Kevin Brown absence explained?

[Moose Milligan]

54 minutes ago, Baltimorecuse said:

"Reliable reporting"?  Could you please direct me to a quote by anyone who actually knows, and I'll withdraw my opinion with apologies.  In the meantime, I smell something else in the air.  Now, Brown could go public and clarify everything.  

Yeah, it's been reliable.  ESPN doesn't run something like this on the front page without confirming it up and down, 100%.

 

20 minutes ago, AdamK said:

I'm on the cusp of both and agree. Miller was the sound of baseball to be when my fandom was galvanized. Then he disappeared while I was distracted by girls, summer jobs, etc. Never knew why and time passes.

 

So all it took for you to get into girls was Jon Miller leaving, eh? 

 

[Baltimorecuse]

30 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

You're one of those guys on twitter/X that says, "Until I know your sources I don't believe you!" 

That's not how any of this works. No one that is in the know, including Brown is going to openly discuss this situation. Everyone in this organization just saw that the smallest of perceived negative comments can be responded to by getting "suspended/not scheduled). 

 

I've never been on Twitter, or Facebook.  The reporting maybe totally reliable.  But I can easily think of other scenarios that make a helluva lot more sense than this story.  

[24fps]

3 hours ago, ChuckS said:

Other announcers are speaking out because this kind of behavior from an owner is a threat to their livelihoods and basic principles of being a journalist. Freedom of the press. It’s warranted, not in any way connected to the performance of the teams they are covering. I’m glad his fellow broadcasters are uniting against the tyrant. 

I don’t think there’s any way you can think of a sports announcer as a journalist. They’re performers and contract employees and as such subject to the conditions spelled out in their contract. I suppose there could be a violation of his contract that’s actionable - I wouldn’t know - and if things escalate labor law could come into play, but this is hardly First Amendment territory. 
 

There’s no question in my mind that JA is acting within his rights here.  There’s even less question that he’s a complete and utter fool for letting this happen in the first place. If anyone should lose their jobs it’s the PR firm/staff that didn’t talk him out of shooting himself in both feet. 

[AdamK]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

...

So all it took for you to get into girls was Jon Miller leaving, eh? 

 

LOL. Yeah. Turns out that emulating your look after the broadcaster had a net negative impact on my "luck" in highschool.

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, 24fps said:

I don’t think there’s any way you can think of a sports announcer as a journalist.  

I don't consider them the same but I do consider them close cousins.  

[Yardball85]

Just listened to the Britt appearance on Rob Long show.  Good god, she is FANTASTIC.  One of the best journalists in baseball. 

[Tony-OH]

35 minutes ago, seak05 said:

If there was any, even slightly sane, reason for the non-suspension suspension, Roch would have written about it this morning citing "sources" because the Orioles are getting torched. Checked his blog this morning, radio silence. Tells you all you need to know 

Roch has not kept his job for as long as he had by not knowing when to go quiet in a situation where he has nothing to gain by saying something. 

The one thing I do think people forget is we are talking about livelihoods here. Jobs can be at stake if they make the smallest of blunders so why put yourself in a situation that could cost you your gig? It's easy to be at home and writing on social media about what people "should do" but until they have to make a decision that could cost them their job, I'm not sure they are in a position to tell others what they should do.

The one thing PR people and the media have learned is that the public attention can easily be diverted and I believe that's what the Orioles will do. By waiting until August 11th for Brown to come back on the air, they will assume this will have simmered down and if the Orioles are still winning and in 1st no one will be bringing this up.

But they are risking a few things here. IF for some reason the Orioles go into a tailspin, people will bring up this distraction as the cause. 

Nothing is going to ever change in how the Orioles are run as an organization administratively as long as an Angelos is involved with owning this team. From Peter's well-documented exploits over the years, the public infighting between the mother/John and Louis, and now the recent exploits and comments made by John Angelos, there is only one constant and that's the last name Angelos.  

[CallMeBrooksie]

1 minute ago, Baltimorecuse said:

I've never been on Twitter, or Facebook.  The reporting maybe totally reliable.  But I can easily think of other scenarios that make a helluva lot more sense than this story.  

So you are the one who is totally guessing, despite your claims earlier that everyone else here is guessing.

We'll keep believing the Angelos track record and pattern of behavior in conjunction with the overwhelming reliable and corroborative reporting of this event.

[Bemorewins]

I just finished listening to the segment with Britt G. She was breathing and supporting most with facts.

I have always held a negative opinion about John Angelos and always thought the worse about his involvement with running the club at the ownership level. Now after hearing this, I think my opinion of him dropped even lower if possible. lol

We are truly doomed with Angelos’ awfulness at the top of this organization. I don’t care how well Elias/Sig do things, how well Hyde manages and creates a great culture, or even how great the players are/perform; IMO John Angelos will find a way to mess things up and sabotage our success.

I want to hold on to hope, but it’s almost like watching the sinking of the Titanic. It feels and appears very inevitable. 

