Middle-aged Ravens fans dress to express

Hey, Mr. Ravens Super-Fan, caught you at the big game against Cleveland yesterday.

How could we miss you?

Your face was painted purple and you wore beads and feathers and a big plastic beak.

Or you wore a purple cape and feather boas and had what appeared to be a desiccated black bird perched on your shoulder.

Actually, there were probably dozens of you in those crazy get-ups at the stadium.

And most of you were middle-aged men, preening for the crowds and screaming "We're No. 1!" and generally looking like something out of an Edgar Allan Poe hallucination.

Wearing crazy get-ups at Ravens games - that's definitely a middle-aged guy thing, isn't it?

The young guys, they get all beered-up and paint a big R on their naked chests and whoop and holler for 10 minutes, then go flirt with the girls.

With any luck, they pass out before annoying too many people.

But you middle-aged guys, you're really taking this rabid-fan thing to a whole new level with the masks, jewelry, face-paint, etc.

Which raises the question: Why exactly are you doing that?

The average price of an NFL ticket is what, 70 bucks?

Throw in parking, food, beer - you can't be sober and go out in public like that - and you guys are basically treating the game like it's a pricey masquerade party.

OK, before we go any further, yes, we know it's not just Ravens fans who show up for NFL games looking like it's Halloween.

The Cleveland Browns have their infamous Dawg Pound lunatics who wear dog masks and bark and throw milk-bones at the opposing players.

The Green Bay Packer "cheeseheads" wear Styrofoam slabs of cheese. Pittsburgh Steeler fans wear construction helmets topped with mini steel beams, which must wreak havoc on the neck muscles.

And the Oakland Raiders have the scariest fans of all, who dress up like Star Wars characters, deranged bikers, ghouls, ax-wielding serial killers, etc.

It's like they opened the doors to every penitentiary and mental hospital in the Bay Area and said: "Here's a ticket to the Raiders game. Have a great time."

But you Ravens super-fans, you're no slouches when it comes to weird get-ups, that's for sure.

Oh, we know you're passionate. We know you're behind the team 100 percent.

But what's wrong with cheering for them in a nice Ray Lewis jersey and Dockers?

Or how about a Todd Heap jersey and pressed jeans?