Baltimore Fans

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Different uniform and different hairstyle. Same old Sidney Ponson. The Prodigal Right-hander was back at Fort Lauderdale Stadium yesterday, happily greeting old teammates, taking jabs at Orioles fans and stiffing the Baltimore media. It was like old times, except he now has a thick dark mullet, wears the Minnesota Twins stripes and hasn't posed for a mug shot in months. OK, so the requisite cheap shot aimed at the Troubled Aruban has been fired. That's the last flippant rip for today.

Peyton Manning was just 8 years old when the moving vans carried the Baltimore Colts franchise off to Indianapolis in the dead of night back in 1984."I was freezing my tail off up there in Minnesota because my dad was with the Vikings. That's what I remember about 1984," Manning said yesterday. "Being a football fan, I'm aware of the situation. To tell you in '84, I knew what was going on in Baltimore, no, I can't tell you that."Manning will get a closer look Sunday at what happened in Baltimore.

The New York Jets are going to wear a "Weeb" decal on their helmets for the rest of the season to honor the late Weeb Ewbank, the coach who won the two most significant games in NFL history.He coached the Jets to victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, the game that earned the AFL parity with the NFL, and guided the Colts to the 1958 overtime triumph against the New York Giants that started the pro football boom.It would be fitting if the Baltimore Colts could honor Ewbank, but, unfortunately, the team no longer exists.

John Elway is the official sentimental favorite of the Super Bowl tournament, with most of the football nation rooting for him to win a big one before it's too late.That leaves Baltimore fans in a tough position as Elway leads the Denver Broncos against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship game today.Elway has been a public enemy around here for years, since he said he wouldn't play for the Colts after they made him the No. 1 pick in the 1983 draft -- a stand that led to his trade to Denver and probably hastened the Colts' departure a year later.

THE COLTS vs. Baltimore. The billing has been in the making for 14 years, and it still sounds strange. Like the Celtics vs. Boston, the Yankees vs. New York, the Fighting Irish vs. Notre Dame.But here we are: The Colts are here in Baltimore for the first time since Robert Irsay broke the fragile hearts of tough football fans and punctured the area's collective ego when he moved the franchise to the Midwest.Now that Baltimore finally has regained its stature as an NFL city, it's time for payback.

For Baltimore fans who suffered through the pratfalls of the Bob Irsay era, this was all so familiar.The Indianapolis Colts jumped to 17-3, 24-10 and 31-21 leads yesterday, held a big edge in first downs and time of possession and still blew the game.Isn't that the story of the Irsay Colts?Jim Irsay now runs the Colts in place of his late father, but they're still the same old Colts. They have dropped 23 of their past 28 games after the 38-31 loss to the Ravens.Baltimore fans found it so much more satisfying rooting against the Irsay Colts than for them.

The Chicago Bears are what the colleges like to call a "homecoming opponent" -- a losing team that can be counted on not to spoil the party on a special occasion.That's why inviting the Bears for the first preseason game at the new stadium at Camden Yards last night was a master stroke.The Bears played their role to perfection in Baltimore's stadium coming-out party, putting up only token opposition while losing to the Ravens, 19-14.The Ravens limited the Bears to just 16 snaps, one first down and 23 net yards in the first half while they piled up 11 first downs and 187 net yards to take a 9-0 lead into the locker room.

The NFL season begins today in Baltimore.OK, it actually began Labor Day weekend, but that was when area fans were caught up in what was supposed to be the Orioles' drive to the World Series.Now that the Orioles didn't make it, the Ravens have the spotlight to themselves for the first time this year as they play host to the Miami Dolphins.If the Orioles had made the World Series, this game would have been a sideshow, even though it's sold out.Bob Leffler, the last marketing director of the Colts, who now represents four NFL teams, including the Ravens, knows what it's like to compete against the Orioles when they're in the World Series.

He's said it so often that many have come to dismiss it as the old chief executive's paranoid rambling.It was the Redskins' fault, says former Gov. William Donald Schaefer. The Redskins and their owner, Jack Kent Cooke, delivered him one of his most stinging rebukes. Cooke and National Football league Commissioner Paul Tagliabue conspired against Baltimore and cost us the expansion franchise that rightfully should have been ours.As daffy as it sounds, Schaefer might be right. The state's expansion strategy had its flaws.

The Ravens showed yesterday what a simple game football can be.When a team can run the football and stop the run, everything else falls in place.That's what the Ravens did, and the result was a convincing 23-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals that evened their record at 1-1.The Ravens, who last week tried to pass from the Jacksonville Jaguars' 5 in the fourth quarter and couldn't run it in last December in Cincinnati after having a first down on the...

