Generally speaking, Redskins fans and Ravens fans don’t like each other. Much like the Giants and Jets, the Skins and Ravens are located closely enough to one another to create natural hatred. Not only that, but Redskins fans have experienced no success over the past decade while Baltimore finds itself in Super Bowl contention almost every year. As we know, jealousy breeds hatred. However, Ray Lewis and Joe Flacco would like to invite Washington Redskins fans to join the Ravens bandwagon for the playoff run if they can put their differences aside.
“I’ve welcomed that fan base for 16 years now,” Lewis said according to MyFoxDC.com. “You know how that (bad) blood is between (Baltimore and D.C.). But I think at the end of the day, when your team is out, I think when they do finally settle in, they’ll probably be cheering for the Ravens before they cheer for an outsider. So, we’ll probably have some extra fans cheering for us.”
“We’re looking for anybody that wants to be a Ravens fan,” Flacco added. “Come up and cheer us on. As many Redskins fans we can steal, that’d be huge, because they have a great following. People love the Redskins, so if we can steal some of their fans, I think we’d be doing a pretty good job.”
Personally, I would consider this to be patronizing if I was a Redskins fan. Flacco and Lewis could be sincere in their offer, but I always root for my rivals to lose. Because I constantly have a chip on my shoulder as a fan of any team, I would look at those comments as a pity invite. Hey, that’s just me. If Washington fans are in desperate need of something to cheer for, more power to them. Just try to tune Flacco out when he starts complaining to reporters.
