corridor up to new england. if you have travel plans, the storm will impact that. more details are coming up. >> you can stay ahead of the wintry mix using facebook. now to the big story, purple friday. that pretty much says it all. >> the showdown against the patriots is less than 48 hours away. fans all over the state are marking the occasion with celebrations. we have live team coverage for you. pete gilbert is live at gillette stadium. >> we begin with gerry sandusky with what we're telling -- hearing on the team. >> the coach says everybody looks fine.

the safety who sat out earlier in the week took part in all practices today. they will leave for foxboro tomorrow. another powerful weekend awaits the family. it sounds like the parents will both be watching games on tv and praying. it is his second shot at taking the ravens to the super bowl. >> they are doing fine. they are doing great. they are excited. they're looking forward to it. i talked to my dad last night. he had some good ideas. mom is doing great. i talked to her for a long time. it was a good conversation. she has always been there to have those conversations. what else can i share with you about our families would be interested in? i did not ask them how many

minutes they had on the phone with jim or make a comparison. it does not matter. it would probably not be fair. >> not that it is a competitive family. the patriots did not get the memo that as top seed with home field advantage, they go into the game as favorites in the afc championship. >> you mentioned the seven. . the patriots have earned the right to be the favorite. they are averaging about 35 points a game. they played three championship games here prior and never lost any of them. that said, it is a bit odd. the ravens' record almost matches that. new england spent four quarters setting records against denver. the patriots looked unstoppable against denver. tom brady had five touchdown

passes by halftime. the ravens love the role of underdog. for some reason, the patriots have laid claim to that title as well. welcome to delusion-ville. >> we have been the underdog all year. that is cool. we're not even supposed to be here according to the media. we are cool with that. >> we have been favored at home before in the playoffs the past today years. i do not think it is that big a deal at all. no matter what, we have to play well. that is what it comes down to. >> i guess they can debate about who is the favorite. there's no debating who is a blue-collar. the ravens much more so. after spending time in the patriots' locker room, i saw guys walking away around wearing uggs today.

>> purple friday means the ravens fans are more fired up than ever. lowell has been following the excited fans all day. he cannot hear a word that i am saying on the last stop on the ravens caravan. >> they are excited! [cheers and applause] this is the last stop on the purple caravan. it should be a great time. ♪ it is the biggest purple friday of the year. the ravens pulled out all of the stops as the caravan made its way all over the channel 11 viewing area band -- viewing area. >> there is the feeling we're going to win. that is the best part about it. >> it was an early start in the city. that may have been were all the die-hards were, including the sky. >> i have been to every baltimore home football game

since 1956. it now stands at five under 33 consecutive home games. -- it now stands at 533 consecutive home games intended. >> the main attraction was the huge pep rally at the galleria next to the inner harbor. it was packed with fans, cheerleaders, and the marching band. sandusky was the master of ceremonies with the super bowl winners by his side. he pointed out something very important. >> the ravens won their first one in 2000. the ravens beat the new york giants. we could see that same match up on february 5. >> it is nice to be part of it and share it. things like this make you feel like part of the team. >> i am very excited. i took pictures for my son.

it is a good time to be year. -- it is a good time to be here to support the ravens. >> we're a little ravens crazy heading into the weekend. >> if tom brady takes his skirt off and we are allowed to hit him, we might have a better chance. >> ago, ravens! >> ravens fever has caught on. [cheers and applause] this is the last stop on caravan that should be here in the next 15 or 20 minutes. come on down. wbal-tv 11 news. >> it is time for today's question. it is a simple one.

who will win this sunday? standard text messaging rates do apply. we have heard from more than 500 of you. semi-3% are confident the ravens will win. -- 73% are confident the ravens will win. >> residents at the abundant life towers are showing their purple pride today. the brothers and sisters are showing their purple pride. share your pictures on our website, wbaltv.com. >> state lawmakers are considering changing a law that determines the minimum amount of money in local jurisdiction has to provide to schools each year.

david collins is following the debate. he joins us with the latest. >> the governor has a proposal to shift the cost of teachers' pension. that will have an impact on local school funding. a good education is considered priceless in maryland. a growing number of counties contend they cannot afford to pay their share. >> as the effects of the recession continue to take a toll on state revenues, local revenues have also been affected. >> state law requires local governments to spend as much money on school operating budgets on a per student basis as they did the year before. the maintenance of effort law has been a cornerstone of education funding since the 1980's. this year, seven counties of reduced their school funding. some of them face fines and risk losing state aid. one affluent montgomery county has cut the most.

>> you can see the declining effort relative to the local tax bases. >> two legislative committees or briefed on the issue. they can seek a waiver if they can show an extraordinary event shows it difficult to continue funding at the previous level. the law does not take the recession into account. counties are using a loophole to get around it. the law allows them to base funding on the highest amount glenn beck two years. under discussion this session is how to fix below that determines the minimum amount a local can provide to schools each year. the governors proposal to split the combined cost of teacher pensions and social security with the county makes the issue even more, -- complicated. >> the county has to pick up $31 million a pension fund. >> as the bill stands, the county's will pay the costs -- will pay the

costs. >> legislators can address that as they work on the budget. david collins for wbal-tv 11 news. >> there is much more ahead on 11 news at 6:00. >> ravens fans are getting ready to make the trip to new england. i have some pretty cool ideas of places to visit. i am jennifer franciotti. details are next. >> snow, sleet, and freezing rain are all in the forecast. we will check out the details coming up.

