Friendly competition between Indianapolis, Baltimore mayors ahead of Monday Night Football
BALTIMORE (WISH) — Two cities with a deep history of passion and football will clash when the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens meet on WISH-TV in primetime Monday.
So, who better to get together than Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett? After all, what’s a competition without a little trash talk?
“It is not even a comparison,” Scott said. “First of all, that team that should forever remain nameless in the eyes of Baltimoreans doesn’t even have a fan base because its original fan base was here.”
“I’d take the Colts over the Ravens as a group of fans any day of the week,” Hogsett said.
Is there still some bad blood 37 years after the Colts left Baltimore?
“We don’t see horseshoes, we see (Mayflower moving trucks) when we see them, which is why we are going to beat them again,” Scott said. “Ravens nation, the Ravens flock, is a real fan base. That is not even close.”
What about the food scene?
“Crab cakes!” Scott said. “Crabs — Baltimore. No one knows what Indianapolis is known for. They have food there? When I was there, I brought my own food. I couldn’t even eat it! I had to bring crab cakes with me.”
“Who eats crab cakes?” Hogsett asked. “You need a good tenderloin. You need a hot dose of the sauce at St. Elmo’s. You need to go out to Working Man’s Friend and bite into a double cheeseburger. That is what living is all about.”
And which team has the better dancers?
“That team would have to score first,” Scott said. “I don’t know because (the Colts) don’t score much. We got Hollywood flare. We got (quarterback Lamar Jackson). (Hall of Fame linebacker) Ray Lewis was known for his dancing. The Baltimore Ravens have the best dancers.”
“If the mayor of Baltimore wants to throw my dancing into the mix, the odds are evened up a little bit,” Hogsett said.
How about mascots?
“Blue,” Hogsett said. “How can you be better than Blue?”
“If you compare a Raven with a Mayflower truck, there is no comparison at all. It is going to be our raven. It’s going to be Poe.”
When it comes to the superior accent?
“Does Baltimore have a twang?” Hogsett said. “The mayor himself said they have an ‘accent.’ We’ve got the good, old-fashioned Hoosier twang.”
“They call us Charm City,” Scott said. “That accent is a part of that charm. That’s why when people come here, they don’t leave.”
Of course, figuring out who has the player with the most swag is a must as well.
“I can think of a couple, but I tell you what: When (wide receiver T.Y. Hilton) gets going, there ain’t nobody that’s got swag like T.Y.,” Hogsett said.
“That is hard with this team,” Scott said. “I would say our swaggiest player is (cornerback Marlon Humphrey). It’s that quiet swag. It’s that, ‘I know I am going to lock you down. You ain’t getting no catches on me.’ That’s that Baltimore quiet swag that he’s got.”
Hogsett and Scott even made a friendly wager.
“Tell my brother mayor Hogsett, choose his pain lightly,” Scott said. “I am willing to say that when the Ravens win, this is what I want to see: I want to see him, in a Ravens jersey, eating whatever the great food of Indianapolis is and admitting that that team’s name is the Indianapolis Mayflowers. That is what I want to see. And I am willing to put on a Mayflower jersey to eat a crab cake and talk about how great they are. But that is not going to happen.”
“That sounds like somebody who is trying to prop up a team that is going nowhere,” Hogsett said.
Both the game and postgame coverage can be seen live on WISH-TV Monday night.