The all-star break symbolizes something different in each city. Well, there are mainly just two options – it is either the beginning of a playoff push and hunt for October, or the beginning of the end of the season and hunt for some new players.
Unfortunately, the latter has been the case for Baltimore fans in recent history. Because the all-star break served as a realization that another year was going by with a subpar baseball team, it seemed to spur the countdown to the gridiron. I have no doubt that the excitement is still there to watch the Ravens try to defend their Super Bowl title, but thanks to the Orioles, fans are not wishing away the second half of the summer.
Instead of Charm City switching their attention to the start of training camp at the All-Star break, our eyes were glued to the television for two nights in a row watching a competition of strength and an exhibition game (whether or not the home-field advantage decision makes it important is a different argument). Not only were we interested because we still have a contending team at the midway mark, but also because we had so many Orioles playing in the game. And they did a pretty good job representing Baltimore if you ask me.
Coming off a Super Bowl victory, you would expect the town to be painted purple until a new champion was crowned. While we are still wearing our championship t-shirts proudly, I think fans are reaching for that Machado jersey in their closet before putting Flacco on their back. As a tribute to our past, it seems that almost every Baltimorean is donning the cartoon bird on the front of their caps, as well.
Prior to last year, the last time the Orioles played meaningful games well past the midsummer classic was in 1997, the year after the Ravens started playing in Baltimore. The Ravens began to see success in the late 90’s/early 2000s, winning their first Super Bowl in the 2000-01 season, seemingly stealing the thunder from the then-sputtering Orioles.
Over the last decade, April has meant the NFL Draft, not the start of a playoff-bound season for the O’s; July has meant one month until training camp, not rooting for Baltimore’s all-stars and gearing up for a pennant race; October has meant getting into the meat of the Ravens’ schedule, not champagne and ski goggles.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoUYsgWWAhU[/youtube]
While we still had the draft, and we are excited for training camp, and we can’t wait for that first Steelers game, all those baseball things are going on as well. And we are paying pretty close attention to it also.
A couple years ago I could not pay you to watch a couple Orioles come off the bench in the sixth inning and have a few at-bats in the All-Star game. This year, you would be lying if you said you couldn’t help yourself. You needed to see Crush effortlessly put balls into the opposite field bleachers, you needed to watch J.J. get an RBI that scored Jones, and you needed to watch Manny being Manny (being Brooks).
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAeqrDh-nuA[/youtube]
I might be a little sour that the Ravens have virtually shut out the public from training camp, but personally, I would much rather be sitting in OPACY this August than on a grassy hill in Westminster anyway.
