Orioles blog The Loss Column (aptly named, indeed) is mad as hell, and they aren't gonna take it any more. Fed up with invading "sewer rat" Red Sox and Yankee fans, they're fomenting a mass movement (and by mass in the context of O's fans, I'm guessing 8-10 doofuses hopped up on Natty Bo) to Take Back the Yard when the Sox visit Baltimore on September 8.
I appreciate the effort, honestly. And I get the frustration. I've written several times in this space about my mixed emotions regarding Sox fans and their behavior in visiting parks. The Nation ain't perfect by a long shot. But my admittedly biased worldview informs an opinion that the protest is targeted about as accurately as Dick Cheney's shotgun. There's a reason Sox and Yankee fans overrun Camden Yards, and it sits in the owner's box.
If Peter Angelos hadn't gutted a once-proud franchise to the point where hometown fans stay away in droves, and erstwhile fans from closer to the Beltway completely ignore his team now that they've got another option, tickets wouldn't be available for Sox and Yanks fans. Were I an O's fan, I'd be bitter, too. But I'd probably be smart enough to target that anger appropriately.
And another thing, Loss Column. Before you go tossing rocks at other cities, consider the glass house in which you live. Despite the nickname, Charm City it ain't. Boston accents are funny? How 'bout Nancy the barmaid, hon? Downa shore from Bawlteeeemore. You probably think The Wire is fiction. You may not want to go down that particular path, lest the Sox fans that almost certainly will outnumber those in black and orange take umbrage.
I'm actually way okay with this idea. It's been ridiculous at Camden Yards for a long time, and even though Beelzebub Angelos has a large hand in it, the protests of the past against him haven't made the slightest of dents. Time to stop waiting for that guy to do something (or die), so they're doing it themselves.
ReplyDeleteAnd this isn't a protest, as they wrote. It's a mild rally for fans, and if Red Sox fans feel the sting of "fools with the funny accents," they're never going to survive the modern-day Bronx cheers.
Ultimately, the Baltimorons can't compete with the global reaches of Red Sox Nation and Yankee . . . Galaxy, and it'll likely still be those teams' home away from home. Nice to see some effort, though.
i don't have a problem with the idea, just think it's a case of screaming at the horse for walking out of the open barn door. ain't the horse's fault the door was left open by the arrogant jerkoff farmer.
ReplyDeleteThey have done at least one of those silly walk-out protests against Angelos. No result. They'd have to unite 30,000 people not to show for a game, maybe -- maybe -- then it'd do something. And even then, it embarrasses the players. There is nothing they can do to the farmer.
ReplyDeleteme and the farmer is a catchy little ditty, though.
ReplyDeleteAs a lifelong Orioles fan, I have to say that its just not the fact that Sox fans come down to Camden, its their stupid little attitudes they bring with them.
ReplyDeleteMost are fake bandwagoners who have never been outside of New England in their entire lives or local kids who just want to support whatever teams ESPN likes to champion.
It sucks that most of you will never be able to step foot in Fenway, and I lived in Boston from 1997-2002 back when the real fans still went to the park, and I can tell you that its not that great of a place.
So yea, even if the Orioles suck for another year or so, I won't abandon my team just because its "cool" to support the Sox and Yanks. And maybe you folks could learn some respect and decency in the meantime.
take that uninformed pabulum somewhere it actually resonates. even a cursory reading of this blog will tell you that, much like the planned "take back the yard" effort, you've missed your target here.
ReplyDeleteas for the merits of fenway, well, no shit. it's a 95 year-old ballpark. it's showing that age in a number of ways. still a terrific atmosphere, though, one that oriole nation (village? hamlet?) would kill to regain at camden. that's the shame of it - the o's have such a magnificent ballpark, and they can't fill it with their own fans because their no-account owner has killed the franchise.
but hey, take it out on other teams and their fans. beats admitting the truth, i guess.
have a wonderful day, and enjoy another summer with mr. angelos.
"Uninformed?"
ReplyDeleteSorry for disturbing your wicked cool blog, but I am not the only one who notices that much of Red Sox "nation" is just a bunch of posers...
http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/wilbur/sports_blog/blog/2007/06/26/station_this_wagon/index.html
Unless of course Boston.Com are also uninformed pabulum pushers.
i used 'uniformed' in the context of this specific blog. you used a broad brush to paint graffiti in a corner (a wee little corner at that) of the blogosphere to make charges just don't stick.
ReplyDeletepoke around here for a bit, you'll see that i've bemoaned sox fans' behavior in visiting parks. but assholery isn't the unique province of red sox or yankee fans - every bunch has bad apples. you make unprovable and exaggerated claims like "most are fake bandwagoners who have never been outside of new england...", and i react.
you didn't address the idea that the anger in this effort is misplaced. i've been attending games at camden yards since it opened, sox and otherwise. it didn't used to be this way. i'm also a redskins fan - i know from shitty ownership, and i know what it's like to go to a game where cowboy fans shout down the home fans. sucks, but i don't blame the cowboy fans.
and, dude, if our blog were as wicked cool as you seem to think i think it is, we'd get a lot more than 15 visitors a day. we do appreciate the added traffic.
Half the reason fans invade Camden is because we can't get tickets to Fenway or, in some cases, it's cheaper to drive or fly to MD than buy decent Fenway seats.
ReplyDelete