Poll: As a Skins fan, Should I hate the Ravens and Why?

[skinsarethebest]

Eh.... the offseason... sucks...

Anyway, too much time on my hands. But there is one subject that has always kind of befuddled me.

I think it's pretty much safe to assume that the Ravens are a pretty despised team for us Skins fans, at least on this board. I myself have gotten sick of them not so much because of the team itself but because of its fans, who seem about obnoxious as can be.

But I'm trying to piece together exactly WHY the Ravens are hated. For one thing, I'm a Skins fan who was lucky enough to get to enjoy the Super Bowl years under Gibbs first as a kid, then teenager, and finally college student. Well, they do say life after college sucks.... When I was growing up, I don't recall actually hating the Ravens... They were simply the other local team that no one I knew really paid any attention to. In fact, of course, they weren't actually the Ravens... They were the COLTS (of Baltimore). I grew up in DC and remember watching the Skins on Channel 9 every Sunday. The Colts were simply that other team on the channel with fuzzy reception.

Fast forward to now. They are the Ravens. They have a SB championship this century. And it's easy to hate them because a) they have thugs like Ray Lewis on their team and b) their fans suck with a capital S.

But I also find it odd to see how hated they are on this board at least (and that's certainly rubbed off on me). Isn't there a line of argument that we ought to feel some (very lukewarm perhaps) connection with them since they are at least a local team? After all, a lot of us rooted for the Orioles, so what makes the Ravens different (except that we always had our own favorite team in DC) ... And this is coming from someone who never actually lived in MD. I grew up in DC.

So, I guess if I had to lay out my questions, they go like this:

1) For the old-timers, and I mean, Billy Kilmer, Sonny Jurgensen old, was it always this way? Did you guys hate the Colts back in the '70s (and before) the way we seem to hate the Ravens now?

2) If you live in the DC area, should that make you hate the Ravens more or allow you to root for them as a second choice team? Is anti-Ravens sentiment stronger or weaker among those Skins fans that don't have any ties to the area but simply like the Skins for some other reason (not because you live or grew up here)?

3) For that matter, does it cut along state lines? Are you more likely to hate the Ravens if you live in VA than if you live in MD?

As for me, it's a tough choice, but I'm actually going to pull for the Ravens over the Steelers. It all comes down to the teams that pissed me off the most in recent memory, and the Steelers have gotten to that point, and their fans with the towel thing coming into FedEx.... ugh...

And I'll certainly root for the Ravens (if they make the SB) over the Eagles.... Not sure how I'll feel if it's Ravens vs. Cardinals.

[.Guy.]

because all of the ravens are thugs

baltimore sucks

fans who changed loyalty from the skins to ravens becuase they won the superbowl in 2001

[terpskins10]

Yes, because their fans have something against the Redskins. Some kind of inferiority complex. And they decide to take it out by trashing the 'skins every chance they get even when they aren't even a real rival.

Plus, I hate being asked why I'm a 'Skins fan living in Maryland. Maybe it's because I've been a fan my whole life and not just since 1996 when the Ravens came into the league or 2000 when they won the Super Bowl.

P.S. Cardinals all the way. There's no way I want to deal with Steelers or Ravens fans if they win. Plus, who wants the Eagles to finally win a Lombardi?

[SirClintonPortis]

You should hate them because they're cheap, i.e trying to break Chris Johnson in half(Johnson's coach is Byner, so there is a 'Skins connection there).

[#98QBKiller]

The same reason that Orioles fans hate the Nats....an expansion team stealing your team's fanbase.

Not to mention, their fans are annoying, Baltimore is a filthy city, Ray Lewis is an idiot, etc.

[LeftCoast Skinz FAN]

The only player I like on the Ravens is Ed Reed and after watching the game against the Titans last weekend I was very disappointed. Did you see how he tried to break Chris Johnson in half? The refs didn't even throw a flag on him, they threw the flag on the offensive lineman who came to his rescue. Chris Johnson ended up not playing the entire second half because of that chicken **** play! I now don't like Ed Reed or any other player for the Ravens!!!

