Why is the Raven the Baltimore NFL team's mascot?

Answer 1

The Ravens name was chosen by fan voting when Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell agreed to leave the Browns name and franchise records in Cleveland prior to moving the franchise to Baltimore. The name "Ravens" was chosen due to the fact that noted poet and author Edgar Allan Poe lived and is buried literally within a few blocks of M&T Bank Stadium, where the Ravens play. The name is taken from one of Poe's greatest poems, "The Raven".

The other reason was that Ravens are purple and black in color, and they make fantastic team colors.

Originally, there were 3 human mascots dressed as Ravens, each with their own names: Edgar, Allan, and Poe. Within the last few years, the Ravens dropped Edgar and Allan, and kept Poe as the sole human mascot (he was the favorite of the 3). During the 2010 season, the Ravens introduced 2 trained live Ravens, named Rise and Conquer, to the organization. They are kept at the Baltimore Zoo, and appear with their handlers at Ravens home games at M&T Bank Stadium along the sidelines. They're much bigger than you'd think also, and are beautiful to see in person just a few feet away. They also wear special Ravens "jerseys" (with logo) specially fitted for their bodies. My Avatar is a close-up picture I took of Rise at one of the home games in 2012.

Poe is still around, and you can see him on the sidelines doing his schtick during games.

Rise and Conquer went through several weeks of training to be able to appear with ease in front of large, noisy crowds. The stadium seats nearly 72,000, and is always at or near capacity for home games, and was voted in 2012 as the noisiest stadium in the NFL.