mother or your father more…
I have flights booked to Kansas City next Friday morning. The Orioles could be hosting a wild card playoff game on Friday afternoon. Will I change my flight?
I’m not really sure…
I do know that I’ll be in Kansas City for the football game and it might be a blast to host a party in Missouri for some Ravens’ fans watching the Orioles play in a bar on Saturday night as the Birds host an ALDS game from a sold out Camden Yards.
And, of course, the playoff games will be sold out at Camden Yards, but this latest rash of empty seats in the biggest games of this generation should have anyone who has concerns for the Orioles concerned about the attrition and disinterest of the community at large.
As an example, when will the city start stringing up orange lights?
When will downtown glow “orange” the way it does purple in the winter when the Ravens enter Festivus?
8
I don’t have all of the answers but I’ve been involved in Baltimore sports media for 28 years and all of our best ideas have been “borrowed” by the Orioles already.
We told them to treat the community better. They’re trying amidst the absurdity that the freaking owner of the team can’t show up for a statue dedication and shake the hands of the aging men who built a franchise that he’s sucked $1 BILLION in profit from over the past 20 years while he’s wrecked all of the joy for them.
We told them to put Baltimore on the road jerseys. They fought it for a decade and then caved in to sell some very sporty swag.
We told them to put the cartoon white panel hats back on the team so they all look like Rick Dempsey and they did it. And then they sold a helluva lotta hats.
We told them they should honor their legendary players and they’ve found a way to build a living rock museum behind center field that evokes the best memories of my childhood.
So, what’s it really going to take for Baltimore to fall in love with going to baseball games again?
Clearly, it’s more than just “winning” because they’re doing that. And there have been 15,000 to 20,000 seats empty for the most part all month. The White Sox series crowds were disgraceful.
8Here’s where the “new ownership would solve all of the problems” argument commences but that’s for you to make or for me to make on another day. For now — or at least for the next few weeks — the team on the field is exciting enough for me.
Other than the exorbitant prices of concessions and tickets and parking, etc. I’m not sure there’s much to say to improve the mojo of Baltimore sports fans to come to the ballpark.
My No. 1 priority would be getting the players into the community and introducing them to the people of Dundalk, Towson, White Marsh, Owings Mills, Catonsville, Glen Burnie and every other place they expect people to come from on gamedays.
If Adam Jones really wants Baltimore people to care about him, he might want to rethink his position to get the hell outta here and instead of #LEGGO tweets from
