How long can YOU put up with losing.

[osfan83]

If you think this is a fact, why even try. If your defeated before the battle, you may as well surrender.

I said there may be a window 2 out of every 10 years. Considering the last 11 years, I'll take being compatitive 2 out of every 10 without a problem.

[JTrea81]

I am fed up with it now, but will I quit being a fan? Never. The Orioles are my team and the one out of all the sports teams I follow the most.

With that being said, the Orioles have to give back at some point and it had better be in the near future. I can stomach this season being a lost season, but next season there had better be a ton of improvement, to the point of either competitiveness or knocking on the door. And we should be right in the race in 2011 and beyond.

[Satyr3206]

When you really think about it the majority of fans root for losers. Only 1 team ends the season with a win.:laughlol:

[Mark Carver]

I survived 1984 to 1996/97. I guess I can deal with what is going through this stretch.

[Fairfax Bird]

This is a thread that warrants an answer from everyone who responds to the thread.

It warrants an answer to everyone who responds? Yoggi, is that you?

I am a fan of the Orioles. I will follow them for however long they are in existance, no matter how bad they are.

[scOtt]

I hate to admit it (and I don't expect it) but if this team lost for 11 more years, I'd still be an Orioles fan. Till I die.

[Dadaist]

I have no choice. I can't switch allegiances, I'm not built like that. I root for the teams I was born rooting for.

Watching the Orioles, Redskins, and Maryland basketball gives me a natural feeling that can't be reproduced with other teams, no matter how hard I might try to feign interest.

[CountIsFull]

Maybe you should put a poll with this? Something like:

1-3 more years

4-7 more years

The duration of MacPhail's tenure

Indefinitely

Moreover, if the majority of votes are for "Indefinitely" then there will be a lot of fodder for those who believe that the Orioles and the majority of fans have accepted a losing culture.

[Wind Rider]

I think we will have 14 straight losing seasons before winning. I don't expect us to be a contender until we spend more.

[Fairfax Bird]

Maybe you should put a poll with this? Something like:

1-3 more years

4-7 more years

The duration of MacPhail's tenure

Indefinitely

Moreover, if the majority of votes are for "Indefinitely" then there will be a lot of fodder for those who believe that the Orioles and the majority of fans have accepted a losing culture.

No one is accepting a losing culture, we simply are fans and won't stop being fans because they are not successful.

[ejf1025]

This is a thread that warrants an answer from everyone who responds to the thread. We're not talking generalities here...I want specific answers from people about themselves.

OK...so it's been 12 years since we've had a winning season and this year is going to be lucky number 13 by the looks of it.

I know we're in year 3 of "the MacPhail Experiment" and AM has always said this is a long-term rebuilding plan. HOWEVER...I am neveretheless disappointed that we are STILL one of the worst teams in baseball. Record-wise, there is no improvement.

OK, we have more positions filled long-term than ever before, but we're still not getting results where it counts -- the standings.

For me, if 2010 is another downer year like 2009 has been thus far, and we're still 15-20 games out of first place by the All Star Break, I will have had enough.

You can tell me how high PLAYER X's OPS was for last month until you're blue in the face...but until we put it all together and improve in the standings, we're really just treading water.

So I guess what I am saying is that I want to see improvement in the standings, not just in an at-bat or a pitcher's start...but over the ENTIRE course of an entire 162 game season.

How about you?

I mean...my whole life right?

[Mackus]

Maybe you should put a poll with this? Something like:

1-3 more years

4-7 more years

The duration of MacPhail's tenure

Indefinitely

Moreover, if the majority of votes are for "Indefinitely" then there will be a lot of fodder for those who believe that the Orioles and the majority of fans have accepted a losing culture.

Right, because how you show that you are a true fan is by telling the team exactly when you're gonna give up on them.

Refusing to stop being an Oriole fan and "adopting a losing culture" are not tomato and tom-ah-to situations. The losing is excruciating exactly because of our inability/refusal to give up on the team.

I've said before that I don't think there is any bad reason for a fan to become a fan of a team. A favorite player, hometown team, just picking a winning team that you like, all perfectly fine and equally admirable reasons to start rooting for a team. However, there is no justifiable reason to quit being a fan of a team unless they move away from your hometown and cease to exist. A fan that voluntarily stops rooting for his team for any reason other than treason (moving away) was never really a fan to being with IMO, with very few exceptions (a young/new fan moving to a new city that has a team, an unconnected college fan actually attending a different school and becoming a fan of that school, etc).

[crowmst3k!]

We won't have to wait much longer. This time next year the O's will be in the thick of a wild card hunt. MacPhail has to go after some free agent help at third base, however, unless Salazar can be put there full time.

I'd also hope that he chases at least one FA pitcher to fill a Scott Erickson type of role.

To start next season Arrieta and Tillman will be in the rotation along with Bergesen, the big question will be the remaining spots. Will Guts still be here? Will Matusz take long? So in my mind adding a free agent arm or two would not be a bad thing. This fanbase NEEDS a season at least above .500, it's been far too long.

[sfosfan]

.

OK...so it's been 12 years since we've had a winning season and this year is going to be lucky number 13 by the looks of it.

I'm so glad you put this in the original post. By the title, I was thinking there must be something seriously wrong with this one- Captain Obvious is a little late.

But more seriously, that's what I love about baseball in general- there is always next year. There's always a reason to find comfort. Take 1988 for example, as miserable and embarrasing as it was to be an O's fan back then, you knew with just a couple tweeks that team could be very good (the hitting was just fine then). 1989 came, and the tweaks worked. Albeit, that success was short lived.

What's driving me nucking futs right now is the lack of fundamentals by the veterans. I can't recall seeing so many brain dead, uninspired ballplayers. That is not something I will ever put up with, and as a fan I'd express it with boos and polite whining on sites like this. I doubt DT puts up with it either, but he seems to deal with it private. Maybe the time has come to kick the bums in the shorts by benching them for a game and then be honest to the press about it. Don't want to be vauge here- replace "bums" with Mora and Roberts.

I'm starting to miss Earl again. :rolleyestf:

Go O's!

sfosfan

[notfast]

Forever.

This is my team. I don't jump because they're losing. I lament, but they're my team, and I'm sticking by them, even if they suck until the day I die.

This.

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