that. The NFL could have played on Wednesday. The league declared loudly that they would not play the evening of a Jewish holiday… It is funny how they let the Giants host the Cowboys, during Yom Kippur. They only avoided Wednesday night in Baltimore because of ratings; something they did not worry about in the year before, with two media darlings. Denver got to host the game, and an easily solved problem occurred. Only it was no problem, it was no accident. The NFL hates Baltimore.

The city of Baltimore lost the Colts in 1984. We did not get a team until 1996. The city of Cleveland lost the Browns in 1996. Football returned to Cleveland in 1999. Carolina got an expansion team that Baltimore hoped so dearly for and that the Baltimore Football Marching Band marched so proudly for. The Washington Redskins (who have an offensive name Roger Goodell fights along with Daniel Snyder to keep) blocked Baltimore from receiving a franchise. They claimed that it would infringe on their market. D.C. already stole our basketball team, how dare we want a football team? Art Modell recognized a great football city. He basically got run out of Cleveland-relocated, not taking the Browns colors or history with him- and we are still supposed to feel bad for Cleveland. Modell, who played a pivotal role in the NFL’s growth, may never be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. To make matters even more ridiculously anti-Baltimore: records by great Baltimore legends such as Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry are marked as “Indianapolis Colts” history in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The NFL hates Baltimore.

The NFL hates the Baltimore Ravens; which should not shock you as the media does too. When we beat the Broncos in the 2012 postseason, every SportsCenter segment was on the Broncos losing. The same ignoring of the Ravens amazing victory was found on the NFL Network. The NFL was literally paying people to ignore the Ravens miraculous moment. History is written by the victors, unless the NFL says otherwise. The most frustrating thing is that every member of the media acts as if this is not true. They act as if the NFL did not get exactly what it wanted-the Bengals to be given the game in a not to obvious way. When the replacement officials gave Seattle a victory they did not earn the world freaked out. The NFL buckled and paid the officials fairly to come back. When the officials give the Bengals a victory they did not earn…Baltimore is told to sit down and be quiet. The NFL hates Baltimore.