Baltimore Orioles: A Classy Team to Root For
By Nate Wardle
Jun 8, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles players during the national anthem prior to a game against the Oakland Athletics at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Athletics defeated the Orioles 11-1. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
This isn’t going to be a typical, analytical article like many have come to expect from me on this site. Just putting that notice out there first.
I don’t know about you, but I like to root for a bunch of guys and an organization that I respect. And, I think most fans of baseball would say that the Baltimore Orioles are a well-respected team.
I have had many people, non-Orioles fans, say to me that baseball is better when the Orioles are in the pennant hunt. This includes some fans of the Yankees and Red Sox. Luckily, thanks to Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter and the players they have assembled, that is now the case each year.
I think many people who are fans of the Orioles would agree that this team is easy to like. The team plays hard, but also plays fairly. Most of the players are stand up guys who embody what fans want to see in their team.
This isn’t always the case. A look at the Super Bowl, and two teams that to many you either love or loathe, makes that quite clear.
I am a twin. And on this day, my twin brother (who somehow is a Phillies fan) lost his father-in-law to cancer. It has been a very difficult situation for the entire family, but Mark is now in a better place.
Mark was a die-hard O’s fan. He was at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where the doctors determined nothing more could be done.
Last weekend, the family reached out to the Orioles staff to see if there was anything that could be done to make these last moments for Mark just a little brighter.
The team obviously didn’t have to do anything. I can imagine they probably receive a lot of requests like this. Yet they answered the emails very thoughtfully, and they said they were working on something.
This week, Mark’s daughter posted a video sent to Mark on behalf of the Baltimore Orioles. The video is about 15 seconds, and features Brian Matusz, standing in front of a mountain in Phoenix, in one of the black and orange K Cancer shirts. Brian introduces himself, thanks Mark for being a die-hard fan, and says that he and the team are with Mark and his family during this difficult time and are on Team Mark.
Each year, Orioles fans feel like they have a special bond with the team. Over the past few years, I know for myself and I think for many others, that bond has grown. This team is easy to root for. There are no Marshawn Lynches or Alex Rodriguezes.
For some fans, they just want a team to root for. They don’t care about the players, what they do in the community, how the team is perceived. All they care about is winning.
I want to see a winner, but I also want it to be a team that I can root for. And as the Super Bowl approaches, there are two teams playing that I find it hard to root for. One, because despite the fact they are a very good team year in and year out, they continue to cheat.
The other, just irks me. The attitudes of the players rub me the wrong way, and I know I am not the only one.
As Baltimore Oriole fans, we not only have a great team to root for, but also one we can be proud to root for.
In honor of Mark…Let’s Go O’s.