The prodigal son has returned to Baltimore. After failing to find a fortune in other areas of the country, linebacker Ray Lewis, one of Baltimore's all-time favorite sports figures, agreed in principle to a reported three-year, incentive-laden contract worth $22 million with the Ravens. Now that Lewis can finish his Hall of Fame career in Baltimore, all is right with the world again. OK, that's a stretch, but there will be peace in Baltimore. This city's love affair with No. 52 can continue after a brief separation.

Mike Mussina won't get to decide whether his cap on a Hall of Fame plaque features a bird or the "NY" logo that can make Baltimore fans want to flip the bird. That call is up to the poohbahs of Cooperstown. But listen up, you guys, it should be an Oriole. Mike Mussina became Mike Mussina in Baltimore. Let's run some numbers: He spent 10 of his 18 major league seasons here. He recorded 147 of his 270 victories and 1,535 of his 2,813 strikeouts as an Oriole. All but eight of his 23 career shutouts came in orange and black.

I realize in the NFL, when it comes to quarterbacks, never say never. Exhibit A -- Vinny Testaverde's comeback last year at age 44. Exhibit B -- David Carr signing with the New York Giants this week after failing to hold a job in Carolina, where the main competition was an undrafted free agent signed off waivers named Matt Moore. So I'm not going to write off Trent Dilfer, who was cut yesterday -- on his 36th birthday -- by the San Francisco 49ers after 14 seasons in the league, including one very memorable stretch in Baltimore when he was the quarterback of record for the Ravens' Super Bowl victory.

Sean Rash wants to set the record straight: The two-year PBA Tour veteran has no beef with Danny Wiseman or Baltimore fans. Rash, 25, is the cocky upstart who defeated the Baltimore resident, 256-236, in the semifinals in front of Wiseman's home crowd last year en route to winning the 2006 Beltway Classic. The Wichita, Kan., native then caused a minor stir when he yelled out to the crowd, "Who's your hometown fan now?" The comment was heard on television and quickly became a hot topic on the sport's message boards.

Let's see, if Baltimore makes it to the NFL playoffs, former Ravens quarterback Trent Dilfer, now with the 49ers, can rally the team with some signature cheer like "Cowboy up." San Francisco fans surely won't mind. Or maybe former Ravens linebacker Adalius Thomas will happily leave New England for a day. It's not like Patriots coach Bill Belichick is competitive or anything - maybe Mr. Thomas can videotape it. Now the question is who from the Orioles should be tapped to throw out tonight's first pitch for Game 1 of the World Series between the Rockies and Red Sox. Ex-Sox player Kevin "Cowboy up" Millar had the honor in the deciding Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday, and that seemed to do wonders for the Orioles' division rivals.

Baltimore sports fans can be defensive when it comes to their athletic heroes, and any top 50 list about athletes who are heroes or otherwise will create debate. Thus is the case with the top 50 list of all-time sports jerks on CBS Sports Line.com. OK, so some don't want to hear anything negative about Ray Lewis (No. 49), Babe Ruth (No. 42) and Art Modell (No. 38). But there are others on the list whom Baltimore fans would have no problems with - Albert Belle (No. 44), Reggie Jackson (No. 14; remember he played here in 1976)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Different uniform and different hairstyle. Same old Sidney Ponson. The Prodigal Right-hander was back at Fort Lauderdale Stadium yesterday, happily greeting old teammates, taking jabs at Orioles fans and stiffing the Baltimore media. It was like old times, except he now has a thick dark mullet, wears the Minnesota Twins stripes and hasn't posed for a mug shot in months. OK, so the requisite cheap shot aimed at the Troubled Aruban has been fired. That's the last flippant rip for today.

Writer shouldn't focus on race David Steele gives new meaning to the term "color commentary." In less than one week, he ballyhooed a Super Bowl featuring two black head coaches, ran a quote hypothesizing that John Mackey's skin color was a factor in delaying his Hall of Fame election, and expounded on the NBA's minority recruiting practices, all before coming full circle to Tony Dungy's race. His column was conspicuously absent Jan. 30, I suspect, because even for him, it was a stretch to memorialize Barbaro as a horse of color.

For the rest of the country, the pro football weekend unfolding today and tomorrow should be among the best, offering a pair of playoff doubleheaders with winners moving within one win of a berth in the Super Bowl. In Baltimore, however, the weekend will be something else entirely, something dark and personal and unrelenting. It will be the ultimate Hate-a-Thon. The three teams Baltimore fans dislike most - the Washington Redskins, Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers - will be in action, seeking further glories.

You'd think the passion might waver this late in the year. Fifteen weeks into the season, football fans in Baltimore haven't had much to celebrate. Yet this weekend, they'll wake up like every other Sunday and start wishing and hoping and setting their TiVos. We're not talking about the Ravens right now. On Sunday, a good portion of area football fans will be focusing as much bad energy as they can muster on the Chargers-Colts game. The Colts have their sights set on history, trying to become the first team since the 1972 Dolphins to remain unbeaten the entire season.