Orioles get all vice presidential on Day 1
Truth be told, the Orioles were a little bit too focused on the task at hand, so they weren't taking notes when Vice President Joe Biden addressed the team prior to yesterday season-opener.
"He told us a couple of stories about hitting the ball off the wall in old Memorial Stadium, like a politician pickup game or something like that," said George Sherrill. "It was good have him here. Real fun."
Accompanied by team owner Peter Angelos, Biden milled around the Orioles clubhouse for about a half-hour, players say. Angelos didn't say much; Biden did, which shouldn't surprise many.
"He’s from close to here, a surrounding state, so he just talked with some coaches and stuff about Memorial Stadium," said Adam Jones. "I just went up and introduced myself, shook his hand.
"I haven’t met anybody that high-profile. I did meet Bill Gates, though; got my picture with him, too," added Jones, who says he isn't too political but did vote for Obama-Biden last November.
Biden threw out the first pitch, which prompted about 48,000 people at Camden Yards to make the same joke at the same time (Gee, do ya think he could be our fifth starter?) and then in the top of the fifth inning, the Veep visited with Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer in the MASN booth.
"We inherited quite a mess. That’s not to blame anybody, just the facts,” Biden said. He went on to mention the economy, but I'm pretty sure he was talking about Andy MacPhail taking over a sinking ship of a baseball franchise a couple of years back.
Biden explained his own amateur sports background -- "I couldn’t make it in pro sports, so figured what the hell, I might as well be vice president" -- but the best moment came toward the end of the interview.
After Thorne asked Biden if they could take a photograph together -- groan -- Biden wrapped his arm around Palmer, smiled and said: "If I had this guy’s hair, I would’ve had a shot in the primaries."
Be sure to check out Caption Call to see a pic of Biden and the Oriole Bird and submit your choice for the most appropriate caption.
Photo: Elizabeth Malby / Sun
Comments
How about you mention how half the crowd booed him, and there would have been more had Jim Hunter made it clear he was with his grandchildren and other children. How about the fact that he is spending the money of those children who dont know what kind of mess he's getting the country into. This is a sports blog.
Posted by: yeah | April 7, 2009 11:06 AM
this guy has done nothing but fight for working class america check his record instead of repeating what fox news has to say. i think the dem. ticket won something like 67% of the vote in baltimore city and county. like the country hasn't been a mess for the last 7 years. who got us into this mess oh yeah a republican president, congress, and 5-4 supreme court edge to republicans. whose been fighting against the relief effort? oh yeah republicans. fox news "telling republicans what they want to hear" nevermind that they have been proven wrong for defending all the de-regulative policies of the bush administration.
Posted by: chris | April 7, 2009 1:38 PM
Where was Biden the last 7 years? Oh Yeah, CONGRESS!! SAME OLD SAME OLD, THERE IS NO CHANGE!!!
Posted by: yeah | April 7, 2009 2:20 PM
last 7 years fighting the policies of the cheney administration.,but when (especially in the senate) you are the minority, it is hard to get things done. take out the racists and the homophobic gun toting church freaks(who turn out to be homosexual themselves half the time)you have about 2 people left in the republican party. wake up.
Posted by: chris | April 7, 2009 2:48 PM
You see, I am not a repulican, I am not a democrat. I am a citzen who is fed up with our entire corrupt, out of control, overspending, overtaxing government. They are all to blame, not one party.
Posted by: yeah | April 7, 2009 3:33 PM
i am a registered independent for many of the same reasons. but you have to recognize that the quality of living around the world including here has gone drastically downward since the 2000 election. so sometimes you have to pick the lesser of 2 evils. especially if you don't have a realistic answer to fix the countries problems. i.e.nader/paul
Posted by: chris | April 7, 2009 4:21 PM
im from delaware so i have seen the merits of Biden has done and let me tell you, when i was a lowly freshmen in high school i asked him a question about spending money on an opera house instead of fixing roads or working on sussex countys drastically low high school graduation rate or working on controlling teen pregnancy and he sidestepped me. hes not a smart man and our country is worse for it
Posted by: Jamison | April 7, 2009 7:31 PM
Biden made an *** out of himself on ESPN, the guy was obviously drunk and acted like a typical *** in a sports bar. I can act like a typical *** too but c'mon the VP should be showing some professionalism and he was not!
Posted by: Marcus | April 8, 2009 8:57 AM