The Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Super Bowl. Lambeau Field. Army vs. Navy.
The Marching Ravens.
The Travel Channel compiled* *15 bucket list experiences for football fans, and included seeing the Ravens' marching band.
The NFL is releasing the 2017 schedule at 8 p.m. tonight. Needless to say, fans who haven't been to a Ravens game should start booking their travel and getting tickets.
Here's what the Travel Channel had to say about the designation:
"Formed in 1947, the Baltimore Colts' Marching Band (later renamed Baltimore's Marching Ravens) are one of only two official marching bands in the entire NFL. Besides being great to watch live, what makes this band special is when the Colts franchise moved to Indianapolis in 1984, the band stayed together and continued to perform despite not having a team to call their own. They fought for a football franchise over the next decade and were instrumental in helping to bring the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1996."
The band's story is so good that it was made into an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, "The Band That Wouldn't Die," directed by Barry Levinson.
"I'm honored – for the band," Band President John Ziemann said of the Travel Channel distinction. "They deserve it. We see fans come in every day from other cities and they get such a kick out of our band."
Ziemann told a story about meeting a fan from Dallas during one gameday. The fan was visiting family who took him to see the Ravens game, and he was taking a lot of pictures of the Marching Ravens as they paraded down Ravens Walk. The man called Ziemann over.
"In music entertainment, you guys are the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders," the man said.
The band indeed never does stop. When the Ravens travel to London for their Sept. 24 game versus the Jacksonville Jaguars, 10 members of the band will be in tow.
