Unbelievable; the Baltimore Ravens’ most talented player is caught having an affair with an underage girl, which led to…
In the upcoming pages, I will be sharing a very somber and, up until now, private story about football, local media, power, access, and lies, for the many of you who have followed my career, life path, and radio journey and are invested in WNST and Baltimore Positive.
I hope you finished reading it. I know it’s unusually long, but this will prevent you from asking me additional questions down the road. If you stick with it, you’ll also learn a ton about the NFL and how the Baltimore Ravens operate in the modern era. I swear.
And to all of you who are very close to me and with whom I had no prior conversation about this letter, it’s just that it was too intimate to share in a superficial way. Maybe one day you’ll tell me how brave I was to tell the truth. In addition, given the way I’ve been treated, nobody was going to be able to convince me to tell the truth about why I should no longer be in the press box at Meadowlands on Sunday during the season opener against the New York Jets, question Lamar Jackson at press conferences this week, or sit in the Ravens seats that I’ve paid for and enjoyed for a century next weekend when the team plays the Miami Dolphins.
This is my narrative. That is the reality. It also needs to be mentioned. in its entirety because it’s nearly unbelievable how ridiculous it is.
Since the Ravens moved to Baltimore in 1996, I have only ever worked as a professional sports writer. Since I run a small local business, operate an AM 1570 radio station, and provide for my family, I expect to be asked about this for the rest of my life.
For thirty-one years, it has been my mission, job, and public duty to report the truth about the football team and everything else. You are likely still with me because I have never lied to you.
It is a complicated story to tell given the past year of professional bullying by Baltimore Ravens Senior Vice President of Communications Chad Steele, the intimidation of my media status, and even the seats I have paid for and sat in Section 513 with my wife for a quarter of a century.
There is nothing “kneejerk” on my part, as you will see, and this is not a recent development in my world. It’s a nightmare that, for the most part of my adult life, I have wholeheartedly supported and reported on, and I never thought would be approved by a major franchise. You’ll notice a lengthy timeline below. However, here we are.
And since the team arrived in 1996, I have only ever attempted to perform my job duties.
After veteran public relations specialist Kevin Byrne left the team in March 2020 and COVID imposed a “no locker room access” policy on NFL reporters, a string of actions and drastic modifications in the last few years have resulted in my unjust excommunication from the Steve Bisciotti team.
I will not be in the press box or allowed access to sit in the front row, first seat of the press room and ask the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens a question this week, at the game on Sunday in the Meadowlands, or apparently ever again. This is because on November 6, 1995, at the Parris Glendening press conference, I asked Art Modell the first question in the franchise’s history while sitting in the front row next to a somewhat bewildered Peter King of Sports Illustrated.
As a member of the working media, I have been kicked out of Owings Mills during the week and banned by the Baltimore Ravens on game day.
The kids might say that Chad Steele canceled me, I believe.
It’s time someone told sports teams that they are not the ones who get to “fire” reporters, writers, columnists, radio station owners, or members of the media like they are the janitor in the hallway. The public should not accept it because that is not how it is intended to operate.
