The Baltimore Ravens haven’t had a great season so far in the NFL. Their current record is an abysmal 1-5, tied for the team’s worst in 30 years. And a new report claims the team’s coach, John Harbaugh, is understandably not happy about this and has removed many fun items from the locker room, including the team’s video games.
On October 20, The Baltimore Sun reported that after going 1-3 and a player posting a photo of them playing games to social media, team officials and Harbaugh removed several “recreational staples” from the Ravens’ locker room. These included a basketball hoop, a ping pong table, a few corn hole boards, and some “video game consoles.”
The report doesn’t specify which consoles, but it does mention that the team often played “intense rounds” of Super Smash Bros, so I’d assume some Switch or Switch 2 systems were removed. The outlet also says that these Super Smash sessions drew “small crowds of teammates late in the day.”
Ravens players told The Baltimore Sun that the football team’s coaching staff wanted to “remove distractions” and help players focus more on playing, practicing, and, I assume, eventually winning. This isn’t the first time the team has done this, either. In past seasons when the team struggled to win, so-called “locker room freedoms” and benefits were scaled back or removed entirely. For players who need a break from having to focus and work all day, that can be tough. After all the fun toys and consoles were removed, the team lost two more games.