For years Baltimore was known as a rabid baseball town and the Orioles were the lifeblood of the city. Since 1997 the Orioles have taken a back seat to the Ravens and for the last decade have been one of the worst teams in baseball. However, on Sunday that all changed and baseball was once again relevant in Baltimore.
Every Sunday or Monday, from August until January, the bars are filled and the city is a buzz with everyone in their purple and black. Fans turn out in droves to show their support for the Ravens. Basically every single person watches the game and it is discussed for pretty much the entire following week. Yesterday, the city had a feel like it does during Ravens games, an atmosphere I have not seen during Orioles games in several years.
Upon arriving at the Federal Hill Spring Block Party, I looked around and saw Orioles gear on seemingly every person that passed. While it was a gorgeous day out, many people went inside to a bar to watch the game. It certainly is not rare that the game is on, but it is rare that everyone crowds around the TV to watch it. Literally every single person in the bar was focused on the game and they were emotionally invested. After the game-tying two run double, the bar erupted with cheering and people from outside even filed in to see what happened. Two batters later, a “Let’s go O’s” resonated from the bar and everyone was calling their friends to see if they had just seen what happened. In addition to people watching the game on TV, the Yard was almost filled to capacity and basically everyone stayed for the entire thing, which is not common if the Red Sox or Yankees aren’t in town.
I know people are going to read this and think I am making too big of a deal about this and remind me that is only April, but I don’t care. Seeing fans support the team is a good thing regardless if it is the beginning of the season or not. The O’s have not been six games over .500 since 2005, so the argument that they always start off well is not valid. I believe there will a lot more days like the one on Sunday and that can only be good for the city.
The Orioles will never be able to overtake the Ravens in popularity, but they can easily be relevant in the city again.
One thing is for sure, it has been fun to watch them through these first 23 games and hopefully the “Magic” in Baltimore is back.
O-R-I-O-L-E-S
How could this not excite you?
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