From Colts to Ravens : A Behind-The-Scenes Look at Baltimore Professional Football

Rating:
Summary: An eyewitness account
Review: FROM COLTS TO RAVENS is a virtual eyewitness account of Baltimore's pro football history from one who saw it all. Not only did John Steadman attend every game ever played by the Baltimore Colts as a reporter or team official, he also saw every game the Ravens played until last December when his soon-to-be-fatal illness ended his streak. Steadman was an official for the Colts during the mid-50's until the opportunity to return to the Baltimore News-Post presented itself. So he was very familiar with all the inside details. Steadman pulls no punches about the Colts' operations under both Carroll Rosenblum and Robert Irsay and is complimentary towards neither. He also takes the National Football League to task for allowing the Colts to be stolen from Baltimore in the middle of the night and for denying Baltimore the rights to an expansion team. Art Modell doesn't escape the Steadman scorn, either, for the way he ultimately treated the loyal Browns fans in Cleveland, even though the result was a new team for his hometown, Baltimore. John, like most Baltimoreans, wanted and expected an expansion team, not one that was stolen from another city. If you are interested in reading about the behind-the-scenes activities surrounding one of the NFL's storied franchises and in one of the most controversial franchise shifts, this is the book for you. You might be surprised by the actions of some of the people you thought you knew from their press clippings. By the way, this is not a hatchet job by a disgruntled writer. John was not that kind of reporter or columnist.

Rating:
Summary: An eyewitness account
Review: FROM COLTS TO RAVENS is a virtual eyewitness account of Baltimore's pro football history from one who saw it all. Not only did John Steadman attend every game ever played by the Baltimore Colts as a reporter or team official, he also saw every game the Ravens played until last December when his soon-to-be-fatal illness ended his streak. Steadman was an official for the Colts during the mid-50's until the opportunity to return to the Baltimore News-Post presented itself. So he was very familiar with all the inside details. Steadman pulls no punches about the Colts' operations under both Carroll Rosenblum and Robert Irsay and is complimentary towards neither. He also takes the National Football League to task for allowing the Colts to be stolen from Baltimore in the middle of the night and for denying Baltimore the rights to an expansion team. Art Modell doesn't escape the Steadman scorn, either, for the way he ultimately treated the loyal Browns fans in Cleveland, even though the result was a new team for his hometown, Baltimore. John, like most Baltimoreans, wanted and expected an expansion team, not one that was stolen from another city. If you are interested in reading about the behind-the-scenes activities surrounding one of the NFL's storied franchises and in one of the most controversial franchise shifts, this is the book for you. You might be surprised by the actions of some of the people you thought you knew from their press clippings. By the way, this is not a hatchet job by a disgruntled writer. John was not that kind of reporter or columnist.