After 53 years, Baltimore is again a gateway to the Super Bowl as AFC championship game host
When the Ravens take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Baltimore will be back in the spotlight in a way that’s a bit more rare these days
BALTIMORE (AP) — The last time Baltimore hosted an AFC championship game, the city was enjoying quite a sports renaissance.
The Orioles had won the World Series a few months earlier. Then the Colts followed with a Super Bowl title. Even the local basketball team made an appearance in the NBA Finals.
“It literally felt, at least to a 9-year-old, like the axis of the Earth ran through Baltimore,” said Gerry Sandusky, who is now the radio voice of the Baltimore Ravens. “You had Johnny Unitas, you had Brooks Robinson, you had Wes Unseld. You had these three really great teams.”
When the Ravens take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Baltimore will be back in the spotlight in a way that's a bit more rare these days. It's the first AFC title game here since January 1971, when the Colts — with Sandusky's father John as a line coach — beat the Oakland Raiders. Over a half-century later, and with a different NFL franchise representing Baltimore, Charm City will again serve as a gateway to the Super Bowl.
