The Magazine's David Fleming spent several days with the Baltimore Ravens last week. Here are fragments from his notebook -- and of the Ravens' season.

So there I was, minding my own business, waiting to speak to Ravens coach Brian Billick at the end of practice late last week when Tony Siragusa shuffled past with his teammates and shouted, "Hey, who over there in the media got lucky last night?"

Awkward pause. A light smattering of nervous laughter from the apparently chaste group of reporters.

"None a youse?"

Another awkward pause. Lots of hands in pockets and suddenly urgent examining of shoes.

"That is one sorry-ass group over there. Geez."

Ya know, a rather pithy comeback popped into my head until I remembered 1) I'm a complete chicken who hasn't wrestled since college; 2) For a guy pushing four bills, Goose can still run pretty fast; and 3) Earlier in the week he was the one who suggested that Ravens fans take folks wearing Steelers black and gold into the bathrooms at PSINet Stadium and take care of business themselves.

So I said nothing (bawk-bawk-bawk) while contemplating the confusing juxtaposition between this scene and the time not too long ago when Deion Sanders called me a chronic fornicator and demanded I attend his bible study.

On Sunday night, though, the Steelers cooked the Goose. So now the 8-5 Ravens will have to go the wild-card route -- although with home games coming up against Cincy and the Vikes they should get a chance to defend their title and once again bring Festivus back to Baltimore. (Festivus, you'll recall, is the pseudo holiday created by Seinfeld's Frank Costanza that features an aluminum pole and feats of strength -- and doubles as the team's code word for the playoffs.)

"We've already done this the hardest possible way you can do it," says linebacker Ray Lewis. "So we aren't worried."

Come to think of it, the Ravens looked a lot like Alfred E. Neuman last week. Following a bye week (and a rare five days off) with their spirits spiked by a war of words with the Steelers -- Lewis encouraged Pittsburgh's Jerome Bettis to "tape that groin up and come see me at PSINet" -- the blackbirds' attitude seemed to have returned in full force for the first time all year.

At the team's training facility in Owings Mills, there were photocopied pictures of soldiers taped up on every wall, warning of an imminent enemy invasion as well as the DefCon countdown (albeit appropriately misspelled DeathCon). There was a field-goal kicking contest at practice. Goose spent most of Thursday walking around barefoot.

And, as usual, there was a battle royal in the D-line meeting room over the thermostat.

Everyone, it seemed, was cracking jokes about Nate Newton, who was arrested again last week while allegedly trying to create another truly super bowl.

That same day Goose, who recently read for a part in The Sopranos, once again called field-goal kickers "glorified soccer players." And I loved Billick's take on the trick-play trend that seems to be sweeping the league. "Well, if you're dumb enough to fall for that you deserve to get some yards against you," he said. "I mean, my gosh, we all watch TV."

Here's an exclusive excerpt from my sit-down with Shannon Sharpe:

Sharpe: Then I caught my balance and looked down the field and saw it was clear sailing so I took off ...

Screaming teammate: ... using my tremendous burst of slow ...

Sharpe: ... down the field and I was thinking ...

Screaming teammate: ... RUN FORREST RUN! ...

Sharpe: ... I could actually score.

Apparently perturbed about my extended stay in the locker room, Baltimore corner Chris McAlister wanted to know if I had bothered to get to know any of the DBs on the team. This is why you should be careful what you wish for around Christmastime. Three days later against Pittsburgh, McAlister became a household name after he was taken deep more often than Captain Nemo as the Bettis-less Steelers routed the Ravens.

Still, if confidence, camaraderie and coolness count for anything (and they most certainly do in the NFL this time of year) then I wouldn't want to be matched up against the Ravens after the holidays. Remember, this is a team that entertained Spike Lee and several other celebs at practice two days before the Super Bowl.

Right now the Ravens would be the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs. To avoid that -- and the daunting task of three road games in the postseason -- they need to win out and hope the Jets and Patriots lose at least once. In the meantime, they also need to prove that their defensive performance against the Steelers (a season-worst 476 yards allowed) was an anomaly and get back to playing like the team that is 9-1 in December since 1998.

That means getting back to the ferocious kind of hitting that last week inspired someone to post a picture of a brand new automobile on a bulletin board next to a picture of a demolished car. The caption: "Before Ray/After Ray."

"We're getting that kind of swagger back that we had last year," Lewis said. "And that has to be scary for other people to see. This is the best time of year because this is when the strong survive."

Which is, you know, exactly why I didn't mouth off to the Goose.

David Fleming is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at flemfile@aol.com.