Gov. Larry Hogan had a motivational message for the Ravens at the end of their training camp practice Tuesday.
Wearing a Ravens polo, Hogan addressed the team at the end of its 2 1/2-hour session on the Under Armour Performance Facility field.
"Hey, I just want to say real quick — because I know everybody wants to go get lunch, right? — I'm going to keep it short. Not only is everybody in Baltimore behind you, but everybody in the entire state of Maryland. This is an incredible organization that you have the opportunity to be with, and everybody in the entire state is proud of this team. And I know you guys are going to have a great season. The guys are out there fighting for jobs.
"Let me tell you a quick story: I was running for this job, for governor. Everybody said I had no chance whatsoever. I was going to lose by 18 to 24 points. The guy that was the incumbent, they said, 'Never [would] get knocked off,' right? And we ended up winning by — we won 20 out of 23 counties by 35 percentage points.
"So the guys that are sitting in the job, don't take anything for granted, because that's what sometimes people do. The guys that are fighting for those positions, don't let anybody tell you you can't compete. Just go out there and give it everything you got. Lastly, last year, I had a really tough fight with cancer. I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I was out here at practice. I was pretty sick.
"I got to tell you, you know what it's like — I know what it's like — to play through when you got fatigue, when you got pain and you keep pushing yourself. Don't give up. Don't ever give up. And I promise you, you're going to come out of it. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, so you're going to think it's tough in practice. It's going to be making you even more prepared for when the season starts. So go, Ravens. You guys are a great team. I'm really proud of you."
Hogan fudged some of the results from the 2014 election, and there are undoubtedly some football fans in Montgomery and Prince George's counties who are not "behind" the Ravens, but the governor's rhetoric is a nice change of pace from Ray Lewis' fire and brimstone. No word on whether there is a gubernatorial equivalent of the "squirrel dance."