Are you hometown O's fan or...

[JTrea81]

Born and raised in Augusta, ME and I didn't follow baseball until 1993 after I took a class trip to DC that May. I was in a store in the Potomac Mills Mall and saw the Orioles hat (as I was drawn to the bird logo) and some kid told me that was the team that played down here, and our group leader had pointed out the lights of OPACY on our way down 95. So I thought it would make a neat souvenir and then I started following the team in the weekend newspaper and found out one night I could actually get my clock radio in my bedroom to just get WBAL so I could barely hear the broadcasts.

So thus I became an Orioles fan...

[GoIn2Shock]

Haha, you may want to rethink that decision:)

Nah, whats the fun in rooting for an organized franchise? Then I wouldn't have a reason to yell at the T.V.

[Glenn Gulliver Fan]

Born and raised in Connecticut.

My dad is a hardcore Orioles' fan so I was raised with an Orioles' cap on my head (1972 birth date).

[Sapper]

I am from Laurel.

[O-The-Memories]

Went to elementary school in Highlandtown/Greektown and then moved to Bel Air, MD.

As an American I hit the lottery when it comes to opportunities in life.

As a baseball fan however, I was born into third-world poverty.

[Hooded Viper]

I was a Navy brat who was born in Scotland and moved to Pasadena Md when I was 15 from Rota Spain. I have always rooted for the O's though because I have family from Dundalk!!

[Mark Carver]

Born at Doctors Hospital (which is now or was North Charles General Hospital) in Baltimore, hun. Grew up in East Baltimore and went to my first game around early 60's. Remember getting the Junior Orioles package back than, that would include a free Gino's hamburger and fries plus other goodies. My cousin and I use to take the number 6 bus and transferred to the number 22 and got dropped off right in front of Memorial Stadium. We would also stay after the games to try and get player's autographs. I remember getting Elrod Hendricks, Dave Leonard, Mark Belanger autographs as well as others, including the visiting team, as they left the stadium heading to their bus.

Growing up in Baltimore during the 60's and 70's was a very special time, especially if you were and Orioles fan...

[Mad Mark]

I'm too old for the damned poll answers!

I was a casual Senators fan as a kid and drifted away from baseball (and into other, "funner" things) after they left town. When I got back from college I took a night job and wound up eating dinner most nights with a guy who was a rabid Orioles fan. The games were on TV in the break room every night. Unlucky for me...that was in 1982. After that I was just a fish flopping on the deck of the good ship Orioles. I haven't been able to jump off since.

[jdlea]

I am from Dunkirk, MD - Calvert County (MD). I am probably on the dividing line of Nats/O's fans. There are tons of Nats fans where I live but also tons of O's fans. I think a lot of people were disinterested in baseball (just like hockey) but have picked up the Nats as a team to root for and taken a liking to baseball...just like the Caps fan base has swollen and now you see red everywhere.

I dont have any ill will personally against the Nats but they are NOT MY TEAM. I have been a lifelong O's fan and it will suck to see the nats do well but I will never pull for them...thats just me and my fanfare. I cant just flip the switch on a team. I am a DIEHARD. For the O's fans that live in DC/AREA I can see those people switching over...but being a life long Marylander the O's are embedded in me.

Basically the exact same story, just exchange Dunkirk with Prince Frederick. I moved to Myrtle Beach, New Orleans, College Park, Baltimore and I now live in Annapolis (all of the moves were after I turned 21, I'm 25 now), but I never stopped being a fan of the O's and I will never stop. It's no longer a choice for me, it's part of who I am, just like being a Redskins fan.

[RustyMcNail]

Born in Western Maryland (Leo Mazzone's home town), started out as a Pirates fan during the Ralph Kiner days and became an Oriole fan the day the announcement came that the Browns were moving to Bawlmer during the 1953 off season. I Moved to Bawlmer in 1965 and lived there for 33 years, working for (W).

Retired in '98 and moved to Ormond by the Sea, FL, about 10 miles north of Dave Trembly's condo in Daytona Beach Shores, FL. I had season tickets for the Daytona Beach Cubs when Dave managed there. Frequently have breakfast at Pat's Riverfront Cafe, about 1/4 mile from Dave's home.

[Araqnid]

From VA originally, tried to support the Nats once they moved in, could never really get behind them. The O's were always my team.

[Frobby]

I'm not sure if any of the categories fit me. I grew up in Bethesda, which is a DC suburb, but is in the state of Maryland. I became a sports fan about 5 years before the Senators moved out of DC, but I always preferred the Orioles, largely because they were a great, exciting team and the Senators were awful. I have little doubt that if the Senators had been a great team when I first got interested in baseball, I probably would have latched on to them, since they were closer and more heavily covered in the local media where I lived. But my "rationale" at the time was that I lived in Maryland, not DC, so I should root for the Baltimore teams (which, conveniently, were better than the DC teams).

[OrangeJerseys]

This thread got me thinking. I'm a Ravens fan even though I had moved away in '93 before the C. Browns came to town. I'm just about the age where I've lived longer away from Baltimore than growing up there, but no matter how long I live in California, Baltimore will always be my hometown. Many times in a conversation about favorite sports teams I raise the question "Yeah, but where are you from?

I still love the Terps, but I like other college football and baseball teams. Mostly Cal. Hey it does say "Cal" right on their helmets .

Hockey is the only sport where I support the local team more than my "hometown" team, but the Caps were in DC not B-more. I'm a SJ Sharks fan and boy is it heartbreaking. I still pull for the Caps in the East. If they met in the final I'd probably have a seizure.

[Smokin' Joe O]

From VA originally, tried to support the Nats once they moved in, could never really get behind them. The O's were always my team.

This is my story too...I really wanted to get into the Nats being a VA guy, but I kept caring much more about my O's!

[murrayfan420]

Lived in Central/Nothern NJ my whole life.. got drawn in by Cal Ripken after my Grandpa who lives in Baltimore brought me to the 2131 game when I was 10.

I've gone on to watch the Yankees win 5 WS, appear in another, and even the Mets make a WS. Bad decision.