What An Embarrassment

[Mike B]

The saddest part is how you'll have people on here tell you about how they refuse to go to Yankee or red sox games.

You know I will admit I have become one of those who hate to go to a NYY or Red Sox game. As late as last year, I went to 5 Yankee games and 3 or 4 Red Sox games. I think we were 2 and 6 or 2 and 7. I had a miserable time listening to and watching the arrogant fans around me. If not wasting my hard earned money getting frustrated in those games is wrong then so be it.

[Shellax]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-sp.orioles01sep01,0,7478265.story

"We're not at the new Yankee Stadium," Jones said. "We're at Camden Yards. I expect more of our fans to be here, but I understand completely why they're not. But it [stinks] that they're not."

It pains me to read things like this from one of our young guys. It is very little fault of Mr. Jones that a winning "product" (I really hate this term, BTW) has not yet been put out on the field for the last decade plus.

I read in a Yankee forum and someone said, more or less, that he will give them credit for the O's playing with all of their might against the Yanks. You don't think these guys want to be a winning "product"(again, they are people not objects so why this term?) on the field?

Did anyone catch the look of dejection on Nolan's face after being called out looking for the third time on a bogus strike call? Argh!

[Why Not?]

I'm shocked with the tone here...

Why would you go to games when the team sucks and they will probably lose?? Because' date=' you're supposedly a fan!! If you choose to attend or not attend based on how good the team is, then you're not a true, loyal fan.

Notice, I'm not saying everyone who follows the O's has to go to several (or even any) games each year. I'm just saying that people should attend/not attend regardless of the success of the team if they consider themselves true fans.[/quote']

Anybody who goes to a baseball game has to know there is at best about a 60% chance of your team winning on that day. I don't think that's the issue. I've been to hundreds of games and the Orioles are probably under .500 in those games...but OPCY is still about my favorite place on the planet.

For me, it's about avoiding a miserable time. It's the people in the stands, not the product on the field.

[NewMarketSean]

Even if the Orioles were pretty good, meaning not making the playoffs but playing a lot better than they are now, there would still be A TON of Yankee fans in the stadium. They are the best team in baseball and it's August/September...they're gearing up for a playoff/World Series run and for many transplants/bandwagon fans in the area, it will be their only time to see them before the playoffs begin.

So being 10 games better right now wouldn't help matters much.

We just have to accept the liklihood that the Yankee and Red Sox fans are here to stay barring a huge collapse by those teams and huge Orioles improvement. And even then there will still be a good sized chunk of those fans coming to the yard.

Look at Steeler fans at Ravens games...the Ravens are good and the stadium has sold out for 10+ years, but Steeler fans find their way into the stadium at a good rate, every year. That is going to happen in Baltimore with the Yanks and Sox even if the Orioles are better.

[scottbbfm]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-sp.orioles01sep01,0,7478265.story

"We're not at the new Yankee Stadium," Jones said. "We're at Camden Yards. I expect more of our fans to be here, but I understand completely why they're not. But it [stinks] that they're not."

I think AJ just summed it up right there. We all understand why no one is there, but [some of us] think it stinks.

[Miller192]

Even if the Orioles were pretty good, meaning not making the playoffs but playing a lot better than they are now, there would still be A TON of Yankee fans in the stadium. They are the best team in baseball and it's August/September...they're gearing up for a playoff/World Series run and for many transplants/bandwagon fans in the area, it will be their only time to see them before the playoffs begin.

So being 10 games better right now wouldn't help matters much.

We just have to accept the liklihood that the Yankee and Red Sox fans are here to stay barring a huge collapse by those teams and huge Orioles improvement. And even then there will still be a good sized chunk of those fans coming to the yard.

Look at Steeler fans at Ravens games...the Ravens are good and the stadium has sold out for 10+ years, but Steeler fans find their way into the stadium at a good rate, every year.

What do you mean by a "good rate?" Their numbers have decreased substantially.

The most opposing team's fans I can remember was last year's Eagles game.

[scottbbfm]

You know I will admit I have become one of those who hate to go to a NYY or Red Sox game. As late as last year, I went to 5 Yankee games and 3 or 4 Red Sox games. I think we were 2 and 6 or 2 and 7. I had a miserable time listening to and watching the arrogant fans around me. If not wasting my hard earned money getting frustrated in those games is wrong then so be it.

It sucks sometimes, obviously I've been there. But you know what? Sitting through those games will make the Championships taste that much better.

[Enjoy Terror]

If I had the opportunity to go to an Orioles playoff game in which they advance, or even better a World Series game that they win, I would bawl my eyes out. Not even joking. I was on the verge of tears when Felix Pie hit for the cycle-- I can't even imagine winning a championship. I'd be an emotional mess for days.

