My First and Probably Last Thread

[Tony-OH]

At the end of the day, what you make of this board is on you, not the board as whole because there is no prevailing opinion. I hate to break it to you some of you, but if you are concerned about making an opinion on here because of a few people, then you definitely should stay off Facebook/Twitter/etc. 

If you wonder why there is more negative than positive on here, maybe it's because the team's record for the last 4 years and then look at all the penny pinching ways when it comes to TV/radio broadcasts and from what we heard, the game day experience to some extent.

Now if you are one of those fans that prefer unicorns and rainbows when talking about the O's, then this is probably not the place for you because EVERYTHING will be analyzed. We are all fans on here, but this is a thinking man's/woman's board. 

I've always said that it's more important to have the right people on here than a LOT of people. We've always preferred quality of quantity. While some people can be more aggressive than others, the people who are respected here are the ones that can back their opinions up with statistics and analysis. 

This is the major leagues of message boards. Hell, I had to up my game knowing that I couldn't just throw out a comment like "Mountcastle looks slower" because I know I better go get some sprint speeds to back up that claim. That's what makes this place special though in my opinion.

I've learned probably more than I've taught over the years on this board because of the smart folks that make up this board. Whether they are more on the negative side or positive side, nobody spends hours on here if they are not a fan!

Personally, I love how this board acts, but can understand if it's not for some. That's not a hit on anyone, just a fact. I have family members that have been fans for 50 plus years, but this is probably not their place to discuss the Orioles.

I always hope good, smart, passionate fans call this place their home, but I realize their are many more lurkers and that's ok. If the board is not for you, I understand, but it's not going to change and I'm kinda proud of that.

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

3 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

At the end of the day, what you make of this board is on you, not the board as whole because there is no prevailing opinion. I hate to break it to you some of you, but if you are concerned about making an opinion on here because of a few people, then you definitely should stay off Facebook/Twitter/etc. 

If you wonder why there is more negative than positive on here, maybe it's because the team's record for the last 4 years and then look at all the penny pinching ways when it comes to TV/radio broadcasts and from what we heard, the game day experience to some extent.

Now if you are one of those fans that prefer unicorns and rainbows when talking about the O's, then this is probably not the place for you because EVERYTHING will be analyzed. We are all fans on here, but this is a thinking man's/woman's board. 

I've always said that it's more important to have the right people on here than a LOT of people. We've always preferred quality of quantity. While some people can be more aggressive than others, the people who are respected here are the ones that can back their opinions up with statistics and analysis. 

This is the major leagues of message boards. Hell, I had to up my game knowing that I couldn't just throw out a comment like "Mountcastle looks slower" because I know I better go get some sprint speeds to back up that claim. That's what makes this place special though in my opinion.

I've learned probably more than I've taught over the years on this board because of the smart folks that make up this board. Whether they are more on the negative side or positive side, nobody spends hours on here if they are not a fan!

Personally, I love how this board acts, but can understand if it's not for some. That's not a hit on anyone, just a fact. I have family members that have been fans for 50 plus years, but this is probably not their place to discuss the Orioles.

I always hope good, smart, passionate fans call this place their home, but I realize their are many more lurkers and that's ok. If the board is not for you, I understand, but it's not going to change and I'm kinda proud of that.

 

One more thing to add, OH is the least toxic sports message board I've ever browsed or posted on. Sure a lot of the talk of the team has been tilted toward the negative side, but the last 25 years haven't been good outside of 2012-16.

The conversations on here are civil for the most part and that's impressive given the performance of the franchise. Go browse the message board of an NFL team that's usually in the playoffs, and it will be way more toxic and negative compared to OH. 

[OriolesMagic83]

50 minutes ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

There is alot to be negative about. This downward spiral started in 2018. I think I saw somewhere that from 2012 to 2016, we had the best record in baseball, unfortunately, no WS appearances. We are now in year 4 of a rebuild and most teams usually rebuild quickly. Most fans are discouraged. We need something to give us some hope. Complaining is a form of coping (venting) and it allows many to blow off some steam. But thankfully, there are some bright spots this season. I hope we can see steady improvement.

What the O's and Duquette were doing was unsustainable.  They were stripping the minors to keep success in the majors going.  This included giving up 2 1st round picks (Ubaldo and Gallardo) and 3 comp picks, plus trading away prospects like Davies, Ed Rod and Hader, all while core was aging and getting more expensive.  The rebuild should have started after 2016 or at least 2017.  

[BRobinsonfan]

10 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

At the end of the day, what you make of this board is on you, not the board as whole because there is no prevailing opinion. I hate to break it to you some of you, but if you are concerned about making an opinion on here because of a few people, then you definitely should stay off Facebook/Twitter/etc. 

If you wonder why there is more negative than positive on here, maybe it's because the team's record for the last 4 years and then look at all the penny pinching ways when it comes to TV/radio broadcasts and from what we heard, the game day experience to some extent.

Now if you are one of those fans that prefer unicorns and rainbows when talking about the O's, then this is probably not the place for you because EVERYTHING will be analyzed. We are all fans on here, but this is a thinking man's/woman's board. 

I've always said that it's more important to have the right people on here than a LOT of people. We've always preferred quality of quantity. While some people can be more aggressive than others, the people who are respected here are the ones that can back their opinions up with statistics and analysis. 

This is the major leagues of message boards. Hell, I had to up my game knowing that I couldn't just throw out a comment like "Mountcastle looks slower" because I know I better go get some sprint speeds to back up that claim. That's what makes this place special though in my opinion.

I've learned probably more than I've taught over the years on this board because of the smart folks that make up this board. Whether they are more on the negative side or positive side, nobody spends hours on here if they are not a fan!

