Why I’m a Raven: Simon and Jenna

An American honeymoon in 2012 turned Simon and Jenna into Ravens fans. These days, when they go to the London games, they represent the UK Ravens.

My wife, Jenna, and I always liked the NFL but never committed to a team until we went to America on our honeymoon and the Ravens were on their way to the Super Bowl. Everywhere we went we saw Ravens stuff, so we started to follow them. Then they won the Super Bowl and we have followed them ever since.

I’m a casual fan, with hints of being an obsessive – dressing up for the NFL London games, throwing Super Bowl parties and making a Lombardi Trophy cake. (Well, my wife did.) And I am currently taking part in six NFL Fantasy Leagues: four dynasty leagues and two re-draft.

We go to the London games each year. We saw the Ravens play the Jags last year. A group of us who go to the games together travelled up and made a day of it. That’s all I really want to say about that game! The atmosphere was great, though. Shame about the score.

Jenna and I wear our Ravens tops whenever there’s a game on and I am starting to believe that my Ravens cap is lucky because the more I wear it, the more we seem to win.

It’s difficult to pick an all-time favourite player but I love Joe Flacco’s story after he won the Super Bowl. He signed a contract extension and celebrated by going to McDonald’s. Now, that’s got to be my number one player! He knows how to celebrate. And the guy knows how to throw a good Hail Mary.

One of my favourite memories as a fan is looking back on Ray Lewis’s final game at M&T Bank Stadium, when we won 24-9 against the Colts. That’s followed by the huge game between the Harbaugh brothers in the Super Bowl that year. And thirdly, of course, beating the 49ers to win the Super Bowl in 2012! Obviously, I’m only a few years in to supporting the Ravens. There’s going to be many more!

This year we met the guys from @UKRavens, which has hugely boosted our connection with other Ravens fans in the UK. Twitter has gone Ravens mad! We have always met other Ravens fans at the London games – there is a huge following. And to top things off, my wife got us Ravens jerseys with personalised nicknames on them, so look-out for chipzzzi and tintin next time you’re at a London game!

Photos: Shane Richmond