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The negativity has got to stop!!! (MAJOR RANT)


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To be fair this is not a Hangout issue or even an Orioles fan issue. You are going to get a lot of negativity and reactionary opinions when dealing with passionate sports fans. It is the nature of the beast.

I've frequented this board and other Orioles sites a little less recently because like the OP, I get tired of the negativity. I get the people that wish the Orioles would be in a better position at this point in the season. I also get discussing the issues the team has, what they could do better, and how they could improve. What really irritates me and drives me away are the people who want to make grand declarations that the season is over or that it will be a major failure if they don't make the playoffs.

The bottom line is they still have a chance. The odds are not in their favor and they have work to do, but they still have a chance. I don't get the purpose of preemptively throwing in the towel. What good does that do? I'd rather enjoy the ride the rest of the season until the O's are in the playoffs or mathematically eliminated. This is a very exciting time of the season where there is a lot riding on every single game. I'd rather enjoy that ride and keep hope alive. It sure beats having to hear 100 times a day about how the season is over and the team has no shot.

IF the Orioles season ends without a World Series victory, there will be several months to discuss what went wrong, how to improve the team, and to sulk in the disappointment of a non-championship season. That can wait. For now, I'd rather just enjoy the ride until (or if) it ends.

I wholeheartedly agree with this post. I can deal with people not having a lot of hope for this season, but I can't understand people completely giving up on it. As a passionate Baltimore sports fan, I've dealt with plenty of moments where things looked incredibly bleak. Was there anyone, anywhere that thought after week 15 in the NFL this past season that the Ravens would go on and win the Super Bowl? We have more of the season to go at this point than the Ravens did and we still have a 17.9% chance of making the postseason according to ESPN. If we are more than 3 games out of the wild card spot after the series against the Rays, that's when I'll have pretty much decided it's over, but even then, as an irrational human being that comes from being a fan of a team, I'll still be playing scenarios in my head where the Orioles are in the playoffs. As much as we want to boil things down to numbers with baseball, as sports fans we've all seen miraculous, improbable things happen, and that's what makes sports so awesome.

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But I'll never stop holding this team accountable until they win the World Series. Only then will I be satisfied with their performance, and that isn't a bad thing IMO.

Have you considered the idea that one can be satisfied with their performance, but not with the result? They are two different things.

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I dont think the good vibes on a message board helped during the 14 year losing streak the franchise suffered through. Team management seemed to have it way too easy in Baltimore. Only dwindling attendance and Flanagans suicide seemed to change the culture of losing. Or at least the FO meddling.

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If I'm the only one doing it, at least somebody is. And that's all that matters to me anyway. If others believe and wish to join, that's even better. But I'll never stop holding this team accountable until they win the World Series. Only then will I be satisfied with their performance, and that isn't a bad thing IMO.

I was mostly satisfied with this team's performance given their talent last year. And I'm allegedly one of those "negative" guys. This year, they are better offensively and defensively, and should have had better pitching too. So I'm disappointed this year. It doesn't take a World Series to satisfy me, but it does take playing up to your ability. And I don't think this year's team is playing up to their ability, at least what their ability appeared to be going into the season.

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I didn't think we allowed profanity in here...

If you guys only knew what it was like dealing with that rivalry....

War Damn Eagle!!!

There is no fan more entitled than a Bama fan. I'm so glad I don't live there anymore during football season (which is 12 months a year), they must be insufferable now. I get a glimpse from Facebook, but living in it would be cruel.

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I dont think the good vibes on a message board helped during the 14 year losing streak the franchise suffered through. Team management seemed to have it way too easy in Baltimore. Only dwindling attendance and Flanagans suicide seemed to change the culture of losing. Or at least the FO meddling.

I don't like what you're implying there with the comment about Flanagan's suicide. Let's leave Mike out of this, shall we? In any event, I suspect dwindling attendance was the much bigger factor anyway.

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Thanks to the second wild card, the Orioles are totally in this (under the old system, not so much, but this doesn't really matter). They can get the second WC get hot, and be world series champions. Why not? I think adding Morse was a great move. He provided the "spark" today and it could carry them in September.

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I dont think the good vibes on a message board helped during the 14 year losing streak the franchise suffered through. Team management seemed to have it way too easy in Baltimore. Only dwindling attendance and Flanagans suicide seemed to change the culture of losing. Or at least the FO meddling.

