One of the first things they tell you in journalism school is to avoid sweeping generalizations, since they often prove to be inaccurate at best and patently offensive at worst.
Aw, what the hell ...
Snap profile of an Orioles fan: Spends half the game on his cell phone yakking with his broker. Wine-sipper. Gucci-tassel-loafer-wearer. Doesn't want to get on the opposing team too loudly, lest others in his section put down their Wall Street Journals and turn around and stare.
If he's in a luxury box, he's raking a shrimp the size of your thumb through cocktail sauce while asking his buddies: "Which one's Cal Ripken again?"
Snap profile of a Ravens fan: What's Sunday breakfast without shotgunning a couple of Buds? Likes to be the fat guy with the purple "V" painted on his gut when he and his buddies line up shirtless in 25-degree weather to spell out R-A-V-E-N-S.
Lifelong dream: To own a tank top for every day of the week.
If he's in a luxury box (God forbid), has to be reminded not to relieve himself on the carpet.
Boy, it feels good, stereotyping!
Of course, the truth about the essential nature of Ravens and Orioles fans is another matter altogether, as veteran observers delight in pointing out.
"The fans are incredibly similar," says Ravens vice president for marketing and sales David Cope, who was director of marketing and advertising for the Orioles in the early '90s. "The same people entertaining [clients] for business purposes at Camden Yards are going with their friends to Ravens games Sunday."
Cope appears to be on the mark. On closer examination, this business of bloodless Chardonnay snobs clapping like an opera audience after a towering Rafael Palmeiro homer, or a gritty blue-collar mob howling over a head-snapping Ray Lewis tackle, seems vastly overstated.
In fact, the demographic evidence suggests both Ravens and Orioles fans tend to be:
Upscale -- In a Ravens survey of season-ticket holders, 50 percent of the respondents reported an annual household income of over $75,000. In a survey given to potential corporate partners, 57 percent of Orioles season-ticket holders had an annual household income of $50,000 or more.
Well-educated -- Of Ravens season-ticket holders, 72 percent had a college and/or graduate degree; a 1996 study indicated 70 percent of O's fans had attained a similar education level.
