It’s rare that I double-blog in a day, but today is different because someone connected with both of our local teams has made an impact on me. Earlier, I authored a review of the Peter Angelos comments made to Hal Bodley of MLB.com.  Now, I’m going to address a much more favorable part of my February 2nd in Fort Lauderdale on Super Bowl radio row.

Late last week, Glenn Clark mentioned during The Comcast Morning Show that he would have a “late birthday gift” for me on Tuesday (today) of next week.  My birthday was this past Saturday and Clark was “supposedly” in possession of some kind of memorable gift for me but it would have to wait until we set up camp in Ft. Lauderdale for me to find out what I was getting from him.

Lo and behold, my “gift” walked in to the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center this morning at 5:58 am.

His name?  Daniel Wilcox.

Anyone who has ever listened to the radio show or read my blog(s) knows that my all-time favorite player is Daniel Wilcox.  I’ve never been bashful about it.  Years before John Harbaugh coined the phrase “Play Like A Raven”, #83 was fulfilling that criteria with hard work and professionalism.  In my years at WNST “covering” the team, I’ve always gone out of my way to make sure I never get to the point where I consider a player “a friend” because that always puts you on the slippery slope of having to evaluate and, potentially, criticize someone while having a friendship-relationship with him.

That said…I’m proud to call Dan Wilcox my friend.

He became my friend for a variety of reasons and really none of them had anything to do with him being a football player, even though that’s how we met and that’s how he helped me the most.

In January of 2007, I organized a foul-shooting contest for charity at the Towson Center at halftime of the George Mason-Towson basketball game.  It was on the Wednesday of “Colts week”…and we all remember how that week ended up punching us all in the gut.  But on that Wednesday night, I brought Dan and a bunch of Ravens players to the Towson Center to raise money for the Autism unit at Kennedy Krieger.  Check that:  Dan Wilcox brought a bunch of Ravens players to the Towson Center.  Drew just stood around and watched.

Dan promised me the week before he’d come out on that Wednesday night to shoot foul shots at halftime.  He said, “I’ll get a guy or two to come with me.”  A guy or two…turned out to be Wilcox himself, Haloti Ngata, Evan Oglesby, Matt Stover, Gary Stills and two former players that Nestor chased down just to have a large purple contingent on hand.

The group of players shot foul shots, waved to the crowd, signed every autograph they could and helped raise about $1,500 for Autism research.  In a strange twist of fate, it turned out that former ‘NST host Rob Long’s son was a new patient in Kennedy Krieger’s Autism unit and I literally handed the check to Rob in the studio on Hart Road.  There were tears in his eyes that day and it really hit home for me — seeing someone in front of me who would benefit from the work of those Ravens players — how important fund raising and research is for all of the diseases that doctors and hospitals are trying to cure.

Dan Wilcox spearheaded the whole effort that night and made it not only a great event for the fans in attendance, but I sensed the players also gained a great amount of satisfaction from seeing the people respond to them during playoff week with so much love and adoration.

When the Ravens parted company with Dan last summer, I was disappointed, but I also knew it was the right thing to do because Wilcox was no longer capable of training and getting ready for the rigors of the 2009 NFL season due to a toe injury that he had battled for the better part of two years.

So Wilcox went back to his hometown of Atlanta and moved some of his fellowship/charitable events that he had initiated and developed in Baltimore back down to his neighborhood, where he could work with youngsters and those less fortunate.  That’s what he had done in his five years in Baltimore.  His foundation earned accolades in both Baltimore and Washington DC and while there are always a lot of athletes who “talk” about the good things they do in the community, Dan Wilcox got his hands dirty and WORKED in the community through his foundation.

Imagine my shock this morning when I saw Dan and his wife, Shauna, walking with Glenn through the media center towards me.  At 6am no less!

Here’s the amazing part.  Dan had an obligation in Atlanta yesterday afternoon and couldn’t leave until roughly 4pm.  He drove all night to get here, checked in to their hotel at 4:30am, showered, and hustled over here to do radio with me and talk to the people of Baltimore.

Did I mention Shauna is 5 months pregnant?

He could have easily said to Glenn, “Look, I’m tired…my wife’s tired…we’ve been driving all night.  We’ll shoot over there at 9:00 am and do the last hour with Drew.  Cool?”

No…that’s not how it works.

He told Glenn last week he’d do 6-10am and he showed up and he did it.

I sensed Dan thoroughly enjoyed talking to the listeners who called in and there’s no doubt in my mind he has a future in radio if that’s the direction he chooses to take.

As I sat there this morning and did the show with him, it dawned on me that this was yet another in a long line of examples of what’s wrong with the Orioles and what’s right with the Ravens.

And Wilcox, technically, isn’t a Raven anymore, even though he always will be in his heart.

Here he is…no longer in the league…no longer on the team…and he’s driving all night to do four hours of radio during Super Bowl week.

And the Orioles won’t allow one of their players do to ANY live radio in Baltimore – anywhere – unless it’s with one of their CBS Radio “partners”.

Anything else more bass-ackwards than that?

I say “no” too.

Today’s events also reminded me of the quality people the Ravens employ and depend on to help brand their product and company.  And it also – unfortunately – reinforced how the Orioles continue to miss the boat in Baltimore by shielding their players away from the media and not allowing those of us in town who would enjoy working with them to do so.

I’ve been saying for a long time now that the O’s should just buy the Ravens PR/Marketing manual and follow every point letter by letter.

Example (A) was Dan Wilcox today in Fort Lauderdale.

He’s not in purple anymore, but Wilcox did the Ravens proud today.

It was one helluva birthday gift.