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What An Embarrassment


PrivateO

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If the front office is going to declare that "It is not about now, its about the future' by trading Sherrill, Huff and Zaun you can not expect the fans to pay hard earned money to watch an undermanned team get killed by playoff teams.

YOU CAN'T BLAME THE FANS for making a decision to spend their entertainment dollars elsewhere when the O's management has made the decision to put an overmatched team on the field.

I think the O's fans have supported the team pretty well considering the years of losing, currently overmatched team and the state of the economy. Roy, maybe your loyality to the team drives you to want to be in the stands when the O's chances are winning are about 20%. But most people want to feel something uplifting for their entertainment dollars. They are not coming to the park for a downer when they have other choices. Heck many of us die hard fans consider the O's unwatchable at times. I have read your posts that say as much.

O's management has made the decision to build. It is the right decision. They know what the fans response is likely to be. The payroll next year may be cut by $30M. Do you think the ticket prices will be cut in half also. I doubt it.

Fair is fair. When the O's put a quality product on the field the O's fans will return in mass. Mainly because the O's will be offering value for the fans entertainment dollars.

Man what a post! This one hits the nail on the head. Would there be droves of Yankee fans going to see them play the Orioles if they were in the midst of a 11 straight losing seasons? I doubt it. Those fans go because the Yankees win, and Oriole park is the nicest stadium in baseball, period.

Orioles fans have every right in the world to sit at home and watch. Want me to come? Win 81 games a season. I'm not paying $60 to listen to "Let's go Yankees" and watch a 68 win ballclub at work.

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I hear this theme here about being annoyed by Yankee/Sox fans. Do they do things to you personally to get your goat, or are they just smug fans cheering on their $200M team while making our team look minor league-ish? Maybe you could help me understand what exactly they do...

Define "cheering."

Clapping when your team makes a good play is totally fine.

Standing up in your section and starting "Let's Go Yankees" chants when (1) you're already winning, (2) you're already 80 percent of the crowd, and (3) you're in the park of a team whose fans don't do the same thing to you at your park, is just grotesque and arrogant. It's like taunting a retarded kid, y'know?

We get it. Your team is better than ours. Have some ****ing class, y'know?

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If people are going to associate losing with poor attendance, then the opposite would be true correct? Wrong. The Rays went to the World Series as we all know and fell 220k short of 2 million. That's right. The division winning Tampa was almost a full 200k short of the cellar dwelling Orioles.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2008

As for this year, the O's are still out drawing the Rays, who are still in the playoff hunt. Back to back years the Rays are competitive and can't outdraw the O's.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

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If people are going to associate losing with poor attendance, then the opposite would be true correct? Wrong. The Rays went to the World Series as we all know and fell 220k short of 2 million. That's right. The division winning Tampa was almost a full 200k short of the cellar dwelling Orioles.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2008

As for this year, the O's are still out drawing the Rays, who are still in the playoff hunt. Back to back years the Rays are competitive and can't outdraw the O's.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

That's an excellent point, and I would hypothesize that the fan invasions are just as bad down there because of the amount of retirees from the Northeast, and the superior weather.

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Define "cheering."

Clapping when your team makes a good play is totally fine.

Standing up in your section and starting "Let's Go Yankees" chants when (1) you're already winning, (2) you're already 80 percent of the crowd, and (3) you're in the park of a team whose fans don't do the same thing to you at your park, is just grotesque and arrogant. It's like taunting a retarded kid, y'know?

We get it. Your team is better than ours. Have some ****ing class, y'know?

Bingo. You hear more of the chanting at OPCY than at Yankee Stadium. It's not cheering on your team, it's just being a dick.

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Did you watch last night's game (and tons of others like it)? The OP put the ratio at 80/20, and I think that's about right. You can't honestly believe what you just typed.
Define "cheering."

Clapping when your team makes a good play is totally fine.

Standing up in your section and starting "Let's Go Yankees" chants when (1) you're already winning, (2) you're already 80 percent of the crowd, and (3) you're in the park of a team whose fans don't do the same thing to you at your park, is just grotesque and arrogant. It's like taunting a retarded kid, y'know?

