ravens baby!

28. See the Ravens play an away game. - DONE!

Now listen.  I know everyone wants to hear about the rappel yesterday--and I'm eager to tell you all about it!  But truth be told, I'm still processing the entire experience.  It was truly, truly frightening for me, like nothing I've ever experienced before.  I'm so glad I did it...but I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I'd ever be able to do it again.  So, as soon as I get my thoughts under control, I'll tell you all about it, deal??

Now, moving on, we have a lot of catching up to do :)

Last week after a series of crazy circumstances I ended up in Hoboken, NJ with my friends Alix and Lisa.  Alix, being awesome, managed to score some super sweet tickets to the Jets inaugural game at the New Meadowlands.  Oh, and the Ravens just happened to be playing that night. :)  And it just so happened to be Lisa's birthday weekend, and she just so happens to have a little bit of an allegiance to the Jets. With all of the trash talking that Rex Ryan (Jets head coach and former Ravens defensive coordinator) had been doing all week, we knew it would be a heated battle.  Not to mention that these two teams are both being projected as playoff contenders, so there is a mighty good chance we'll play again down the line.  Add to that the fact that both of these teams are defense heavy, and we knew it would be a good game.

Oh, and it was the first Monday Night Football game of the year.  Even better!

As soon as we arrived to the stadium, the skies opened up and poured.  AANNNDD then the lightening started.  So we were greeted to New Meadlowlands with the following announcement, "please evacuate the seating bowl and take shelter."  I suppose this concerned some people but we just saw this as an opportunity to drink beer and make friends with other Ravens' fans. And by "making friends" I mean going up to one another and screaming something that would go a little something like this...

"RAVENS BABBBYY!!!!"
"YEAH!!! THAT'S WHAT'S UP!!!"
"TJ HOUSYAMAMA AND RAY LEWIS ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!"
"THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!! IT'S GONNA BE LONELY ON REVIS ISLAND TONIGHT!!"
"YEAHHH!!!! BIG MOUTH REXY'S GONNA EAT HIS WORDS!!!!"
"OH YEAH! GO RAVENS!!"

Somewhere in this hyped-up exchange there would be conversation like, "where are you from?" or "what's your name?"  But for the most part it was excited screaming fan conversation.

The camaraderie was great. There weren't a TON of Ravens fans there, but there were enough to hear "O!!!" during the National Anthem and "HEEEEAAAAP!!!!" during a good reception.

(For those not from Baltimore, all Baltimorons scream "O!!" during the end of the National Anthem during the line, "O say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave?" in honor of our less than stellar Orioles.  I suppose we feel that because Francis Scott Key WROTE the National Anthem while in Baltimore, we have the rights to edit as necessary.  "HEEEAAAPP!!!" is our cheer for our tight end Todd Heap (#86) when he has a good reception.  And that night he had SEVERAL.)

But once the game started it was all business.  The game was TENSE.  And intense.  Alix and I were two lonely purple jerseys in a sea of green...the closest purple comrads were a good 15 row ahead of us.  And there were only two of them.

Trash was talked, beer was thrown, tension was high.

It was intimidating.

Last MNF away game I went to was in Green Bay last year...and let me tell you, THOSE are the nicest people you will ever meet in your life.  They thanked us for visiting their city, complimented us that our fans travel so well, and engaged us casual conversation.

Jets fans are not so nice.  They wanted to hang us in effigy.  No lie.

Things were a little shaky for the Ravens at first...the stadium was loud, it had been raining, and the Jets were playing ugly.  We had a few turnovers early on that really cost us some scoring opportunities.  But my boys kept their composure, capitalized off the Jets' errors, and scored before halftime to take the lead.  The Jets never regained the lead after that.

I knew if we could go in to the second half up, we'd win.  We are a second half team, that's when we find our rhythm and dominate.  Furthermore, the Jets offense couldn't produce anything.  Three and out and they were done.  Meanwhile our boys were converting third downs all night long!  It was magical!  But as we all know in football, anything can happen...

With a few minutes left on the clock, we were up 10-9 and driving down the field.  We got juuuuuust within field goal range and a penalty knocked us out.  So we gave the ball back to the Jets with about a minute and a half left on the clock--now in football time, that is plenty of time to go down the field (if you have an offense, which the Jets did not) and score.  When you are down to no time outs, it becomes a little more daunting.  We held them on first down. Second down was an incomplete pass.  Third down (I think) they ran again for another yard or two.  And then it was fourth down....

Sanchez dropped back and passed to Keller, who caught the ball and then ran out of bounds to stop the clock...however HE WAS A YARD SHORT OF THE FIRST DOWN!!!! Perhaps the poor guy was a little disoriented from the hit he took from Ray Lewis earlier in the game.  I don't know, but in that moment, the game was ours!!

We won!! It a hard fought battle.  It was INTENSE.  But we won.  We could return home 1-0!!!

THANK YOU, Alix, for an awesome game and a great way to scratch off #28 from my list!!!

Not to be forgotten, was the PRE-season away game I attended with my friends Erika and TJ about a month ago.  :)

 

We had a great time and (DUH) the Ravens won, so I was the only happy camper on the way home. ;)  As always, it's a blast hanging out with Erika and TJ and attending the battle of the beltways together made it that much better.  

All in all, it's always fun making good memories with good friends. Sadira and I are very lucky that right now in our lives we are surrounded by lots and lots of awesome people that love us both very much.  Our lives are very full!!

Thanks Alix, Lisa, Erika & TJ!!!!