Even Kamenetz Can't Resist Ravens-Steelers Trash Talk

When it comes to football, there’s nothing quite like Ravens-Steelers week.

There seems to be just a little more purple being worn around the Baltimore area. There’s just a few more flags hanging out car windows and just a few more people ready to strike up a conversation about the game at a moment’s notice.

Oh, and there’s just a little more trash talking, too. Even Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz couldn’t help himself this week.

“Not sure if I just saw the scariest costume of the night or if it was just a Steeler fan,” Kamenetz wrote on Twitter the evening of Halloween.

Kamenetz’ shot almost perfectly embodies the feelings Ravens and Steelers fans have for each other. For most, it’s a relationship defined by mutual respect, a little fear of being embarrassed by the other and a real desire for your team to kick the snot out of the other.

Asked the NFL Network through its Twitter account: “Is Ravens-Steelers now the best rivalry in all of football?”

I’m not sure there’s even any argument to that these days. It’s the best rivalry in football, and maybe in all of American sports. Just sayin'.

“Ravens-Steelers rivalry fact: Joe Flacco & Ben Roethlisberger both have 41 total wins since 2008, the most victories among all starting QBs.” – Tweeted by Ravens media relations manager Patrick Gleason.

The statistic is a tad misleading, only because Roethlisberger has missed five games since 2008, including four last season when we was suspended by the NFL. Flacco, in his fourth year, has started every game of his NFL career. 

The Indianapolis Colts’ Peyton Manning and New England Patriots’ Tom Brady may have been on this list, too, had Brady not missed all but a few snaps of 2008 after a serious knee injury. Manning, of course, has yet to play this season despite not never missing a game in his previous 13 years in the league.

Nonetheless, it can’t be denied that this already brutal rivalry has been made even more exciting by the teams’ two young signal callers. Flacco and Roethlisberger have become as big a part of this rivalry as Ray Lewis and Hines Ward.

“Paul Tagliabue praises #Ravens, Ozzie Newsome: They have one heck of a team president one heck of a team and one darn good coach.” – Tweeted by the Ravens (@1WinningDrive)

Nice sentiment from Tagliabue, who most Baltimore football fans will always remember as the man who kept football out of the area until Art Modell moved the Cleveland Browns to Charm City in 1996.

We’ll see if those kind words, spoken at the University of Maryland’s sixth annual Shirley Povich Symposium this week, do anything to repair the area’s opinion of the now-retired Tagliabue.