In 2000, Terry Cox was hired away from Harrah’s to set up the new sports book at the recently renovated Peppermill casino in Reno. As part of that first season, to promote his new establishment, Terry hired me to conduct a 30-minute pregame show in the sports book every Monday night.
I had a chance to interact with the attendees each week and a common question of mine to open the show was, “Who’s the best team in the National Football League?”
This was after the San Francisco 49ers had dropped from their perch atop the football world and were in a down season, but a lot of the locals would call out another Bay Area team, the Oakland Raiders. The Indianapolis Colts with a young Peyton Manning was a popular choice as was the Los Angeles Rams with Kurt Warner running their offense. The Tennessee Titans, who had just missed winning the Super Bowl the prior year, were a popular choice as they piled up win after win in the AFC Central Division.
All through the season a team that didn’t get mentioned was the Baltimore Ravens.
They started the 2020 season with Tony Banks at quarterback and switched mid-season to a signal caller with more bad press clipping than Sean Diddy, Trent Dilfer.
What we all missed, at the time I included myself in this blind spot, was that the Ravens had a defense that would tackle your grandmother at the door entering a Thanksgiving celebration. They were as mean and talented as any that ever played the game, and had a team leader, Ray Lewis, on their roster that was a catalyst for greatness.