Dundalk Native to Share Super Bowl Experience with Patch

Dundalk native Joe W. Cristy is a lifelong sports fan and athlete.

The 1994 Archbishop Curley High School graduate played soccer and baseball for the Friars and then was recruited to play baseball at High Point University in North Carolina.

"I played for High Point for four years and was named captain my senior year," Cristy said Thursday.

He even managed to blend sports into his job at High Point, where he's worked nearly the entire time since he earned his degree in 1998.

Cristy is the director of recruitment for undergraduate students—he works with high school seniors as they decide where to attend college.

He also works as the athletic liaison, helping student athletes with their paperwork, and serves as the public address announcer for volleyball and men's and women's basketball.

The son of Dundalk residents Dotty and Joe G. Cristy, Joe the younger has also been a lifelong Baltimore Orioles fan, cheered for the Baltimore Colts until they left town and immediately embraced the Ravens upon their move to Baltimore in 1996.

The loyal fan has Ravens season tickets and hardly ever misses a home game, even though that means a 12-hour round trip each weekend that M&T Bank Stadium hosts a game.

That's a real fan.

So it comes as little surprise to those who know Cristy that he snagged Super Bowl tickets and is in New Orleans for Sunday's big game.

He got a few days off from his job to take the road trip of a lifetime with two buddies who also were lucky enough to get the coveted tickets.

"As a season ticket holder, I didn't get tickets through the Ravens lottery system," Cristy said in a phone interview.

But he was given information about a company that arranged trip packages and also an NFL-sponsored ticket exchange.

Through that exchange program, Cristy connected with a Ravens ticket holder who sold two tickets for about $2,350 each. A third friend bought a single ticket and the three hit the road late Thursday.

While in New Orleans this weekend, Cristy will be sharing with Dundalk Patch readers photographs from his adventure, including photos from the game.

Stay with Patch to share Cristy's first-hand experience in New Orleans for the Super Bowl!

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