THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 7, 1995 TAG: 9511070447
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: WHAT'S IN IT FOR HAMPTON ROADS?
TODAY: What is the atmosphere like at a CFL game? Staff writer Ed
Miller checked out the scene at a Baltimore Stallions game last
Saturday. His verdict: very cool.
ALSO, the Birmingham Barracudas become CFL's latest casualty, See page
C4
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 151 lines
I have seen our future and it is hazy. But it smells good.
That would be the grill smoke. It's everywhere. Two hours before kickoff of Saturday's CFL playoff contest between the Baltimore Stallions and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the diehards are tailgating in the Memorial Stadium parking lot, sending up clouds of sweet-smelling smoke.
They're good people - fun-loving, self-deprecating types, quick to offer a beer or a burger to a stranger. Most of them wear some sort of Baltimore Stallions gear, but there's one guy cooking fajitas in a Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes hat. Yeah, the kind Fred Flintstone used to wear.
``If you can't have a good time here, you can't have a good time,'' says Steve Boyd, a season-ticket holder.
Shame, then, that these particular good times could be coming to an end. The headlines say the Cleveland Browns are coming to town, and that would mean that the Stallions, the CFL's most successful U.S. team, will be forced to leave.
You would think that the diehards would be glad, but that's not the case. To many of them, ``NFL'' is a four-letter word. Personal seat licenses. Corporate luxury boxes. Ten bucks to park. Who needs it?
``We've got seats on the 52-yard line, and it's $15 a game. You can't beat it,'' says Tim Bradin, a 40-year-old Baltimorean who wears a Stallions cap, a denim shirt with the Stallions logo and a T-shirt that says, ``Screw the NFL.''
After two years as season-ticket holders, these folks are surprisingly knowledgeable about the Canadian game. They're united in their devotion to this odd brand - you could say off-brand - of professional football. Some even follow the league closely enough - via the Internet - to have heard that the Shreveport Pirates could be moving to Hampton Roads.
``Lucky for you guys,'' said Chip Kraus, 27, of Towson. ``We'll give you the Browns, and we'll keep the Stallions.''
If only we had $200 million in the bank.
Not everyone agrees with Kraus, of course. Since coming to Baltimore in 1994, the Stallions have been viewed by many fans - maybe even the majority - as pleasant enough company, something to fill a football void until something better comes along.
But others have fallen head over heels for the newcomer.
``I like it better than the NFL,'' Boyd says. ``It moves faster. There's less bull---- between plays.
``The NFL has gotten to be so overpriced. Here, we pay $25 a ticket, we come out, and we tailgate. This is good for the average Joe.''
Working-class Baltimore is full of average Joes, the kind who hold grudges. Many fans have never forgiven the league for allowing Robert Irsay to spirit away their beloved Colts in 1984. They are also bitter that the city was passed over for expansion in favor of Charlotte and Jacksonville.
The anti-NFL sentiment runs highest in the far northeast end of the parking lot, where the fajitas are sizzling on the grill. Stallions flags fly from the beds of pickup trucks and from family minivans. Everyone is wearing Stallions gear. A couple of people say they know Jim Speros - the Stallions owner - and that he's a good guy. The players are good guys, too, they say.
``The players are very approachable,'' Bradin said. ``I saw four players in McDonald's the other day. They asked me if I had my playoff tickets.
``I hope Norfolk gets a team, and I hope we keep ours. You'll probably get around five or six thousand Baltimore fans down there.''
That kind of devotion is almost touching. But don't think there aren't Stallions fans who wouldn't drop the CFL like a mishandled punt.
Take John Mackenzie for instance. Just a short punt away from the fajita fest, Mackenzie, 29, sits on a lawn chair drinking a beer.
``Am I a diehard?'' he says. ``I wouldn't be sitting out here at 11 in the morning with a beer in my hand if I wasn't a diehard.''
