Though they are but a footnote these days, there was once a time that professional football in Baltimore had neither the Colts nor the Ravens. For a funny window of time, the Canadian Football League had a team in Baltimore, Maryland. That's right, Canadian football came to America.
It was also an interesting window in my life. Growing up, I always had this plan that as soon as I graduated from college and got my first job, I was going to buy season tickets to the Baltimore Colts. Well... during college, the Colts moved to Indianapolis and thus began my years of football darkness. For nearly ten years, I had no team (I refused to adopt the Redskins or any other NFL team). Then, the Canadians came to town!
The team itself was a debacle all on it own (SEE HERE). But the interesting part for me was that the Stallions served as our tailgate training ground for the future Ravens seasons. Highlights of the Stallions years:
1) We all got season tickets together.
2) We started to develop our various rude cheers.
3) Mr. Bobe's big, blue horn.
4) My brother sneaking down on the sidelines during a game with the horn.
5) Winning the Grey Cup.
These two seasons were memorable because it got the feeling of football back in the blood and made the whole Ravens thing that much more special when it finally happened. It was during this time that I got married so there are good memories of our old pals in blue.
"First down, for your Baltimore CFL...(pause)" crowd screams... "Colts!"
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