There are two sayings that come up way too often in relation to Baltimore sports that completely drive me crazy. They are “Baltimore’s sports dollar is maxed out because they can barely support two professional teams” and “the arrival of the Nationals has taken a huge toll on the Orioles.” Neither of these are true and this year could be our chance to prove that.
The arrival of the Ravens and the Nationals have two things in common, the Orioles haven’t been any good since either showed up. Well, there was one season of good Orioles baseball left when the Ravens arrived in the 1997 season, but the last 14 have been under .500. The Orioles attendance has slowly dwindled from 3,711,132 in 1997 to just 1,755,461 in 2011 and for some reason the the Nationals and Ravens are looked at as the major reasons for the drop in attendance as opposed to the fact that teenagers with their learner’s permit have never been alive for a winning season. The Orioles had the highest attendance in baseball for much of the 1990s, but a new Camden Yards and “the only team in town” and DC fans are given more credit than the passion of baseball fans in Baltimore.
The Ravens have been a model for fan support and passion in a city, as they’ve sold every ticket in franchise history. A fever truly passes through much of the state for Purple Fridays and gameday Sundays. It’s hard to run into anyone that doesn’t have an opinion on the last game Joe Flacco played. In a 60 Minutes interview, NFL commissioner Roger Godell told Steve Kroft while attending a game in Baltimore, “We (the NFL) need to find a way to get more people at the games, but that’s obviously not a problem here!” Unfortunately while the Orioles have continued to lose, the subpar attendance at Orioles Park at Camden Yards has prevented Baltimore from being seen as the great sports city that it is.
Achievements like record setting college lacrosse crowds, sold out European Soccer games, 100,000+ people at Preakness every year, huge crowds for events like the Dew Tour, Baltimore Grand Prix, high school basketball games and the highest TV ratings for the Women’s World Cup in the nation will all be overlooked as long as the Orioles play in front of small crowds at Oriole Park. I’ve definitely seen flashes of the past in the last few years, such as huge crowds for Matt Wieters debut weekend, packed series against teams like the Pirates and Reds that featured a very small percentage of non-Orioles fans and Opening Day, but now is the time to bring back that passion in the Yard on a consistent basis.
As of Sunday, May 6th, the Orioles at 19-9 have the best record in baseball and are on their way back from a road trip in which they took 5 out of 6 games from the Yankees and Red Sox. Sure, the Orioles haven’t accomplished anything yet and have been off to hot starts before, but this young team has played with a lot of heart this year and it’s time to show them how great Baltimore sports fans can be, especially when everyone in the world (other than yours truly) was talking about how horrible they were going to be this season. Publications like Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine predicted that they could finish with 69 wins in a best case scenario… that’s right, best case scenario! The Boston Globe’s Tony Massarotti quoted, “I don’t know what is going to happen in this division, the only thing I do know is the Orioles will finish in last place.”
I’m sure the Orioles have used some of these brutal comments from the media as motivation, but the bottom line is that the Orioles are playing great baseball right now and making a lot of writers wish they could get their predictions deleted. This week and the rest of the summer is another great chance for Baltimore to prove everyone wrong and show that this city does have great baseball fans and is one of the great sports towns in the country. Whether your think the Orioles are for real or not – or if you are waiting patiently for them to break your heart – it’s time to put on your orange and find out in person. If you hate the owner and think your taking a stand by not coming out to games, trust me it’s not really hurting his wallet.
The Orioles are about to begin a nine game home stand with four games against the Rangers, three games against the Rays and two games against the Yankees. The Rays are a .5 game behind the Orioles in the American League East, the Yankees are the Yankees and the Rangers have the second best record in baseball behind… yep, behind your Baltimore Orioles. Big crowds at the Yard could really help the Orioles through this tough stretch and prove that they are up-and-coming and not a ticking time bomb. So get off your couch, cancel your dinner plans, put your shows on DVR and get out the Yard and support your O’s. I want to see good crowds during the week and a packed house every weekend. The Orioles have a chance to prove everyone wrong and so do the fans of Baltimore. I guess we’ll find out soon, but I believe in my baseball team and I believe in my city… Let’s Go O’s!
