RECAPS 1996—SPRING '99 Oct. 19, 1996: Maryland 52, Wake Forest 0 
Ticket stub from the first game: Maryland's 52-0 shutout of Wake Forest in 1996. Paul Krome and Neil Hall arrive in College Park about an hour and half before the 2 p.m. game, pick up some Subway, and follow the signs to free parking in Lot 4. We saw a group of guys and girls not too far way, just hanging out, listening to music, huddling around a grill, throwing back some cold ones, and tossing around a football. They looked like they were having a blast. Rather than sit in the car, we opened up the hatchback, juiced the two front speakers as loud as they would go (there were no rear speakers), and stood behind The Colt eating our subs, not really knowing what we were doing, but at least looking like we knew what we were doing. It was perfectly cool and cloudy for a football game, but the lot was nearly empty. Inside the stadium, the Terps took Wake Forest behind the woodshed, 52-0, before a crowd of 30,212. Most of the UM students showed up dressed as empty seats, which quickly became a hot button for us. We don’t go to school here, yet we bought tickets and drove down from Baltimore to see a game. These students get in for free and can walk to the stadium in five minutes. What gives??? To the credit of the diehards at the game, they were loud, and we had a blast at the game and quickly decided to do another one. We also decided we absolutely had to get to the game early again, except this time, bring some beer, a boombox, and most importantly, a football. The evolution into the A-Game was just beginning. Nov. 3, 1996: Bengals 24, Ravens 21 
First picture for The Album: getting ready for the Ravens and Bengals on 33rd Street. Growing up in Baltimore without an NFL team stunk. Even worse, we were force-fed the Redskins every week on TV. But after 13 dark years, football became king in Baltimore again with the arrival of the Ravens. The team would play two years in old Memorial Stadium, which Vince Lombardi once called “the world’s largest outdoor insane asylum.” The Colts and their fans had made Baltimore one of the toughest places to play in the NFL, and a generation later, the “grand old lady on 33rd Street” rocked again. Unfortunately, the Ravens were much more gracious hosts than the Colts were, but no one seemed to mind too much, we were just happy to have a team again. The Krome family and some longtime friends from Owings Mills got to Memorial Stadium early and enjoyed some fried chicken and snacks with other fans. There was never any room to tailgate in the old Eastern High School lot near the stadium. They squeezed in as many cars as possible, bumper to bumper. But that didn’t stop the fans from showing up early and making the best of it. Another raucous sellout crowd of 60,743 saw the Ravens compete and have a late lead, but they couldn’t run out the clock, and Cincinnati nailed a late field goal to escape with the win. Nov. 14, 1996: Maryland 13, Georgia Tech 10 Paul ditched afternoon classes at Salisbury in order to pick up Neil in Owings Mills and be in Lot 4 early for this Thursday night ESPN game against the Yellow Jackets. We were juiced: we had a cooler of beer, a boombox, a jug of big hard pretzels, and a football. After picking up Subway again, we headed to Lot 4, ready to more appropriately take part in the pregame atmosphere. But evidently word had failed to circulate around campus that there was indeed a game that night. We really may have been the only fans tailgating in the lot. It didn’t matter, though. We discovered subs and pretzels went down a lot better with beer, and with DC 101 actually audible this time and a football to throw around, we got ready under the lights to cheer for our new team. Only 22,510 bothered showing up, and we learned that we didn’t like Maryland fans because they don’t support their team. Another thing we learned: yelling and screaming a lot after pounding beer is the fastest way to a pounding headache that can detract from your cheering ability. Add to the list for next time: Tylenol. But when Orlando Strozier picked off two passes in the fourth quarter, we forgot all our pains and went crazy. The Terps had hung on for a stunning 13-10 upset in what turned out to be Mark Duffner’s last home game as coach in College Park. Oct. 11, 1997: West Virginia 31, Maryland 14 Paul and some friends from Salisbury were joined by several hundred WVU fans in Lot 4. The West Virginia fans do a good job of supporting the Eers on the road. Incredibly, Subway wasn’t open early enough when we arrived in College Park, so we got subs from Jerry’s. We then blasted Subway for not opening early enough on early-afternoon gamedays and vowed never to go there again. A very solid tailgate with the now-traditional menu items. We burned a WVU pompom to make ourselves feel better because we didn’t like our chances heading into the game. Then we burned up some cigars, which made us feel worse and contributed to the headache inside Byrd. New coach Ron Vanderlinden’s Terps cut WVU’s lead to 17-14 in the third quarter and recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. But Buddy Rodgers fumbled on the very next play, killing the momentum, and Maryland never threatened again. Dec. 14, 1997: Ravens 21, Oilers 19 
The world's largest outdoor insane asylum before its final game ever in 1997. Click here for a last look inside Memorial Stadium. The Krome family and Craig Lestner took in the swan song for the “grand ole lady.” On a perfect December day, the lot at Eastern filled up fast and we lit up cigars early to keep us warm. Fortunately, the Ravens agreed to show up for once, hanging on for a 21-19 win. Memorial Stadium rocked for the last time and the rowdy sellout crowd of 60,558 followed the Big Wheel’s cheers of “C-O-L-T-S.” Johnny Unitas handed the ball to Ravens wideout Michael Jackson during a lap around the field, and the old Colts took the field for the last play ever and a satisfying sendoff to football on 33rd Street. NFL Stadium at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Md. The Ravens opened a new era in Baltimore with their digs in Camden Yards, but the new era had the same old errors for coach Ted Marchibroda’s team. The tailgating team from Salisbury quickly found its new home in the lots off Pratt and Paca streets downtown, just outside left field of Oriole Park (later to become known as Lot Camden). We had a better debut in our new tailgating home than the Ravens did in their first season downtown. We’ve had better menus, but it was awesome partying in the middle of the city. We had the very last seats in the upper deck, which spared us close-ups of the Ravens’ sputtering offense. Nov. 21, 1998: N.C. State 35, Maryland 21 We again boycotted Subway in favor of Jerry’s Subs for another lonely Lot 4 tailgate and another lonely home football game with 21,589 in the house. The Terps fought the Pack hard for a half and led 7-6 at the break, but it was too much Torry Holt in the second half, and Vandy’s Big 10-like offense was too slow to catch up. May 1, 1999: Salisbury Men’s Lacrosse 16, Washington College 15 (ot) Sea Gull fans know how to party, and we took over the lot next to Kibler Field on the WaC campus. We had to drink in stealth mode for a while, but the cops finally got the memo as to who was boss. You really could not have asked for much more that day: a warm, sunny day, lots of alcohol, and plenty of lacrosse girls among the standing-room-only crowd of 2,000. Josh Tidwell scored the game-winner in overtime, and there wasn’t a Shoremen fan left on campus for the postgame victory party. May 30, 1999: Salisbury Men’s Lacrosse 13, Middlebury 7 
Salisbury alumni ready to win the 1999 NCAA Division III men's lacrosse championship. A pretty dry tailgate in 90-degree heat, but not nearly as ho-hum as Salisbury’s 13-7 win for its first national championship since 1995.
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