[Fan4Life]

I live in South Carolina

I go to 5 or 6 games a year.

I have only been to games when the yankees or red sox are playing.

And when I am there I give em hell and always leave believing that i made there time at camden yards uncompfortable.

I also give give all yankee and red sox fans down here where I live a very hard time.

I can not imagine not doing it this way.

I can only speak for myself as a bit of a southern red neck but if I had season tickets I would find a yankee or red sox fan and burn the darn things in front of them before I turned tickets in so that they could go to my ballpark and cheer for the cheaters and evil players in front of my Orioles

Rep for you!

[Mashed Potatoes]

I went to the game last night and it really sucked being so outnumbered by Yankees fans, many of whom were of course abhorrent. One guy would get up and make this gutteral yell after every recorded out by Petitte after the 4the inning.

I don't even mind being the minority as long as my team is playing well. We were getting no-hit.

Now I still cheered my butt off and will continue to attend Yankees/Red Sox games, but I'm not going to judge others who choose not to pay money for that experience.

Here are some numbers I lifted from a BSun poster.

O's attendance decrease since 99: 30%

Yanks attendance decrease from 89-92: 34%

Boston attendance decrease from 91-94: 32%

Assuming those are accurate, our fans are no worse than Boston/NY fans, in fact, they abandoned their teams much quicker than us. Bottom line, when we get better, the fans will come, everything else on this subject is a waste of effort.

[NewMarketSean]

What do you mean by a "good rate?" Their numbers have decreased substantially.

The most opposing team's fans I can remember was last year's Eagles game.

"A good rate" means seeing them everywhere. Not like it was last night, but every where I look, seeing a Steelers jersey or two somewhere. It means not having to look for them.

Yes, their numbers may have gotten smaller (especially from 2007 to 2008 when the Ravens sucked and then were good) but they still show up in strong numbers. Nothing will change that...especially when fans of these teams are willing to spend.

[freelancer]

There has to be some way that MacPhail can jack up the prices on pre-ordered (non-walkup) tickets for all games against the Yankees and Red Sox.

For example, being from Oklahoma, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are bitter rivals. the Sooners have always been the better football team; so Oklahoma State decided that if Sooner fans wanted to go see the Sooners play at Oklahoma State's stadium, then the only availability for seats was to buy season tickets (which of course helped the Cowboys in two ways - made them some major bucks to help their own program, and secondly, it kept the Sooner-fan invasion more limited than in years past.) A lot of fans didn't like it, but I think it was effective.

There has to be a better way for MacPhail to capitalize on these sorry suckers that are invading the O's home stadium in such a way that it is more to the Orioles benefit. Thoughts?

[NewMarketSean]

There has to be some way that MacPhail can jack up the prices on pre-ordered (non-walkup) tickets for all games against the Yankees and Red Sox.

For example, being from Oklahoma, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are bitter rivals. the Sooners have always been the better football team; so Oklahoma State decided that if Sooner fans wanted to go see the Sooners play at Oklahoma State's stadium, then the only availability for seats was to buy season tickets (which of course helped the Cowboys in two ways - made them some major bucks to help their own program, and secondly, it kept the Sooner-fan invasion more limited than in years past.) A lot of fans didn't like it, but I think it was effective.

There has to be a better way for MacPhail to capitalize on these sorry suckers that are invading the O's home stadium in such a way that it is more to the Orioles benefit. Thoughts?

How about the Orioles just focus on getting better and more competitive with the Yankees and Red Sox? Their fans are going to come here regardless, we just need to send them home with their tail behind their legs more often by beating their teams and overtime, they might think twice about coming to OPACY.

[Miller192]

"A good rate" means seeing them everywhere. Not like it was last night, but every where I look, seeing a Steelers jersey or two somewhere. It means not having to look for them.

Yes, their numbers may have gotten smaller (especially from 2007 to 2008 when the Ravens sucked and then were good) but they still show up in strong numbers. Nothing will change that...especially when fans of these teams are willing to spend.

We'll just have to disagree. I haven't seen nearly the Steeler invasion that it once was and I've never missed a Steelers game in Baltimore and only 5 total games since they have come to town.

[Satyr3206]

We'll just have to disagree. I haven't seen nearly the Steeler invasion that it once was and I've never missed a Steelers game in Baltimore and only 5 total games since they have come to town.

I used to go to Colts-Steelers games at Memorial Stadium and the Steeler invasion was bad. Real bad. Like wanting to throw Steelers fans off the upper deck bad.