Fans Stand Up...and Leave

[SmootSmack]

Major League Baseball : News : Major League Baseball News

[Monkeydad]

"Free the Birds"? Oooooooooooo-k.

When I was at a Yankees/Os game in Baltimore earlier in the year, there WERE about half Yanks fans in the stadium, but I'll tell you, the Orioles fans were loud after every great play by Tejada, after a sliding catch by Fahey in the outfield and after Markakis' many hits, not to mention every strikeout of Adam Loewen's 1-hitter against the Yankees. The fans love their team even though they have to suffer through the season every year. However, being in a division with New York and Boston...they really don't have a chance.

I doubt this stunt made any difference to Angelos. Sure, he isn't that great at running the team, but he is responsible for some of the best fan-friendly marketing and for one of the best venues to watch a game from in all of MLB. The talent on the field is a different story, but they do have a great farm system, so the future looks ok for the team despite an automatic 3rd-place in that division. The owner DID try to field a competitive team, he brought in a legendary pitching coach from the Braves (amazing track record for pitching) but the starters just didn't perform. The one newcomer to the rotation, Kris Benson was actually their best pitcher this year. (Bedard started out horribly before turning things around).

For the 1,000 crybabies, there were about 17,000 other fans who enjoyed watching the Orioles upset the Tigers.

I still don't get their point. Neither does Gibbons:

"I'm really confused," said Gibbons, summing up the day's events. "If we come back here next year and we're in first place, are those fans not coming to the game? Or are they coming? Are they our fans or not? I just know I'm a fan of a lot of things. As a sports fan, I root on my team no matter what.

Oh well...failed publicity stunt.

[Monkeydad]

Oh, and I'm not even an Orioles fan.

[redsk1]

As an outsider (braves fan) it seems like the o's always go for the sexy free agent signing. They need pitching, pitching, & more pitching.