My letter to Andy MacPhail (re: Millar)

[Spoonless]

And everyone is making the exact same points in each of the three threads!

Post count +1?

err... Post Count * 3?

[Dipper9]

I disagree.

The Orioles are a business first and foremost.

You have heard the old cliche'- the customer is ALWAYS right.

Fans are the paying customers. First order of any business is to attract customers and keep them happy.

Doing anything that angers or offends a segment of your fanbase is bad business.

I HATE the fact that Chick-Fil-A still closes on Sundays, but it appears my opinion doesn't matter to them! I am taking my business to KFC! I am DONE with those hiney holes at Chick-Fil-A!

God forbid MacPhail just wanted to do something nice for a fellow major league team! God forbid Millar wanted to have a little fun with some buddies while hogging some spolight for himself! I have said it before, and I'll say it again...if the OH was around during Cal's heyday...we would have run him out of town! Slefish arse playing all those games in a row and holding the young talent down!

[JTrea81]

Even if you had all these guys showing pride and "standing up to the Red Sox," I doubt it's going to bring many more people out to the park at this point.

It may not, but at least it might keep a few more from jumping ship. Pride doesn't just come from winning. You have to have pride in your team to win as well. Case in point the annual August-September swoon...

[Spoonless]

I HATE the fact that Chick-Fil-A still closes on Sundays, but it appears my opinion doesn't matter to them! I am taking my business to KFC! I am DONE with those hiney holes at Chick-Fil-A!

Well, that's the other thing about the Orioles and their fans. Can they really lose any more? I mean, at this point, there aren't any bandwagon Orioles fans for them to appease. Realistically, is a large portion of Orioles fans going to stop going to games or buying stuff this year? It's down to those who have supported the team all along, and I doubt that this Millar incident is really going to be the nail in the coffin for anyone.

[aliafour]

Didn't we do the exact same thing when we had Dennis Martinez miss the season finale with the Expos so that he could be part of the closing of Memorial Stadium?

[Dipper9]

How about this last whole paragraph:

We all must understand his special history with Boston. He was asked to do this by the Red Sox and considered it an honor, and all appropriate requests were made to obtain club permission, which was granted. We would never question Kevin’s loyalty to Baltimore or to the Orioles, and we also would never begrudge Kevin, the Red Sox organization or their fans with this unique opportunity. If the shoe were on the other foot, we would certainly hope, and would expect, that the Red Sox would comply with a similar request made by the Orioles.

Why would we never begrudge the Sox and especially their fans anything, let alone an appearance by one of our players for a publicity stunt, and that's what it was. They are our rival, even though they own us, they are still our rival and we shouldn't be aiding them in anything they do. This is the same team that showboats and says that our players "suck." And the Red Sox would never allow one of their players to come back and make an appearance for the Orioles. That's a joke!

This organization was snowballed, and that's the best damage control they could come up with? That letter just pissed me off more...

That's because you're an angry little man! I keed I keed! As for the Red Sox players saying we suck...first, I HATE the Red Sox. But, what they say is true! We do suck! We have sucekd for ten years! Why is it okay for us fans to say we suck 24-7 for the past ten years, but the Red Sox aren't allowed to say it?

[osfan83]

I HATE the fact that Chick-Fil-A still closes on Sundays, but it appears my opinion doesn't matter to them! I am taking my business to KFC! I am DONE with those hiney holes at Chick-Fil-A!

God forbid MacPhail just wanted to do something nice for a fellow major league team! God forbid Millar wanted to have a little fun with some buddies while hogging some spolight for himself! I have said it before, and I'll say it again...if the OH was around during Cal's heyday...we would have run him out of town! Slefish arse playing all those games in a row and holding the young talent down!

Actually there is probably some portion of the Chick-Fil-A customer base that wanted a sandwich on Sunday, saw the place was closed, went some place else, liked what they got, and now take some money that would have gone to Chick-Fil-A and spend it withthe other place.

Chick-Fil-A has to make a decision, what's more important, being closed on Sunday or losing some of those dollars.

The O's also had to make a decision..what's more important, letting Millar do what he did, or saving some of the potential loss of dollars because of it.

My opinion is they made the wrong choice.

[Spoonless]

It may not, but at least it might keep a few more from jumping ship. Pride doesn't just come from winning. You have to have pride in your team to win as well. Case in point the annual August-September swoon...

