Football stadiums don't have tall walls, ivy-covered walls, green monsters, quirky angles or even much ambience the way baseball stadiums do.
Football stadiums are remembered for the games that are played in them and the home-field advantages teams build there.
That's why Lambeau Field in Green Bay is a shrine despite the seats consisting of metal benches. After all, they played the Ice Bowl there, and Vince Lombardi once stalked the sidelines.
By contrast, the Falcons have a modern domed stadium in Atlanta, but the place is half empty most of the time because the Falcons aren't much of an attraction.
When the Ravens open their new stadium at Camden Yards today, what counts is not the amenities, but how the team plays and whether it can create a noisy stadium that provides a big home-field advantage.
"There's going to be tremendous electricity, the likes of which this town hasn't seen in a long time," said Ravens owner Art Modell.
The question is whether they can tear a page from their rival today -- the Pittsburgh Steelers -- and sustain it.
Since Pittsburgh has been so good for so long, it's almost forgotten that the Steelers had never won a playoff game at the time they moved into Three Rivers Stadium in 1970.
They were coming off a 1-13 season while the Cleveland Browns were coming off a 10-4 mark in 1969.
Yet the Steelers upset the Browns, 28-9, in November 1970 at Three Rivers and went on to beat them a total of 16 consecutive times in that stadium. The Browns then won four times from 1986-89, but the Browns-Ravens are 0-for-the-'90s in that stadium.
Of course, it wasn't just the stadium. The Steelers hired an obscure Baltimore Colts assistant named Chuck Noll the year before they moved into it, and he started drafting a bunch of future Hall of Famers, notably quarterback Terry Bradshaw in 1970.
The Ravens, of course, don't have a franchise quarterback yet. They're still working on that problem. It took them two years just to figure out Vinny Testaverde wasn't the answer.
But Jim Harbaugh, Capt. Comeback, has given the Steelers all they could handle in two of their last three meetings when he was with the Colts.
In 1995, he came within a Hail Mary pass of beating them for a Super Bowl berth and then lost only 24-22 at home last year when the Colts were off to a 0-10 start.
On the other hand, the Steelers hammered the Colts, 42-14, in a 1996 playoff.
The bottom line is the Ravens will find out today if they can start turning their new stadium into a home-field advantage and make it a place opposing teams fear.
Play-calling
This game is more significant for the Ravens than the Steelers. After all, the Steelers have lost four of their last five openers and still made the playoffs each time.
But there is one significant aspect. Former Minnesota assistant coach Ray Sherman will be making his debut as the team's offensive coordinator.
This is an important position for the Steelers because they might have fared better in the postseason last year with better play-calling.
Last year in the AFC title game against Denver, they had a 14-10 second-period lead and the best rushing attack in the league when Chan Gailey, then the offensive coordinator and later hired by Dallas, called three straight passing plays, and they punted.
The defense got the ball back and, on second-and-two at the Denver 35, Gailey called another pass that was intercepted in the end zone. Denver came back to score to take a 17-14 lead.
The Steelers got the ball back with less than two minutes to go deep in their territory. Instead of running out the clock, Gailey called for Kordell Stewart to go to the shotgun and throw. A holding penalty killed the drive, and the Steelers punted. Denver came back with another touchdown to take a 24-14 halftime lead.
By failing to using their running game, the Steelers turned a 14-10 lead into a 24-14 deficit -- a 14-point swing. The Steelers blanked Denver in the second half but lost, 24-21.
It was reminiscent of the Super Bowl two years ago when the Steelers, trailing Dallas 20-17, got the ball on their 24 with 3: 43 left.
They had plenty of time to run Bam Morris and drive for the winning touchdown.
Instead, Ron Erhardt, who was then the offensive coordinator, called two straight passing plays. Neil O'Donnell threw the second one right into Larry Brown's arms, and the game was over.
Meanwhile, Jerome Bettis is openly campaigning to have the team run more in the red zone.
"We're No. 1 in the NFL in running the football, yet when we get in the red zone, we rarely run the football. Why is that?" he said.
That's why it'll be interesting to see how Sherman calls the plays.
Rivalry
Now that New York financier Andrew Penson has opened the bidding for the Washington Redskins franchise at $450 million, it seems likely that the team will ultimately be sold.
For reasons that have never been explained, former owner Jack Kent Cooke didn't leave the team to his son, John Kent Cooke, when he died last year. Instead, he left the Redskins to a foundation with a mandate to sell. But he didn't leave his son the money to buy the team and he's been unable to come up with it.
If there's a new owner, it could open the way for an annual Ravens-Redskins exhibition game.
Like his father, John Kent Cooke has refused to play the Ravens in the exhibition season, saying he wants to play different teams in the preseason.
The real reason is that the Cookes never supported a team in Baltimore in the first place.
The Redskins played their two road exhibition games this year in Tennessee and Buffalo. They drew 31,429 for the first one and 33,073 for the second.
They could have topped the total of both games playing in Baltimore and wouldn't have had to make an airplane trip.
Ravens owner Art Modell, though, says it's more than just the gate.
He'd even like to donate the receipts of an annual Ravens-Redskins game to charity and have some sort of Governor's Cup at stake.
So far, he's been unable to convince Cooke to schedule the game. It might be a much easier sell for a new owner.
An annual Ravens-Redskins exhibition game would be a tonic for the preseason.
Debuts
Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf make their much ballyhooed debuts today. But don't be surprised if both quarterbacks struggle.
Remember, John Elway was yanked in each of his first two games in 1983 in Pittsburgh and Baltimore, and Steve DeBerg came off the bench to pull out both games.
Quick facts
The Green Bay Packers keep reloading with youth and kept eight rookies and first-year players on their roster.
Sixteen teams in the 1990s went unbeaten in the preseason in the '90s before the Vikings, Ravens and Dolphins did it this year. Only one, the 1990 Giants, went on to win the Super Bowl, and seven didn't make the playoffs.
The Denver Broncos, who host the New England Patriots Monday night, have outscored the Patriots, 105-24, the last three games and outrushed them, 511-149.
Names in the news
Damon Huard has beaten out Craig Erickson to become the Miami Dolphins' backup quarterback behind Dan Marino.
Denver running back Terrell Davis says he missed the second period of the Super Bowl last January with a migraine headache because he forgot to take a pill one hour before the game.
Jerry Rice, who'll make his debut today after coach Steve Mariucci made him sit out the exhibition season to give his knee more time to heal, will make $5 million this year in his new six-year, $36 million deal.
Antonio Freeman's bid to get a big new contract next year suffered a setback when Green Bay signed Dorsey Levens to a long-term deal. It means the Packers can put the franchise tag on Freeman next year if they don't reach an agreement with him.
Quotable
"I don't think he'd be too thrilled about what's going on today. I can remember him telling me, 'You'll rue the day you take all that money from the [TV] networks. It won't be our game as much anymore. It'll be their game.' "
-- Steelers president Dan Rooney, remembering how his father and Steelers founder, the late Arthur J. Rooney, who died 10 years ago last month, warned of the dangers of fat TV contracts from the networks.
Pub Date: 9/06/98