I’m glad that we have another sports team in this town (while not perfect is definitely very professional) and it just feels like they are actually striving toward excellence. I thought we could get there under Elias, now I believe it’s only a matter of time before Angelos ruin that relationship some how and pushes he and Sig out of town.

The only hope is for the day when the Orioles are free from the black cloud cast by the stain of the Angelos family.

[AdamK]

5 minutes ago, Rock said:

Interesting tidbit from Britt’s article yesterday:

“Multiple sources briefed on the decision say ownership has enacted a new policy mandating that their broadcasters wear only team gear when on-air, which has rankled some. That snafu led to Brown filling in on radio after his comment in the Rays series because another broadcaster got in trouble. “

So despite how egregious the behavior is toward Kevin Brown, Angelos thought it was even worse that the RADIO broadcaster wasn’t wearing an Orioles shirt. 

I actually recall now Newman, Palmer and Arnold joking about "shirts" earlier this year on air. Didn't mean anything to me at the time, but there was about 30 seconds of banter from the booth with Newman patched in later in a game, on the road (I think), about if she had enough shirts for the guys. Maybe I am mistaken and now we all get to ponder the meaning behind innocuous patter, but -- laughingly -- the three were making sure someone had the shirts for them all next time.  

I could be wrong. Isn't this great! Guh. 

 

[Aristotelian]

9 minutes ago, Yardball85 said:

Just listened to the Britt appearance on Rob Long show.  Good god, she is FANTASTIC.  One of the best journalists in baseball. 

What did she say? Agreed, she is terrific and trustworthy, and the fact she has picked this up is significant.

[dzorange]

12 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Roch has not kept his job for as long as he had by not knowing when to go quiet in a situation where he has nothing to gain by saying something. 

The one thing I do think people forget is we are talking about livelihoods here. Jobs can be at stake if they make the smallest of blunders so why put yourself in a situation that could cost you your gig? It's easy to be at home and writing on social media about what people "should do" but until they have to make a decision that could cost them their job, I'm not sure they are in a position to tell others what they should do.

The one thing PR people and the media have learned is that the public attention can easily be diverted and I believe that's what the Orioles will do. By waiting until August 11th for Brown to come back on the air, they will assume this will have simmered down and if the Orioles are still winning and in 1st no one will be bringing this up.

But they are risking a few things here. IF for some reason the Orioles go into a tailspin, people will bring up this distraction as the cause. 

Nothing is going to ever change in how the Orioles are run as an organization administratively as long as an Angelos is involved with owning this team. From Peter's well-documented exploits over the years, the public infighting between the mother/John and Louis, and now the recent exploits and comments made by John Angelos, there is only one constant and that the last name Angelos.  

I agree that this won't be talked about in a week or so. KB will be back. Everyone will move on. Everyone will have said what they wanted to say, and probably won't say much more out of respect to KB.

The one risk I see is tonight's game on TBS. There's no way it's not going to be brought up in a significant manner unless TBS tells them not to. If MASN is playing the game tonight, I'm wondering why they wouldn't have Brown back in the booth tonight. Would it be too much attention on them? Do they not want Brown there answering questions from fellow colleagues or the national media? I assume it's the latter.

I actually think that this goes deeper than just John Angelos. Someone else that's a higher up and a yes man has the ability and authority to make these decisions. It would not surprise me at all if these people have been around for decades and make a good living by being suck ups and being grandfathered into the Angelos organization. When some of these other commentators are saying "Orioles management" or "front office", I think that's what it likely is. It all obviously falls under the guide of John Angelos. But other idiots are making these decisions and have the authority to do so.

Edited August 8, 2023 by dzorange

[Yardball85]

1 minute ago, Aristotelian said:

What did she say? Agreed, she is terrific and trustworthy, and the fact she has picked this up is significant.

One thing she said that really caught my attention:  she spoke to someone who works for JA who said "oh, you couldn't wait to pick up this story, could you?"  And she was like, if the Orioles keep doing stupid things like this then yea, that's my job.  And that JA and his employees just don't seem to get it. 

I actually thought Rob Long handled it well and was reasonable throughout.  She just gave some really good insight and explained it well. 

[Aristotelian]

10 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Nothing is going to ever change in how the Orioles are run as an organization administratively as long as an Angelos is involved with owning this team. From Peter's well-documented exploits over the years, the public infighting between the mother/John and Louis, and now the recent exploits and comments made by John Angelos, there is only one constant and that the last name Angelos.  

Not sure if it was intentional, but I immediately thought of James Earl Jones' speech in Field of Dreams.

[Rock]

13 minutes ago, Yardball85 said:

Just listened to the Britt appearance on Rob Long show.  Good god, she is FANTASTIC.  One of the best journalists in baseball. 

Agreed. And she almost made a pretty good case against the idea that there has to be something more to the story, saying it’s consistent with John Angelos’s past practice and behavior.