The Kansas City Chiefs will be in Baltimore tomorrow to take on the Ravens in the AFC conference championship, and while all eyes will be on quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, some fans will probably notice something a little different in the Baltimore end zones.
As they have for several years now, the Ravens will paint the M and O in Baltimore a different color than the rest of the letters, in honor of the birthday of young super-fan Mo Gaba, who died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 14.
Gaba would have been 18 on Friday.
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He had been diagnosed with cancer four time and had spent roughly 75 percent of his life in hospitals, ESPN reported shortly before his death on July 28, 2020.
The Ravens posted a photograph of Gaba with quarterback Lamar Jackson on social media Friday.
“Thinking of you Mo, today and everyday,” the team wrote on X.
By all accounts, Mossila Gaba — “almost everyone called him Mo,” The Athletic said — was a very special kid.
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At the age of 9, he started calling in to a Baltimore sports radio station, WJZ-FM, and “quickly captured the hearts of Baltimore City and all of Maryland,” according to CBS News.
He had wanted to share his opinions about the Orioles and Ravens like he’d heard others do on the station, so he called in secretly while his mother was at work.
In what would end up being his final call to WJZ, he encouraged listeners: “If you want to be like me, just be yourself.”
And who wouldn’t want to be like him?
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Gaba was the first person ever to read an NFL draft pick in Braille when the Ravens chose Ben Powers in the fourth round of the 2019 draft, ESPN said.
He once got to call a play in a Ravens huddle during practice — a play that resulted in a touchdown pass by Jackson — and throw out the first pitch before an Orioles game.
The Ravens marching band even played “Pomp and Circumstance” at his middle school graduation.
After the ceremony, Ravens offensive lineman Bradley Bozeman gave Gaba a game ball with “#MOSTRONG” inscribed on it.
“Actually, this doesn’t go to me,” Gaba said, according to ESPN. “This goes to my mom.”
“If we all had a little more Mo in us,” Bozeman said, “the world would be a lot better place.”
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George Upper is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal and was a weekly co-host of "WJ Live," powered by The Western Journal. He is currently a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. A former U.S. Army special operator, teacher and consultant, he is a lifetime member of the NRA and an active volunteer leader in his church. Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he has lived most of his life in central North Carolina.
George Upper, is the former editor-in-chief of The Western Journal and is now a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. He currently serves as the connections pastor at Awestruck Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a former U.S. Army special operator, teacher, manager and consultant. Born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Foxborough High School before joining the Army and spending most of the next three years at Fort Bragg. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English as well as a Master's in Business Administration, all from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He and his wife life only a short drive from his three children, their spouses and his grandchildren. He is a lifetime member of the NRA and in his spare time he shoots, reads a lot of Lawrence Block and John D. MacDonald, and watches Bruce Campbell movies. He is a fan of individual freedom, Tommy Bahama, fine-point G-2 pens and the Oxford comma.
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