DAVID MODELL, president of the Baltimore Ravens, can be excused for sounding a bit melodramatic, even militaristic, before his football team's recent change of its helmet logo: "I don't feel my team should go into battle under a contested mark."

Even in the best of circumstances, team symbols elicit strong emotions. And in this case, the Ravens don't have the best of circumstances: The "flying B" symbol the team has used on its helmets since it began playing in Baltimore in 1996 is at the center of a copyright infringement suit. Last fall, a federal jury sided with an amateur artist/security guard, who claims the Ravens took the idea from unsolicited sketches he'd sent to team and stadium officials months before the team unveiled its design. The Ravens and the National Football League are appealing. If the verdict is upheld, the guard could collect more than $10 million in damages.

Team symbols have been known to evoke great controversy. The Cleveland Indians, for example, remain the butt of criticism -- wholly warranted -- for the racist, cartoonish Indian on their caps. Ditto the Washington Redskins.

As for the Ravens, a readers poll in The Sun helped it select a fierce bird profile over a frontal view of a raven or a shield that incorporated the Calvert and Crossland crests from the Maryland flag. Nearly 20,000 votes were phoned in, a total that would win most congressional primaries in this state.

The Ravens were impressed with the volume of feedback and wise to have solicited it because these alterations rarely go gently into the night.