[STBonecrusher21]

It's either you hate them, or we all hate you!

That decision, I leave to you.......

[MattFancy]

I didn't use to have a problem with them until I came to Baltimore to go to Towson. Ravens fans are big time fairweather fans. Its annoying listening to the sports radio shows up here cuz all they talk about are the Ravens. Last week, you would've thought the Ravens had a bye because they were talking about who would be a better matchup for them in the AFC Championship game, not the Titans game. I also can't stand the people that bash the Skins because they are Ravens fans. I'm sure they were Skins fans at some point, either that or they didn't watch football until the Ravens came here. Screw the Ravens, they blow!

[skinsarethebest]

The same reason that Orioles fans hate the Nats....an expansion team stealing your team's fanbase.

Not to mention, their fans are annoying, Baltimore is a filthy city, Ray Lewis is an idiot, etc.

Do Orioles fans hate the Nats? Aren't the Nats too pathetic to even merit any kind of hate?


That's the heart of what I'm getting at. When I was growing up, the Ravens (excuse me, Colts) weren't in our division and weren't a hated rival (or were they, old-timers please chime in). More like an after-thought. The Colts never went anywhere in the 80s and never bothered anybody...

If anything, it's the obnoxious fans from Baltimore, who probably only got that way after that 2000 season. I don't recall much smack talk from them prior to that.

[skinsarethebest]

Observations (somewhat surprising so far): MD Skins fans have some serious hate for the Ravens, while VA Skins fans more likely to be cool with them. Also, surprisingly, people with no ties to the area but who just love the Skins feeling a lot of hate for the Ravens.

[IbleedBnG83]

I hate them b/c I work in Baltimore and can't stand their fans. They think Bmore is the center of the universe and their **** don't stink!

[Jimbo]

Growing up as a Washington Senators fan, I grew to hate the Orioles because they always beat my Nats and were constantly contending from the mid 60's until after the Senators moved to Texas. This, incidently, is one of the reasons I hated the Cowboys during that same time period.

I later grew to hate all things Baltimore, from the Colts to the Orioles and now the Ravens. Part of my Raven hatred is that they are in Baltimore. The rest is mainly because Ray Lewis never did any jail time. Had his incident happened today, he'd be Pac-Manned at the very least. I've never liked the guy, henceforth, I've never liked the Ravens. Besides, only the Vikings look halfway decent in purple.

[#98QBKiller]

Do Orioles fans hate the Nats? Aren't the Nats too pathetic to even merit any kind of hate?


That's the heart of what I'm getting at. When I was growing up, the Ravens (excuse me, Colts) weren't in our division and weren't a hated rival (or were they, old-timers please chime in). More like an after-thought. The Colts never went anywhere in the 80s and never bothered anybody...

If anything, it's the obnoxious fans from Baltimore, who probably only got that way after that 2000 season. I don't recall much smack talk from them prior to that.

Orioles fans (at least in my experience) resent the Nats at the very least. Maybe when the Nats build the team up and become a serious postseason threat, then they will truly be hated.

But you may be right about the Ravens smack talk coming post-2000. They've only been the Ravens since 1996 and pretty much sucked up until 2000.

I think a lot of casual Maryland football fans probably decided to switch from rooting for the Redskins to the Ravens at that point.

You have to remember Baltimore didn't have a football team for about 13 years...where did those old-school Colts fans go? Did they follow the franchise to Indy or start pulling for the Redskins (who were doing well at the time)? And if they switched to pulling for the Redskins, did they go back to pulling for Baltimore when the Ravens popped back up?

[DCsportsfan53]

Personally, I've never had an issue with any Ravens' fan. Besides, they're in the AFC, it's a waste of time to hate an AFC team that we've never had a single game of significance against. No problems with the Ravens here, probably my favorite AFC team.

[aubreyjn]

because their fans are absurdly annoying. the list goes Philly fans, dallas as a team, then ravens fans. although now ravens fans may move in front of dallas.





:gaintsuck