But is it going to make people jump ship? You're still here posting about it, and you're pissed about it. You're still frequenting an Orioles fan board. And you know what? It's got you talking about the Orioles during football season. During the MLB playoffs. It got the O's into the national media with this stunt. What's that saying? "The only bad press is no press?"

[osfan83]

That's because you're an angry little man! I keed I keed! As for the Red Sox players saying we suck...first, I HATE the Red Sox. But, what they say is true! We do suck! We have sucekd for ten years! Why is it okay for us fans to say we suck 24-7 for the past ten years, but the Red Sox aren't allowed to say it?

Well...its ok for me to call my brother an ***hole because he is my brother....but nobody else can do that with getting me angry.

[osfan83]

But is it going to make people jump ship? You're still here posting about it, and you're pissed about it. You're still frequenting an Orioles fan board. And you know what? It's got you talking about the Orioles during football season. During the MLB playoffs. It got the O's into the national media with this stunt. What's that saying? "The only bad press is no press?"

I may not buy a new team jersey during this off season because of it.

If all press is good press then MLB should love all the steroid talk that will be taking place soon!!!

[Spoonless]

I may not buy a new team jersey during this off season because of it.

Yeah, but someone else will buy a Red Sox jersey, and PA will still see money through profit sharing.

[Cokeman]

That's because you're an angry little man! I keed I keed! As for the Red Sox players saying we suck...first, I HATE the Red Sox. But, what they say is true! We do suck! We have sucekd for ten years! Why is it okay for us fans to say we suck 24-7 for the past ten years, but the Red Sox aren't allowed to say it?

Its okay for the same reason that I can criiticize my child all I want, but don't you dare say one bad word about him...

[Dipper9]

Actually there is probably some portion of the Chick-Fil-A customer base that wanted a sandwich on Sunday, saw the place was closed, went some place else, liked what they got, and now take some money that would have gone to Chick-Fil-A and spend it withthe other place.

Chick-Fil-A has to make a decision, what's more important, being closed on Sunday or losing some of those dollars.

The O's also had to make a decision..what's more important, letting Millar do what he did, or saving some of the potential loss of dollars because of it.

My opinion is they made the wrong choice.

If fans jump ship because of this, then they were never true Orioles fans to begin with!

[Dipper9]

This could have been much, MUCH worse. From Roch's latest blog...

"I'm told the Red Sox wanted Millar to wear his old jersey, but he declined. So see, it could have been a whole lot worse."

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/roch/blog/

[PoorMike]

I'm going to slowly back away from this issue now, but I did think I should highlight some of the more ironic statements in this post.

It didn't have a tangible impact on anyone, but yet it was a big deal to some of us including you? I would think about that if I were you.

It was the wrong thing to do IYO. Despite what your preaching, this isn't an absolute. The fact that you feel it is an absolute is quite amazing.

1) Thou shalt not kill

2) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife

3) Thou shalt not allow any player to publicly cheer for another team AFTER his team has stopped playing for the year.

Yup, I'm afraid this doesn't make the grade as an absolute.

Again, I don't begrudge anyone who wants to get upset about this, but I would say that wasting this much energy on something this minor is just silly.

Three different people actually wrote back that this WAS one of the biggest Orioles' issues right now. WOW, and here I thought it was our crappy LF, CF, bullpen, and injuries to our young starters. Don't I feel silly. If we had just kept Millar from cheering for the Sox, all these things would have been just minor annoyances.

It was the wrong thing to do (and I mean absolutely) in the business sense because they risked making a move the would be perceived negatively by the fan base for no gain. There is an idea of "risk vs reward". There is no reward here. I thought I was pretty clear about that the first time.

Now, as for the tangible effect of the move itself (in isolation), I meant in the context of who is on the 40 man roster or what Kevin Millar will be thinking about when he's at the plate or personnel related issues like that. When Palmer says something like "let's worry about what makes this team better on the field" that he is correct in the context of this not being an issue that will directly affect win and losses. It won't, and I never said it would.

It could however affect how the fans view the club and since their faith and patience has been tested already, it was stupid to do something like this that could possible alienate more. Again, that's why it was absolutely the wrong move. This is a business and you don't risk pi$$ing off your patrons unnecessarily. Even if ONE FAN think about not buying tickets to some midweek game vs the Royals in April because of this, it was the wrong move.