Baseball Town or Football Town?
Now this has been a very interesting last 24 hours. The news about Brian Billick being brought back to coach the Ravens next year, and the New York Times interview with Rafael Palmeiro, became widely known at roughly the same time Wednesday morning. The websites, TV and radio stations and blogs like this one have been buzzing like crazy ever since, and probably will for a long time. Everybody's talking about one story or the other.
But ... it's one story WAY more than the other. It's Brian Billick. The Ravens have shoved everything and everybody out of the picture. You hear a little here, a little there about Palmeiro - and, by extension, about the Orioles' offseason - but it's all Ravens all the time. Even on here, the blog that's been running for about a week now, the few mentions I've made of the Orioles have gotten very little feedback. Wednesday morning, I did little more than post Steve Bisciotti's statement and ask for comment, and I was getting replies within 20 minutes. Same thing when I wrote from Sunday night's game, a string of comments that started during the game and didn't stop until well into Monday.
And that's just those of you connected to your computers or glued to your radios. Out and about in the streets, it's even more tilted toward the Ravens.
Not that I'm breaking any news here, but the Ravens really do own this town. But there has to be a plausible reason, or even an implausible one. Ive heard a few in my year-and-almost-four-months at the Sun, but this is really lopsided. The one mentioned most often: the Orioles have stunk the last eight years, starting right around the time the Ravens began to steer football fans' loyalties away from the Colts and the generational balance began to shift.
When I was little, living down the road in the District Whose Name Dares Not Be Spoken, I got the sense that this city loved the Orioles but was passionate, borderline crazy, about the Colts. I thought that had the Orioles moved, Baltimore's hearts would be broken, but that when the Colts did leave, their hearts were ripped out through their chest cavities. Now, talking about the losing Orioles makes people mad, but talking about the losing Ravens makes people want to kill somebody, even if it's just for talking about the Ravens losing.
Rafael Palmeiro was a huge deal around here, with a big fan base, and while it's understandable why the fans have dropped him like a bad habit, and that bringing Billick back is the story of the day, it's still strange that another public statement by the centerpiece of the biggest story surrounding the Orioles this past season, got carpet-bombed right out of the city's consciousness by the Ravens.
I mean, should I be even a little surprised? I'm not, but honestly, I'm surprised that I'm not surprised. But if I'm the Orioles, I'm not very happy. And if I'm Steve Bisciotti, my jaw is on the floor by the outpouring of reaction. If he wasn't sure that being owner of this team puts this town in the palm of his hand, he probably knows now.
Meanwhile, for those of you not preoccupied by either team, check out the story in this morning's Today section about NBA players and the dress code, by our excellent fashion writer, Tanika White. She's right; I'm not sure this is precisely what David Stern had in mind, but he can't possibly complain, either.
Comments
What about lacrosse? At least if you're rooting for Hopkins, you're rooting for a winner.
Posted by: John | December 29, 2005 2:00 PM
Baltimore has become a football town for one reason. The Orioles are one of the most irrelevant teams in professional sports. As much greif as Angelos takes, there is nothing that he can do. Even if he expands their payroll, he'll never spend with the Yanks or the Sox so he's stuck. At least in football we have a level playing field and can copete with anyone therefore garnering more fan interst.
Posted by: Jeff H | December 29, 2005 3:54 PM
Baltimore is a dormant baseball town. I think you need more history than the Ravens have in order for this city to be considered a football town. If the Colts had stayed, it would be a football town. Plus, it seems to me that many of the Ravens fans are younger, while the Oriole fans span more generations.
Posted by: Jacob | December 29, 2005 4:00 PM
Mr. Steele -
We don't want to hear about Raffy because he is not an Oriole, first of all. But that's not what you are looking for. This is:
Last year was so difficult to be an O's fan, it tested even the most loyal of us. For a few months, we were teased just enough to be devastated when we slid in the standings, then in the national media, then MORE in the national media, then, um, AGAIN in the national media (I'll let you connect events to these - pick any).
We don't want to hear any of it - just like we don't want to hear about signing Jeromy Burnitz, who now has the distinction of following Sammy Sosa yet again as they both disappear into the orange and black sunset.
With the Ravens, we all know that the organization is good, that ownership operates, for the most part, in the same reality we all enjoy - so Mr. Biscotti's public statement came as welcome reassurance that the owner cares, or exisits, or wants to win, or just isn't a total asshole.
The O's have become the theatre of the absurd, like our oldest son who flunked out of law school to work at a gas station - sure we love him, but he's beyond repair, and more news of his demise simply falls on saturated ears.
I'm for BB one more year, and I'm for Sammy P, in case you care - nobody else does.
Posted by: Mark Sutton | December 29, 2005 4:05 PM
This town being changed from baseball to football falls in the lap of one man. Peter G. Angelos. Thats it, he is the answer.
