On his 14th day Monday atop the roof of Canton Station, Ron Stack hardly even shivers anymore. It?s a special day for him ? it?s Christmas Eve, and it?s his 41st birthday.
He?s kept warm by a tent filled with heaters, a small television, and a DVD player, by the care of the bar?s staff, and by the honking horns and adulation from fans in cars passing the north side of the intersection of Conkling and O?Donnell streets.
“Don?t feel sorry for me,” Stack said. “This ain?t no pity party.”
Stack has been on the roof since a dare made with Canton Station owner and childhood friend, Darren Petty, during the Ravens? 44-20 loss to the Colts on Dec. 9. The next day, Stack was setting up above the bar, Baltimore?s self-proclaimed “Goof on the Roof.”
Whether the Ravens win or lose against Pittsburgh Sunday, Stack said he will come off the roof. But Petty plans a “Raven-thon,” where fans can donate to charity to take a shift on the roof. The plan is to have at least one Ravens fan on the roof until the team?s first preseason game. That?s when Stack will resume his place until the next regular-season win.
Meantime, Stack chills in the winter cold, but basks in the frequent honks and support of passing motorists, giving each a surfer-inspired, thumb-and-pinkie “hang loose” sign.
“It just amazes me that people want to drive out and take a picture with the goof,” he said.
The bar?s staff said he?s become a draw for Ravens fans, near and far.
“I had a call from Austin, Texas,” said bartender Stephanie Schafferman, Petty?s niece. “He said: ?I?m a huge Ravens fan, I wasn?t going to come to Baltimore this year, but now I am, I want to meet the Goof.?”
Petty said he?s equally impressed by Stack?s stamina.
“We sat there four or five hours one day and I couldn?t wait to get off there,” he said. “I don?t know how he does it.”
Until Ravens fans line up to take his place, Stack has a stand-in: an inflatable Ravens decoration with the fingers on its right hand taped down to form a less-than-polite gesture. This, he says, will go up, “when we lose to Pittsburgh.”
“I?m resigned to my fate,” he said, explaining his certainty of a Ravens loss on Sunday. He pauses, before adding, “But you never know.”
