For good reason. These Ravens have raised expectations that high. They've proved over the course of this season that the thinnest of margins separates them from the AFC teams above them. Tennessee? A three-point loss at home in Week 5, aided by a lousy call. Pittsburgh? Let's not even go there. Whoever wins the East and West? Please.
Indianapolis? Uhhhh ... well, anyway ...
Fans and other followers are entitled to impose those standards on this team and discard the previous ones. No longer can they be judged by what happened last season or by what they thought would happen last summer.
A playoff berth is the Ravens' for the taking, and the Super Bowl is off in the distance but hardly out of sight. "Nice job, guys, considering we all thought you'd stink this year" doesn't cut it anymore.
Listen to David Steele on Fridays at 9 a.m. on WNST (1570 AM).
points after
* Caught ESPN's production of The Greatest Game Ever Played, and I've got to admit, that game actually was great.
* Plus, the input from current Indianapolis Colts figures wasn't as blasphemous as it has been made out to be. These are the direct descendants, after all, not the Ravens. What are you going to do?
* Good seats still available for the Humanitarian Bowl, it seems. Well, "good" is sort of a relative term.
* Poor, martyred Rod Marinelli, bravely standing up for his daughter while commandeering the worst season in NFL history, earns induction into the "Let's Change the Subject" Hall of Fame, waiving the five-year waiting period.
* The Orioles miss their chance to spend $140 million to sign one local star but make a way-overdue excursion into scouting Asian players. Not a bad trade-off at all.
