by Adam Kopp ’11

Junior Mitchell Rhode is a lifelong fan of the Baltimore Ravens. Photo by Paul Szewczyk '12.

In the 1996 season, the Baltimore Ravens joined the NFL and brought football back to a city that lost its Baltimore Colts just 13 years before. The introduction of a new franchise surely elated some within the city, but it could have added confusion to areas that fall between Baltimore and Washington D.C., home of the Redskins. Both cities measure just over 30 miles from Sandy Spring, where Sherwood is located.

Sherwood students, however, seem to consider themselves part of the Washington metropolitan area. A survey of 109 students conducted by The Warrior revealed that 40 percent of students consider themselves Redskins’ fans. Ravens’ fans make up the second most populous group of supporters, with 10 percent of the student body, and 30 percent of students profess to be fans of one of the 30 other NFL teams; the Steelers, Packers and Eagles had notable strongholds. The other 20 percent of students had no preference towards any team.

Without a clear-cut geographical proximity, Redskins fans gave other reasons for their support. Many emphasized loyalty as their main rationale. The Redskins have existed since 1932, a span that overshadows the neophyte Ravens’ 14-year existence. Nearing their 80th anniversary, the Redskins appear to have entrenched themselves within the region. The vast majority of students who are Redskins fans claim to have at least one family member who is also a fan of the team. Contrastingly, less than half of all Ravens’ fans share their support with at least one family member. Besides loyalty, another byproduct of the Redskins’ long existence is their three Super Bowl victories, which several fans gloated about.

Senior Alex Mueck, a lifetime fan who purchased Redskins’ season tickets this year with a friend, echoes this ideology. “Being a fan of the Redskins has been a tradition in my family,” he explained. “They were in the area before the Ravens, and I have kept up with the tradition of rooting the Redskins.”

Unfazed by the Redskins fans’ claims to loyalty, Ravens’ fans stress their team’s more recent successes. The Redskins are currently 5-7 and third in their division, while the Ravens are second in theirs with an 8-4 record. Moreover, the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2000, a memory that many current high school students can recall. This isn’t the case for any of the Redskins’ championships, with the most recent occurring in 1992.

In a world defined by tweets and instant gratification, the contemporary glory of the Ravens is something they can hold high above the heads of their Redskins counterparts. Junior Mitchell Rhode is nearly the anti-Mueck. He’s a season-ticket owning, lifelong fan of the Ravens. Of Redskins fans, he said, “they know there’s no real argument over who’s better.”

Despite the ribbing of peers, there is limited animosity between the Redskins and the Ravens due to their teams being in different conferences. They seldom face each other during the regular season, but they constantly vie for control of fans within the region. At Sherwood, at least, the Redskins get the “W” in that category.