Purple Planning

Making plans for the fall? 

You should wait. 

At least until this Thursday as the NFL will announce the 2014 schedule tomorrow and it's probably best to save that weekend getaway for bye-week. And for those who have tickets to the Crabhouse (I'm going to try and get that to stick) it's important to know which weekends you'll be out in the cold, and which weekday nights (i.e. Mondays/Thursdays) you may need to arrange for a babysitter. 

As a Ravens ticket holder myself living a few hours to the north near the Big Apple, I have to plan my trips down the NJ Turnpike for at least 8 different weekends so the Ravens schedule IS my schedule in many ways. That said, I've decide to take a stab at which games could be chosen for primetime this season. Here goes it:

1. Carolina (HOME) -- no brainer with Steve Smith in purple & black

2. Pittsburgh (HOME or AWAY) -- still one of the marquee rivalries in the NFL, although Seattle/SF has taken over the top spot, but on year after Tomlin's toe dance, it's likely going to get an NBC audience

3. Colts (AWAY) - Does anyone get royalties on that Mayflower truck-in-the-snow footage? If so, you can bet their rooting for a primetime Colts-Ravens matchup. The two teams also happen to be pretty good so I think this is a good bet - perhaps a flex later in the year



4. Saints (AWAY) - Ravens won #SBXLVII in NoLa and since the team's don't meet that often, could be of interest

5. Falcons (HOME) - Matty Ice vs. Joe Flacco was supposed to be evoke heated discussions about the 2008 draft for year's to come. But Joe Cool won a Super Bowl already and the Falcons just seem confused of late. However, the networks could still hype this game up as a QB showdown so wouldn't be surprised if we get more of these memes from @RUSSELLSTREPORT 

The wait is almost over....until we have actual dates to wait for.

#PurpleWedding

Leave it to Game of Thrones to get me blogging again. And no, not about King's Landing, but about the Castle in Owings Mills.

As I woke up Monday morning still reeling from a night of Mad Men and mad kings (not to mention some crazy kids in Silicon Valley and Ms. Selena Myers - how about Sunday nights on cable!) I saw that #PurpleWedding was trending on the Twitters. So that's what the kids are calling it...

I suppose it made sense. The Red Wedding episode during GOT Season 3 sent all of social media ablaze and is actually why I started watching the show (unfortunately I knew that even while I watched the first episode that some type of gruesome wedding scene was coming in about 3 seasons, but it wasn't about where I ended up, the journey was incredible). So with the death of King Joffrey by poison - apparently you can hassle the Joff - that turned his face a purple hue right before he took his last breath, fans of the show needed a rallying cry, and a hashtag, to discuss their excitement -- #PurpleWedding it was.

So what am I doing writing about it? I suppose an old instinct kicked in that encouraged me to talk/type about the Ravens whenever a connection to the world of sports, entertainment, pop culture or Baltimore culture presented itself. After all, as the Smiths' and the Flacco's show, Ravens do know how to throw a pretty good Purple Wedding:

We like a different kind of #PurpleWedding here in #Baltimore... pic.twitter.com/VIMPNXnj38
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) April 14, 2014

So here we are. While this blog is likely to get the most attention on Monday mornings, it typically won't be due to the Lannister's - although this 2013 article from fellow Retired Orangeman, Chris Brockman, does peg newly acquired Steve Smith as the Tyrion of NFLsteros.

I may not be on the team bus these days but I am typically in the stands at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday's and I'm glued to my Tweetdeck at all times so I have a feeling I'll be able to find some Ravens things to blog about. For now, I look forward to what the Draft has in store for Ozzie and his Ravens and what the writers at HBO have in store for Daenerys and her Dragons.