Even before the rush of the Baltimore Ravens defense sealed the team's Super Bowl victory Sunday night, a rush by football fans leaving for home had started at Tampa International Airport. The game was mostly as ordinary as the week was festive, but for the Baltimore Ravens, it was perfectly extraordinary. There were pop stars and pirates, glittery parties and global attention. There were also shower heads to count, meeting halls to measure and traffic grids to ponder. The quarterback wanted redemption, the defense wanted a place in history and the entire team gabbed all week about wanting respect.
Time drags, hype grows, and game day never seems to arrive.
In his ideal, this wasn't what Brian Billick imagined at all. As in defense, defense, defense. He could be bitter. Travis Taylor could pout, and walk around the Super Bowl this week angry and thinking what might have been. Ozzie Newsome's thoughts will be firmly on the Super Bowl.