Before the Baltimore Ravens' Sunday Night Football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, the home team honored late actor Michael K. Williams. Williams, who died earlier in September, played the iconic role of Omar Little on the HBO show "The Wire," which took place in Baltimore.
In the show, Little robbed drug dealers and, before approaching his victims, whistled menacingly. That whistle ended up being well-known for fans of the show, and Baltimore paid homage to it during pregame ceremonies:
For Omar 🎶 pic.twitter.com/NT6TugVaEf
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 20, 2021
David Simon, the creator of "The Wire," heard the tune ahead of the game and wrote about it on Twitter:
"Heard the sound of Omar whistling 'Farmer In The Dell' from the stadium while walking across the Ostend Street bridge to the Ravens opener and thought I'd lost my s---. It's the little things that are gonna get me, I guess. But Michael gonna last."
The whistle no doubt hyped up the crowd. The crowd stayed hyped up, too, as the Ravens went on to defeat the Chiefs. Baltimore had the lead as the fourth quarter was ending, but a fourth down situation left the team with a difficult decision: go for it and risk giving Patrick Mahomes good field position, but possibly seal the win, or punt and give the Chiefs the chance to score.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh asked Lamar Jackson if he wanted to go for it, and the quarterback said he wanted to. He converted the first down and they defeated the reigning AFC champions, 36-35.