>> the excitement around sunday's game continues to build. >> despite the ravens being the underdog against the patriots, the fans remain optimistic. our resident ravens band is live at the letter stadium. -- our resident ravens fan is live at gillette steady in -- stadium. >> we have to drive to boston to find one. we said ravens fans would stay in providence or boston. we decided to hit the road to see what we could find. we found a bar called the ravens nest. >> let's go! fans may want to make

a stop here on main street. we found a bar and restaurant that made us feel like we're back home in baltimore. the owner had to change the name this week for fear of losing local business. >> i woke up in the middle of the weekend realized we'd would not get anyone for the game. i said we would have to call it the patriots nest for the week, but all ravens fans are welcome. >> there's plenty to see. you can see where single atoms once gave speeches that inspired our independence from -- samuel adams once gave speeches that inspired our independence from britain. >> we have the best irish food in boston. possibly on the east coast. >> for the best seed coat, two police officers told us to come here -- for the best seafood,

two police officers told us to come here. the lobsters are huge. >> we probably do 72 lobster rolls a day. >> we found our first raven's fan here. >> we are wacko for flacco. >> the lobster roll was good. i was all about the new england clam chowder. it was good. i will take on the maryland cream of grab any time. there will be about 500 ravens fans coming into boston tomorrow night. they will be going to the purple shamrock in boston to have a big party. if you are coming up, head over to the purple shamrock. jennifer franciotti for wbal-tv 11 news. >> i love her enthusiasm. >> she never gets tired.

[laughter] there could be some travel trouble heading to massachusetts to mark. >> it looked like a blizzard last night. there's more coming their way. temperatures are dropping into the low 20's. there's nothing on the doppler in their vicinity right now. that is about to change. there is a lot of snow to the west of us. it is tracking towards southern new england. heavy snow is expected. they will have several inches of snow tomorrow. if you are doing some travel tomorrow, you will run into snow, ice, and sleet in two southern new england. if you go now, you might beat it. it might be better to wait a bit. let's say hello to some folks at gunpowder elementary school.

the fifth graders are having a good time today. the beavers are excited about the upcoming snowfall. we have winter storm warnings for maryland. with winter weather advisories for the entire state. some wintry weather is coming in. the highs today were before dawn. it was 36 of the airport. the lows will be set through the evening. we're running in the upper 20's north of town. the key to the forecast tonight is that the atmosphere is very dry. the dew point numbers are in the single digits. the lower the dew point, the drier the air. the first snow will dry up. that process takes heat out of the atmosphere. temperatures will drop. expect those to drop into the low 20's tonight as the first snow moves in. these are the remnants of the powerful pacific storm that slammed into seattle.

it will bring us a mixed bag and approached d.c. by about midnight. the snow will spread across the baltimore area with the rain in southern maryland. through the night, we will see more snow along the pennsylvania line. we will have rain to the south and east of us. we will wake up to a mixed bag of rain, sleet, and snow. there could be freezing rain in the suburbs. it will finally taper off tomorrow afternoon. there is a burst of moderate to heavy snow possible at the start. we could pick up one to 3 inches before it gets going. southern pennsylvania could have over 3 inches and up to 6 inches in central pennsylvania. the snowfall accumulation will get heavier to the north across pennsylvania and the mountains. southern new england could get 7 inches tomorrow. by the game on sunday, the storm will be gone.

it will be dry and cool. snow will be developing towards midnight. lows will be in the twenties tonight. highs will barely be above freezing tomorrow. it will be a messy saturday. we will have drier weather on sunday with highs in the 30's. on the upper eastern shore, if you could get some snow accumulations tomorrow morning. it will change to sprinkles on sunday. it will be in the 50's tomorrow. the rain could be heavy at times. scattered showers on sunday. wintry conditions tomorrow tapering off in the afternoon. a sprinkle on sunday. rain on monday with high temperatures close to 50. >> from the susquehanna bay sports center, this is 11 sports. >> the ravens are going to their second championship game in four years on sunday. they will do it as a team that loves playing the underdog role. they have looked more comfortable and confident.

that was evidenced by the impromptu concert before practice this week. >> he looks calm and ready to drop bombs. he keeps going for good. he opens his mouth the words will not come out. time is up. it is over now. >> they have worked really hard on preparation. they have had a great year. our guys work really hard at practice. they study their opponent. they help each other. >> it will take more than just stage skills to beat new england on sunday. it will also take a large measure a patient's body offense. new england ranked second to last in defense this year in the nfl. flacco has seen the tape on the patriots. he knows he will get a few chances to make big plays on sunday. in between those chances, the

ravens have to take care of the ball with the running game and taking with the patriots give them and not trying to force big plays. >> their defense prepares. it does not like to give up those things. they make you go a long way and do all those things. we will have to be patient. if they do give us a shot, it will be our job to hit them. >> the ravens will have the foxboro tomorrow afternoon. we will get you set for sunday's showdown with a one hour special tomorrow night from new england. we will all bundled up and bring you the road to indianapolis tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. from snowy new england. if they need one more motivator for sunday, they got it today. the nfl announced the patriots will play the annual game in england next year representing the afc playing the rams.

it does not mean the nfl thinks the patriots will win on sunday, but it does look that way. one more motivator for the ravens as the underdog for the sunday's afc to be shipped in. stick@

>> at 11:00, purple friday, celebrations and preparations for the big game. we will have live coverage from baltimore to boston.

winter weather is moving into the area. we will have the forecast and how local officials are preparing for the storm. these stories and much more

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learn more and apply today at pnc.com/cashbuilder. pnc bank. for the achiever in you. >> winter is here. >> snow and sleet changing over to freezing rain. winter is back. >> thank you for joining us.