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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)

    Oh! The WOES! Of the O's!

    Orioles outfielder Gibbons is now mixed up in all the Steroids mess: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...obe/index.html

    This week, Bedard went on the DL to end his season, assuring that he would not become the first O's pitcher to lead the league in strikeouts since the '50s. A couple of weeks ago, they had a no-hitter pitched against them.

    Weeks before that, they gave up a modern baseball record of 30 runs in about five innings.

    Their manager was fired earlier this year.

    Almost their entire pitching staff has been injured.

    But hey! Wait'll next year!

    -EarlJam
    Last edited by EarlJam; 09-11-2007 at 05:11 PM.

  2. #2
    Maybe if people stopped doing the "O" thing during the national anthem... never mind.
    Last edited by hurleyfor3; 09-11-2007 at 05:19 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Quote Originally Posted by hurleyfor3 View Post
    Maybe if people stopped doing the "O" thing during the national anthem... never mind.
    God willing. We Nats fans hate that at RFK.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Baltimore
    Hey, we should at least get a nice draft pick next year. (I seem to tell myself that every year).

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)
    Quote Originally Posted by toughbuff1 View Post
    Hey, we should at least get a nice draft pick next year. (I seem to tell myself that every year).
    I heard (can't verify) that Angelos said before the season started this year that he'd be happy with the team going .500.

    Geesh. We set our goals for mediocrity and can't even reach THAT.

    -EarlJam

    P.S. Yes, every spring I seem to say, "The O's have some good young arms. Maybe this will be the year the pitching staff really comes together!" In the end, same 'ol boring A.L. East story:

    Yankees or Red Sox
    Toronto
    Baltimore
    Tampa Bay

  6. #6
    God willing. We Nats fans hate that at RFK.
    They do it at RFK!?

    heard (can't verify) that Angelos said before the season started this year that he'd be happy with the team going .500.
    That would win them the NL Central!

  7. #7
    being a orioles fan i love the o thing, i even heard it on tv at the richmond race and it always happens at the dover race.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    I get really funny looks when I do it out here. Maybe because I'm the only one in Safeco field (or Husky Stadium) doing it. But, Go O's!

  9. #9
    Not much you can do when you face so many early pitching injuries. (Unless you are the Yanks and can add another 20 mil to your payroll without blinking) The Os at least established they have the best ACE in the AL in Bedard (That's right, Eric Bedard, not CC or Becket or Santana).

    Also, the O's have owned the Yanks this season. So they got that goin' for them, which is nice.

  10. #10
    First, a piece of trivia I learned at the HOF this summer. Before they were the New York Yankees, the team everyone loves to hate were the Baltimore Orioles. I am a fan of the current O's, not the Yanks (yech) previously known as the O's.

    Now on to the topic at hand. I am very, very, very disappointed to learn one of the O's is embroiled in the steroid scandal. I guess I shouldn't be surprised after Raphael Palmeiro - still miffed about that, guess viagra wasn't enough of a drug for him.

    Like many of you O's fans on the board I'm always saying wait till next year. I think I'm going to change my mantra to "wait till Angelos is gone". Hey EarlJam, don't you have experience with making people disappear?

    As for the O's in the Star Spangled Banner; at the Duke football game last week - the home game- was sitting near a group of high school kids who yelled O at the right time. I wanted to lean over and ask them why they did it. Notice I wrote the yelled O not O's?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)
    Quote Originally Posted by DevilAlumna View Post
    I get really funny looks when I do it out here. Maybe because I'm the only one in Safeco field (or Husky Stadium) doing it. But, Go O's!
    DevilAlumna! You're a closet O's fan!? I didn't know! You just went up another notch on my "Yourawesometer!" You are now an 11! The Yourawesometer typically only goes to ten, so, that's.....REALLY Awesome!

    -EarlJam

    P.S. "Our amp goes to eleven."

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007

    O's lose on purpose?

    It might be somewhat sad for O's fans, but consider Angelos might be losing on purpose. Seriously.

    This article is related to the Pirates, how they are designed to never be terrible as to attract attention, but never have a chance at winning, all the while raking in profits. The same might apply to the O's:

    How Can You Lose and Make Consistent Profits?
    The Pirates have figured out that, with the current revenue-sharing structure in baseball and their gorgeous, taxpayer-financed new stadium, there’s a certain amount of money they’re guaranteed to make every year, as long as they keep payroll at a certain fixed level, and make sure the team continues to lose. Lose every year without exception, and everyone expects you to lose; but win just once–see the 2003 Royals–and you lightning-rod negative publicity to yourself when you go back to losing. The Pirates, in the interest of protecting their regular profits, systematically prevent that from happening.
    How Do You Build a Losing Team Without Looking Like It?
    So the Pirates have developed a very cunning system to ensure the team is always terrible, year after year, yet always provides just enough hope for near-term improvement to keep ESPN from noticing how wretched they are. There are a couple things the Pirates do to ensure this, primarily:

    1. They systematically stock their farm system with advanced, low-ceiling types (this is why they draft college pitchers in the first round year after year after year, among other things.) The Pirates’ farm system is very interesting. Nearly all of their minor league teams, most notably in Indianapolis, Altoona and Hickory, finish near the top of their leagues almost every year. Why? Because they’re usually the oldest teams in their leagues, stocked with guys who are a little too good for their level but have no MLB upside at all. This creates the illusion that help in Pittsburgh is on the way, while ensuring the major league team never improves.


