Another Moving Moment for Modell

Patricia Modell pleaded with her husband, Art.

“You can’t leave me now,” she said. “Don’t you go.”

Not after 32 years of marriage, after decades of frustration over the team they own, the Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens, after all the vilification they had suffered for changing cities five years ago, after the agony of five consecutive games this season without a touchdown on offense.

Now they were only five minutes from vindication, from victory in Sunday’s AFC championship game against the Oakland Raiders at Network Associates Coliseum. Five minutes away from the Super Bowl.

League officials wanted Art down on the field to accept the championship trophy should his Ravens hang on to their 16-3 lead.

But Patricia was too nervous to let go of her husband up in their luxury box.

Finally, with two minutes to go, Art went down.

“When are they going to kneel?” Patricia asked the family and friends who stayed with her, her eyes fixated on the Ravens, who were in possession of the ball. “I know when they kneel down, it’s over.”

And finally, it was over.

“Now, it’s our Super Bowl,” she said. “Thank God. I really wanted this for Arthur.”

Down on the field, the 75-year-old Modell, an NFL owner for 40 years, seemed dazed by the reality of the moment as coaches, players, family and friends converged on him.

“Thank you for the opportunity, for allowing me to come to Baltimore,” said tight end Shannon Sharpe as he embraced Modell.

It was Sharpe’s 96-yard touchdown catch and run that gave Baltimore an early lead it never surrendered.

Modell thought about his best friend, 84-year-old Wellington Mara, owner of the New York Giants, Baltimore’s opponent on Super Sunday.

“They would sit on quiet evenings and talk,” NFL Senior Vice President Joe Browne said, “about how nice it would be to go to the Super Bowl. The fact that they are going together makes for nice symmetry.”

By Modell’s side as he accepted congratulations was Martin O’Malley, Baltimore’s mayor.

“The people of Baltimore are so grateful that he brought the team to us,” O’Malley said. “What this team has done transcends sports. It makes us believe in ourselves again. It does a lot for our city, and there is no way of putting a price tag on that.”

Coach Brian Billick also gave Modell a huge hug.

“He’s been in the league 40 years,” said Billick, shaking his head in admiration. “To put that into perspective, I’m 46 years old and I’ve been coaching in the league two years. I can’t even imagine what he’s feeling right now.”

Modell left Cleveland in a firestorm of outrage, but he wasn’t about to gloat in his moment of glory.

“There is no bitterness,” he said, “no anger. I love them all. They are both great cities. I am grateful for the support we have had in Baltimore. We have the greatest defense I have ever seen, and Ray Lewis is the greatest linebacker in the history of the game. But I am also grateful for 35 years of support in Cleveland. In moving, I did what I had to do.”

There was another moving experience in the locker room, when Modell was joined by his son David, the team president, who was clutching the championship trophy, and David’s son, 9-year-old Arthur.

“I’m not going to put this down,” said David, hugging the trophy, as well as his son.

Even the most bitter Cleveland fan might have had trouble stifling a smile at that scene, three generations of a football family enjoying a moment 40 years in the making.