I need a new hobby

[Uli2001]

After the next 2-game winning streak everyone will be printing playoffs tickets again. The key to make fandom tolerable is not to get too low during the lows and too high during the highs.  

[Rich Mac]

5 hours ago, ChuckS said:

Things could be fun in August and September if we actually commit to a full out rebuild.  If will be fun to watch the new pieces come in and see what they can do along with possible promotions of guys like Sisco, Mullins, and Hays in September. 

I can't imagine anything more boring than drudging through this season with this same group in tact. 

I feel like I'm ahead of the curve here. I pretty much stopped about a month ago. It's just not fun right now.

This quote hits the nail on the head for me. I have just been waiting for the team to be blown up so I can start watching young, enthusiastic players making an attempt to win games - even if they don't.

[maybenxtyr]

I'm at an age where baseball isn't as important as it use to be. Watching my daughters grow and get ready for college and their lives changed how I followed sports. Probably sounds corny but I just don't feel "invested" in the team anymore.

[doctorbj]

I am 73 and live mostly in Florida. So I have a long time watching, rooting, and bemoaning what happens. I must say that this thread is probably the best discussion we've had in the recent weeks. I have been a Hangouter and plus member for years  

Let me propose another reason for a rebuild. This team reminds of the Red Sox a few years ago in terms of the whole team being a problem from top to bottom even though both had/have talent. The Red Sox were a bunch of self-centered egotists as I recall, with strange things going on in clubhouse, etc. They also had Bobby Valentine I think. 

We don't seem to have 'troublemakers' like the Sox, but I think the team chemistry is perhaps just as bad. Roch I believe mentioned a veteran saying he had never seen a team go so bad so long, especially after the start. 

Anyway, we need the rebuild like the Red Sox did even without the farm system they had. We need to bring in fresh players without the 'baggage' that is now prevalent. We will never develop a new starting staff from within, but we do have some positional hope. I don't think PA will ever be competitive in the free agent market, except to get players other organizations recognize as not worth the money. 

What really is needed is a Shapiro (sp) from the Indians or Epstein to change philosophy. That is likely a pipe dream. Brady Anderson is going to be a disaster, think, if he is the anointed successor. This change will not happen during the season obviously, but do either Buck or Duquette have the makeup/willingness to tell Peter and would he listen. 

Sorry to be so long winded, but since I rarely post I needed the catharsis. 

[Ohfan67]

3 minutes ago, birdwatcher55 said:

You're a long and trusted good fan. My hat is off to you. You pretty much nailed it. You mention the Red Sox and I live near Boston and have obviously followed their fortunes and misfortunes for years. I will advocate and continue to push for a young, solid GM like Ben Cherington  to take over the Orioles. The Red Sox are in a great position to control the AL East for the next 2-3 years and much of their talent came through the Cherington pipeline. I only hope I live long enough to see ownership climb onboard with my thinking.

You are very likely to outlive the current owner. Let's hope his sons see the light or that they sell the team to a more progressive (baseball progressive) owner. 

[Cumberbundy]

Tough season but I love every day of it. I love seeing Schoop become a legitimate all star, love seeing Manny make incredible defensive plays in Milwaukee down 0-4, love seeing Mancini...the only guy in the league who looks like he actually brings a lunch pail to work ...then Gausman is frustrating but his change ups are better and he is still a future ace imo, i love every Bundy start, I love checking the minors and just hope we don't deal away Hays/Mountcastle for another bum. If we had never let Dan use a real phone, life would be better, but I love rooting for the Os every evening. I don't know why Miley CyOs is here, but he's ours now and I'm excited for baseball this afternoon.  

[MrOrange82]

For what it's worth to anyone/everyone, doing exactly what the OP suggests has worked pretty well for me.

So far, money that might've otherwise gone to tickets, food, and ballpark beer has turned into St. Martin, Iceland, Aruba, and Norway (next February).

I saw the northern lights in Iceland. Felt a lot better chasing them than watching the O's haphazardly chase a World Series.

 

 

 

[Bird Dog]

10 hours ago, Roy Firestone said:

We don't always have to win the world series to make me happy watching the Orioles. One of my fondest memories was beating the Red Sox and knocking them out of the playoffs in 2011 and we might have finished last that year. I enjoyed the thrills of even getting to a WC game even if we lost. But this team breaks your spirit and takes your breath away with its total ineptitude. Its almost like I don't want to see the bases loaded and no one out for us...because I can see the failure to get the runs in.,,and its beyond me being negative..its me trying to protect my hopes and heart.

I dont quit.

But I'm not going to be around as much.

I dont enjoy this.I can't.

This pretty much sums it up for me too......they're so predictable and hard to watch.

[Sessh]

I wrote up matchups for quite a few of those dark years and used to get bummed out about the team, but it didn't last long. To be honest, it's hard for me to understand how people get so depressed or risk health problems just because a sports team is playing poorly. It's just a game after all and just one team. The way I approach the game of baseball is that I am a fan of the game FIRST and a fan of the Orioles second. I guess what that means to me is that I like exciting teams and I like to watch them play even if it's not the Orioles and even if they are beating the Orioles. I love to see good baseball no matter who is doing it.