    2. They make sure there is one (exactly one) legit star player on the team. It was Jason Kendall for a few years, and when he faded they got Brian Giles, and right when he started to decline they flipped him for Jason Bay. When Bay declines (which he already may be beginning to), they’ll make sure to find someone else. This, once again, helps keep pressure off management by giving media/fans a glimmer of hope. “If we can just build a team around Kendall/Giles/Bay!” When they run into the risk of coming up with another star, they get rid of him (see: Ramirez, Aramis).

    THIS WOULD BE TEJADA.

    3. The Pirates are notoriously the cheapest team in baseball, maybe in sports, when it comes to refusing to pay any more than absolutely necessary for medical staff and equipment. This helps keep players, particularly pitchers, hurt. I suspect this is why the Pirates have stocked up so heavily on pitchers: Because they know pitchers get hurt more often, and will get hurt even more often when there’s inadequate medical staff supporting them.

    ALL THE HURT PITCHERS FOR THE O'S THIS YEAR.

    4. The Pirates usually make sure to have one bad contract around (first Kendall, then Jack Wilson, now Matt Morris), and if that isn’t quite enough, they sign some old ex-famous person or another for a few million bucks to keep payroll just high enough to not look too overtly cheap, but not high enough to siphon off profits. They did it with Kenny Lofton and Reggie Sanders, then Jeromy Burnitz, Roberto Hernandez. etc. Again, this serves the dual purpose of throwing the media/fans someone they’ve heard of and keeping payroll high enough to avoid taking heat.

    PALMERIO.

    5. Someone once wrote that “the best way to avoid being boring is to be positively wretched.” The Pirates want very much to be boring; that’s why they try to keep their win totals in the high 60s year after year. They DON’T want to pull a 2003 Tigers, because that would have the same effect as winning 85: To draw media scrutiny


    Some interesting points here. The Os might not actually want to win. Esp. when they draw huge crowds anyway for 18 home Sox/Yanks games a year.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)
    Quote Originally Posted by tombrady View Post
    Some interesting points here. The Os might not actually want to win. Esp. when they draw huge crowds anyway for 18 home Sox/Yanks games a year.

    Great post with lots of great, and very possibly accurate information as it relates to the O's. Now, however, I am further depressed.

  14. #14
    The other things about the Pirates are they can't leave (shiny new stadium everyone likes; anywhere else they could go either has already been taken, doesn't want to build a stadium or has intractible issues such as Vegas) and wouldn't be the first team to get contracted (Tampa, Minnesota and maybe KC would go first).

    So they're like baseball's equivalent of the second law of thermodynamics. They can't win, they can't break even and they can't quit playing the game.

  15. #15
    Isn't there already a joke thread?

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by tombrady View Post
    It might be somewhat sad for O's fans, but consider Angelos might be losing on purpose. Seriously.

    This article is related to the Pirates, how they are designed to never be terrible as to attract attention, but never have a chance at winning, all the while raking in profits. The same might apply to the O's:

    Some interesting points here. The Os might not actually want to win. Esp. when they draw huge crowds anyway for 18 home Sox/Yanks games a year.
    This article is spot on. Thank you for posting it tombrady.

    I've been saying for years that Angelos doesn't care how the team does as long as they bring in the money, which they certainly do. I have also been encouraging a law suit, but don't know if it would work as law is not my forte.

  17. #17

    Bad comparison

    Quote Originally Posted by TillyGalore View Post
    This article is spot on. Thank you for posting it tombrady.

    I've been saying for years that Angelos doesn't care how the team does as long as they bring in the money, which they certainly do. I have also been encouraging a law suit, but don't know if it would work as law is not my forte.
    The Pirates refuse to spend any money. The Orioles have 99 problems but spending money ain't one.

    In fact, looking at the Pirates makes Angelos seem like one of the greatest owners in the game. Angelos is a small market owner who still spends big bucks.

    Baltimore has a top ten payroll this season despite being in the bottom ten attendance last season. As long as the owner has an open checkbook it's tough to complain.

    Why bother spending nearly three times the amount Pittsburgh is, if you are indifferent about winning? You've lost 60 mil before you even start.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Quote Originally Posted by hurleyfor3 View Post
    They do it at RFK!?
    Not as much anymore but it still happens occasionally.
    Last edited by -jk; 09-13-2007 at 12:39 PM. Reason: fixed quote tag

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

    In fact, looking at the Pirates makes Angelos seem like one of the greatest owners in the game. Angelos is a small market owner who still spends big bucks.

    Baltimore has a top ten payroll this season despite being in the bottom ten attendance last season. As long as the owner has an open checkbook it's tough to complain.
    I disagree. Baltimore is not a small market -- before the Nats moved it, it had the Baltimore AND washington DC market. Thats not small.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Skinker-DeBaliviere, Saint Louis
    That's an interesting issue, isn't it, tombrady?

    Nielsen says Baltimore is the 24-largest TV market, below Pittsburgh at 22, with about 63K fewer TV homes. (Stunningly, I thought). Baltimore's metro is bigger (2.6M/20th to 2.3M/22nd).

    But of course as you point out, there's DC, and quite a few Orioles fans there. Hell, on cable, Eastern North Carolina used to get the Orioles, and sometimes you could get them in Western NC. (My parents in W-S had them in the 1990s).

    Another odd thing is the shape of Baltimore's TV market, squeezed obviously by DC on one side but also by Salisbury/Dover on the other side, which seems like a market that would have a lot of Os fans in it. That market only has 153K TV homes.

    I guess you'd call the O's a mid-market team, post-Nationals? Perhaps you share my annoyance that sports radio commentators seem to think that every club not located in NY/LA/Chicago is a small market team.

    ETA: DC/Baltimore/NoVa is the 4th biggest combined MSA
    Last edited by throatybeard; 09-13-2007 at 04:35 PM.

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