Your turn Baltimore Orioles
By Joe Serpico
Image provided by Leanne Hannah (blog.leannehannah.com)
Keep it together Baltimore. Baseball is just around the corner.
February and March are the lull months of the year for many area sports fans.
Sure, if you’re a basketball fan, there are the Washington Wizards and Maryland Terps. There is also the fun and excitement that comes with March Madness. The Washington Capitals have a solid fan base in Charm City if you like hockey.
Let’s be honest. Baltimore is a two-sport city and this is the time of the year when many Baltimoreans say “bring on baseball season.”
The Super Bowl has passed, and as my colleague Shawn Brubaker pointed out, it was a fitting end to a horrific season for the National Football League.
It was a tough year to be excited about anything with the Baltimore Ravens. A season that should have been filled with championship aspirations was immediately in shambles with Ray Rice’s domestic assault caught on video. Add a slew of injuries to the insult. It was only appropriate that it would end on a terrible pass by Joe Flacco against the New England Patriots, Baltimore’s postseason rival who would go on to win the Super Bowl.
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That’s a cold way to end football season.
Thankfully, the Baltimore Orioles are two weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Sarasota, Fla. for their first day of Spring Training.
Baltimore is a city that still cherishes its baseball most and it is because of what comes with the game of baseball. It is a reminder that spring is just around the corner.
The beauty of baseball is that it’s a warm weather sport. A game to be enjoyed in the sun with family and friends with a few brews and banter. There is nothing like O’s and Natty Bohs.
We appreciate baseball cause we can relate to “the dog days of summer.” It is a daily grind. It’s tough to go to work on those hot summer days. You’d rather be sitting poolside than at the office. When it’s extremely hot outside, you don’t feel like doing much. Your favorite Oriole is going through the same thing.
Hardcore fans tune into their televisions daily and sweat out every pitch with the Orioles. A tough three-game stretch seems like the end of the world some days. Sweep a strong opponent and the buzz starts that you’re witnessing a championship-caliber team. Every day is another battle and that’s what intrigues us.
It is why the Orioles are in the blood of Baltimoreans. They will forever be in the hearts of fans that experienced the joys of the championship seasons in the 1980s and the lows of 14 straight losing seasons. Baseball has never left Baltimore.
The Ravens have stolen the show since their arrival in 1996 with two Super Bowl titles and 10 playoff appearances since the start of the millennium. They have consistently been winners and much of that is credited to Ray Lewis, one of the greatest athletes in Baltimore history.
The Ravens faithful has never been tested like the Orioles. There have never been consecutive seasons of losing. Years and years at the bottom of the division and the laughingstock of a league. Things have been great, but at some point, the fan base will be tested.
That is what makes the bond between the Orioles and Baltimore unique. They’ve experienced the best and the worst together.
That hasn’t prevented the two franchises from embracing each other. In fact, the relationship has blossomed as the Orioles have progressed. Fans remember the photo of Adam Jones cheering on Ravens players as they ran onto the field in Denver during the 2013 playoffs. The Ravens returned the appreciation by lighting up M&T Bank Stadium in orange during the 2014 postseason. It’s become common to see players from the two teams exchange pleasantries on Twitter.
Baltimore is a passionate about its sports. The players and fans embrace it. The owners bank on it. If Baltimore was ever awarded with a NBA or NHL team, you better believe they would be heavily supported.
Until then, this is that time of the year where one bird passes the torch over to the other.
Hold tight Baltimore fanatics. We are just weeks away from the gates being opened on Eutaw Street.