Greetings, Birdland. I'mGivingYouARaise and I am a writer or if you want to be a tad more realistic, a guy who types down words at the Yankees SBNation blog Pinstripe Alley. I am a life long Yankees fan and I have been since the 80's, around 1985. Before I move on with the main purpose of this fanpost, I just want to say that as a lifelong Yankees fan, I cannot thank you enough for the O's beating the Red Sox in September last year, getting the victory off of Papelchump, and finalizing the most historic collapse of the Red Sox 2011 season. Words cannot describe my euphoria from watching that, and I will always be grateful and thankful to the Orioles for that.

Fan euphoria is kind of what this fanpost is about. My hobby is studying human reaction and one thing I like to specialize at in my articles at Pinstripe Alley are sports fan studies, because I feel that sports fans offer some of the greatest studies of emotional reaction than anything else. Please do not take this as arrogance, gloating, or anything like that, but since the Yankees constant success since the Dynasty Era, the dynamic of fan reaction has slightly changed for Yankees fans. The Yankees fans of this generation have no idea what it's like to lose, what it's like to have a team that suck for years and years, what it's like to see you team grow out of mediocrity and build towards excellence.

Meanwhile, the O's as of this post are currently tied with four other teams for the best record in the majors. Thanks to my job, I am lucky enough to get to watch a lot of baseball games and one thing I've definitely seen from the Orioles this year is the vast improvement in their starting pitching, which could be just the catalyst they need. Again, I am definitely no O's expert, so please correct me and yell at me if I'm wrong, but starting pitching has always been the main problem with the O's and now it seems that it's starting to come around. It reminds me of the early 90's Yankees team, around 1993 when everything seemed like it was starting to come together.

Of course, the majority of people out there are saying how it cannot last, how the Yankees and Red Sox will turn it around and the O's will wind up back in last place again. Personally, I say screw that. I'm one of those people that think anything is possible in this sport. The Rays use to be an absolute joke and now they are really good and it really came out of nowhere. I'm of the mind that, why can't it happen with the O's this year?

That's why I'm here, really. I want to know what Orioles fans think about the O's start to the season this year, because as a Yankees fan who has seen his team always have constant success like they have for the past 15-16 years now, I honestly do envy you at this time. I might be a spoiled Yankees fan, but I'm also a die-hard baseball fan and no matter what I enjoy watching the sport, win or lose. But Yankees fans of this era always expect to win. They always expect their team to make it to the postseason. As I said above, I grew up with a Yankees team that sucked but I still enjoyed going to the game, watching it on TV, watching my favorite players play. I will never forget the excitement I felt of my team coming out of the doldrums, and I want to know if that's how a lot of you feel right now.

• Do you think the O's can claim 1st place in the AL East?
• Do you think this is just a fluke start?
• If you feel they are in a decent rebuilding mode, what more do you think they need to fully make a run?
• Is this the most exciting start to an O's season you've witnessed?
• If not this season, do you feel the O's can be contenders next season or the season after?

The questions I just asked will be in a front page article I'm planning to write for Pinstripe Alley. I will also link to this fanpost so the PSA members can see some of the responses, some of which I might quote for the article. If you decide to participate and help me out with my article, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much for your time, Camden Chat.