Why (and When) did You Become an Oriole Fan ???

[MTOsFan]

He owned a local Ford dealership in town. I saw him a few times. There's a nice statue at the stadium of the Reds affiliate in town. Also, Jeff Ballard lives in Billings. I've run into him several times at the grocery store.

[OFFNY]

atomic said:

 

I move all over the world when I was a child. What fun would it be to be an Orioles fan in San Francisco. I am sure I would follow the O's until most of the current left but at that point why would I care ??? I mean, how many people on here are still Colts fans ???

 

o

 

I am.

 

o

[TiredofLosing20]

I move all over the world when I was a child. What fun would it be to be an Orioles fan in San Francisco. I am sure I would follow the O's until most of the current left but at that point why would I care? I mean how many people on here are still Colt's fans?

Yeah so you definitely are not from Baltimore. Or not old enough to remember the Colts leaving...

Edited September 9, 2014 by TiredofLosing20
Forgot you might be too young to remember

[atomic]

Yeah so you definitely are not from Baltimore.

Lived in Baltimore area since third grade. But the players aren't from Baltimore.

[OFFNY]

Malike said:

 

You might be the first person I've seen able to change their allegiance like they change their underwear. If I moved to Europe, I might like soccer just fine, but I'd still have MLB.TV so I could watch my Orioles.

 

o

 

I can't see you moving to Europe, Malike.

You'd still be able to watch all of the Orioles games, but you wouldn't be able to see your beloved Aberdeen IronBirds when they played the Tri-City ValleyCats in Troy, NY.

 

o

[MTOsFan]

I move all over the world when I was a child. What fun would it be to be an Orioles fan in San Francisco. I am sure I would follow the O's until most of the current left but at that point why would I care? I mean how many people on here are still Colt's fans?

I'm with Malike on this one. Having a hard time getting my head around your stance. I don't think the colts analogy works because of the whole "moving van" aspect. For me, when we moved, I hung on to a few items from Maryland that I couldn't bear to part with. The O's, a love of the water, as well as a slight accent that my wife makes fun of.

[OFFNY]

MTOsFan said:

 

 

I'm with Malike on this one. Having a hard time getting my head around your stance. I don't think the Colts analogy works because of the whole "moving van" aspect. For me, when we moved, I hung on to a few items from Maryland that I couldn't bear to part with. The O's, a love of the water, as well as a slight accent that my wife makes fun of.

 

 

o

 

I feel as Malike does also, but I would like to defend Atomic.

The reason being is that I have my own reasons for my personal fandom, and I would not like to be told that my reasons for rooting for them are any less legitimate than somebody else's reasons for their fandom.

I've said before that if I ever moved to a house that was literally attached to Yankee Stadium, I would still hate the Yankees and love the Orioles ....... I signed an emotional contract with my favorites teams when I was a 6 year-old boy in the fall of 1971, and that emotional contract is a lifetime contract, and it is non-negotiable.

However ........ I would defend to the death another person's fandom even if I didn't agree with it, because I would want them to do the same for me in return.

 

o

[MTOsFan]

Yeah, don't get me wrong. Fandom, like grief is personal. We all do it differently. No right way, no wrong way. I don't even have a problem with the pink hatted Red Sox fans. I just don't understand it.

[blid]

I'm not originally from this region but have been in the DC area for awhile. My gf at the time (10 years ago) had just gotten into UMd Law School which is in Baltimore... we went to check out the city and were walking around and saw an Orioles game was about to start. Walked up and bought tickets. It was fun. Went to more games. When the Nats moved in, I thought maybe I'd start watching Nats games, but instead just kept following the Orioles and realized I'd become an Orioles fan. Despite how bad they were

[ExileAngelos]

I picked up baseball on my own. My dad was all about the Redskins so I was a bit late to the O's. I was 11 during the 1982 season. WDCA Channel 20 with Brooks and Chuck is where I got hooked.

