Sound the trumpets, light up the sky with a torch parade and give the Canadian Football League a momentous reception.
Its preview appearance in Baltimore for a team that has been stripped of its birthright name was greeted with an emotional embrace that goes to an underdog that has been kicked around by the ugly czars of power, as personified by the National Football League.
This was the unveiling of a team that was calling itself the Baltimore CFL Colts, until the NFL creeps decided to get a court ruling to deprive them of their identity. But power to the people. Their voices won't be silenced.
As for the game? In a word, extraordinary. The Baltimores won the exhibition, 45-43, over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a game that saw points scored every way known to modern man, in or out of Canada. There were touchdowns, extra points, field goals, safeties and rouges. The scoreboard was blinking so fast it was about to blow a fuse.
If there's a disquieting aspect to the debut night at Memorial Stadium, it is the sobering realization it can't get any better than this. The Baltimore CFLers and their foes from north of the border made it difficult on themselves to play back or to equal such a peak. Can they do it again? If first impressions are lasting, then the CFL and Baltimore are in for a run of fun, although, to be precise about it, the ball is continually up in the air.
Response from the gathering of 28,798 -- which marketing adviser Bob Leffler said was an honest count, compared with the fantasy figures Carroll Rosenbloom invented when he was the Colts' owner -- was almost beyond belief. The place was rocking. course, the game was superb. If events of the CFL home opener are typical of the kind of product that's going to be offered, then spectators will be fighting to get inside.
This was only a preview, but it couldn't have been more exciting had it been a scene lifted from the fiction of one of those old-time pulp magazines. Too bad it was only an exhibition because the historical aspects of the occasion are meaningless. There's no place, you see, in the record book for a game that doesn't count.
But maybe this was much more, considering the circumstances. Every time the public address announcer made reference to the Baltimore CFL the crowd tacked on a post-script roar . . . C-O-L-T-S. It was a message of defiance for the NFL, which went to court to prevent Baltimore from using the name it gave the team in 1947 but which Indianapolis is trying to say belongs there.
The public is bitter over the pettiness and arrogance of a league that forgot where it came from and plainly wants to bury Baltimore. A sign proclaimed "Call 'Em The Colts" and that's what the audience was doing . . . time and again. Mayor Kurt Schmoke was cheered by fans as he entered the stadium. And, conversely, Gov. William Donald Schaefer, who didn't put in an appearance, couldn't begin to imagine the insults being shouted about him for what the spectators perceive is a cold shoulder toward the CFL.
Two general managers from New York, George Young, of the Giants, who was Schmoke's coach at City College, and Dick Steinberg, of the Jets, were there to scout the game. As longtime observers of the Canadian sport, they enjoy what they see. "It's entertaining and I've always been impressed with the intensity the players display," said Young. Steinberg agreed.
Steinberg also said "the different rules are no problem and you get oriented to the game in a hurry." Steinberg is right. There's no adjustment needed. It just happens.
John Unitas, the Hall of Fame quarterback, present with 41 of his Colt alumni, never one to get carried away, simply said, "It's nice to see the stadium alive again. If the people are happy with the CFL then I'm happy." Bubba Green, another ex-Colt, remarked, "We need this badly."
And John Ziemann, president of the Colts' Band, quickly added, "This is a prideful night for all of us." The band, wearing its old uniforms, never missed a step or a beat. Renditions of the Colts' fight song brought booming applause and, late in the game, the heavens couldn't be restrained any longer and, thus, "cried" a rainstorm down upon the audience as part of the grand finale.
It was not the kind of a contest you'd want to walk out on since it was remindful of so many free-scoring games that Canadian football advocates proclaim happen with frequency. The Colts never stopped coming back but Winnipeg tied them, 40-40, with only seven seconds left in regulation. Then, after double-overtime sessions of five minutes apiece, the kicking wizard, Donald Igwebuike, out of Clemson, wearing "00" on his jersey, kicked the winning field goal with no time on the clock.
It translated into a 45-43 victory for Baltimore and the crowd was ecstatic. Few football games, high school, college or professional, in the long history of Memorial Stadium ever offered such an emotional bang or provided what amounted to a cacophony of near non-stop excitement. But it was all for practice.
Scott Garceau, sports director of WMAR-TV, said, "I just hope this team wins, if not this year then next, so Baltimore can have the distinction of having been champions in three different leagues -- the NFL, the USFL and now the CFL."
Bill Brown, 48, employed by the city's Department of Transportation, exclaimed, "This is the best I've ever seen. I have some friends in Indianapolis and they want their own name, not what belongs to Baltimore."
A fan leaving the arena, Duane Meekins, 39, of Manchester, mentioned he thought the stadium should have been packed. "I also think the CFL is going to click. It's high scoring and a lot of action. I have season tickets for my family. I can't understand the governor being so disinterested. He's not tuned in to what the fans want and that's support for the CFL."
Joe Gross, veteran sports editor of the Annapolis Capital, has experience watching the Canadian League teams. "I love it, the game is wide-open and I predict Baltimore is going to accept its new club with attention and interest."
Leonard "The Big Wheel" Burrier, the cheerleader who taught Bill Hagy how to work the Oriole crowds, was contorting his body to spell out C-O-L-T-S. Yes, the good times were back again. And those on hand in the stands were quick to identify with the team and seemed pleasantly surprised.
Just because, in a physical way, the CFL players lack the size of the NFL, is not a negative. This is a league where agility is the calling card. The NFL has some hog-fat tackles who wouldn't fit the speed concept of the CFL. But the NFL, without a doubt, has the overall competence to beat a CFL club on its best of nights.
That's not the point. The CFL offers excitement. This translates to entertainment. The game deserves to be accepted in Baltimore. The show, off this one look, far exceeds expectations.