Super Bowl 2013: The Ravens Did It

Feb 5, 2013; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy during the Super Bowl XLVII celebration at M

I have spent 2 days trying to find a way to summarize the Ravens playoff run and Super Bowl victory. Long story short, I failed. I don’t have any poignant words or perfectly reflective sentences or a single story that will make you pause to reflect on your own experience with the Ravens. I don’t have any of those things, but I will do the best I can to put into words what this championship means to Ravens fans everywhere.

I don’t know about other Ravens fans, but I was extremely confident heading in to this football game. It wasn’t the cocky, my team is gonna win because they deserve it type confidence, but rather a gut feeling backed up by over a week of watching film and coming to the conclusion that the Ravens matched up extremely well with the 49ers. I saw the Ravens getting out to a lead and then staying in control throughout and snagging a solid 10ish point win.

I was half right, the power outage might have prevented me from being totally right, but I will take the win.

I doubt I was alone in not being extremely worried during the 49ers surge? I mean sure, bad thoughts crossed my mind, I wont lie, but through it all I never wavered in my confidence that the Ravens would find a way to win, their 14-7 playoff record shows that they find a way to win more often than not. That record by the way, is the best of any franchise in the NFL by far.

I know I wasn’t alone in feeling a flood of emotion watching Ray Lewis hoist that trophy one more time. When watching Ed Reed look like a kid on christmas morning who just got the greatest gift ever. Watching Joe Flacco emerge from his shell(as far as the public eye is concerned) in the postgame interviews with the NFL network. By the way, did anyone watch letterman last night?

This was as clear of a passing of the torch as I have seen in my time around the NFL. A new era has begun in Baltimore, that era kicked itself off with a Super Bowl victory. Offense has come to Baltimore and its name is Joe Flacco. A Star was born Sunday night. Flacco has been around for a long time, but he has never been this composed, this charismatic and this…charming?

Of all the players who you could pick to fill the enormous shoes of Ray Lewis, to replace his personality which might be the biggest ever in the league, Did anyone ever say Joe Flacco? on the field, sure, but off it? That was a shocker, we will see if it becomes the new normal, but my guess is yes, apparently the longer you leave Flacco in front of a microphone the more charismatic and funny he gets.

Welcome to the next ten years Ravens fans. This is going to be a fun ride.