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 Ray Lewis has Ravens fans singing in the rain during Tuesday's victory parade.
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| | Tuesday, January 30
Baltimore throws parade as Ravens reign
Associated Press
BALTIMORE -- Even Art Modell got jiggy with Ray Lewis.
The 75-year-old Baltimore Ravens' owner and the Super Bowl MVP
linebacker delighted thousands of screaming fans on Tuesday as
Modell imitated Lewis' trademark footwork at City Hall.
|  | | Baltimore fans expressed their Super pleasure with the Ravens in poor weather conditions Tuesday. |
About 200,000 exultant fans lined downtown streets despite a
steady, and sometimes heavy, rain to celebrate the team's 34-7
victory Sunday over the New York Giants.
The all-volunteer Baltimore's Marching Ravens band and the
team's three mascots, Edgar, Allan and Poe -- named for the
19th-century writer of the macabre poem from which the team derived
its name -- led the players and coaches in a parade through the
Inner Harbor near Camden Yards to the waiting throngs at Memorial
Plaza in front of City Hall.
"I can't tell you how proud I am to bring you your Super Bowl
trophy," team president David Modell told the crowd, estimated at
200,000 by Baltimore police.
Mayor Martin O'Malley introduced each player in turn. Some threw
personal items into the crowd, including a football, hats, jerseys
and even umbrellas.
Art Modell accepted the keys to the city and thanked the crowd,
which responded by chanting, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."
Loudspeakers blared Aretha Franklin's "Respect" as Lewis
joined Modell on stage and the owner tried to imitate the movements
Lewis has danced all season just before going onto the field to
face opponents.
The Super Bowl victory and Tuesday's celebration were especially
sweet for Lewis, who was implicated in a double murder after last
year's Super Bowl in Atlanta. Although the murder charges against
him were dropped, he spent the week before the Super Bowl
deflecting questions about the case.
The fans went ballistic as Lewis did his slide while holding the
Super Bowl trophy and then led the crowd in the team's traditional
pregame chant.
Coach Brian Billick followed, telling the crowd, "This team
taught me that the word team is really just an extension of the
word family, and you all are a part of that family."
"Believe me when I tell you it's you people that brought Art
Modell and this organization here, and you all are the reason that
I am here."
The crowd also was entertained by Baha Men, who performed their
hit single, "Who Let the Dogs Out?," which the team adopted as
its unofficial season theme.
Earlier, the younger Modell held the Vince Lombardi Trophy as he
walked the parade route while his father rode behind in a limousine
and players followed in a convoy of Humvees.
Fans perched in trees and on rooftops of surrounding office
buildings along the 13-block parade route. Many danced to a nonstop
hip-hop soundtrack and hammed for the players, who carried video
cameras to personally record the moment.
Wes Henson of Waldorf, who said he has never missed a home game
in the team's five seasons here, was decked head to toe in a purple
"Captain Defense" costume, complete with a stuffed raven perched
on his arm.
Wearing a purple tie, Stephan Moylan, a public defender and
lifelong Baltimore resident, said the only people working on
Tuesday were displaced New Yorkers.
"They're all eating crow today. They're all answering the
phones because everybody else is here," Moylan said. "This is a
tremendous day for Baltimore."
He said the Super Bowl victory has done more to unite the city
than any other single event in his lifetime.
"Baltimore has always been a segregated, divided city. Now, you
see anybody on the street -- black, white, green or red -- all the
color is purple," Moylan said, referring to the team's signature
hue.
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