What An Embarrassment

[carolinaoriole]

Make sure you ask them which of the less-than 30,000 who saw their team play at Yankee Stadium on average 14 of 15 seasons between 1981 and 1996 they were

Yes

and I tell them of the glory days of 1966 thru 1975

when the yankees were really a team to cheer for.

and the house that Ruth built was almost empty for every home game

And I tell them that I will not be to hard on them in a few years when they have jumped over to the Oriole Bandwagon.

Silly Yankee Fans.

They are so easy!!!!

[O's are Legends]

As if I didn’t hate the Yankees enough; I get into a argument with a complete classless Yankee fan as I was getting back to my seat after picking up 2 brews from Boogs BBQ. (only my second tall brew so I’m not drunk) This idiot gets in my face and says, “you see the scoreboard” it says Yanks 2, O’s -0. I said wow, surprised you’re smart enough to read the scoreboard, glad the New York public school system is working. He then gets a bit edgy and replies, “what you say?! just wanted to make sure you were keeping track of the score, you know I wanted to remind you that the O’s are losing.” “you see those numbers, you like those”

I’m pretty pissed now and reply, you know you’re being a complete ______ I don’t even know you ,I’m here trying to have a good time and watch the game – maybe I should come up to New York and remind you how much the Knicks and St. John’s suck ___ every time their losing and be a complete smart __. He then points at the scoreboard again and simply replies, 2-0, thought I would remind ya.

At this point it’s time for cooler heads to prevail as I go back to my seat and explain to my friend what just happened. I never wanted the O’s to take the lead more than ever so I could say “see there, 3-2 thought I would remind ya, maybe in the future when the O’s are dominating I’ll run into that idiot again and remind him what the standing are, hopefully that day is sooner than later cause we deserve better than this.

[Crazysilver03]

The Orioles need to jack up the prices of all prime games to the equivalent of a Yankee/Red Sox ticket at their home stadiums when you factor in travel and hotel etc. It should be more expensive to see a game in Oriole Park for a Yankee fan than to see one in Yankee Stadium. Hit them hard in their wallets and maybe they'll think twice about coming to Baltimore.

And then drop the prices of all the non-prime games for those Orioles fans to make up for the hike. I doubt there are many Orioles fans that just go to Yankees and Red Sox games.

I was sitting behind home plate (section 38) and all the people kept talking about was how these same seats in Yankee stadium cost $1200, but at Camden are $53.

This is my second Yankees/Orioles games this season, seeing Pettitte both times. I wanted to leave so many times tonight because it wasn't enjoyable. But then it is a catch-22, I want to support my team and have 2 less tickets available for the dweebs from New York, but I don't want to be annoyed the entire time.

[riprulz8]

I don't know the answer to this, so I'll ask it here. Is it legal to have higher ticket prices for residents in New York or Massachusetts than it is for Maryland residents?

I assume it is, but it could possibly cut down their infestation.

There are so many MFY and PHN bandwagoners IN MARYLAND that it wouldn't do any good. While it's true some Yankee fans are coming down from New York A LOT of the people you see at Camden Yards LIVE IN MARYLAND and may even have grown up here.

I'm tired about hearing about how well they travel and all of that BS.

[CaptainRedbeard]

Tonight, I got on the scoreboard screen when a cameraman was panning around the stands. It was the highlight of my night. I have never gotten up there before. You know why tonight was the night? Because me and my othere two friends were the ONLY people I could see from my seats that were sitting consecutively and wearing orange. It's freakin pathetic.

[cmcgarvey]

Whatever.

We'll have the last laugh eventually.

(I hope.)

[MisterCrash]

When the team puts out a winning product I'll go to more games. I'm not spending $25 to sit in LF seats to watch a 100-loss team a bunch of times in one season.

[mikezpen]

So I should shell out roughly $100 to be surrounded by jerkoffs while watching my perennially losing team play another meaningless game in September?

Screw off.

Agree with you. Until the Orioles can put out a decent product, why suffer the embarassment?

Until Angelos family is out of the picture, this is the way it will be.

[Wadesworld35]

If the O's won more games than they lost for several seasons, this discussion goes away. Yankees fans and Boston fans are exactly like us O's fans, except they get to see a winner. That's it. It's not rocket science... the "mystique" of those cities may affect national viewership, but beyond that it's nothing other than market size (which, in my opinion, is negligible if the O's start winning) and winning.

