For Baltimore sports fans, the collective trauma of losing the Colts to Indianapolis in 1984 may have been re-triggered by the Ravens’ disastrous showing Sunday against a team we once cheered for. The Ravens lost to the Colts in overtime, 22-19, after a series of missteps and fumbles.
“It was a game that kept making you say oof,” wrote Banner sports columnist Kyle Goon.
Throwing salt on the wound: Afterwards, the Colts had the nerve to tweet — excuse me, post on “X,” the platform previously known as Twitter — an image of the game’s final score, in what appeared to be Old Bay Seasoning, on a plate surrounded by charred ears of corn, a container of Old Bay and Alaskan king crab legs.
Okay, Indianapolis, we get it. Your team, down its starting quarterback, scored an upset victory. It feels good. Your kicker, Matt Gay, kicked the game-winning field goal on a day when he also managed to make NFL history, with four field goals of 50 or more yards in one game. Meanwhile, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker, widely considered the greatest of all time, missed a field goal that could have won the game. “Sometimes, the nature of this game is, the ball does not go through,” Tucker said. Hey, it happens.
But let’s get it straight: In Maryland, we don’t eat Alaskan king crab, much less with ramekins of butter and garlic. We eat smaller, steamed Maryland blue crabs, crusty with Old Bay or J.O. seasoning. We use mallets, knives and fingers to claw our way to crabmeat victory.
McCormick’s Old Bay Seasoning had a salty reply for the Colts on X: “tell me you’ve never had a Maryland blue crab without telling me.”
Somehow, it wasn’t the only instance on Sunday of Old Bay getting dragged into some misguided taunting. Following their 37-3 clobbering of the Washington Commanders, the Buffalo Bills posted an image of a crushed can of Old Bay Seasoning with the caption: “A spicy W.” Never mind that Old Bay originated not in Washington, but in Baltimore. It’s Baltimoreans who do crazy things like get Old Bay tattoos and eat Old Bay ice cream, not Washingtonians. (Okay, fine, FedExField is technically in Maryland, but that doesn’t make any of this right.)
Again, Old Bay’s trusty social media account was up for the clap-back, posting: “this is the equivalent of going to Buffalo and asking for ranch.”
To paraphrase Omar Little of “The Wire,” whose infamous whistle pervades M&T Bank Stadium on Ravens game days: You come for the crab, you best not miss.