Before yesterday’s Patrtiots game against the Houston Texans, there were three reasons to appreciate the Baltimore Ravens, the team New England will host in next weekend’s AFC Championship game for the right to go to this year’s Superdome Super Bowl.
1. The Ravens are named after the famous poem by Baltimore’s historic, iconic author Edgar Allen Poe, making them, to my knowledge, the only professional team with direct literary connections. (The owner of the Indianapolis Colts bought, and owns the original scroll of Jack Kerouac’s infamous memoiristic novel On The Road, but that’s still not naming your team after a poem.)
2. No player on the Ravens is part of the (Peyton/Eli) Manning family.
3. Ravens linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo has been extremely outspoken in his support for marriage equality (see “Big-League Courage: Top names in the world of spectator sports use their voice to support gay rights and marriage equality,” Valley Advocate, 4/21/11), filming several spots (see below) for Maryland Marriage Equality, and writing opinion pieces in The Huffington Post, as well.
Read on at Free Sport …
