IT'S BEEN 30 years since the people of Baltimore came together to celebrate a Super Bowl victory. I was the mayor of Baltimore when the Baltimore Colts defeated the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V on Jan. 17, 1971. Like many of you, I have seldom been prouder of our city.
Football is as much a part of Baltimore culture as painted screens, formstone and club basements -- many of which have become shrines to the Colts or the Ravens. Now the people of Baltimore are once again coming together to celebrate our city's return to the Super Bowl. This time it's the Ravens who are taking on the New York Giants instead of the Colts, and I am comptroller of Maryland instead of the mayor of Baltimore.
I guess that as comptroller I should discuss the economic benefits that the Ravens bring to Baltimore and the exposure that the Super Bowl brings to the city. And, of course, I could talk about the boost in retail sales and tax revenues as fans purchase goods and services from Baltimore-area stores. These are important to a Super Bowl team.
But what matters just as much is something that money can't buy. What I'm talking about is pride and love for a city that more Marylanders still call home than any other place -- Baltimore.
At one time, Baltimore's pride was the Colts and Johnny Unitas who was the link between a generation of parents and children. Many of the Colt players, like my friends Jim Mutscheller, Tom Matte and Artie Donovan, made us proud each Sunday at 2 p.m. at "The World's Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum."
These cheers were led by the No. 1 Colts fan, Hurst "Loudy" Loudenslager. And when the game was over, the players went home to houses purchased in our communities. They, too, were proud to call Baltimore "home." They invested in our city, starting businesses that we all came to enjoy -- places like Ameche's, Gino's, Colt Lanes and Johnny Unitas' Golden Arm.
In the off-season, we may have even had a Colt player working next to us at our jobs. They may have been our guests at the Colts Corral meetings or helped to raise money for the Baltimore Colts Marching Band. This bond between fans and players made it important to me to return the National Football League to the city of Baltimore.
Well, Baltimore is back in the NFL. The people of Maryland will be rooting for their team, the Baltimore Ravens, in Super Bowl XXXV. The Ravens have enmeshed themselves in the fabric of Baltimore. They have brought our entire community together.