We get it. Your team is better than ours. Have some ****ing class, y'know?

I disagree. I think you're being a sore loser. If I went to an O's Yankees game in NY, how i conducted myself to root for my team, and put down the Yankees (in good sportsmanship ways) wouldn't be any different than if I am in Camden Yards. If there are 25,000 O's fans like me in Yankee stadium, it doesn't change a thing... well, perhaps it would be more fun. To the VICTOR go the SPOILS.... period.

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I was there and it was awful, I could barely stand to be in my seat, there was this obnoxius guy next me that would not stop yelling, thankfully me and the couple guys in front of me cracked enough jokes to make shut up for a while. I honestly thought most of the Skanks fans never watched a baseball game before, screaming for every single flyball, it was so aggravating

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I was there and it was awful, I could barely stand to be in my seat, there was this obnoxius guy next me that would not stop yelling, thankfully me and the couple guys in front of me cracked enough jokes to make shut up for a while. I honestly thought most of the Skanks fans never watched a baseball game before, screaming for every single flyball, it was so aggravating

No offense (this usually means someone's getting ready to offend you, just not purposely) You guys sound like a bunch of cry babies.... If you want to be with a bunch of quiet and reserved people, go to the movies. As long as it never gets to personal insults etc.. I don't fault any team's fans supporting their team, and slamming their opponent, period. That's at the center of competitive sports.

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I disagree. I think you're being a sore loser. If I went to an O's Yankees game in NY, how i conducted myself to root for my team, and put down the Yankees (in good sportsmanship ways) wouldn't be any different than if I am in Camden Yards. If there are 25,000 O's fans like me in Yankee stadium, it doesn't change a thing... well, perhaps it would be more fun. To the VICTOR go the SPOILS.... period.

How am I being a sore loser? What does that even mean in this context?

Believe me, if the Yankees and Orioles were similar in terms of talent, and I felt there was a decent chance of us winning, I would be far more likely to endure the torture of having those obnoxious a-holes take over my stadium.

As it is, we basically have no chance. I just prefer to stay home (or bang my head against a wall, or gouge my eyes out with hot skewers) instead of getting myself into a situation that I know is going to make me extremely angry.

What am I missing?

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No offense (this usually means someone's getting ready to offend you, just not purposely) You guys sound like a bunch of cry babies.... If you want to be with a bunch of quiet and reserved people, go to the movies. As long as it never gets to personal insults etc.. I don't fault any team's fans supporting their team, and slamming their opponent, period. That's at the center of competitive sports.

And the other side to this is the fact that I've TRIED to get other O's fans at these games to fight back a little bit (verbally, not physically), and overwhelmingly, they aren't interested.

It's a losing battle. It just took me several years to concede defeat.

And I'm sorry, Myrtle Beach? How many times have you been to one of these games? If you haven't been there, I don't think you can really talk.

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Ultimately the Orioles are a business trying to sell a product. If the Orioles want my money, they have to put out a product that is worth my money.

If I went to my favorite restaraunt that I had been going to for years and ordered-- let's say a steak-- and found out that my meat was overcooked, the potatoes were mushy, the service was bad and the atmosphere had gotten worse... well I'd put that little mental note in my back pocket and say, 'ok, let's try again in a couple months, it was just a bad night for the cook/waitress'.

I go back to the restaraunt a couple months later and order the same meal. My steak is overdone, potatoes are still mushy, my waitress has an attitude and once again, the other patrons are so loud and obnoxious I can't hear myself think. I compare my new mental note with the one I had in my backpocket and realize... why do I like this place so much? They used to have really good food and friendly service, but this is ridiculous now.

After two disappointing trips, who here would not be thinking about maybe going to Outback next time instead? That's reasonable, right?

For the Orioles, it's been ELEVEN SEASONS.

Eleven trips to my favorite steakhouse. Each one a disappointment.

