thousands in red and pinstripe jerseys (as has been the case here for as long as anyone under the age of 35 can remember), well, it starts to add up.
You can Google it all. I’ve written 14 chapters of “truths” that many people who still attend Orioles games – some of them are deep-thinking people who spend their hard-earned money in a variety of entertainment venues – find offensive.
Some of my listeners and local fans have been “offended” by the fact that I’ve had the audacity to postulate the facts surrounding the operation of the baseball team and what an incredible disappointment Camden Yards has truly been since our taxpayers and parents helped build a stadium to house the Orioles for the betterment of our community.
Good grief, the things that I’m personally offended by after being near the team and its ownership and style over the first 15 years when I was a “real” media member could fill a book. I started it for you here…
The more that I’ve demanded that the beatings stop, the more the beatings have come.
It’s the Angelos way.
But my opinion is truly worthless. I’m a “very unimportant person with delusions of grandeur.” Or so said Peter G. Angelos 10 years ago after I led an informational protest of the treatment of the fans called “Free The Birds.” You might have heard about it.
8
My reward for asking for facts, less lies and better treatment?
Well, I was banned forever and still treated like garbage every time I’m in eye-sight of Camden Yards.
But the alleged “important” fans of Baltimore sports fans are speaking with their wallets, time, heart and energy. And they’re just not into coming to Camden Yards and spending money on the Baltimore Orioles.
And, certainly, the Orioles front office and Angelos himself have been personally offended by my observations that are based on facts and spending my life engrossed in covering the baseball team as a “very unimportant person” and independent local journalist.
But, I didn’t make the stands empty at Camden Yards – Angelos did.
Matter of fact, when the civic shit hit the fan last summer after Freddie Gray – and tanks were surrounding my fucking condo 24 hours a day for a week and CNN had helicopters circling the harbor – they “had to get the game in” and told EVERY fan: “We don’t need ya today. Stay home! We’ll play the game without you!”
That sends a pretty powerful message.
8And the result speaks for itself.
The team has managed a nice run of on-the-field success since 2012. Buck Showalter is a helluva manager. Manny Machado can play some ball. Chris Davis is rich. So is Adam Jones and J.J. Hardy. Zach Britton is a legit closer. They’ve gotten nice production from the likes of Nelson Cruz and Mark Trumbo. The old man has again begun to spend some of the millions he’s stored like a fat squirrel in a tree in November. Some of it has even been wasted on the likes of Ubaldo Jimenez, Yovani Gallardo – but not usually without a team physical and a financial assault on their agents with lesser terms and cash.
The Orioles are the “winningest” team in Major League Baseball over the past five years. The team has crowed about that fact this summer – and should!
After spending 10 years NOT trying to win, they’ve finally managed some legitimate success on the field with a genius manager and some draft picks who have excelled and the remnants of a few trades during the Andy MacPhail era that have spawned this new “Orioles Magic.”
But they can’t hide the green of the empty seats the way they’ve somehow managed to hide all of the green they’ve pocketed. And every time some nugget from the court documents in their unprecedented lawsuit with all of their MLB partners including the Washington Nationals over the mind-blowing $300 million (and growing daily) of disputed money that sits in Angelos’ pockets, we learn just how much money he’s made while wrecking the franchise during his reign of terror.
And the “they” I refer to is probably the most inaccurate statement of all. Only Peter Angelos has benefited off of this cash grab from the brand of the Orioles – that once stood for Brooks and Boog, local with community roots and a real sense of “ownership” by the people. The Orioles felt like “family” to the entire region. Now, with an owner who hides in the shadows and slithers like a snake in the …
