Ghetto Scoreboard to Become $9 Mil Less Ghetto

by 2632 on Oct 14, 2007 11:20 PM EDT in News Comment 25 comments

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We might still have an embarassingly bad baseball team by next season, but at least we might not have to look at embarassing small-ass pixely graphics anymore.
As Javylish once astutely pointed out, the current board's visuals look like the work of a 12 yr old and his AppleIIe circa 1985. It fit right in with the whole franchise in a really depressing way, actually. See above photo for visual evidence.

O's, MSA reach agreement on video screen, scoreboard
By Childs Walker | Sun reporter
The Orioles and the Maryland Stadium Authority have reached a tentative agreement to avoid arbitration and install a new $9 million video and scoreboard display at Camden Yards ...

... The settlement says both parties would make best efforts to have a new video display installed before next season.

Link

That's gonna be once fancy lookin' $9 million crab shuffle.

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Don't forget the hot dog race!

It's really too bad you couldn't get a picture of the kick ass TODD graphic.

by Stacey on Oct 14, 2007 11:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I never understood

why the Orioles tried their best to make Camden Yards look like the stadiums of yesteryear, but didn't install a manual scoreboard.

by PhilR8 on Oct 14, 2007 11:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I had an Apple II...

...which predated the IIe.

We played a great game on it called "Apple Panic" a lot. This was like, '81, '82 maybe?

Originally, we didn't even have the external floppy disk drive. You had to load programs on using a tape recorder!

I'm sick of runnin' from these wimps!

by zknower on Oct 14, 2007 11:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I was born '82

and if what you are saying is true, I can't thank God enough that I wasn't alive to see a tape recorder attached to a computer. God, how depressing.

by PhilR8 on Oct 15, 2007 1:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I learned BASIC on TRS-80s

and yeah, you have to RECORD and LOAD your programs on cassette tape.

"Pitching. Bona-fide, Major League pitching." -That's what Diamond Dave wants for Christmas.

by duck on Oct 15, 2007 6:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

duuuude!

The TRS-80! I SO wanted one of those!

I'm sick of runnin' from these wimps!

by zknower on Oct 15, 2007 12:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah..

The floppy disk was high-tech. And man, when I got my hands on my first deluxe 10MB hard drive, which was about the size of a toaster.

"Killing a Yankee fan -- is that illegal in this state?" -- Homicide Life on the Street

by BirdFanLA on Oct 15, 2007 7:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It didn't come with it

You had to buy your own tape recorder separately, and connect it with audio cables.

If the volume of the tape recorder was set too loud while you were loading your program, you'd get an error message.

On the other hand, before the Apple and TRS-80, there really weren't any home computers.

Oh, by the way, cable TV came out around the same time. So did answering machines (wow!). And all this on the tail end of cash machines showing up in the late 70s (they had existed for a while, but were not prevalent in Baltimore....and for a LONG time, you had to go to a cash machine at YOUR bank. We went to one attached to a bank at the intersection of York/Timonium/Delaney Valley Roads in Towson). Before them, you had to get your money by going inside the bank with a passbook, or else heading to the drive-thru teller where they used those awesome pneumatic tube thingies.

My family, I'm proud to say, were early adapters. We had the Apple II, cable TV, and an answering machine before anyone else I knew.

I'm sick of runnin' from these wimps!

by zknower on Oct 15, 2007 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'll be honest

I still don't have cable tv. Or satellite.

by PhilR8 on Oct 15, 2007 1:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Article also says...

...that they're revamping the out-of-town scoreboard too. This should be interesting.

But yeah, I never understood why our old-timey stadium had old-timey-80's technology instead of real old-timey scoreboards.

O's Before Ho's.

by OEutaw on Oct 14, 2007 11:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well, OK, goody-- btw, does this mean that

graphics on the new scoreboard will not include pix of the players with the Bromo Tower in the background, which is, of course, no longer in the background?

If Stanford can beat USC in '07, the Orioles can be winners in '08. I'll believe anything now.

by Titov on Oct 15, 2007 12:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Another thing I'll never understand

A uniquely "Baltimore" landmark that they include in their promotional graphics and materials, now hidden from view by a very generic high-rise chain hotel. Did the Orioles have a choice in the matter? Did they care?

by PhilR8 on Oct 15, 2007 1:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm sure they didn't have a choice

It's a city funded hotel or something like that. I don't think Oriole Park has any jurisdiction over property it doesn't own.

by Stacey on Oct 15, 2007 8:43 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I've been oblivious

You can see how often I traveled to Camden Yards after the team QUIT in May. So the Bromo Seltzer tower is now only viewable from, outside the Stadium on Eutaw Street? The left field seats were designed to halt to allow the view.

