Drew Forrester baby update: Doctors think Ethan is arriving on this crazy planet around 7 p.m. EST.
Now on to baseball…I did Drew’s show this morning and after four hours I’ve come to realize that Free The Birds is about to die a death of apathy — my worst fear of all!
We said it last week (and last year): The rally and Free The Birds was never about me or WNST or Drew or anything other than this: we think the city should be proud of the team and we WANT to be proud of the team.
As Drew welcomes his first baby boy into the world, he’d like to believe that his kid can have the memories WE have as Orioles fans when we were kids.
It honestly feels like those of us who think this city deserves better — AND ARE WILLING TO VOICE THAT DISPLEASURE — well, we are in the distinct minority.
There have been THOUSANDS of people who have given me the "atta boys" or the pat on the ass or the random "keep it up" compliments. Well, where are they now, when we want them to put their VOICES behind their feelings?
I dunno…
The Orioles have their core audience of worshippers who will NEVER accept that this garbage that’s being "sold" as Orioles baseball is anything less than authentic. They’re still buying the lies and the propaganda, God bless ’em!
And, really, they’re the only ones who are left watching or going to the games or paying close attention anyway. And they will until they die.
There is also a large, fringe group who come to the team whenever anything "major" happens: like Perlozzo getting fired, or like next week when Matt Wieters signs (or not?). Like the role I "borrowed" this year: I watched on Opening Day, cared for about eight weeks, and took a nap right around the time Sam Perlozzo did. I’m one of the THOUSANDS of hardcore Baltimore sports fans with a CLOSET full of Orioles swag that’s gathering a musty odor, who are just waiting for the purple to snap the ball on Sept. 10.
In that group, there are the REAL "hardcores" like myself, who hate the way this franchise has pissed on the entire community, chasing away LITERALLY hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of memories that will never come.
The "Walmart" crowd and the tire kickers — the many and the masses who WERE the fringe group that bandwagoned a winning team because they felt civic pride when the Orioles did well — are long, long gone. The Orioles ineptitude on the field and off doesn’t affect these people ONE BIT…because they DON’T CARE and probably NEVER will!
BUT…
All of the above groups were sitting together on that hill in Cooperstown 10 days ago honoring Cal Ripken for his contributions to their lives and their community.
I believe that if this ownership group continues doing business in the fashion that they’ve become accustomed, the Orioles will continue to be a "non-entity" in Baltimore. And memories like the ones Cal and Brooks and Boog and Frank provided will be all we’re ever gonna get in this lifetime via baseball.
No general manager or field manager will change that. Only a change in corporate philosophy will make the Orioles better — I believe that with every morsel of my being via my experiences in the real world and in Baltimore.
So, I guess we’re talking apples and oranges.
Fans think only about the players on the field.
But the OFF THE FIELD administrative side is where EVERY championship is won!
If you REALLY feel strongly about Free The Birds happening, it’s up to you. Join the cause or let it die.
I refuse to throw a party that no one attends.
