Baltimore, the city, riled up

Here in Baltimore, the hard feelings never die, and they're boiling today. The city is covered in purple, united in their hatred -- or, if that's too strong a word -- their disgust with the Colts. I arrived late last night and turned on the local news, which focused almost entirely on how much the fans despise the Colts and the Irsay family. Every newscast featured video of the Mayflower trucks arriving in Indianapolis 23 years ago. As I walked around the stadium a few minutes ago, I overheard a number of comments about the Colts. Can't publish those. I did like the clever shirt that read "Unitas We Stand."

This is obviously one of those symbolic games, where the city of Baltimore can stick it to the city that stole their franchise. The Baltimore Sun ran an interesting story today on Barry Krauss, the Colts linebacker who played for the team in Baltimore and Indianapolis. Krauss puts into perspective the fact that things weren't exactly rosy with the Colts prior to the move. He should know.

"Everything was turning sour there; it was just going downhill," Krauss told the Sun. "I still love Baltimore, but I was happy to start over."

I expect it will take more than one Peyton Manning touchdown to quiet this crowd today. The consensus, reading and listening to local and national media, is that the Ravens have the decided edge. That may well be true, especially if the Colts defense reverts to its pre-Chiefs' performance and allows Baltimore to control time of possession. But how many times in the past year have we seen a big game where one team seems to be the overwhelming favorite by conventional wisdom, but the underdog wins?