By Derek Arnold, RussellStreetReport.com
Derek is a columnist for RussellStreetReport.com (formerly Ravens24x7.com), a leading Baltimore Ravens fan site that features Ravens news and insight from the fans perspective. For more on the Ravens and to read Derek’s columns, visit RussellStreetReport.com.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3giKov0488
A win is a win.
That’s a mantra that has been repeated time and again amongst Baltimore Ravens fans in 2012, as the team continues to pile up victories that are anything but pretty.
For players of the Maryland Lottery’s Ravens Cash Fantasy game, a win is definitely a win.
Nobody knows that better than Patricia Beck of Randallstown, who, much like the Ravens, keeps piling up the “W’s.”
As an RCF winner in 2010, Patricia got to take a trip out to the Ravens’ training facility, the Under Armour Performance Center (or, “The Castle,” as many fans know it), to participate in a Punt, Pass, and Kick contest.
In 2011, Patricia won again, this time enjoying a Ravens game from the comfort of club level seats at M&T Bank Stadium.
However, Patricia wasn’t done yet. Just as the Ravens’ most recent victory in San Diego was their most exciting to date, Patricia’s 2012 Ravens Cash Fantasy win tops all that came before it. Patricia won Ravens season tickets for the 2013 season.
“I couldn’t believe it. All night long I was screaming, even the next day, going ‘I won! I won! I won!’” said Patricia. “I called up my friends, and I would say, ‘ok, take your ear off the phone because I’m going to scream when I tell you this!’”
Being excited is absolutely understandable when you know that you get to attend every single home game that the Ravens will play in the 2013 season in person at beautiful M&T Bank Stadium. That’s the position that Patricia finds herself in.
Fellow Ravens fans will be glad to know that a true fan won the prize, as Patricia has no plans to give any of her tickets away to opposing (or even friendly) fans.
“I’m going to take my husband, and I’m going to all the games. If we have a night game, and it’s real, real cold, I might offer them to somebody else. I don’t like cold weather, but otherwise I’m going to every game!”
So what does it take to win Ravens Cash Fantasy THREE years in a row (aside from a good dose of luck, of course)?
Persistence.
“My husband buys me a scratch off every day,” Patricia said. “When the Ravens Cash Fantasy Scratch-Offs come out, I always say to him that I want those.”
Far from just coming home and handing the ticket to her, though, Patricia’s husband plays a game within a game with her scratch-offs.
“He hides them around the house and I have to go hunting for them. I might find them in the refrigerator, in the coffee maker, in the dog food…” Patricia said, laughing.
So once the “treasure hunt” is over and Patricia has found her tickets, what’s her winning strategy?
She prefers to give herself as many chances as possible.
“I look to see when the next (second chance) drawing is, then I put my yards in for what looks like the best prize. However, I always go with the category that requires the least amount of yards to enter. That way I get as many entries – and chances to win – as possible!
“I never go for the million dollar prize, because I don’t think I’ll ever win that.”
Though, seeing as how her prizes keep getting better, perhaps Patricia should start aiming her sights higher.
“I may have to start putting in for the million dollars, because my prizes keep getting better and better!” she said.
For now, Patricia is excited to spend the next nine months or so looking forward to her 2013 season tickets, and telling everyone she knows about her exciting win.
“You can tell when I tell the story that I’m still really excited. Every time I tell it I tell it in the same way, ‘GUESS WHAT I WON!’ And I have an entire year to enjoy my prize because I get to go to all the games,” Patricia exclaimed.
“I just hope the Ravens are as good [next year] as they are this year. We’ll see.”
While we all hope that the Ravens continue to be a fun, exciting team, there is no question that the Ravens Cash Fantasy scratch-off prizes will remain top-notch.
With the recent announcement of weekly $25,000 drawings, there are now more chances to win than ever. The $25,000 weekly drawings occur every Thursday through January 2013, and the next monthly drawing for great Ravens prizes is Tuesday, December 4.
Enter at mdlottery.com/ravens.