Towson Sports Shop Cashes in on Festivus Fever

While Ball So Hard University has not released its application figures, judging by sales at at , there may be a long waiting list.

Ball So Hard apparel is among the top sellers at the small family-owned shop on the mall's second floor, which is decked out with plenty of other Ravens playoff gear as well.

The Festivus fever is great for business, said Chatterleigh resident Geri Durham, who owns the store with husband Mike.

"If we weren't in the playoffs, we'd be seeing five customers a day," Durham said. Instead, there are five customers in the store at a time for most of the day.

Durham's shirts include the standard jerseys and AFC North championship gear. She also carries shirts designed for this weekend's playoff showdown against Houston and plenty of those coveted Ball So Hard hoodies.

Ball So Hard University is the college that Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs famously claimed to attend in the starting lineup introduction on an NBC Sunday Night Football match against the Pittsburgh Steelers in November. The ficticious school went viral, with fans creating shirts, logos and advertisements for Suggs' almost-alma mater.

"Terrell Suggs has definitely affected so many things, that he's going to say something and fans are just going to take it and run with it," Durham said.

However, if you want a jersey, you might want to act fast, according to Durham. Reebok's contract to produce NFL jerseys is ending (Nike will take over), and the producer is wary to make too many and have to throw them out. She said she expects supplies to dwindle closer to the Super Bowl.

But besides being good for sports stores' bottom lines, Durham said the Ravens pride "just brings everyone together."

Many of the Ravens gear knows no demographic, from the Festivus shirts to Joe Flacco's Fu Manchu.

"There were bank presidents next to high school janitors next to high school students," when the Ravens went to the Super Bowl in 2001, Durham said, and she's seeing the same in 2012.