Altimore City

The Ravens Report took an unexpected hiatus last week, as due to the forces of Nature, the Ravens-Texans game scheduled had to be postponed until later in the season. Hurricane Ike, one big bruiser of a storm, slammed into the Houston area on the Saturday before the game, displacing citizens and causing massive damage. Though there were initial plans to postpone the game until the following Monday, the extent of the storm was such that the league decided to scrap it until later in the season and give the two teams an unexpected by.

My worry as a fan, of course, was that this early bye, in only the second week of the season, could cause unexpected harm. The Ravens won their first game, but any momentum they had was suddenly put on hold. On top of that, a bye now means no bye later in the season when a potentially tired team may need it. My concern is not unfounded; Nature has played havoc with the schedule before.

1980 – Hurricane Gene swept through the Miami area, forcing the cancellation of an early-season Dolphins game and giving them a week 3 bye. The team had won their two prior games, but came off the bye looking uncharacteristically disorganized. They finished the season out of playoff contention.

1988 – Strong storms in the Midwest spawned tornados that damaged the Colt’s stadium, causing them to miss one game and play their next home game as an away game. The weeks after the storm saw them on a five-game losing streek.

1994 – Chronostorm Gamma swept out of the North Atlantic, striking the Eastern Seaboard in mid-October, causing the 1994 Jets to be swapped with the 1978 Jets for the duration of the season. Many fans may argue this actually benefited the team.

Despite my concerns, things are what they are, and the Ravens went into this week’s home game against the Browns ready to get back to some serious football. Joe Flacco played well early on, but gave up 2 interceptions in the first half and didn’t put any points on the board. The defense also looked a little sluggish, letting the Browns pull ahead early on.

The 3rd quarter, however, turned everything around, as the team came out looking super-energized. The defense forced some key turnovers, and Flacco led the offense on several scoring drives. Final score 28-10 Ravens.

Here’s looking forward to next week!

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I stood at the Center Street Light Rail platform the other day, enjoying the first hints of autumn weather as a cool breeze blew down Howard Street, and the sun was already showing signs of setting earlier. I normally occupy my time waiting for the train playing on my DS, which has proven itself to be a perfect train companion. In accordance with proper train etiquette, I always play with the volume off, and I don’t wear headphones because that would be too much hassle. As such, gaming in silence, I could easily hear the sounds of a Grackle sitting on the wire above me.

Grackles are noisy birds, and they always give me the impression they are really trying to tell you something. That something is probably “feed me,” but that’s a message nonetheless. This particular grackle was being even extra jabbery, so I couldn’t help but glance up to see what it was doing. It wasn’t doing anything in particular, it turns out. Just being a noisy bird. What lay beyond it, though, was far more exciting.

The trees that run along the sidewalk at the Center Street platform have never stood out much; this is probably because they appear to have been dead for quite some time. As such, I usually pay them no mind. Looking up at the grackle, however, I found myself looking at the dry, gray top branches of the tree on the opposite side of the platform. There, climbing up the central trunk, plain as day, was a Downy Woodpecker. I recognized it immediately, as growing up as I did in northern Baltimore county, along the edge of the woods, they were frequent visitors to the suet feeder in the backyard. This was the first time, however, I had ever seen one in so urban an area.

The woodpecker shuffled around the trunk a bit, took a few testing pecks different areas of the tree, and then finally took off to the east over the building tops. I only saw it for a few moments, but it really instilled me with a sense of hope; if this little woodpecker had found a way to survive in a place so trampled by humans, surely that was a good sign for nature in general?

The train came shortly after, and when I got off at my stop in Timonium, I quickly ran to the edge of the platform overlooking the drainage ditch and stooped down to look under the ledge where the sylphs had been residing since the incident of a few weeks ago. They were looking worse than ever, covered in grime and sleeping in what looked like half of an old car tire.

I told them my tale of what I had seen, and how I thought it might inspire them to give things another go. They hardly seemed to care, and one of them asked me if I had any matches.

Fuck them, I thought to myself; I know a sign of hope when I see one.

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Tagged birds, light rail, nature

Wendy and I made a trip down to Hampdenfest Saturday afternoon. This weekend she was eager to get out of the house; the start of classes has a way of doing that to teachers, I think. Anyway, we found miraculous parking on Keswick, two blocks from where the Avenue ends, and walked the length of the festival.

I have to admit I was a little bit underwhelmed, but I don’t really blame the festival per se. For the massive number of newly-minted nuclear families with babies in strollers, it must have been novel, the collection of food and arts + crafts. But I’ve had friends in Hampden for a long time now, so getting a bite to eat from the Golden West was not quite as exciting as probably it should have been. But then, it may not be that long before I’m pushing a stroller myself, God help me…

We made it to the end of the festival, where at the Squaaks were playing at the Atomic Books stage. And again, the music was credible and kind of catchy but I couldn’t really get into it. My mind kept wandering and my eyes kept scanning across the crowd, watching other people react to it instead of reacting myself. Who knows? Maybe it was the humidity.

After the set wrapped up, a man maybe a few years younger than me came up to me and asked, “Are you a musician?” For some reason he seemed like an actor in a play — his clothes were immaculate, well-tailored, seemed as though they had never been worn by a real person before.

“No,” I said.

“Good,” he said. “I’m collecting signatures for this petition–”

He held out a clipboard with a fifth-generation photocopy of the old anti-music petition from two years ago. “Sorry, man,” I said, “I can’t help you.”

The man frowned and said, “Yeah, we’ll see what you think when they’re running this country.”

And the truth is, it’s not that hard to imagine them winning the election in November — but then, I really do believe America gets the government it deserves.

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Tagged festivals, politics