[OFFNY]

OFFNY said:

o

 

OK, the why for many posters is the obvious ......... some of you grew up in Maryland/Northern Virginia/etc, so you chose the home team. For some of us others, we have different reasons. But for all Oriole fans, at least share with us when you became an Oriole fan. Here is my story. I'd love to hear some more (I'm sure that many are quite interesting.) ) 

I have lived my whole life in Brewster, NY, and I love the Orioles (and I hate the Yankees.) I started rooting for the Orioles in October of 1971, when I was a six year-old boy in 1st grade. My whole family was rooting for the Pirates in the World Series because they liked Roberto Clemente ......... so naturally, I rooted for the Orioles. )  )I remember that we won Game 6 when an Orioles runner slid home underneath the Pirates' catcher who had leaped in the air for the throw (I later learned that it was Frank Robinson sliding underneath Manny Sanguillen.) I remember all of the Orioles hugging each other at home plate. The next day was a different story. It was a close game. My family was really excited with the Pirates having a 2-1 lead with only one out to go. I still remember the final out of the ninth inning. It was a groundout. My family whooped it up in the living room, while I went outside and pouted on the swing-set in our back yard in Brewster Heights. I've been bleeding orange and back ever since, and I haven't regretted my decision for one minute of my life. ) 

 

O

o

 

And that final groundout was hit by a young man named Merv Rettenmund.

Happy birthday, Merv (72.)

I hope that you are OK, wherever you are.

 

M. Rettenmund ))) (S. Blass) )))))) Groundout: SS-1B ))))))) 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. )))))) Pirates 2, Orioles 1.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL197110170.shtml

 

o

[BarclaySouthway]

OFFNY, your story about Game 7 is remarkably similar to mine. I was 7 years old and to me, the Orioles were always supposed to win. The end of that game felt like a death. I cried a little, and went out to the backyard/alley behind my house. I still remember that somebody had poured some oil or something in the neighbor's ivy across the alley and it was dripping out onto the pavement making a big ugly stain which mirrored my emotional state.

Edited June 6, 2015 by BarclaySouthway

[jaege]

I grew up in MD and lived here most of my life, and I have been a casual fan since I was a kid, but my interest waned as I got older, joined the navy, traveled, did other things. Just in the last 6 or 7 years the wife and I started really taking an interest in the team since we were already hardcore Ravens fans. It gave us our "fan fix" during football's off season, and there was no reason not to support Baltimore's other birds.

. Also good seats are cheap, there are numerous games over the season so its easy to get to a game, the team has finally started getting good (which helps) and most of it takes place in the summer. And who doesn't love a ball game in the summer a couple of hot dogs and cold brews. Whats not to love.

[MdSooner]

My wife in 2011 decided that I was an Oriole fan! she has been one since she was a youngster

[Nevermore]

I thought that I had already replied to this thread. Apparently not. I replied to a similar thread when I joined OH. I was born in the Chicago area and my two older brothers tried to brainwash me into being a Cubs fan. But the Cubs were horrible, though I did like Ernie Banks -- now you can get an idea of how old I am. At any rate, I rebelled and became a White Sox fan. I still root for the White Sox, but I moved to the Baltimore area in the late 1980s and eventually, I got lured into being an Orioles fan after I started to go to O's games. When the O's play the White Sox, I stay home or else tune into a different TV station. Though I rooted for the O's when they played the White Sox during the Game With No Fans because our city badly needed a victory. I was on a cruise in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when the O's played the White Sox in the double header, so I could ignore those games -- I noted that they split, which was fine with me.

I'm well-settled in Columbia, Maryland, so I doubt that I'll move anywhere anytime soon. I realize that some might be bothered with my split loyalties, but that's the way the baseball bounces around here.

One other aspect: I root for players, not colored jerseys. I have certain favorite players, most who are on the Orioles. But if a favorite player ends up moving to another team, I tend to follow that player and root for him. Though not for his team, necessarily. When I was young, Luis Aparicio was my idol and I still have an autographed ball of his on my desktop. He was traded from the White Sox to the Orioles and, on hindsight, that's fine with me.