Many would say that Buck Showalter changed the culture of losing, or perhaps Dan Duquette. Many fans are still in the previous mindset, but the players and organization do seem to have changed. As to the 14 year losing streak, neither good nor bad vibes on a message board have any affect on the team's performance. You could just as easily say all the bad vibes on the message board during those years didn't help them win, or all the bad ones last year didn't keep them out of the playoffs. The latter were just irritating.

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I don't like what you're implying there with the comment about Flanagan's suicide. Let's leave Mike out of this, shall we? In any event, I suspect dwindling attendance was the much bigger factor anyway.

Im only implying it put more heat on the team for under-performing. I wasnt blaming the problem on Flanagan.

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I wholeheartedly agree with this post. I can deal with people not having a lot of hope for this season, but I can't understand people completely giving up on it. As a passionate Baltimore sports fan, I've dealt with plenty of moments where things looked incredibly bleak. Was there anyone, anywhere that thought after week 15 in the NFL this past season that the Ravens would go on and win the Super Bowl? We have more of the season to go at this point than the Ravens did and we still have a 17.9% chance of making the postseason according to ESPN. If we are more than 3 games out of the wild card spot after the series against the Rays, that's when I'll have pretty much decided it's over, but even then, as an irrational human being that comes from being a fan of a team, I'll still be playing scenarios in my head where the Orioles are in the playoffs. As much as we want to boil things down to numbers with baseball, as sports fans we've all seen miraculous, improbable things happen, and that's what makes sports so awesome.

It's absolutely true that it's mathematically still very possible, but when I look at the total train wreck the BP has become (though Gausman is providing some hope) and some of the very poor recent starts from Gonzo/Chen, it's hard to be optimistic. Yes, the goal of the playoffs is within reach, but that's not very comforting to a person/team with no arms to reach it.

Oh, sorry. I'm being one of those "negative" people again. Forgot I wasn't welcome here.

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The team is 2-10 in one run games since the ASB. Their closer leads the league in blown saves. They had three straight walk-off losses in Arizona after entering the late innings with the lead. And people are surprised that there are some very frustrated fans who might want to let off some steam on a chat board?

When I was in college I read a book by Crane Brinton called "The Anatomy of a Revolution" that studied the American Revolution, French Revolution, Russian Revolution, etc. The book's main thesis is that revolutions happen when there is a sudden turn for the worse after a period of rising prosperity--Brinton calls this phenomenon the "revolution of rising expectations" or something like that.

That's what you're seeing on OH these days--people were excited by last season and the team's good play early in the season, but the sudden spate of frustrating losses since the ASB has left a lot of fans feeling very angry. Not enough to storm OPACY with pitchforks, at least.

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Have you considered the idea that one can be satisfied with their performance, but not with the result? They are two different things.

One can, but unless the result is a World Series title, this team will not have performed adequately IMO. I believe they have the core roster of a World Series team so that is my expectation. Competitive is not good enough, nor should it be for a team that has spent the past 30 years without a World Series appearance.

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The team is 2-10 in one run games since the ASB. Their closer leads the league in blown saves. They had three straight walk-off losses in Arizona after entering the late innings with the lead. And people are surprised that there are some very frustrated fans who might want to let off some steam on a chat board?

When I was in college I read a book by Crane Brinton called "The Anatomy of a Revolution" that studied the American Revolution, French Revolution, Russian Revolution, etc. The book's main thesis is that revolutions happen when there is a sudden turn for the worse after a period of rising prosperity--Brinton calls this phenomenon the "revolution of rising expectations" or something like that.

That's what you're seeing on OH these days--people were excited by last season and the team's good play early in the season, but the sudden spate of frustrating losses since the ASB has left a lot of fans feeling very angry. Not enough to storm OPACY with pitchforks, at least.

Good call. Fans are angry because of what this season should have been and the amount of missed opportunity there has been. Now there is luck in baseball, but the Orioles as an organization had control over their playoff destiny. This team could have very well been in 1st in the AL East had they actually had a productive offseason, and they could have easily had a WC spot locked up at the very least had their closer not been allowed to blow so many games, or if their offense was more consistent with RISP like it was in the first half all the while while having average-below average pitching. They've been stumbling along, and now you have a team like Tampa Bay that hasn't shut the door, so every game we lose when we are oh so close just becomes more frustrating.

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