This coming Sunday, Baltimore is about to break a drought that has lasted more than half a century. The first AFC Championship game to be played in the city since 1971 will pit the hometown Ravens against the reigning Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs.
As the team gears up for their biggest home game of the season, there is a buzz of excitement and preparation rippling through the city.
On Wednesday night, the Marching Ravens, the team’s official marching band, held their last practice before performing Sunday’s pregame show for a national audience.
“We’ve got the logo, we've got the Super Bowl trophy in there, we've got our “B” logo that fans can resonate with,” said Dan Fake, the band director, talking about the formations the band will make on the field. “We're trying to make those connections to the team to the brand, and just say this is Baltimore football.”
Band president John Zieman has been with the Marching Ravens since 1962.
“I'm the only one that's still active in professional football that was at the last [Baltimore home Championship] game,” he said. “It does something great for the state and does something great for the city, the fans. It's something that brings everybody together, no matter who you are. You're rooting for your Baltimore Ravens.”
Other parts of the city are showing their pride too.
The Enoch Pratt Library in downtown Baltimore has its façade lit with Ravens-purple lighting.
“We have a lot of football memorabilia and football books that you can check out,” said Megan McCorkel, the library’s communications director. “There’s lots of different collections and displays so that you can check out books, you can relive the last big Super Bowl win of the Ravens, so we're going have a lot of collections that people can check out to kind of get in the spirit.”
Mayor Brandon Scott is so confident in the Ravens that he told Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas he will send him two dozen Maryland crabs if the game doesn’t go the Ravens’ way.
Of course you can’t forget the bars.
Mother’s in Federal Hill is expecting to sell a ton of Baltimore’s signature drink — the Orange Crush.
Crushes are a mixture of crushed ice, vodka, triple sec and fresh squeezed fruit.
“It's not going to be like anything we have ever seen before,” said Sroy Sidibe, a bartender at Mother’s. “We here! Going to be very exciting. There’s going to be a lot of people out. There’s going to be a lot going on.”
Sulmen Kibwana is a nurse who has been a Ravens fan for 20 years. She said there is going to be a buzz this weekend.
“Ohhh it’s going to be pop-O, it’s going to be crazy. I have my lucky socks that I’ll be wearing for the Ravens,” she said. “We have always been the underdogs, but the world is going to know we are the best team in the NFL.”
Marching Ravens president John Zieman said the fans and the team go hand-in-hand.
“We're all together no matter who you are, where you live, what you do. You're sitting in those stands, or you're outside the stadium,” he said. “Baltimore is the fans. Ravens is the team put them together and you got Baltimore Ravens.”
The game will be on Jan. 28 at 3 p.m. on CBS.
