An Evening to Remember

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Charm City women certainly do love their pigskin.

Look no further than A Purple Evening, the fourth-annual women’s festival which was held at M&T Bank Stadium Oct. 6 for the female fan base in Baltimore. Nearly 1,500 women showed up to participate in football drills and attend forums with such guests as former Baltimore Colts running back Lenny Moore, Mrs. Rex Ryan and Mrs. Daniel Wilcox. And of course, they were there for autographs and photographs with their favorite team.

So what was the New Media Intern doing there? Chaperoning of course.

Well, more like escorting. There were a lot of players there, ranging from rookies like Haruki Nakamura and Jameel McClain to Pro-Bowlers Chris McAlister, Willis McGahee and Terrell Suggs. Ray Lewis even made a surprise appearance in the locker room, where members of the Lavender Ladies had the exclusive opportunity to mingle and interact with some of the players.

But there were many, many more women all hoping for a signature, a photo op and even a hug from one of their favorite players. The passion for purple runs deep in this city.

“We were extremely pleased with the turnout,” said Andi Goodwin, the Ravens’ advertising and research manager who helped organize the entire event. “We have an amazing female fan base here in Baltimore, and they showed up in full force.”

Goodwin not only helped coordinate the event, she even squared off with Mickey Cucchiella of 98 Rock and Shari Elliker of WBAL AM 1090 in a pop culture showdown (which she won, representing the ladies gallantly).

The fans stuck around on the field to learn some basic football plays, and some even took a few shots at kicking field goals. By the end of the night, several games of flag football were in the works.

When they weren’t down on the field, they were in line on the club level waiting for autographs from one of the 19 players who participated. Those who missed an official autograph session still got their chance when the players went down to the field afterwards. Many players stuck around later than they were obligated, posing for “one more photo” or signing “one more autograph” for the adoring ladies.

It was my specific duty to stick by Yamon Figurs’ side, our kick returner, who is evidently a crowd favorite. This made it particularly difficult to stick by his side when we were on the field, as he was immediately surrounded like the superstar he is. The fans didn’t care who he specifically was, just that he was a Raven; and some didn’t even know.

“What player is that?” some asked. “Who is he?”

I smiled each time at how these grown women came off like kids on Christmas morning.

“That’s Yamon Figurs, our kick returner.” I told them. “One of our wide receivers, Demetrius Williams, is right over there, and Steven Hauschka the kicker is next to him.”

(To digress for a short moment, I even had a personal moment of celebrity myself, when a fan asked for a photograph with me! Maybe she was just tired of waiting for a space to open up next to Yamon, or maybe she believed Yamon as he joked that I was on the team as well, but either way, I was happy to oblige!)

Yamon had a smile on his face throughout the whole night, even as his bubble of personal space got smaller and smaller. Women would show off the images of them with Yamon on their digital cameras, thank him and then thank me.

“Please thank Yamon for me!”

“Tell Yamon we love him!”

“Here’s my number, tell Yamon to call me!”

OK, that last one didn’t happen, but you get the idea. Even my own mother got into the action, and she’s not exactly a diehard pigskin fan. When she wasn’t sipping on a purple margarita, she was getting a kick out of chatting it up with the cheerleaders or swooning over Haruki “Namaguchi’s” signature on her hat. (Sorry Mom!)

And that essentially sums up A Purple Evening right there: whether you were a die-hard or a novice, there was something there for you. It was being up close to your favorite team. It was learning something new, expressing your gratitude, and the players expressing theirs. It only goes to show that the game of football isn’t as dominated by the male demographic as one might think. Based on the crowd reactions at A Purple Evening, the ladies may be on their way to bucking the trend.

In Charm City, anyway.

Visit the Purple page | Join Purple or become a Lavender Lady

Purple, the official Baltimore Ravens club created just for women, was designed with the female Ravens fan in mind. Purple provides a forum to stay involved with the team and other female fans through updates, retail offers, events and exclusive information.