When the Ravens and Saints face off on Sunday for the quadrennial John McDonogh Classic, people from Pontchartrain to Owings Mills will celebrate not only a classic pigskin match between recent* Super Bowl champions, but also the man Wikipedia describes as “miserly, controversial and eccentric.”  If old J McD were around for the pregame talk, he probably would have told Ray Lewis and the boys “be the best of whatever you are” or “I don’t care what you do with the money as long as you celebrate my life outdoors on one god-awful hot and humid day each year,” but that’s neither here nor there.

The APT has it on good authority that this battle will resemble the McDonogh-Gilman match of 1927, when the Cadets** broke a string of painful defeats to the oversized, undereducated city boys from Northern Parkway.  The official archives describe it thusly:

The year was 1914, the date October 12 and McDonogh opposed Gilman in football for the first time. We lost 35 to 0; it was not an auspicious beginning. Our boys were outweighed 148 pounds to 133 pounds. With the exception of 1916 (unable to get it scheduled) and 1918 (due to the Spanish Flu), the contest has been yearly. McDonogh was unable to win for many years. Our luck changed in 1927. After thirteen defeats in a row, McDonogh finally won their first game against Gilman 6 to 0.

The beefy Greyhounds were no match for Chas Chasingston and the Cadets in '27.

It may be of interest to some that the Ravens petitioned the league to hold this year’s Classic at John McDonogh Stadium in a bit of a nod to the incredible man who provides perhaps the only link between these two great cities.  The league office seriously considered but ultimately declined the proposal because of fears that such a venue might inspire Saturday night high school style pep rallies which would literally burn both New Orleans and Baltimore to the ground (or at a minimum cover both cities in toilet paper).  They also noted parking concerns and a lack of luxury boxes.  Miserly bastards.

*For the purposes of this blog, any milestone or event which occurred after the Triumvirate graduated from high school qualifies as recent.

**For non McDonogh history buffs:  the school’s mascot changed from the Cadet to the Eagle in 1971 after a major push by the Administration to increase the enrollment of pot-smoking hippies and other assorted liberals.

Now the games:

KC @ StL

Hou @ Ten

Jac @ Indy

Cle @ Cin

Buf @ Mia

Phi @ NYG

McDonogh Senior High School #7 @ McDonogh

AtL @ Sea

NYJ @ Pit

Chi @ Min

Advertisement