Free the Birds
I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this but last Thursday a Baltimore radio station organized a mass protest by Orioles fans. They got people to buy the cheapest tickets possible, then at 5:08 pm ('5' being Brooks Robinson's number and '8' being, of course, Cal Ripken's number) all the protesters got up from their seats, walked around the lower deck concourse and left the stadium.
I myself was not at the game but my Dad was and he reports that the whole thing was fairly impressive. Now admittedly for the first four innings when the protesters were up in the upper deck chanting and what not my Dad thought they were just really happy Tigers fans but he got the drift when they did their whole walk out thing. Dad didn't walk out, of course; he stayed to enjoy a rare O's victory. I don't know if I would have walked out either, to be honest. While I appreciate the spirit of the gesture, it seems some what pointless. Yeah they got some nice media coverage but does anyone think this is suddenly going to inspire Angelos to change his ways or, even better, sell the team? Of course not. Another, very important, reason I wouldn't have left is that I'm sure my Dad would have stayed, leaving me to twiddle my thumbs by the car for a couple of hours.
Its this quote from Angelos that makes me think the whole protest was nice in theory but will accomplish nothing:
"Whoever joins that protest has no comprehension of what it costs to run a baseball team," Angelos said in a telephone interview from his law office in Baltimore. "When you get down to facts, putting together a team that can compete in the AL East means having a payroll between $100 million-$110 million. That money comes from the consumer, and I have chosen to keep ticket prices to a minimum.
"Our payroll is $75 million, and our ticket prices average $22. Some of the teams we compete against charge an average of $45," Angelos said. "We're going to have to match the competition. How to do that is a decision I will make in the future."
Um, Mr. Angelos? How about the Twins, the Marlins, and the A's? They are winning teams that are spending a lot less on payroll then you are. The problem isn't how much you spend (though lets be honest, you could spend more), its how you spend it.
So yeah, I'm an O's fan who hates what Angelos has done to my beloved team. Would I have walked out? Probably not but I applaud those who did. I don't think they made a difference but I'd be glad if they did. Now if they could just figure out a way to get Cabrera to stop walking people.
Holla at me