I just got home from a day of running around Baltimore to open some email…
The first one is posted below, and I thought I’d share it with you…
I’m PETERED OUT from writing about the Orioles and watching the Orioles and trying — again and again — to figure out what they’re doing or thinking or what planet this family must be from.
Their acts are just a daily disgrace — a shameless and utter disgrace!
I mean, do you really CARE if they beat the Nationals tonight? They’ve stooped so low that I don’t even hate Washington’s baseball team! I actually kinda feel sorry for their fans, because they’re married to Angelos TOO, for better or worse through Mr. Angelos’ Television Network.
From TV scoreboards, to "fire the manager," to treating the media like garbage, to their "partnership" with these sick out-of-town media "suck up" entities — the whole thing makes me wanna vomit!
It looks like I’m not the ONLY one!
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Here’s the mail, from a dude named Erich…
(OH, and by the way, all of YOU will be able to post YOUR thoughts on this board very, very soon!!)
Orioles Fans:
If there’s one thing an Orioles fan knows, it’s how to cope with heartaches. We still remember how we started 0-18 and went on to lose 107 games in 1988, and then a year later spent most of the season in first place and missed the playoffs by a single game in 1989. We still remember how a 12-year-old kid from the Bronx leaned over the wall and turned an out into a homerun, stealing our trip to the World Series in 1996 (and, as though to rub salt in an open wound, was proclaimed a hero by the New York media). We still remember how we spent the first half of 2005 in first place, only to see everything fall apart when Rafael Palmiero was accused of using steroids the week after he got his 3000th hit.
And for the last nine consecutive years, we’ve watched our team perpetually sit in 4th place in the AL East and well below .500 under the inept ownership of Peter Angelos. We’ve watched this administration fire Jon Miller and Davey Johnson, lose Mike Mussina and BJ Ryan, sign losers like Albert Belle and Sammy Sosa, and nonchalantly trade away talented prospects like John Maine for far less than their worth. We’ve seen our team go from one of the most respected organizations in baseball to one of the most laughed at; and through it all, we’ve seen our owner not seem to care that we’re in a tailspin. Many once-loyal fans have longsince abandoned the Birds, fed up with the chronic losing by the team and the total lack of desire to do anything about it by the ownership.
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Those who remain, be it out of love and remembrance for the days of Earl Weaver and Jim Palmer or simply hearts that are completely unbreakable, are longing for the return of a day when being an Orioles fan is once again a thing to be proud of rather than pitied for. And we know that that will never happen as long as Peter Angelos is the owner of the club. Therefore, out of desperation, we found it necessary to stand up and walk out on the team on September 21, 2006. It was not an easy thing to do, but none of us regret it. Baseball fans everywhere saw what we did and sympathized with us. Sports journalists across the country acknowledged our plight and the legitimacy of our cause. And Peter Angelos himself finally had to acknowledge our unrest. Out of sheer embarrassment, he attempted to improve the team for 2007, but this has only been a further testament to his ineptitude; between the total lack of offense from Aubrey Huff, the little league-quality pitching of Danny Baez, and the continuing mismanagement of Sam Perlozzo.
What the Orioles need is a renaissance; a complete transformation where the dark ages that have been the last decade and all their mistakes, as well as the causes of those mistakes, are swept away. The lackluster at best improvements that were made in the last offseason only proved something that many of us knew all along- that our reputation within baseball has been so damaged by the current administration that many quality players will not come here no matter how much we offer them. Therefore, we can have no hope of reclaiming our former glory until Peter Angelos is gone.
That’s what Free The Birds is all about: making right again what has gone so terribly wrong. Those among us with the perserverance to stand by our team through nine years of sheer calamity have the resolve to keep fighting until this battle is won. We did it once, we can do it again, and we will keep doing it until we win back our team that we love so dearly. We are not losers, and we expect nothing less from our team and their owner. September 5, 2006 was just the beginning. FREE THE BIRDS!!!
