Ravens

Friends since their youth and diehard Baltimore Ravens fans, Donnie Stotelmyer and Mark Crilly were elated to get tickets to Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans. Crilly was selected in the Ravens lottery for the right to buy Super Bowl tickets - at a face value of $850 each. “Our families encouraged us” to go, said Stotelmyer, who along with Crilly graduated from South Hagerstown High School in 1975 and is a member of Ravens Roost No. 7. The AFC champion Ravens play the San Francisco 49ers, champions of the NFC, Sunday in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

There's an old baseball legend about a hitter who takes a called third strike. He's so upset with the umpire that he takes his bat and gives it a mighty heave into the stratosphere. The ump gazes up at the soaring object and says, “Son, if that bat ever comes down you're out of the game.” That was probably the way most people felt Saturday as they watched Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco's last-gasp pass arch high and deep into the Denver Broncos' secondary. You had a sense it would come down sooner or later, but there was no guarantee.

The unknown is a very scary place. The reason is obvious. No one knows what to expect when heading somewhere they have never been. On Wednesday, a trio of adventurers stood at unknown's entrance, waiting to walk through the doorway of what will be the Twilight Zone. They were Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, the Ravens and the fan base which worships both of them. Lewis announced he would end his 17-year career at the end of the Ravens' current playoff run. The timing was abrupt.

A baskets, pottery and cash bingo will be held Sunday, Nov. 18, at the Elks Lodge on Robinwood Drive. Tickets cost $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Lunch is included in the ticket price. Doors open at 11 a.m., lunch will be served at noon and bingo starts at 1 p.m. There will be eight basket prizes, seven pottery prizes and 15 cash prizes. There will also be raffles, tip jars, King Tuts, and 50/50. The community is invited. Participants must be 18 years of age.  Baked goods and sodas will be available for purchase.  For tickets, call Kim Wesmiller at 301-432-6933.  The event is sponsored by Tri-State Raven's Nest 12 and proceeds benefit the scholarship fund.

Hagerstown's newest Ravens Roost donated $3,000 toward the planned Korean War Veterans Memorial. A check was presented to members Les Bishop and Jim Mobley, from Antietam Chapter 312 of the Korean War Veterans Association, to be used for the memorial planned to be built near Mealey Parkway and Potomac Avenue  in Hagerstown's North End.  Hub City Ravens Roost 124 raised money by sponsoring a golf tournament at Beaver Creek County Club on Sept....

Short-term memory loss can be a blessed thing. Like, if you live or work in Maryland and you leave the state for a while, you are liable to start to forget that things around here can get a bit - what's the word? - unconventional. But then, upon return, you get a quick reminder. This is the place I was in Thursday when I arrived home from a week in the mountains to learn that all of Baltimore had been terrorized by a bat. Or at least the thousands of people in attendance at a Baltimore Ravens game, where a bat touched down in the 500 section.

“The gentleman or lady who called in and said that they wish the paper would print more on the Ravens must not be reading the paper right, because almost every day I see something in there about the Ravens. And just now, in today's paper, I opened to the sports section, and right there was a story that says, 'Ravens look to make defense count in meaningless game.'” - Falling Waters, W.Va. “If all these people who complain about the jobs going overseas are willing to take $3 an hour as their pay, not have any health benefits, no sick days and no paid vacations, then - and work 12 hours a day - I'm sure we can get all those jobs back from China and India without a problem, and you'll have plenty of work.

The Tri-State Ravens Nest 12 held its 13th annual Player of the Year Banquet on Saturday evening, recognizing five individuals, including two area athletes and Baltimore Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta. Greencastle-Antrim's Nathan Hykes and South Hagerstown's John Kitchen were given the Nest's two Tri-State Area High School Scholarship awards in honor of their work both on and off the football field. “I'm excited to be recognized for football and what I do in the classroom,” said Hykes, who will continue his education and football career at Delaware Valley College this fall.

Tri-State Ravens Nest No. 12 will hold its 13th annual “Player of the Year” award banquet Saturday at the Ramada Plaza Hotel near Hagerstown. The fan club will honor Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta as its player of the year. Pitta was a fourth-round draft pick out of BYU in 2010 and played in all 16 games last year, his second season in Baltimore. He had 40 receptions for 405 yards and three touchdowns in the regular season and added seven catches for 70 yards and a score in the Ravens' two playoff games.

The room was charged with energy through much of the game as Baltimore Ravens fans jumped to their feet and pumped their fists in the air during the nail-biting AFC championship game against the New England Patriots. Then it came to an end when Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missed a field goal, ending the team's chances of keeping the game alive with a tie. The Hub City Ravens Roost room in Always Ron's Restaurant & Catering on Burhans Boulevard fell suddenly quiet as fans walked out the doors in disbelief.