The Ravens’ Brandon Williams will never score a touchdown.
He’ll never make a tackle.
He’ll never make a block.
He’ll never even wear shoulder pads.
But when he comes running out of the tunnel this afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium, he’ll be cheered by a capacity crowd of more than 70,000 who know him by another name: Poe.
That’s right, Poe, as in the team’s fun-loving mascot who was vastly more successful than the squad last year. Williams’ character, named in honor of Edgar Allen Poe, was voted by fans as the top NFL mascot in an online tournament on CBSSports.com. Poe entered the field as the 16th seed, but emerged as champion after defeating the Redskins’ Chief Zee with 52 percent of the vote in final round.
“It means a lot to me because it means we have a great fan base that not only loves the Baltimore Ravens, but a fan base that loves Poe,” Williams, 28, said. “My first thoughts when I heard about the poll, I was disgusted, because I was a No. 16 seed.”
Williams, a native of Wilmington, Del., who ran track and played football and basketball in high school, broke into the mascot business at the University of Delaware, where he performed as YoUDee, a Blue Hen. But Williams didn’t jump straight from college to the NFL. He’s worked his way through the minor leagues, where he has been the Aberdeen IronBirds’ “Ferrous,” the Wilmington Blue Rocks’ “Rocky Bluewinkle,” the Orioles’ bird— and even the Hawaiian Punch mascot — before landing in the Ravens’ nest in 2005.
“Being part of the team introductions is as close as I’ll ever get to being a pro athlete and being a part of that spectacle,” Williams said.
“The Ravens’ mascot is cool for the fans,” safety Tom Zbikowski said. “But mascots should also be somewhat intimidating. I’m proud to be from Notre Dame, but a leprecaun is not very menacing. [The Ravens] is somewhat menacing.”
But Williams, who changed Poe’s jersey number from 103 to 1 after the online competition, said being a mascot is hard work. It’s not just about jumping in a soft-to-the-touch costume and running around and trying to appease every fan.
Williams said the air in the costume, which covers every inch of his body, is typically 30 to 40 degrees warmer than outside, which means today, Williams will be one sweaty bird. In a few months, when fans are bundled in layers underneath winter jackets, it will seem like summer for Williams.
“I’m still sweating inside that thing in December,” said Williams, whose official title with the team is mascot coordinator. “If I stop moving in December, the sweat will start to freeze.”
Williams’ preparation for game day is similar to the players. Williams consumes light foods — mainly granola bars — before taking the field. He also slurps a ketchup-packet-sized gelatin of pure caffeine to give him a boost of energy before kickoff, and another at halftime.
But the key to being a mascot is drinking.
“The hydration starts days before game day. I start drinking a lot of water,” Williams said. “I start drinking water the second I wake up. If it’s a 1 o’clock kickoff, I’m drinking water all that Saturday. Before a night game, I maybe won’t drink as much Saturday, but I’ll drink all day Sunday.”
But Poe’s job is not done when game is over. Need him at a corporate event, a birthday party or even as a best man at a wedding? The Ravens make him available for an appearance fee starting at $150.
“Poe is an extension of the team. He enhances the game day experience for fans,” said Kevin Byrne, the team’s senior vice president of pubic and community relations. I don’t think people know how hard it is to be a mascot. It’s a lot of work. It’s not like Brandon just shows up on game days. I can’t even tell you how many requests for public appearances we get for Poe. There are a lot of days where Poe makes two or three appearances a day.”
This season, however, Poe will be alone on the field, as the people who dress as the team’s other Ravens — Edgar and Allen — had their mascot jobs cut from the budget, Byrne said.
Still, Williams is one of 23 team-employed mascots who see a different side of the NFL.
“There’s nothing else like it to be on the field,” he said. “And there’s nothing else like being in the fraternity of mascots.”
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