Sure, I'd rather it was the Orioles, but right now, it's probably best for the organization if they continue to lose because it is the only scenario where things may change soon enough to avoid another 10+ years of darkness. Sometimes, it's better to lose now to increase chances of winning in the future. This is one of those times for this organization and once you realize that, maybe it won't be so stressful. I don't understand how people can still root for this team to win despite the reality that it's the worst thing that could happen to this franchise long term at this point. Even if the Orioles make all the wrong decisions (like they tend to do), there's still going to be exciting baseball to watch. That doesn't mean switching favorite teams because my favorite "team" is baseball. I find that it also helps because it removes my biases so I can see the team for what it is and not through orange tinted glasses because neither my sanity, mood or health are significantly linked to whether or not the Orioles win or lose. It's a much better way to enjoy sports IMO.

[Cumberbundy]

8 minutes ago, MrOrange82 said:

For what it's worth to anyone/everyone, doing exactly what the OP suggests has worked pretty well for me.

So far, money that might've otherwise gone to tickets, food, and ballpark beer has turned into St. Martin, Iceland, Aruba, and Norway (next February).

I saw the northern lights in Iceland. Felt a lot better chasing them than watching the O's haphazardly chase a World Series.

 

 

 

How much do you eat at the game? ?

[tntoriole]

10 hours ago, Frobby said:

I was telling my wife that in the 1998-2011 disaster, the longer we lost, the more obsessed with the Orioles I became.     In fact, I found this website while searching for information on the Orioles farm system, to which I had never paid the slightest bit of attention before, in the desperate hope that I'd find some promising players down there to hang some hope on.

Right now, though, I'm having the opposite reaction.    I've really enjoyed the last five years, and it's made me realize how miserable I was when the team was bad and how unhealthy it was for me to obsess about it.     I'm going to try my hardest not to do that this time.    I'm not saying I'm going to stop rooting for them if they go bad for a while, but I'm going to pay a whole lot less attention.    I'm not going to plan my evenings or weekends around what time the  Orioles are playing.     I'm not going to automatically turn the games on once dinner's over.    I just don't need the aggravation.    Games like tonight just make me unhappy to my core.

Although I never offer specific professional thoughts on this site (I am a psychiatrist)...this is excellent insight and quite sound advice.  Finding balance in our leisure activities is a good strategy and is similar to rotation of crops in our gardens- sometimes we need to rotate our interests to derive the maximum yield of pleasure.  It is not abandonment, for that is not possible nor good, it is simply rotating our fandom to another, perhaps shadier, spot in our garden for awhile.  

[Ohfan67]

20 minutes ago, birdwatcher55 said:

John Angelos strikes me as a progressive politically from some of his comments. Could it translate into his baseball operations? I really hope we don't follow the same model of the Tigers but right now that's what I see. Hopefully time proves me wrong here.

And the Tigers spent their money much wiser than the Orioles (they have a bit more to show for their investment with two world series appearances in last 10 years). 

[O's84]

Just don't combine this hobby with others, like woodworking or soldering.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, O's84 said:

Just don't combine this hobby with others, like woodworking or soldering.

Yeah, I won't be taking up those hobbies, being the least handy adult male who I know.     Reading some more books and going on outdoor outings on the weekends is more what I have in mind.    

[24fps]

1 hour ago, doctorbj said:

I am 73 and live mostly in Florida. So I have a long time watching, rooting, and bemoaning what happens. I must say that this thread is probably the best discussion we've had in the recent weeks. I have been a Hangouter and plus member for years  

Let me propose another reason for a rebuild. This team reminds of the Red Sox a few years ago in terms of the whole team being a problem from top to bottom even though both had/have talent. The Red Sox were a bunch of self-centered egotists as I recall, with strange things going on in clubhouse, etc. They also had Bobby Valentine I think. 

We don't seem to have 'troublemakers' like the Sox, but I think the team chemistry is perhaps just as bad. Roch I believe mentioned a veteran saying he had never seen a team go so bad so long, especially after the start. 

Anyway, we need the rebuild like the Red Sox did even without the farm system they had. We need to bring in fresh players without the 'baggage' that is now prevalent. We will never develop a new starting staff from within, but we do have some positional hope. I don't think PA will ever be competitive in the free agent market, except to get players other organizations recognize as not worth the money. 

What really is needed is a Shapiro (sp) from the Indians or Epstein to change philosophy. That is likely a pipe dream. Brady Anderson is going to be a disaster, think, if he is the anointed successor. This change will not happen during the season obviously, but do either Buck or Duquette have the makeup/willingness to tell Peter and would he listen. 

Sorry to be so long winded, but since I rarely post I needed the catharsis. 

A lot of interesting points in this post.  I have to think that if the clubhouse chemistry was bad, we would have heard a little bit more about it by this point.  Sign me up for a new organizational philosophy.