Are you hometown O's fan or...

[thundercleetz]

I have lived in Gaithersburg, Maryland pretty much my whole life. I have always considered the O's my home team. I never got into the Redskins and all I can remember is being a Ravens fan growing up. I was 8 when the Ravens came here (about the same time I got into football) and "chose them" to be my first favorite football team. I guess I liked the whole idea of a new team so close to home, but I have been an avid fan ever since.

Being pretty close to DC I follow the Nats loosely and want to see them win, but no matter how bad the O's are I can never seem to get over them. I guess I am stuck as an O's fan

[cindyluvsbrady]

Well let me see. I grew up in Medina, NY which is halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. My quick easy answer on why I'm an Orioles fan is because my brother was and I did whatever he did. After they won the '83 series they were on tv here quite a bit. I was only 2 then but my brother became infatuated with the team because they were on tv, he liked orange and black(big Halloween fan), and he liked the cartoon bird. So he became a fan.

Throughout the '80's and '90's we took full advantage of the Rochester affiliation and saw the Orioles play the Red Wings in those great yearly exhibition games. It was magical seeing guys up close in MY town. I was also lucky enough to travel with my family down to Baltimore pretty much every summer through the '90's and stay for 3 or 4 games. I loved staying in the inner harbor and I was convinced I'd marry Brady Anderson. In June of 2001 I got Cal's autograph on an Orioles visor before a game and it is by far one of the best moments of my life. I was shaking like CRAZY. When he came to Rochester a few years later to be inducted in the Red Wings Hall Of Fame, I got his autograph again. This time on a terrific picture of him as a Red Wing and is my most prized possession. I also followed Brian Roberts when he was in Rochester and got his autograph on a ball in 2003 when he came to Buffalo as an Ottawa Lynx. He was great and I couldn't have been more proud when he broke out in '05.

So me and my family have stuck with them and always will no matter how much they disappoint us.

Cal's autograph:

I love the picture!!!!:clap3:

I am jealous!

[cindyluvsbrady]

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...

AWWWW

You were a such a good little boy!!:clap3:

[eb45]

Born in Toronto in 1992, was originally a Blue Jays fan. Moved to Hyannis, MA, was a Red Sox fan for a while, a phase that I didn't really grow out of until 2006. But I've lived in Baltimore since 1999, and after an initial adjustment period, the Orioles became my favorite team, and when the Red Sox stopped being the anti-Yankees and became the Yankees Part 2, the Orioles became my one and only team.

[Smokin' Joe O]

Moved to Hyannis, MA, was a Red Sox fan for a while, a phase that I didn't really grow out of until 2006. But I've lived in Baltimore since 1999, and after an initial adjustment period, the Orioles became my favorite team, and when the Red Sox stopped being the anti-Yankees and became the Yankees Part 2, the Orioles became my one and only team.

Wow...that's impressive and it has to be very rare. I have never heard of a Sox fan jumping ship to the O's...especially AFTER the success they started having?

[DrungoHazewood]

Born in Toronto in 1992, was originally a Blue Jays fan. Moved to Hyannis, MA, was a Red Sox fan for a while, a phase that I didn't really grow out of until 2006. But I've lived in Baltimore since 1999, and after an initial adjustment period, the Orioles became my favorite team, and when the Red Sox stopped being the anti-Yankees and became the Yankees Part 2, the Orioles became my one and only team.

Wow, you have no-kidding, legitimate reasons to be either a Jays or Sox fan and you pick the Orioles? You have some serious problems. So you'll fit in perfectly here.

[neveradoubt]

How many people here are from the Baltimore area and are O's fans as the result of that?

How many are from the VA/DC area and never had a team so there hometown was relegated to Baltimore? If yes, has their been any internal struggle to stick with a team that is technically not your hometown team?

I ask because this is something I have really battled of the past couple year. I was born and raised about an hour west of D.C. and have been a fan of every Washington club (Bullets/Wiz, Redskins, Caps) my whole life. If there was a Washington team through my childhood I would have undoubtedly follow that team. There was not so now I am over twenty years deep into a fandom of black and orange. Through this conviction and dedication I developed a more or less insurmountable wall that prevented the transition years ago and continues to do so today. I went to Nationals stadium and watch the O's beat them two years ago and really enjoyed the atmosphere. It really felt like home, but in no way shape or form was I going to root against the O's. It seems like I have compiled so many memories and cheered and yelled at what has transpired for so many games that my subconscious is primed and imprinted with a reflexive instinctual bond with them. No matter how much I have thought about it and discussed it, I am perpetually drawn back to looking at the field from my seat at Camden. The recollection of attempting to mimic every play I made at SS in tee-ball after Cal.

So, why are you an O's fan?

They were the only game on my cable network. Today, 50 years later, I get every team but I always watch the O's.