What did the Orioles ever do for YOU or ME? I think I can answer that.

[Roy Firestone]

Baseball's regular season begins tomorrow.
It is a joyous time for me because it renews so many happy moments and times...
Some here on this page may know why I love the Orioles and baseball...But for those who may not..on the eve of Opening Day...I'd like to reprise this essay:

One night, years ago, when the Orioles had another unlikely comeback win, I ran around my house in my underwear with glee.
Even my dog Kobe thought I was a bit insane, and maybe in the moment I was.
I stopped and actually asked myself....Why would a grown man act this way over a silly baseball team? Or ANY team for that matter?
And why would he act this SAME way for so long?
So I decided to try to explain if even I could.
A long time ago, when I was having a fit after the Mets beat the Orioles in the World Series...my father tried to get me to come to my senses.
He said, "Relax....what did the Orioles ever do for you"?
In a way, it was a fair question.
At the time, I didn't have a good answer.
My dad is gone now, but if he were here...I'd say this.
The Orioles never put money in my pocket(I've never been a gambler) or food on my table, or gotten me a job or anything like that.
But there's something that still burns in my soul when the franchise is playing well, and is also playing thrilling baseball.
I get a visceral charge out of seeing them , not just win, but coming from behind to overcome in doing it.
Its an almost indescribable feeling.
The Orioles, (with a couple other teams in other sports) put a skip in my step....fire up an adrenaline rush, and make me think of the possibilities of winning...when they play this way.
In 2011-12 when the Orioles spoiled the Red Sox post season with an astonishing end of season comeback win..and later went to the playoffs the next year, there was a palpable joy in my heart.
I literally couldn't wait to watch the game every night on the MLB ticket (even living in LA).
Most females in my life rolled their eyes, or almost mocked me, though a couple began to get it.
It's the CARING.
This quote from the great Roger Angell really sums it up for me: “It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitative as a professional sports team, and the amused superiority and icy scorn that the non-fan directs at the sports nut (I know this look - I know it by heart) is understandable and almost unanswerable. Almost. What is left out of this calculation, it seems to me, is the business of caring - caring deeply and passionately, really caring - which is a capacity or an emotion that has almost gone out of our lives. And so it seems possible that we have come to a time when it no longer matters so much what the caring is about, how frail or foolish is the object of that concern, as long as the feeling itself can be saved. Naïveté - the infantile and ignoble joy that sends a grown man or woman to dancing in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball - seems a small price to pay for such a gift.” Roger Angell "A Baseball Companion "
And so, I seized upon the caring.
I don’t know these current players personally.
I've never met a single one.
But they're my "boys" now.
Like my boys in "real life", these boys occasionally frustrate me, confound me, aggravate me...but the love will never die.
When "my boys"do well..I have a metaphoric hug for them.
When they deliver a win in dramatic fashion, I feel it personally.
So to answer my dad's question..."what did the Orioles ever do for YOU"...I would answer...."They lifted me up...like nothing else in sports can".
Don't ever postpone or mute joy.

[TonySoprano]

Excellent as always, Roy.

[Frobby]

Thanks, Roy.  Great stuff.   

[Too Tall]

My wife of 62 years still doesn't understand - but my son does. So there is that! Thanks Roy!

[rudyrooster]

Thanks Roy.  Not only do you speak from your heart, but you've spoken what's in my heart.  Some of us "get it".

[Satyr3206]

I haven't lived in Baltimore for 25 years and I could never stop being an O's fan. My son who only lived there as an infant is a lifelong Os fan too. We both get it.

[Tbone83]

It's the emotion you invest. The highs and lows over years and years. Been a fan since I was a kid, I can't imagine rooting for anyone else or NOT caring what the Os are up to.

I am also a Buffalo Bills and Sabres fan. Between the three, I have witnessed ONE championship and that was in 1983 when I was a kid and I barely remember it. Been close several times, lots of heartbreakers. Just trying to imagine the day one of my teams wins it all.

[Jagwar]

My twins were born in 2000, and one of them asked me during the 2010 season, "Dad, why do you watch the Orioles? They never win. " The reason I gave her was that my dad instilled upon me a love of the O's and baseball, and that means in the good and the bad times. 

We are in a really good time now, but I'll watch them no matter what.  

[spleen1015]

By father was born and raised in Baltimore. He was the biggest O's fan I've ever known. He was a terrible dad/person and the O's are the only good thing I ever 'got' from him. There could be worse things I guess.

[Orioles West]

I really like this take Roy, as the Orioles have certainly lifted me up as well.

The O’s were gifted to me by my grandfather. He was an umpire on the eastern shore of Maryland 20-years, to all levels of baseball that needed an ump in the area. A massive fan of the game and the team, and Brooks was his favorite player by far and away — he passed that torch and that passion on to me from the time I was born until his last day.

He passed on years ago, but I still hope he can hear me when I complain specifically about the Birds or in those bright spots like last year’s awesome run.

It can be difficult to describe just how grateful I am for this gift, but I think your post covers it rather well.

[Aristotelian]

Kobe is an excellent dog name.

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Kobe is an excellent dog name.

Or cow.

[justD]

I was the opposite of those females. Always thought I’d be forever single cuz no one would ever put up with how much baseball I consumed. Then I met weams! Ha! Match made in heaven!

Happy Opening Day, Roy!

[Hank Scorpio]

So many different memories... listening to O's games on the radio while I was supposed to be asleep, throwing tennis balls off the brick wall in the driveway and fielding them for hours, watching HTS with my Grandfather and then walking back home in the dark, hitting rocks with a skinny whiffle bat into the woods, playing little league, stomping empty cups after the game at Memorial Stadium with my Dad, hearing Rex Barney's voice booming over the stadium in person... 

And now, watching my 5 year old slowly start to pay attention and trying my best not to force feed him O's games. It's damn hard not to, I'll say that for sure. 

[Roy Firestone]

5 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

Kobe is an excellent dog name.

Rescued  a week after we lost Kobe Bryant. Named in his memory.