Me, I still picture Stover working out on a dusty high school field, a couple of kids shagging balls as he kicks field goals through the uprights for hours in the hot sun.
-
- E-mail | Recent columns
-
Ravens celebrate 10th anniversary of Super Bowl
-
Sports Blitz: Stover booted way into Ravens fans' hearts
-
Newest Ravens gets brief first taste of NFL life
-
-
Pictures: Ravens 2011 draft picks
-
Ray Lewis [Pictures]
-
Ravens' 2013 draft picks [Pictures]
-
See more photos »
-
- Video: Ravens practice at Towson University
- Football
- Athletes
- Baltimore Ravens
-
See more topics »
-
-
1 Winning Dr, Owings Mills, MD 21117, USA
![Baltimore Ravens after the 2013 Super Bowl [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2013-02/74292567-25062903.jpg "Baltimore Ravens after the 2013 Super Bowl [Pictures]")
![Dec. 16, 2012: Broncos 34, Ravens 17 [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-12/73718402-16095410.jpg "Dec. 16, 2012: Broncos 34, Ravens 17 [Pictures]")
![Redskins 31, Ravens 28, OT [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-12/73632799-09100333.jpg "Redskins 31, Ravens 28, OT [Pictures]")
![Steelers 23, Ravens 20 [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-12/73541910-02131334.jpg "Steelers 23, Ravens 20 [Pictures]")
![Ravens 16, Chargers 13, OT [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-11/73448721-25131420.jpg "Ravens 16, Chargers 13, OT [Pictures]")
![Ravens 55, Raiders 20 [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-11/73266318-11100846.jpg "Ravens 55, Raiders 20 [Pictures]")
![Ravens 25, Browns 15 [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-11/73170135-04095553.jpg "Ravens 25, Browns 15 [Pictures]")
![Texans 43, Ravens 13 [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-10/72979295-21154151.jpg "Texans 43, Ravens 13 [Pictures]")
![Ravens 31, Cowboys 29 [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-10/72884119-14180603.jpg "Ravens 31, Cowboys 29 [Pictures]")
![Ravens 9, Chiefs 6 [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-10/72768396-07171918.jpg "Ravens 9, Chiefs 6 [Pictures]")
![Ravens 31, Patriots 30 [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-09/72487554-23202630.jpg "Ravens 31, Patriots 30 [Pictures]")
![Ravens vs. Eagles [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-09/72337364-16151543.jpg "Ravens vs. Eagles [Pictures]")
![Ravens All-time Pro Bowlers [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2012-01/58500812-29193900.jpg "Ravens All-time Pro Bowlers [Pictures]")
![Former Ravens players and coaches in NFL [Pictures]](http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2010-11/56741383-30080619.jpg "Former Ravens players and coaches in NFL [Pictures]")
Or maybe I see Stover trying to find another situation like he did with the Colts two years ago, when Adam Vinatieri went down with a bum knee, Stover filled in and Indianapolis went to the Super Bowl.
But instead of all that, Stover, one of the greatest Ravens of them all, will make his NFL retirement official at a news conference Thursday at the Castle in Owings Mills.
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti will be there, and so will general manager Ozzie Newsome and coach John Harbaugh.
All three men will say lots of nice things about Stover and talk about all he did with that accurate right foot and those riverboat-gambler nerves in his 13 seasons here — and all he did in the community, too, the civic and charitable work he rarely talked about.
And the truth is, this little ceremony Thursday is only fitting. Because in terms of what he did for this franchise and the way he represented himself year in and year out, Matt Stover belongs up there with Ray Lewis and Jonathan Ogden and Ed Reed and anyone else you'd care to name.
If you're one of these fools who would dismiss Stover as "only a kicker," then you didn't follow Stover's career too well.
The numbers tell part of the story, of course.
Stover goes into the record books as the Ravens' all-time leading scorer with 1,464 points. In his 20-year NFL career, he kicked 471 field goals and scored 2,004 points to rank fourth in league history in that category.
But it was how reliable Stover was year in and year out that Ravens fans will always remember, how cool and clutch he was in big games, in those moments when another kicker might have been hyperventilating and ready to lose his lunch.
If you were a Ravens fan and saw Stover trot onto the field for a big kick, saw him go through his setup ritual — as precise as a Buddhist tea ceremony — you figured it was money in the bank.
Go ask Brian Billick what it was like to have his team driving for a late field goal and see Stover, cool and unruffled, warming up on the sideline.
Or go back to that glorious 2000 season, when the Ravens had the best defense in the NFL and an offense that was such a mess, it failed to score a touchdown in five straight games.
All Stover did that season was kick 35 field goals to lead the league and keep the Ravens in games all the way until they beat the New York Giants, 34-7, in the Super Bowl.
Which leads to the big question.
Does he get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame with all those gaudy numbers?
Probably not.