``I'll be here next week, and I'll root for (Baltimore) in the Grey Cup. But I will say this: I'm going to have Browns season tickets next year. It still hurts with the Colts, and this was a way to heal my wounds. I feel bad for the people of Cleveland, but all's fair in love and war, and war was declared a long time ago.''
Mackenzie has also heard that Shreveport could be moving and says he thinks the CFL can work Hampton Roads.
``The CFL has a lot of potential. It's great football. It's exciting, high-scoring. You just watch today. I say the score is 35-28.''
Not a bad prediction. Actually, the final is 36-21, Stallions.
As promised, the game is fast-paced. Winnipeg scores first, when Troy Westwood misses a 35-yard field-goal attempt. Missed field goals must be returned, or downed in the end zone. A Baltimore player catches the ball 10 yards deep in the end zone and takes a knee. Westwood is credited with a 45-yard ``single'' and Winnipeg leads 1-0.
But from then on it's all Baltimore. The Stallions score on a 4-yard touchdown run. They score on a single. Then on a field goal. Then two more singles. Rod Carew could have played for these guys.
By halftime it's 18-1 - yes, 18-1. By the time the P.A. announcer makes an announcement you'll never hear at an NFL game - ``We've come to the three-minute warning'' - Baltimore is up 29-14. A 95-yard interception return by Tracy Gravely is icing on the cake. Winnipeg gets a meaningless score with just 36 seconds left.
Is it more exciting than the NFL? Well, it's certainly faster. Having just 20 seconds between plays makes a big difference. So does having three downs. Two plays and a punt don't take much time, and with no fair catches allowed, the punts are worth watching. It looks strange to have a player posted behind the goal posts waiting to catch missed field goals. And it's strange to see a team opt to take the ball at the 35 rather than receive a kickoff.
The Memorial Stadium field is regulation CFL size and that's strange-looking, too. With the extra-wide field there's lots of east-west running. Passing plays are a sight to behold as well. With 12 players on a side, up to five receivers run patterns. With everyone criss-crossing and with defenders chasing, the downfield action resembles an Italian traffic circle at rush hour.
The players look professional enough, but with only 20,300 people rattling around in 54,000 seat Memorial Stadium, the game has a decidedly minor league feel. The crowd is the smallest in Baltimore history, and there is a chorus of boos when the attendance is announced.
Attendance is also a sore subject in the Stallions locker room after the game. Ditto the impending return of the NFL.
``What's up with all this media?'' says cornerback Irv Smith. ``Who got shot? An NFL team's coming to town and we get the media.''
Several of the Stallions politely say that they are not worrying about the NFL coming, because there's nothing they can do about it.
``We joked that we'd be the first team to win a championship and then be asked to leave the city,'' says receiver Robert Clark.
The Stallions would rather talk about their 11-game winning streak, best in the CFL. They'd rather talk about returning to the Grey Cup game - the CFL's Super Bowl - and winning it this time.
But there's all this other baggage to deal with, and it raises some questions about the entire CFL, and about whether it could work in Hampton Roads.
Clark says the key to drawing well in the CFL is winning. But the Stallions are better than ever and still playing in front of only 20,000. The owner markets the heck out of the team, people say. Maybe there just aren't enough diehards. Maybe CFL loyalty runs deep but not wide.
You wonder what it all means for Hampton Roads - an area that doesn't have one-tenth the pro football tradition of Baltimore, an area that would be getting a team that was 5-13 this season.
It's anybody's guess.
``Norfolk is a good football town,'' says receiver Chris Armstrong, who played his college football in the CIAA, at Fayetteville State, and therefore is qualified to offer an opinion. ``I'd love to go there and play again. If it was marketed well, and the team won, it could work.''
Armstrong doesn't have time to ponder it much, however. This is the CFL, after all. Best not to plan too far ahead.
``I just try to make sure I have a job each week,'' he says. ILLUSTRATION: GEOFFREY S. BAKER
Color Photo
B & W Photos BY GEOFFREY S. BAKER
by CNB