Personally, I love how this board acts, but can understand if it's not for some. That's not a hit on anyone, just a fact. I have family members that have been fans for 50 plus years, but this is probably not their place to discuss the Orioles.

I always hope good, smart, passionate fans call this place their home, but I realize their are many more lurkers and that's ok. If the board is not for you, I understand, but it's not going to change and I'm kinda proud of that.

 

What the heck do you mean "Mountcastle looks slower???"  I have never seen a more uniformed opinion in all my life.  

 

 

 

I kid, I kid.  

 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

What the O's and Duquette were doing was unsustainable.  They were stripping the minors to keep success in the majors going.  This included giving up 2 1st round picks (Ubaldo and Gallardo) and 3 comp picks, plus trading away prospects like Davies, Ed Rod and Hader, all while core was aging and getting more expensive.  The rebuild should have started after 2016 or at least 2017.  

I remember thinking, Oh they traded for Trumbo so that means they are letting Davis walk.   Cool, get that draft pick and replace him on the cheap.

 

Yea...

[UMDTerrapins]

Well said Tony!  If you listen to the media, me and a few hundred of my closest friends got Mark Turgeon fired because we were mean. No…..it’s because a decade of boredom makes fans prickly. Put a better product on the field and we fans will have a corresponding mood change. Spenser Watkins won’t do that (no offense Spence!)

[wildcard]

3 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

What the O's and Duquette were doing was unsustainable.  They were stripping the minors to keep success in the majors going.  This included giving up 2 1st round picks (Ubaldo and Gallardo) and 3 comp picks, plus trading away prospects like Davies, Ed Rod and Hader, all while core was aging and getting more expensive.  The rebuild should have started after 2016 or at least 2017.  

You really think that was Duquette's fault? He was doing what his owner wanted done.  They were in win now mode.  Peter was getting old and wanted to win the WS.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, UMDTerrapins said:

Well said Tony!  If you listen to the media, me and a few hundred of my closest friends got Mark Turgeon fired because we were mean. No…..it’s because a decade of boredom makes fans prickly. Put a better product on the field and we fans will have a corresponding mood change. Spenser Watkins won’t do that (no offense Spence!)

Hey, thanks for that.

 

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, wildcard said:

You really think that was Duquette's fault? He was doing what his owner wanted done.  They were in win now mode.  Peter was getting old and wanted to win the WS.

I think both Dan and Buck were 100% on board with raiding the future cupboards to win a ring.

Not with every decision that was made, but with the overall concept.

[wildcard]

4 minutes ago, UMDTerrapins said:

Well said Tony!  If you listen to the media, me and a few hundred of my closest friends got Mark Turgeon fired because we were mean. No…..it’s because a decade of boredom makes fans prickly. Put a better product on the field and we fans will have a corresponding mood change. Spenser Watkins won’t do that (no offense Spence!)

So we can expect an uptick in the OH mood when Adley, Grayson and Bradish are promoted next month?

[wildcard]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I think both Dan and Buck were 100% on board with raiding the future cupboards to win a ring.

Not with every decision that was made, but with the overall concept.

I think there were several big decisions that Duquette was not in favor of.  Like spending that much on Davis and when to trade Manny.   But he did what his boss wanted done.

[Aristotelian]

13 minutes ago, Sanfran327 said:

With the exception of the 2nd half of the 2014 season when we were going out there and winning 5 nights a week, this board has always been negative. Not that this team has given us a lot to be positive about. Even during that 2014 season - in the midst of winning 96 games - it never really felt like we were contenders. Even after sweeping the Tigers and their super rotation it never really felt like it. You'd come on here and a large contingency was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and then it did when we were swept by KC.

The old joke has always been that even if we won the World Series, it wouldn't be enough if it wasn't a sweep of double digit wins. Or that the next day, someone would be wondering how sustainable it is. It's a tough crowd.

At the end of the day though, it's also because a) baseball is a thinking man's game, and b) this happens to be the smartest internet forum I've ever visited. I do wish more folks here could live in the moment, but as of this morning, the moment was over. I wouldn't trade the knowledge base of this community for a little bit more positivity. Besides, even winning organization's message boards are filled with negativity. Check out Sons of Sam Horn for the Red Sox or whatever the Yankees' message board is. Fandom begets negativity. 

Interesting perspective. I discovered this board in 2012, so I associate the board with those times rather than all the negativity we are seeing now. 

I still find it worthwhile to engage with the positive/non-negative folks while trying my best to go down the rabbit hole with others and I agree this remains without exaggeration the best sports message board on the internet.  

I found ignoring certain users helped for a while but that function seems to have stopped working. I would like to see the ignore function working and I do think the board could be better at enforcing its policies regarding coarse language, name calling, and thread hijacking, all of which we have seen in recent months. 

[UMDTerrapins]

9 minutes ago, wildcard said:

So we can expect an uptick in the OH mood when Adley, Grayson and Bradish are promoted next month?

What am I….Nostra-dumb-ass? I can tell you MY mood will improve!  

[wildcard]

1 minute ago, UMDTerrapins said:

What am I….Nostra-dumb-ass? I can tell you MY mood will improve?

There is nothing dumb about you.

[NCRaven]

I generally tend to be optimistic about the current direction of the team.  Having said that, there are individual actions taken by Elias that I've questioned and would certainly like to begin seeing more commitment by ownership to providing a quality onfield product.  As someone else said on another thread, a positive game day experience starts with a win.  So let's invest more in wins than other in stadium non-baseball activities.  This is exasperating.  I started by saying that I'm optimistic and closed with a criticism.  Welcome to Orioles fandom.