In glass display cases, bobbleheads of Baltimore Ravens players stare at me. Ravens flags pinned to the wall are for sale, as are car and window decals. There are other teams’ player cards and jerseys, of course, but I am in Ravens territory.

There is no doubt in Rick Hubata’s mind that Ellicott City is a purple-and-black town. Hubata owns DugoutZone, a sports card and memorabilia store that he opened there in 1999.

When I ask him about the breakdown of Ravens vs. Washington Commanders fans in Howard County, he chuckles. The Commanders’ stadium in Landover is just 35 miles from his store, but he says the portion of his customers who are Commanders fans is 5%, at best.

As one of The Banner’s Howard County reporters, I visited Hubata’s store on a sunny Friday afternoon, just two days before the 3-2 Ravens were to face the 4-1 Commanders at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium.

The last Battle of the Beltways between the two cities’ football teams was in 2020, when the Ravens won 31-17 in Landover. The Ravens hold a 4-3 edge over Washington’s football team since 1997, a year after they began play in Baltimore. Washington has the edge in Super Bowls, three to two, but hasn’t won one since 1992. The Ravens have been the more dominant team in recent decades, winning Super Bowls in 2001 and 2013.

But exactly how purple and black is Howard County?

The county, a mix of suburbs and rural areas anchored by the planned community of Columbia, serves as a good halfway point between Baltimore and Washington. Its 250 square miles sit squarely in Orioles territory, but Ravens fans don’t appear as dense in number. Commanders Country appears to creep up to Laurel, the very edge of Howard County, and fans seem to have an even opinion on the two football teams, according to Facebook “likes” that The Washington Post analyzed in 2014.

Back in the Ellicott City shop, right on cue, a father and his 8-year-old son, Cooper, walk in.

“Ravens or Commanders?” Hubata asks.

“Ravens,” they both say.

Scott Bingham, 48, points to the Ravens logo on his shirt.

They’ve come from Baltimore to get baseball cards. They say they’re missing the eagerly awaited 1 p.m. Sunday matchup because Cooper is playing in a baseball game then, but they plan to watch a recording of the game afterward.

Hubata, though, says he will be at M&T on Sunday, sitting with other fans sporting the purple and black.

In “enemy territory” at the game will be James Bostick, a Clarksville native who lives in Washington. He says he’s always been a fan of the burgundy and gold.

Bostick, 28, says this is the most excited he’s felt about the matchup and that he feels more hopeful because of the team’s new ownership under Josh Harris, a billionaire who grew up in Chevy Chase and acquired the franchise in 2023. The previous owner, Dan Snyder, whose teams went 164-220-1, sold the franchise amid a series of scandals.

The Commanders also have rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who was the talk of the town on the Friday that I ventured out. I checked out the fan vibe at Sports Card Heroes, another card and memorabilia store. It sits in the Laurel area, where Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties are close to one another.

Now that shop is in Commanders territory.

Owner Steven Jordan, 28, says Laurel is a town full of fair-weather fans. He says he sells about an equal number of Ravens and Commanders player cards, but because the Washington team is doing well, he’s now selling more of its cards.

He grew up in Columbia and, like Bostick, has been a lifelong Washington fan. He says he remembers feeling outnumbered in school because there were more Ravens fans in his classes. Jordan recalls Purple Fridays at school, a tradition that is still going strong in Howard County Public Schools.

In fact, five elementary schools hosted the Ravens Caravan, which includes cheerleaders, their mascot Poe and the marching band, for Purple Friday. The same Purple Friday pep rallies were extended to Looney’s Pub in Fulton and The Greene Turtle in Columbia that night.

At Sports Card Heroes, a few people call Jordan and ask about Daniels cards.

Michael Vanover, 28, had just bought a pack of cards hoping to find a rookie card for Daniels, who leads the NFL’s top-scoring offense and has a 77.1% completion rate through five games.

He doesn’t get any Daniels cards, though. He’s also from Philadelphia and makes it clear he is not a Ravens or Commanders fan.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball says he thinks it’s about a 65/35 split of Ravens vs. Commanders fans. He says the southern areas such as Laurel and Savage boast more Commanders fans, whereas the northern areas such as Elkridge and Ellicott City are mostly black and purple.

“While I support our Commanders fans, and even join them when they don’t play the Ravens, I’m 100% Ravens Nation this weekend,” said Ball, a Catonsville native who grew up and attended college in the Baltimore area.

Gov. Wes Moore was born in the D.C. suburb of Takoma Park — clearly Commanders Country — but considers Baltimore to be his adopted hometown. While he’s working to keep the Commanders in Landover when the team’s stadium lease is up in 2027, he signaled his loyalty in a tweet Saturday. “You already know I’m riding for the Ravens and I can’t wait to serve as their honorary Team Captain at this Sunday’s game. I’ll see you at the Bank!” he wrote.

But, in Columbia, Joe Zerafa said he’s a Commanders fan through and through.

Zerafa, who is 31 and from Montgomery County, started the group Columbia Social to build connections among young professionals after moving there about a decade ago. He says he hasn’t planned any social events centered around either football team in Columbia, which he says is more Ravens territory.

Although he’s a Commanders fan, he also follows the Orioles. He says he has seen a lot of people in their early 30s, also born in the D.C. area, who have this in common with him.

There is one thing he has observed: If your power company is BGE you’re likely to be a Ravens fan, and if you’re under PEPCO you’re probably a Commanders fan.

As for me, I grew up in Texas, in Dallas Cowboys territory (I know, boo hiss). But Baltimore is now my home. Go, Ravens!