On Sunday morning, Bryan Cronin will go to church and pray for a Ravens victory. Then he'll don his trusty Kelly Gregg jersey and board a bus to the stadium, four hours before game time.
That the Baltimore contractor will be performing his game day rituals in Kansas City hardly matters to him. He will go anywhere for a Ravens game — except Pittsburgh, which might as well be a circle of hell as far as he's concerned.
"I like to travel, I like to see different cities and I'm a Ravens nut," said Cronin, who hasn't missed a non- Steelers game in eight years. "What else would I do this weekend?"
Cronin is part of a small but hardy brigade of Baltimore fans who are invading Kansas City this weekend for the Ravens' playoff opener against the Chiefs. Travel services that specialize in Ravens trips say demand has been down this year compared with the 2009 and 2010 playoffs.
They blame everything from the length of the trip to overconfidence in a Ravens win. It's certainly not because of the cost of the tickets, which were widely available, often below face value, at the end of the week.
"A lot of my customers are already getting ready for the next game," said Cole Rubin, owner of the travel service Ravenstrips.com. He estimated that he had heard from 200 to 300 customers by Thursday, about half the number he served for playoff openers the previous two seasons.
Of course, the 2009 game in Miami gave fans the chance for a respite from January weather. And last year's contest required a relatively quick hop up the East Coast to Boston.
"I don't think anyone is looking at this trip as a vacation spot," Rubin said. "I'm sure the people of Kansas City are nice, but I know I'll be inside most of the time."
Kansas City is an 18-hour drive west on Interstate 70, and several local bus companies dropped plans for prospective trips because few fans seemed eager for such a slog.
"It's just too far," said Sara Blankenship of Hunt Valley Motor Coach, which often charters buses for away games. "If we had enough calls, we would have done it. But a lot of the calls that we did get, people wouldn't commit to going."
Phil Walls of Catonsville thought about making the trip but decided it was too long. He said many fellow die-hards seemed to make the same choice.
"There wasn't nearly as much buzz for this game as there has been for playoff games in the past," he said. "If we win this game, I bet this town gets into it again. But for some strange reason, it just seems like many are treating this like just another game."
Chiefs officials did not know how many Ravens fans had purchased tickets. "But it's traditionally been pretty red in our stadium for playoff games," said team spokesman Pete Moris.
Those who were planning to go, however, seemed excited about partying with other purple-clad travelers and sampling Kansas City's famed barbecue.
"I can't wait to get there," said Jeff Schwartz, who owns Ritchie Lumber & Building Supply in Brooklyn.
Schwartz was amazed to find four upper-deck tickets on the 30-yard-line (the same place he sits in Baltimore) for $82 a pop, about the same as he pays for regular-season tickets. He planned to fly out Friday evening with his 16-year-old son, Michael, and two friends.
He never doubted that he would go to the game. His autumns and winters are built around the Ravens schedule. He decorates his truck with team flags and magnets, and for Christmas he gave Ravens jerseys to each of his employees (even the one who likes the Steelers).
Once he's in an enemy city, he simply throws on his purple-and-black garb and cruises a popular bar or restaurant district until he finds a pack of fellow Ravens rooters. He said it rarely takes long.
This weekend, Schwartz will be in his black Anquan Boldin jersey, which he has worn throughout the team's recent winning streak.
Asked if Kansas City is an enticing destination, he said, "To me it is. I can't wait to go to some of these barbecue places."
Schwartz was looking forward to the prospect of dinner at Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue, the restaurant several friends recommended
Moris said that on game day, visiting fans might want to pick up "burnt ends and beans" from LC's Bar-B-Q, located about five minutes from the stadium. For the uninitiated, burnt ends are smoky chunks of meat cut from the end of a beef brisket. "Just tell them to wear red," Moris said jokingly, noting that LC's is a favorite of Chiefs fans.
Cronin, the hardest of die-hards, has been to a game in Kansas City, of course. But he missed the downtown experience because he stayed near the stadium, which is about 15 minutes away.
"I'll let you know how it rates after this time," he said.
Cronin fancies Nashville, Tenn., the most of any road city, because everything is centrally located and "you can cheer for your team and not get beat up."
That's a sharp contrast to Pittsburgh. "I don't like to use the word hate, but it was pretty close to that," he said of his one trip there.
As a seasoned football road warrior, he was ready for a possible second-round game against the New England Patriots even before he left for the first-rounder against the Chiefs.
"Oh, yeah," he said. "I'm already booked for Boston."