The Billick move is a perfect example, it was a quick and decisive move by Bischotti. Angelos would have made us wait around till after the NFL Draft to finally grace us with the answer if Billick was coming back or not.
The Ravens still have the confidence of most that they can turn it around. They have a track record, they have some bright spots showing up late in the year (Scott, Clayton, Whomever is where number 7).
The day that baseball started to drop in this town was the day Peter decided he was smarter than Gillick. He vetoed the trades in 96, they made the playoffs and it was the worst possible thing for the team, the franchise, and the baseball fans still left here.
Posted by: Joe | December 29, 2005 4:06 PM
David,
I disagree on a couple of points, but not the overall sentiment. I don't think you get much response when you talk about the Orioles because you are more a football guy. Your columns are more football, and its clear that you probably are a bigger football fan than baseball fan. Roch Kubatko, on the other hand, is an Orioles expert, and most of his blogging seems to steer towards the Orioles. I bet he gets many more Orioles feedback, and the few times he blogs about the Ravens, I bet he gets less of a response.
Also, I think Palmeiro's comments would have gotten more attention were they made in Baltimore, to the Sun, rather than in NY, to the Times. I think many O's fans have already erased Raffy from their memories, and aren't so likely to respond to comments he made out of town.
Posted by: Greg | December 29, 2005 4:07 PM
It is the offseason for the Orioles and the Ravens are on Tv and practicing every day! Very few cities are really baseball towns anymore. The passion comes out in football due to gambling, stats leagues and being a one day a week game on the weekends makes it a family event to watch the Ravens. But this city is waiting to embrass the Orioles again. We are at a handicap being in the American League east but the team could have been run better. I bought tickets to the Colts home game against John Elway; after he rejected coming to the city; the day before the game. The city felt the Colts were being run badly and tickets were easy to come by. The same might happen if 7 years of mismanagement is experienced by the Ravens.
Posted by: Rick | December 29, 2005 6:28 PM
For all my life (I'm 48), when we've had both baseball and football, it's always been a football town . . .
Posted by: Richard | December 29, 2005 6:47 PM
Now that BIllick is coming back next year - does that mean another 12 months of whining about Billick by Mike Preston? It's getting old.
The Orioles are quickly becoming as irrelevant as the Royals and Brewers. Come to think of it, both of those teams have made moves that trump the O's. At the end of the year I am afraid that Burnitz will have numbers shockingly similar to Sosa. We've got to stop getting these ex-Cub outfielders.
Posted by: Glenn | December 29, 2005 10:20 PM
I disagree, this will always be a baseball town.
When Mike Flanagan brings back The Oriole Way, and Peter Angelos sells the team to someone (Cal Ripken perhaps?), this city's true colors (orange) will shine.
Posted by: F.J. Delgado | December 30, 2005 4:02 AM
I grew up a huge Colt and Oriole fan. I was riding my bike home from work as the moving trucks were leaving Bonita Avenue the night they rolled out. I would have been just as hurt if the Orioles did the same thing,then and now. Every true Baltimore sports fan would be outraged if Peter Napolian moved this team . Napolian has torn down the stucture of the Orioles much like Robert Irsay dismantled the Colts when he took ownership. Attendance supports my statement. The Colts had there last glory in the mid 70's just like the Orioles in the mid 90's but the process of distruction was already in place. It still hurts to see the blue and white with the horse shoe and think about Jimmy Irsay thanking the fans of Indianapolis after they win the Super Bowl when they had nothing to do with naming the team. I love the Ravens, but my heart is still a Baltimore Colt and it would be a Baltimore Oriole as well.
Posted by: John Morris | December 30, 2005 7:44 AM
Baltimore has always been a football town. It was that why with my parents and the Colts and it is that way now with the Ravens. Also, nation wide MLB's popularity has faded, and the NFL's has grown exponentially, Baltimore is a reflection of this as well. As a native Marylander and a Baltimore resident, both teams hold a place near and dear in my heart, but it is football & the NFL that drives the wagon
Posted by: Craig C | December 30, 2005 8:33 AM
Mr. Steele,
Your right, Peter G. Angelos has turn this once-proud Orioles franchise into a laughingstock. I have no plans to go to O's games anymore unless the my Red Sox are in town. With Billick coming back in '06, I'm a full-time Ravens fan because the NFL and this city has hold its pride to my heart. The old "Oriole Way" has been gone and I call it a civic disgrace" to the city, the fans and the state of Maryland. The Ravens will always be a football town because of the Colts. Plus, there are other area teams to root for such as the Terps, Towson State, Ironbirds, Johns Hopkins and the Blast. And I'm a fan of many of those teams in the area.
Posted by: Pepe | December 30, 2005 3:31 PM