Today in Orioles/Camden Chat History

I'm home sick from work today. Good story? So you get bonus coverage on Camden Chat today.

It was on October 21st, 2007 that Kevin Millar rallied the Boston Red Sox with a commercial on FOX before the game and, more offensively to most Orioles fans, threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park while joking around and embracing members of the Red Sox team.  Outrage filled much of Birdland at the disgustingness of it all. Here is SC's take, written the night it happened, and then later stories on the same topic:

Memo from me to Kevbo: GET OFF MY PLANE

Kevbo: "Ain't no thang, y'all, dang."

Kevgate: Reactions to the (now definitely overblown) Millar Saga.

You'll see from the comments that most of us on Camden Chat at the time were not amused, although I think in the heat of the moment many people might have been a bit more bitter than warranted. I didn't comment in any of them, mostly because I remember being conflicted about it. When it comes to the Yankees and Red Sox I try to never be the person who comes off as whiny or jealous of those teams, and sometimes it's hard not to sound that way even if it's justified. Plus in the case of this event, I really, really liked Kevin Millar.

Two years later, though, I think it stinks. Not in an irrational, knee jerk way that many expressed when it happened, but in an objective way. It was never a secret to Orioles fans that Kevin Millar, while happy enough to be an Oriole, always wanted to be a Red Sox. And frankly, if we looked at it objectively, who could blame him? But it doesn't excuse palling around with them and rooting them on while a member of a division rival.

Right now, going into the 2010 season, I have expectations for the Orioles. I expect them to get better, I expect them to put a better product on the field each year and ultimately I expect them to compete. It was hard to have any expectations of the 2007 Baltimore Orioles. I mean, look at the roster.  At that point in time the most we could ask for was to not be embarrassed, and that's just what happened. It was one more thing on top of Dice-K t-shirts being sold in Camden Yards gift shops and the like.

At any rate, it was a long time ago, so I doubt any of us have an emotional reaction to it now. Ultimately this event, like fretting over a sweep at the end of the season coasting the team a draft spot, is something winning teams don't have to worry about. And hey, maybe when the Orioles are in the postseason next year, Kevbo will come back to throw out the first pitch :)