Obviously, you’re reading this blog expecting me to do another defecating drive by on the Orioles but I’ve found solace this morning in the evidence that Peter Angelos isn’t the worst owner in sports at least THIS week.
No, that title would belong to Al Davis, who has once again proven that he is the granddaddy of “obscenely wealthy weird sports owners.” Two weeks into the season, Davis has once again taken the term “dysfunctional” to a new level.
We’ve only had this Angelos guy since 1993. The Raiders fans have had “Weird Al” since birth.
Whenever I see how empty their stadium is during their losing seasons, I think of the Raider Nation “abstaining” like their owner always does.
I wish I could abstain from Orioles baseball, but I can’t.
So this Raiders’ situation is so bizarre that I had to compare it to the nutty stuff Angelos has done.
By now you know that head coach Lane Kiffin has been twisting for several days (if not months and years) waiting to be fired. The two clearly aren’t simpatico, but then again who is compatible with Davis?
8
Mike Shanahan got screwed out of money 15 years ago and has been making Mr. “the Quarterback must go down and he must go down haaaaaahhhhh-d” pay for it ever since.
Jon Gruden got this franchise to the AFC Championship game and Bill Callahan almost won a Super Bowl for them.
So, for their bizarre Darth Vader fans there’s at least been some semblance of success to brag on amidst all of the madness.
And that’s certainly more than Angelos can claim, even though he would take full credit for the success of 1996 and 1997, when actually it was the 3.8 million fans who paid the bill for the Roberto Alomars, Rafael Palmeiros and Jimmy Keys to compliment the Brady Andersons, Cal Ripkens and Mike Mussinas.
So, the Raiders have Mr. Angelos beaten in the “what have you done for me lately” category.
But that doesn’t make that franchise anymore appealing this week, when Rob Ryan is calling the National Football League by it’s new “street” name – the NFFL, Kiffin’s death watch is a round-the-clock endeavor and the team is trying to play a game this weekend in Buffalo after they kicked the snot out of the Chiefs in Kansas City 72 hours ago.
This sounds like a page out of the “George Steinbrenner’s management principles of the disco era” book on sports franchise ownership.
8Angelos is bad. But he ain’t THAT bad.
(But the Orioles haven’t sniffed .500 in 11 years. Did we mention that?)
I’m feeling like a ballgame next week for one last time before next April.
