Evelyn Lewis is going to this Sunday's game against the Falcons, section 125 as always.
The 86-year-old Ravens superfan wouldn't miss it for the world – or a brunch.
Her 90-year-old brother, Bill Lewis, won't be sitting next to her this time. It will be an extremely rare missed game for him, but his granddaughter is getting married downtown Saturday, and he wants to attend her brunch the next morning.
Not Evelyn. She's packing her Ravens gear to take to the wedding so she'll be ready the next morning.
"If the brunch takes a long time, I'll leave," Evelyn said. "I wouldn't miss the game."
I'm not sure about this, but Evelyn and Bill might be two of the Ravens' oldest fans who still go to (just about) every home game. They've been going to every Ravens and Colts football games since the 1950s.
And hearing Evelyn talk about why she still does is just completely endearing.
"I just love it. I love everything about it," she said.
"I don't like sitting real close to the field because I'm small and I like to see the formations and try to figure out what play it's going to be. I love the excitement of the crowd. I love everything about football. If there was a game every day, I would go to a game every day."
Evelyn reminds me a lot of my grandmother, Lillian Mink. My grandmother watched nearly every single pitch of the Orioles' season this year. If it was a West Coast game that went 18 innings, she was up watching at 3 a.m.
I loved going to Orioles games with her, but now that she's 91, she's not up for heading out to Camden Yards anymore. The crowds are a little too strong, too fast-paced and too loud. She just enjoys watching the game, every pitch.
But Evelyn still keeps going though. So does Bill, despite having a double knee operation in 2006. Don't worry, he's got two titanium knees now, so he's stronger than ever.
Bill admits, he did miss a bunch of games the year of his surgery. But other than that, he can't remember the last game he missed. Evelyn remembers the last one she wasn't at. It was 40 years ago.
"I got something going around called the Asian flu," she said.
One game sticks out in their recent memory. It was the snow game against the Minnesota Vikings last year. And yes, they were there.
"We froze up in there," Bill said. "I had on a Ravens sweatshirt with a hood on it, a couple Ravens shirts underneath, sweatpants and shorts underneath that, and we were still in not good shape."
So how did Evelyn and Bill become such huge football fans?
Bill was an exceptional athlete growing up in Baltimore. He played on the City College championship football team in 1941 under coaches Harry Lawrence and Otts Helms. Bill was also a fantastic baseball player.
Bill could have pursued a career in sports, but his father died soon after high school and he was then called off to service in World War II. When he returned, he figured he should figure out a career.
Bill went into teaching and coaching. He has coached every single sport except badminton and wrestling. He was the director of athletics at three high schools in Baltimore City and in the school system for 35 years.
Evelyn has always been a huge fan from the sidelines. They grew up across the street from a park, so Evelyn played with her two brothers all the time. When she got older, she went to watch Bill play his games.
"Being a girl and a tiny girl, I never played football," Evelyn said. "There's just something about that sport, watching it. I love it."
Stop on by section 125 sometime and meet this duo. Their love for the game is infectious.
