Fridays to Remember

The Dillon Panthers are American’s Team. The fictional high school football squad featured in Friday Night Lights is so beloved around the country that NBC decided to renew the show for 22 new episodes starting this October. Why was there such strong support? Apart from the teenage love triangles and domestic dilemmas facing the Taylor’s, the creators of the show allowed football fans from Texas to Terre Haute to remember what it felt like to put your heart and hopes on the line for your home team.

The show brings back memories of putting on your team colors on Friday mornings; counting down the minutes to the pep rallies on Friday afternoons; and of course, cheering under the lights on Friday nights. Well Ravens fans, you don’t have to go back to high school to savor those moments anymore - you don’t even to watch the Panthers play – all you need to do to rekindle the fire is take part in Purple Fridays this fall.

Each and every Friday throughout the season, starting on September 7th, Ravens fans around the city and across the state are being asked to wear their pride on their sleeves, literally, by wearing purple attire to work and to school. It could be the excuse you’ve been looking for to wear the custom jersey you had made last Christmas, the purple boa that doesn’t match anything else in the closet, or the purple tie your kids bought you for Father’s Day. And if you’re really daring, I mean passionate, throw on some eye black and shoulder pads and tackle the water cooler Terry Tate style. It’s sure to spark conversation around the water, err, coffee machine on Monday.

Dressing the part is only the first part of Purple Fridays as the bars of Baltimore and various Bill Bateman’s locations will play host to pep rally style soirées beginning on the 7th. Beer and wing discounts are special enough, but Poe and both Ravens Cheerleaders and the new Ravens Playmakers will help put the pep in the rally. Chants, cheeseburgers, and cheerleaders will bring you back to your days at The Max and The Peach Pit.

Your support doesn’t have to end when you pay your tab, however, as Baltimoreans showed last January during the week before the Divisional Playoffs. The town had a purple tint thanks to the efforts of Ravens fans from Cross Street to Canton. Purple lights adorned the windows of homes and offices. Purple flags flew off the backs of cars and trucks. And homemade purple banners – think homecoming floats – adorned some of the city’s most notable addresses.

Of course the crowning culmination of any football weekend is the game itself. Whether it’s Dillon vs Gatling, City vs. Poly, or Ravens vs. Bengals, the action on the field is the foundation for the fervor. The players feed off the emotion of the fans and vice versa. The team plays to win, but more importantly, they play for their state, their city, and their town. On Friday’s this fall, remind the Ravens who they’re playing for and remember when Friday nights under the lights were all that mattered.

This article originally appeared on BaltimoreRavens.com before the start of the 2007 season