GO RAVENS!

If you’re reading this blog, you know well enough my deep-rooted love for everything that is the Baltimore Ravens. Unfortunately, as they fought their way through Broncos and then the Patriots, I was sitting in Rome, streaming each game through a shoddy connection from my laptop. Of course I’m not complaining about being in Rome. Just about my unluckiness and the irony of this occurring while I’m on another continent. Also the fact that, at the last minute, I took my Flacco jersey out of my suitcase before I left. Hey, I didn’t have any room! Another complaint: after waiting twelve years for another Ravens Super Bowl, I leave the country, and Joey and Dad go to New Orleans for the big game.  To add to my jealousy (but excitement for them), I got pictures all day of them at various Super Bowl sights, and let’s not forget that Joey was rocking my Flacco jersey. MY LIFE.

Anyway, regardless of my cruddy luck, we made plans for the game here in Rome. We made reservations for a party at T-Bone in Trastevere, and all any of us could talk about the week leading up to it was how excited we were for cheeseburgers and fries. The only thing I could scrounge up that would even hint at me being a Ravens fan was Katherine’s purple t-shirt, so thanks to her, at least I had something. We left at around 10 pm on Sunday night, and were immediately seated thanks to Katherine insisting on making reservations. We did wait quite a while for a waitress to come to our table, but since the game didn’t start until 12:30 am our time, we had plenty of time to kill.

T-Bone restaurant Super Bowl party!

Interestingly, the party ended up being a majority of Ravens fans. We had a perfect seat looking out over the projection screen, and I was out of my mind excited. After kick-off, I even found myself sitting on my knees to see better. We ordered a round of beers and then ordered a round of appetizers: nachos, onion rings, fries, etc. The nachos were sub-par, but the onion rings hit the spot. At around 1 am, we ordered burgers and chicken fingers, which were actually delicious, much better than the ones we had at Scholars. After watching Jacoby Jones return that 108-yard touchdown, I think I was almost feeling euphoric.

At halftime, the entire restaurant went nuts. Beyonce was unreal. Maybe a little too unreal, considering what happened directly following her electrifying performance…

By this point, the Ravens were up and I was out of my mind excited. Then everything went black. I was furious. How could they let this happen? It was totally going to ruin their momentum! By this point, it was almost 3 am, so we decided to pay our check and head out—I could watch the rest of it at home, and the girls, who had no claim to either team, were getting tired. It took us more than a little while to find a cab, and by the time we got home, I wanted to cry. THE RAVENS WERE BLOWING IT! San Francisco had scored 17 unanswered points.

I hurried up and set up the game on my computer. My mom Facetimed me just as I was starting to really get nervous. The worst part was the delay—she was seeing everything just a few seconds before me. At one point, right before Randy Moss had a great catch that could have potentially set up the 49ers, my mom made a face and quickly tried to recover. It was too late. I told her to stop reacting like that, because now I knew something bad was going to happen. I hung up with her and then talked to Peter, and I could again tell what was going to happen through the Facetime. I guess I just couldn’t talk to anyone…

I’m pretty sure my roommates wanted to kill me at this point. It was almost four am, and I was screaming at my laptop, especially when that coughquestionablecough play occurred in the end zone on the 49ers last drive. The worst part was, the game wasn’t over—it had to be played strategically until the last seconds ticked off! I almost went into cardiac arrest when they decided to waste time and give San Francisco the safety… if he dropped that ball I would’ve cried. But in the end, the Ravens took it home, 34-31. Wouldn’t have been a Ravens Super Bowl, let alone game, without a minor (MAJOR!) heart attack.

Dad and Joey at the end of the game! GO RAVENS!