What began as a social media meet-up crossed over to the real world Sunday.
Ravens running back Alex Collins met with a young boy, Carl, who was being bullied for Irish dancing. Carl was at Sunday's game in Minnesota after making the trip north from Iowa.
Collins is an Irish dancer himself, and also dealt with bullying when he was growing up.
"I want to let you know I'm proud of you," Collins told Carl. "I'm going to be following your career."
Collins met with Carl and his younger brother before the game, and then again after the Ravens' 24-16 loss. The running back brought them two footballs signed by everyone on the team.
The two first connected on Twitter earlier this month when Joanne Tubbs asked Collins for any advice to the young boy. Collins told him to "never stop doing the things you love because someone else doesn't agree."
"People don't want to be the first person. They don't want to be that person that's being made fun of," Collins later said.
"This little kid, I put myself in his shoes and I just imagined him trying to chase his dreams and people making fun of him and then him possibly quitting when that could be something that he really pursued in the future."
