CUMBERLAND - In 1969, Neil Armstrong planted a red, white and blue flag on the moon, and it was clear who had claimed squatting rights.
But there is no single NFL flag stuck in Maryland soil, no team that can claim to dominate the state when it comes to fan loyalty. Rather, there are entrenched bases of support for the Ravens and Washington Redskins, and small but enthusiastic outposts of Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles followers.
The story of how those teams' fans get along - or don't - is filled with odd couplings, old rivalries and occasional bitterness.
From Ocean City to Oakland (not the home of the Raiders, but rather the Garrett County seat), much of the venom seems to be directed at the Redskins.
Here in Western Maryland, residents are still angry with the Redskins for yanking their training camp out of Frostburg State University. In Baltimore, Ravens fans blame Washington's ownership for conspiring to keep the city without a team from 1984 until 1996. Near the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, Eagles fans can't abide the Redskins because of the intensity of the teams' NFC East rivalry.
The NFL's final regular-season weekend will bring together two of the teams that Marylanders root for, when the Ravens play the Steelers in Pittsburgh tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Redskins take on the Dallas Cowboys at home tomorrow. Today, the Eagles meet the New York Giants at the Meadowlands.
For fans living where the NFL markets collide, the games pose the usual dilemma - or family squabble - over who controls the TV remote.
"I root for the Eagles and the Ravens, if you can believe that," says Paul Urbaniak of Fair Hill, a Cecil County community that is closer to Philadelphia than Baltimore.
"Never liked the Redskins," he says.
'Skins' hate widespread
Mike Cullison, a liquor store manager in Edgewood, in Harford County, shares Urbaniak's animosity toward the Redskins.
"Up here you have Eagles fans who are anti-Redskin because they're in the same division, and you have Ravens fans who are anti-Redskin," Cullison says. "Some blame Washington for us not having a team for 13 years."
Many still blame the Redskins' organization for Baltimore's prolonged period without an NFL team after the Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984. Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke opposed expansion, then sought to build the team's new stadium in Laurel, just 15 miles south of Baltimore.
Cooke eventually settled on a site in Prince George's County. Even though farther from Baltimore, its Maryland location rankles.
In the period when Baltimore was without NFL football, "there was no way we were going to Redskins games," said Cullison.
Though he lives about the same distance to Philadelphia as he does to Baltimore, Cullison is as zealous as most closer Ravens fans. A longtime Colts fan - "from the Bert Jones era," he says proudly - he converted to the Ravens in 1996. Cullison, 35, even attends some road games (he made it to Miami this year).
Cullison's area of Maryland is near both the Pennsylvania and Delaware lines. It is filled with people who watch Baltimore and Philadelphia television stations and can read local newspapers from three states. Far to the west, in Garrett and Allegany counties, fans live in a region with a similar split personality.
Seeing certain Pittsburgh games on a home television can be a problem in places like Cumberland, which is about the same distance (a 2 1/2 -hour drive) from Pittsburgh as from Baltimore. Steelers fan Susie Wilitson, 36, can't see all her team's games because the occasional Fox broadcast is not available on her local cable. Instead, the Redskins are.
Of course, fans of any NFL team can gather at a sports bar these days or buy their own signals to watch any team's games via satellite. That and the transient nature of the American population means that fans of any team, wearing no telling what jersey, turn up anywhere.
In Cumberland, Charter Communications, which is obliged by federal rules to carry certain stations, offers Washington's network affiliates. On its own, Charter says it also picks up a CBS affiliate from the Johnstown-Altoona area, and one from Baltimore.
Steel Curtain
Wilitson, a bartender, often sports her Antwaan Randle El "No. 82" Pittsburgh jersey even when surrounded by Ravens and Redskins paraphernalia at Brewski's pub, where she works. She says the tavern's beer distributors give the pub free items with the logo of the "local teams," but neglect the Steelers.
Although she usually works Monday nights, Wilitson says the bar's managers know better than to disturb her when the Steelers appear on Monday Night Football. She typically hunkers down next to one of the big screens and fends off the taunts of Ravens fans.
"You really do see a lot of black-and-gold uniforms in here, and probably after that are the Ravens," said John Hancock, the bar's owner. "We're 10 miles from the Pennsylvania line and a couple hundred yards from West Virginia. A lot of people don't realize how close these other states are to Cumberland."