Don't blame it on the "heart" (or lack thereof) of O's fans. They, (WE!) deserve better.

It's called human nature.

[Wadesworld35]

Winning + market size + national exposure = attendance. The Orioles need to make up some ground in all of those categories. Until that happens, we will see more of the same.

[RShack]

Dont blame anything on the Orioles this time. Get off your butts and put your butts in a seat at OPCY.And scream your butt off. Even if we lose we outnumber them.Thats a small victory. And from small victories...larger ones arise.

GO O'S.

Thank you.

I can't believe that Matusz and Tillman and Wieters are sitting there in the dugout, looking around at what goes on there, and people here are making excuses about how it's all somebody else's fault. I can't believe that fans want the young guys to come up and begin their ML careers as Orioles, only to discover that that's what happens in Baltimore when BOS and the MFY's come to town. People are real good about talking about pride until it requires them to get off their butt and do something, and then they have their excuses all in a row. Do they really want the young MiL talent to finally get here and have this be their introduction to Baltimore? I cannot imagine anything more lame than justifying that...

[RShack]

IMO, some of the attitude expressed in this thread is disgusting. I can't believe that people who say they are fans want Matusz and Tillman and etc. to have this kind of experience be their intro to Baltimore. People talk big about things like pride... until it counts... then, we find out it's all hot air.

[Jurczak]

It does stink that Orioles fans are drowned out in their home park. But the problem, and I think it was mentioned somewhere in the other thread, isn't so much fans coming down 95 from Boston or New York, it's the national spread of the so called Red Sox and Yankees Nations.

Also, the Baltimore-Washington Area has brought in people from all over the east coast over the past 20 to 30 years. There are thousands and thousands of New York/New Jersey and New England transplants that now live in Maryland. I think anyone that went to school at UMD or Towson would agree that it seems like half the students are from these areas. These people retain their fandoms, as is their right, and they take advantage of the opportunity to see their teams at OPACY. It's very similar to the great amounts of Steelers fans in Ravens Stadium every year.

In an ideal world, OPACY would sell out every night, and Os games would be the toughest ticket in town. But baseball isn't like that in most cities. Most stadiums don't sell out. So teams like the Red Sox and the Yankees flood into our park 12 or so times per year, bringing with them their trademarked obnoxiousness and inflame the true fans that haven't washed their hands of this team and its ownership.

And I don't necessarily buy the idea that if the Orioles turn it around, the fans will come back, and the Sox and Yanks fans will stop invading our fair city. It's simply not their nature. Even when we're succeeding these cretins are still going to keep showing up because they can't see a game at Fenway or in the Bronx. It's just an unfortunate part of the Orioles experience at this point. I hope it changes, but I have serious doubts.

[wildcard]

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.

[Snutchy]

But the Orioles have been bad for sooooo long.

I will tell you what I have observed, It may make sence to you or not, but it does to me.

At my work, there are some die hard O's fans, no doubt about it. But I do not consider them to be EDUCATED Orioles fans, at all. I feel like I am the only educated fan out of the bunch, My reasoning is simple: The Orioles Hangout. I have told them about this site and they see me on it all the time, however they choose not to come here and thats ok. Just a few less people to crash the site when big news drops. I am greedy.

When they traded George I heard lines like, "They traded thier best pitcher away for minor leaguers!"

Well no duH! Those minor leaguers are PROSPECTS who will make an impact when it is time to compete. They think the Orioles should build around George. Sorry to bring up an old debate, but he is a LOOGY, not a closer. He had a good run of luck here but he is replaceable and has been replaced. Most uneducated Orioles fans don't wan't to hear this.

When they traded Huff if was the same. They couldn't beleive we sold so "low" and got an A ball arm. They didn't look at the fact that Aubrey was gone in months and would either hit the road anyways or come back if he want's. I'm sure there will be some sort of offer. Me? I'm glad he is gone. He didn't hustle. He was a bad influence on the field.

Most people didn't care when Zaun was traded. Sorry Rick. They understood that one.

The only reason why the warehouse turns into the little green brick monster or the little wind tunnel is because those teams are winning. Flat out winning. Do you think they would be here if they were losing? I bet not.