WHAT TIME IS IT?!

Ok, so I'm a little late with this update, what with my team DOMINATING in the first quarter (that first Joe Flacco ROCKET to Torrey Smith? A thing of beauty...BEAUTY)

AHHHHHHH!! Q! BEAUTIFUL TD CATCH IN THE SECOND!

*cough* Anyway, this is how Shawn sees Ray preparing for a game. This pic was taken on Friday morning, and I wanted to save it for right before game time.

Keepin' It Classy

A while ago, my mom bought me three colors of nail polish: purple, gold, and a black polish that splits into a chipped-looking design. In honor of the opening of football season, I painted my nails with these colors. Always classy, I've painted my middle fingers with the Steelers colors. ;)

Troy introduced himself on Sunday Night Football just now. It always cracks me up how high-pitched and soft his voice is. Hence why he always speaks in small letters on the white board.

DEEEEMONNNNN HORRRRSSSEEEE!!

It's tough being a non-Broncos fan in Broncos Country (a.k.a. my work). My boss is a hard-core Broncos fan, and there are other delusional horse-loving dreams scattered through the school.

On Friday, Shawn wore his Steelers jersey (Woodley), because "my boss is cool and doesn't care." (Note: his boss Bob is a Bears fan, hailing from Chicago years ago, but he's been trying to raise his sons, who were born in Denver, to be Broncos fans. It's...been emotionally difficult for him.) One of the Admissions/Academics assistants, Stephanie, wore a long-sleeve Broncos tee shirt on Friday. The seeds of a rivalry had been planted.

When I went to take a picture of the latest Ray & Troy conversation, I noticed this delightfully awesome pic of Peyton Manning riding Demon Horse, presumably to victory. Stephanie told me that she plans on adding more and more Manning stuff on Shawn's door (sparing the white board, of course), until "we take this thing 3D," as she said. I look forward to seeing how ridiculous this gets.

The Broncos are playing the Steelers tonight on Sunday Night Football. As Shawn's potential embarrassment & heartbreak is relevant to my interest, I shall be watching.

Purple Fridays & Steelers Nation

Today is the first official Purple Friday of the year. For those who don't know, Purple Friday is when all Ravens fans dress in work-appropriate purple or in their Ravens jerseys/gear to get pumped up for Sunday's (or in this case, Monday's) game. Victories over the weekend usually result in a "Purple Monday" as well.

I was genuinely curious as to whether or not Steelers fans had a similar tradition. (Do any other NFL team's fans do similar things?) Ray got to ask Troy the question before I did. Troy's response was diplomatic yet honest, I think.

Our reactions to Ray's revelation at the end:

Shawn: "I don't think Ray Lewis should be trying to turn people purple!"
Me: "Ray is trying to eradicate racism, Shawn!"
Shawn: *skeptical look*
Me: "If everyone is PURPLE, Shawn, then everyone's the same color, which means no one can discriminate against someone for their skin color...ok, this is just silly."

THIS IS BIRDTOWN!

*sent to me by my friend Kelsey, which she found on the Ravens sub-Reddit

I don’t think anyone outside of Baltimore can fully appreciate how JACKED UP O’s fans in Baltimore are that our team is FINALLY relevant! (Not even Red Sox fans.) They unveiled a Cal Ripken statue at the Park last night, and the crowd was SOLD OUT for the first time in years. Several of my friends and my mom were at/watching that game, and they all agreed that it was a magical moment coming from behind to whoop the Yankees 10-6.

I’m not going to pretend I’m an O’s fan. My family were all big fans, but I’ve never really been into baseball. I like going to games to yell and have a good time and appreciate the atmosphere of a city coming together to watch a team everyone seems to like by default. (It's like Catholicism in that way (no offense meant, honestly), in that they get you when you're a baby, and you grow up knowing only that way of life.) However, I'm VERY excited lately for the fans (especially my fiancee Steve) who are getting the chance to be justified in their love of the O's. For some, this is the first time in their lives that the Orioles are a winning team. For many, this has been a wait a long time coming.

And the players themselves! It's endearingly adorable how excited they are after every win. High fives and cheers...practical jokes...bro hugs in the locker room...the Orioles players are like Little Leaguers who won the championship. For me, that's the best part in all of this - that after so many discouraging seasons, our players who've given their all finally have a chance to feel good about themselves and be seen as heroes in town. Who knows? Maybe ESPN will take a break from reporting every little thing Tim Tebow does and actually show more than a minute of highlights about our games?! ;)

I don't know if the O's will go to the play-offs. I don't know if they'll win, should they get that opportunity. But for the first time in almost 20 years, there will be more than one sport that Baltimore Orioles fans will be paying attention to in September.

CLARIFICATION:

My friend Audra, who is regrettably a Yankees AND a Steelers fan (and yet we love each other; go figure), had this conversation with me over Gchat about the actual scores of last night's game, as I was too busy watching The Soup and then President Obama's speech to watch the game. [Edited only for grammar.]

Audra:  Just fyi, the Orioles didn't come from behind to win last night, and your blog post is very well written - even if it is from a Baltimore fan's perspective ;)

Nikki:  ;) From what I was told, we were up 6-0 or something, then tied at 6-6, then came back to win 10-6. Then again, my info is from Steve, so :P

Audra:  that's not coming from behind

Nikki:  hahaha I think it is. Semantics

Audra:  They were ahead 4-0, then it was 4-1, then it was 6-1, then we tied in top of the 8th 6-6. Then you made it 10-6 in the bottom of the 8th, and we couldn't do anything in the 9th. You just won. :P

Nikki:  Well, let's face it, last year's O's would've blown the lead and never come back.

Audra:  I had to restrain myself from throwing the remote through the tv, or my laptop across the room.

Ray's Fantasy

Everyone I know, it seems, is involved in some kind of fantasy football league. Friends on Twitter, friends on Facebook, and even people at work. I, however, am disinterested in fantasy football. Takes too much effort. I'd much rather just throw in some money and bet on the play-off games like I did last year at work.

Here's an email exchange that all the participants of said play-off pool got to read as the stakes rose higher and higher. [SPOILER ALERT: Neither Shawn nor I won, although I got waaaaay more points than he did. (He only got 8/40 points.)]

Shawn: [administrator of the pool] "Hello everyone! Just a reminder to send me your picks today before you miss out and wind up tied with me like Tim. I know that since the Broncos have shown their true color it’s probably a little less interesting but we can all root against the Ravens can’t we? Good luck

Me: "Speaking of rooting against the Ravens, Shawn, some miscreant defaced your white board again. A handwriting analysis will clear my good name, but I think it’s just *shameful* that someone would take advantage of the fact that you’re out all day to rub in your face that your team is sitting at home during this exciting play-offs time. Happy Purple Friday everyone! :D"

Linda:
 

"Hmmm. Suspicious"

Shawn: "One would think that here at the Colorado School of [redacted] we would be better at recognizing mental disorders. Especially such obvious ones as those that start with being a Ravens fan."

Rob: [participant in the play-off pool] "They have discovered a new disorder here in Psychiatry just this week called 8outof40pointsitis.  Caused by over confidence and delusion."
Later, after a crushing Ravens loss....
Shawn:

"That damn vandal is back and causing trouble..."

Madden Mania

Poor Troy. All he wanted to do was play a friendly game of Madden against Ray Lewis and his boys. After all, if Ray can play against movie star heart throb Paul Rudd, then surely he'd play with his good buddy Troy! Unfortunately, Ray is too into himself and his "starring" role in the game to have time to actually PLAY it with anyone other than a paid celebrity. Pity. I bet the Lewises and the Palomalus would have a great time.