The Steelers' organization says it sympathizes with its Western Maryland displaced fans, who are often among the team's most loyal. "There's been a following there, and I just think the proximity to Pittsburgh and the fact that Baltimore was without a team for so long probably helped," says Steelers communications coordinator Ron Wahl.
The resilience of Pittsburgh fans in the Ravens' home state irks some Ravens' diehards. "This page is dedicated to my second all-consuming passion: HATRED of the Pittsburgh Steelers," says a Web site designed by a Western Maryland who puts the Ravens No. 1.
Providing a geography lesson, the Web site begins: "Western Maryland is in the state of Maryland, former Colt Country. Time to vote for the 'home' team again ... it's now the Ravens." The site goes on to show a cartoon character using a Steelers logo as a urinal.
There are Redskins fans in Western Maryland, too. However the team's popularity dipped after the franchise abruptly moved its training camp from Frostburg to Ashburn, Va., before the 2000 season.
After the team announced the shift, Frostburg State University officials held a picnic just as they did for the Redskins in each of the five years they practiced on campus. The folks working the barbecue pit still wore aprons that read "Hail to the Redskins," but "Redskins" was crossed out and "Bobcats," the Frostburg State nickname, was substituted.
"When the Redskins pulled their camp out of Frostburg, they [ticked] a lot of fans off, I can tell you that," said Cumberland native Casper R. Taylor Jr., the outgoing speaker of the state House of Delegates. "The Ravens' contingent has been building, but we still have a lot of Steelers fans in the area. Historically, we always did."
Just as their players compete on the field, NFL franchises vie for Maryland's fans through television ads and programs, merchandising, youth clinics and direct mail. "We call it fan development," says Dennis Mannion, vice president of business development and marketing for the Ravens.
It's not just a team's record that causes fans' loyalty to rise or wane. Factors range from a team's image and tradition to whether a particular facet, such as the Ravens' 2000-season defense, grabs the attention of fans and the media.
The Ravens have sold about 100 season-ticket packages (or as many as 300 seats) as far south as Fairfax County, Va., deep in what is clearly Redskins' territory. Says Mannion: "It appears a Redskins fan could be a Ravens fan, but I'm not sure a Ravens fan could be a Redskins fan."
Generally, teams attract followers living nearest the home city. Baltimore and Washington fans dominate Maryland, creating a natural rivalry diminished only by their membership in different conferences. They've played just two regular-season games (they split) since the Ravens arrived in Baltimore in 1996.
The Ravens' 2001 Super Bowl victory elevated their stature in the state. As the team moved through the playoffs, it won over fans in battleground areas such as Anne Arundel, Howard and Frederick counties. On the Eastern Shore, the Redskins and Ravens also compete, with the Redskins still a hot topic in the southernmost counties.
The Ravens give way to the Redskins in Montgomery and Prince George's counties, and Southern Maryland is generally Redskins' terrain.
Gentlemen's agreement
The two organizations long had a "gentlemen's agreement" not to encroach into each other's marketing areas. The agreement ended when the Redskins tried to attract new Baltimore-area fans in the summer of 2000.
Relations worsened when a bus carrying Ravens owner Art Modell to the Redskins' stadium was dispatched to a remote parking lot when the teams played in October 2000. Modell, then 75, needed to be transported to the stadium in a golf cart. The Ravens also complained that stadium officials continued to blast music and announcements even after Baltimore's offense was set to begin play - a violation of NFL rules.
The Ravens' response to their rival's brazen marketing?
"I think we direct-marketed 80,000 pieces into their market to sell season tickets and individual tickets, and we did pretty well," says Mannion, the Ravens' marketing executive. "Since then we kind of called a bit of a truce prior to the 2001 season."
No amount of marketing could win over a devout Redskins fan such as Bill DeAtley, an accountant from Charles County. His La Plata home was damaged by a tornado in April. Among the first items he spirited out of the house - to guard it against water damage or theft - was a poster autographed by the Redskins' "Fun Bunch" receivers from the 1980s.
"As for the 'Skins," says DeAtley, referring to their disappointing play of late, "there's always next year!"