I'm sticking by them-- god only knows why-- but this thread is making people like me out to be some sort of traitor if I suddenly complain to the management "Hey man, this is my eleventh time here and each time you guys have had lousy food and lousy service, I'm really wondering if it's worth spending my money here-- I mean, the Ravens are right up the street, and the Caps aren't far from here either... what's going on? When am I going to get the quality food I got in '97?"

I honestly would not want to hear from the manager "We're working on it, we're getting better, please keep coming back". Would you? The answer is NO YOU WOULD NOT. Most people wouldn't (and typically don't) stand for this kind of insulting service. There are way to many other places to eat a steak or eat any kind of meal and feel like you are getting value. If the Yankees are Ruth's Chris, I may be PO'd about spending $100+ on a filet, but damn if they don't make a fine steak.

If the Orioles want me to come back and give them all my money, I want service. I want quality. I don't want to hear how I'm not a fan if I'm bailing out of going to the Yankees game out of embarassment. I don't really want the embarrassment of people walking by me and telling me "How can you eat there? It's so dirty, the service is awful and Ruth's Chris is soooo good". I may not be a fan if I stopped going to games after the 1998 season, sure. But it's 2009 and the Orioles have nothing to show for themselves. They wasted 9 of those years doing nothing.

The Orioles need to do a lot of buttering up to a lot of people. It's not really a surprise people don't want to go to the games. Who want's to eat a bad meal over and over again? It's masochistic.

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If people are going to associate losing with poor attendance, then the opposite would be true correct? Wrong. The Rays went to the World Series as we all know and fell 220k short of 2 million. That's right. The division winning Tampa was almost a full 200k short of the cellar dwelling Orioles.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2008

As for this year, the O's are still out drawing the Rays, who are still in the playoff hunt. Back to back years the Rays are competitive and can't outdraw the O's.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

Apples and oranges, as Tampa has never drawn well. Tampa is obviously not a baseball city. Baltimore has out-drawn them every year, win or lose. To compare our town to theirs, baseball-wise, is an insult (take that, Aubrey Huff!).

I was out there on Opening Day vs. NY and had a blast. For the first time in ages, we seemed to at least equal the Yankee fan presence. But now, in Sept, with the standings looking as they always do, I can't convince myself to go to the park to watch a game in which, as someone else said, my team probably has a 20% chance of winning. Last night's game was a perfect example, going almost exactly as one would expect with Pettitte on the mound. Why on earth would I have wanted to make any effort to watch that train wreck in person? It's tough enough watching it on MASN. If Tillman or Matusz was going tonight or tomorrow, I might go, but the Tues and Wed pitching matchups are just brutal.

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This is the biggest thing. Why should I pay more to go to a game against the MFY's or $ox. You can go to any other game, get better seats for cheaper, not have to deal with a-hole fans, and see your team have a better chance at winning. It seems that most of the people calling this an embarassment are not close enough to put their money where their mouth is.

a lot of season ticket holders, as pointed out here, turn their tickets in for those games, and THAT is what I find is the most disturbing thing. I understand the casual fan not wanting to go, but people are going out of their way to not attend. These people have already paid for the tickets and can go to any additional game, including prime games, for a significant savings.

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And the other side to this is the fact that I've TRIED to get other O's fans at these games to fight back a little bit (verbally, not physically), and overwhelmingly, they aren't interested.

It's a losing battle. It just took me several years to concede defeat.

And I'm sorry, Myrtle Beach? How many times have you been to one of these games? If you haven't been there, I don't think you can really talk.

If Yankee fans aren't personally insulting you or our players, they are just being fans. Nothing wrong with that. Where I live doesn't reflect my experience with this at all. If O's fans are too timid to get up and yell for their team, your beef is with them. Ultimately as I said to Crazysilver, I believe this is part of the rebuilding process. Until we get a better product on the field, many our fans will stay away and/or not be very passionate when going to games. It doesn't mean I like it. I understand it.

Perhaps we need a poll to gauge HO's opinion on this....

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