I recall that Pete sued the city, or threatened to, because the construction would affect foot traffic to the stadium. I don't recall any griping about the view. I guess the foot traffic suit was dismissed as baseless given the decline in attendance.

by drj on Oct 15, 2007 9:11 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Probably

But wouldn't the city planners take this into account? I'm sure the Orioles could have sat in on some planning sessions and voiced their opinion. Good planners, which Baltimore does have, take this sort of thing into account. I wouldn't mind being privy to some behind-the-scenes info re: this subject.

by PhilR8 on Oct 15, 2007 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

they were consulted

which is why the hotel has two towers & isn't any taller than it is. It's a decent design, not a good design. But here is the result as of August:

O's Before Ho's.

by OEutaw on Oct 15, 2007 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

re:

Ah, a fine shot of another Baltimore trademark.

Empty green seats.

by SC on Oct 15, 2007 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

so

you'll be able to see the Bromo from Eutaw street but not from the field?

Also, you see that tall green glass apartment building in the background that recently got built? I emailed someone who worked there once because I was curious at the prices, and the 500 square foot studio started at $1350. Um, this is Baltimore, idiots. I rent a rowhouse for less than that. Now they keep sending me emails asking me to please come live there and I see people with sandwich boards walking around all the time imploring people to come in and take a tour. I guess they haven't gotten many takers on their teeny tiny expensive apartments.

by Stacey on Oct 15, 2007 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

$1550, not $1350

In case anyone cares.

by Stacey on Oct 15, 2007 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's Called The Zenith

That place is supposedly gorgeous & the views from that location are worth the $$$ in any normal market. Unfortunately this is probably the softest real estate market since the late '80s & they're going to have trouble filling those vacancies for now, a fact that is slowing/stalling/reducing in scale several other major downtown housing projects because developers are just as skittish as the public/sheeple when it comes to these things.

Several of them are actually scaling back projects that won't be completed for 3 years based on TODAY's market. Uh... newsflash, the market will be completely different in 1.5 years at most given the influx of BRAC jobs.

...sorry. Man, don't get me started. Jeez.

BTW, the Legg Mason building will be replaced as the tallest building in the city in about 3 years by a tower going into the old McCormick's site on Light St. It'll be taller than LM by at least 100 ft & visible from inside OPCY.

O's Before Ho's.

by OEutaw on Oct 15, 2007 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

what are BRAC jobs?

also, I used to LOVE the smell driving past McCormick. Is the factory gone?

I'm sick of runnin' from these wimps!

by zknower on Oct 15, 2007 5:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Two Answers:

McCormick moved to Hunt Valley a few years ago...
BRAC jobs are Base Realignment jobs in the military...Maryland is getting many thousands of new residents in the next few years due to the military "realignment" of bases in the States.

There's no crying in baseball

by elktonfan on Oct 15, 2007 6:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ah, McCormicks.

Remember when you knew you were near the harbor because you could smell the spices? It just made you want to eat.

Now you don't want to be able to tell you're near the harbor via your olfactory. Probably means a fish kill.

O's Before Ho's.

by OEutaw on Oct 15, 2007 7:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It may be that Petey consulted with fans

in New York and Boston about obstructing the view of a Baltimore landmark. When they didn't register any objections, he figured what the hell, it's OK with the fans that count.

Hey, that was just a joke.

I hope.

If Stanford can beat USC in '07, the Orioles can be winners in '08. I'll believe anything now.

by Titov on Oct 15, 2007 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hopefully...

The deal won't include those obnoxious graphic bands that wrap around the upper deck in both ballparks in LA and play a constant round of jarring motion graphics in an attempt to create some artificial excitement.

... Actually, come to think of it, considering what's going on on the field, a little artificial excitement might not be such a bad thing.

"Killing a Yankee fan -- is that illegal in this state?" -- Homicide Life on the Street

by BirdFanLA on Oct 15, 2007 9:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs