So you say you?re a big fan of the Ravens. Prove it.
With less than a week to go before the Ravens kick off their playoff run, fans are flocking to retailers in search of anything purple and black, and anything featuring the fierce bird to show their team spirit.
There?s the must-have jersey, the team cap, those strange purple, white and gray camouflaged pants, the purple tennis shoes and, of course, the beads.
Do you have it all? If not, you better think about heading to the store.
“A lot of the silly stuff is gone already,” said Vernon Tuck, manager of The Sports Shop in the Inner Harbor shopping complex. “The fur Ravens hat, the Equipment [brand] hoody is gone. The pullover jacket that Ray Lewis was wearing for the two weeks he was on the sidelines is gone. The winter jacket with a hood is gone. Anything that was worn on the sidelines disappeared in days.”
But the serious stuff ? the jerseys, the jackets, the hats and the flags ? are available throughout the region at retailers large and small.
For less than $100, Ravens fans can outfit themselves with a Ravens jersey ? some priced to move between $30 and $65 ? camo pants and an official NFL Ravens cap, Tuck said.
Authentic Ravens jerseys ? the kind the players wear on game day ? are priced from $250. But there also are a variety of team T-shirts on the shelves just waiting for eager fans to wear them to the game. Among the most popular item selling thus far is the “Festivus” T-shirt ? first made popular during the Super Bowl championship run in 2000, when players were afraid to mention a playoff berth possibility, Tuck said.
A close second, he said, is the AFC North Champions T-shirt that hit the market when the team clinched Dec. 18.
At Baltimore Sports & Novelty in Owings Mills, owner Jeffrey Katzen said he expects Ravens? paraphernalia to fly off the shelves as the team?s first playoff game comes closer to reality.
Jim Belbruno, vice president of marketing and advertising with Modell?s Sporting Goods, which has 10 locations throughout Maryland, said AFC division championship merchandise is giving way as the top seller in recent weeks to Ravens head ware and jerseys that retail for $64.99.
“The demand has been extraordinary,” Belbruno said. “We?ve seen business take off over the past couple of weeks, and it?s been steadily growing. But once the Ravens clinched the division and continued to win, it?s been crazy.”
While Modell?s always has a good stock of Ravens merchandise, Belbruno said the team?s post-season trip is calling for even more.
“We have new shipments arriving daily, with new T-shirts, new sweats, hats, pennants and car flags,” he said. “Anything licensed by the NFL we are bring in.”
The favorite jerseys?
“Todd Heap, Steve McNair, Ed Reed and Ray Lewis,” Belbruno said.
And the best-selling color?
“White, black and purple are all selling well,” he said.
While retailers offer suggestions for must-have merchandise, hard-core fans have their own opinion.
“I own every Ravens jersey ever produced because I don?t want a fashion faux pas, wearing purple when [the team is] wearing white on the field,” said Bobby Nyk, a Baltimore party DJ and rabid Ravens fan who hosts tailgate parties whether the team is at home at M&T Bank Stadium or on the road.
Nyk is easy to spot in the crowd of fans. He?s the one with the helmet on minus the face mask.
“It?s been altered for consumption purposes,” Nyk said. “You can?t drink and you can?t kiss people if you have a face mask on.”
While wearing the proper game-day jersey is a must, Nyk also endorses the colorful camo pants.
“They?ve got so many pockets that you can put things in ? cameras, PDAs, cell phones,” he said. “But the worst part of the design is they put buttons in them. My sister put Velcro on the fly and pockets.” Nyk tops off his fashionable fan features with purple beads that he?s had since the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV on Jan. 28, 2001, in Tampa, Fla.
“I?m not into painting my face,” Nyk said.
Next up in his Ravens wardrobe will be a smoking jacket with the Ravens logo on the front pocket and “Bobby Nyk the Road Warrior” artistically crafted on the back.
With all the gear in place, all that?s left are the prognostications.
The Sports Shop?s Tuck predicts “the city will go crazy.”
“We will then play the Chargers and beat them and go to the Super Bowl in Miami,” he said. “Steve McNair will be the MVP.”
Modell?s Belbruno said the team is strong enough to carry the momentum to Miami for the Feb. 4 Super Bowl championship. “I personally think the Ravens defense is so strong that the team will have a legitimate shot of going all the way, no doubt,” he said.
But Katzen of Baltimore Sports & Novelty wouldn?t say how the Ravens will do. “I don?t like to make predictions,” he said. “I don?t want to be disappointed.” Nyk wasn?t so reticent. “I think the [New England] Patriots can beat the [San Diego] Chargers. I?m thinking we are going out to San Diego or we will have the Patriots here because we can beat the Colts.”
“We want to go to a Super Bowl and we don?t want the Colts to win anything,” said Nyk, who like many Ravens fans still is irked about the Colts packing up in the Mayflower trucks and leaving the city in a midnight move in 1984. “There?s still so much animosity. That we are playing the Colts will be a real incentive. Our defense has enough pride this year that they want to prove [Indianapolis quarterback] Peyton Manning cannot beat them. If we beat them it will put a lot of closure on the breakup. We beat them head-to-head when it really counts and let?s leave it ? put the rivalry to bed.”
