FanPost

Birdman, Son of Birdmom, on life as a fan of the first-place Orioles

Rob Carr

David Simon, creator of The Wire, recently wrote a SI column where he explains why the Orioles will win their first division title since 1997. The column is fine and I really don't disagree with any of it except for the throwaway comments about "discarding stats entirely." But when the article popped up on my Facebook feed, it was titled, "David Simon, creator of The Wire, on life as a fan of the first-place Orioles." Based on that title, which is different from the actual title of the column, I expected the column to discuss how life has changed as an O's fan since 2012. I thought Simon would wax poetically about some small random slice of Baltimore life that has changed since the O's have started winning that would serve as a broader metaphor about shifts in the city's broader institutional life. But column was more of a traditional baseball analysis column which I think missed an interesting opportunity to discuss the state of affairs as an O's fan now. But have no fear, I will correct this oversight. Now that we have 2.5 seasons of winning baseball in Baltimore, here's how I've noticed that my life as a fan has changed.

In the pre-2012 dark days, life as an Orioles fan reminded me of the tales that my parents used to tell me about life during the Korean War. Life was meager.

April - Opening day! Baseball is here! And oh the Orioles play too. The playoffs are out of the question but at least this beats spring training.

May - The O's are kind of around .500 (particularly in the Hargrove years)... if they can reach .500 come October, maybe we could be good next year!

June - Yup, the O's suck. What's going on at Ottawa?

July - I'm following other teams to see what prospects the Orioles can get when they dump off whatever decent veteran that happens to inhabit the roster at the time (usually Niner or some random reliever like Mike Trombley).

August - The team is 15 games under .500 at this point. Game day threads are a wasteland of tumbleweed. The O's picked up a "prospect" (really a 4A player like Mike Kinkade or some single A scrub) from the (insert crappy veteran) trade. Gotta watch the games to see if that player could be a contributor next season.

September - Snooze. The annual September swoon is in full effect as the Orioles lose 20 of 24 games. All of Camden Chat is a desert. Red Sox and Yankee home games are a nightmare as opposing fans match or outnumber Orioles fans. I'm not really following the Orioles anymore. Instead, I'm spending more time reading about other teams and how they're managing the playoff run. Oh, remember that rained out game from May? It's not going to be made up because the O's and their opponent are irrelevant (see the 2001 Orioles).

October - Playoffs... Yankees, blah blah blah.

November - Read several columns which explain how the O's are TWO (!) players away from contending.

In the special edition for Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, there's a bonus scene which is cued to Led Zepplin's Stairway to Heaven in its entirety. Unfortunately, Crowe couldn't secure the copyright permission for the song so you have to cue up the song up yourself and watch the scene. The season's rhythm of the post-2012 Orioles doesn't quite flow like Stairway to Heaven. Instead, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird feel more appropriate- a little bit slow and lazy at first, but things start to pick up before a fast and furious finish (see my sig!).

April - Not only is baseball starting but the Orioles are playing! (♫♫ I'm a free as a bird now ♫♫)

June - The winning baseball is great but you still can't quite shake that nagging doubt that everything will collapse. (♫♫ cut around 2:30, "and this bird you cannot change" ♫♫)

July - Now I'm assessing who's not working out on the O's roster and who can the Orioles trade for! This was one thing that I really looked forward to if the O's ever returned to winning. It was so depressing to see the O's on the trading sidelines for whoever was the big name at the time. And the O's were trying to unload whoever was decent on the roster which made the situation worse. Now we live in a world where we get to discuss if the O's can trade for Jon Lester. (♫♫ cue about 4:45 minutes, "Lord know I can't cha-a--a-nge, won't you fly me a freebird" and into guitar solo awesomeness around 5:00 and on" ♫♫)

August - Gotta watch the waiver wire to see if the O's claim anyone to either block a player from going to a contender or as a possible trade. And I'm closely following the schedule of other playoff contenders to watch the race. I know other people start earlier but contenders fade in and out so I usually wait until later in the season.

September - I'm still following the Orioles at this time of year instead of just baseball in general. Chris Davis is hitting monster dongs! (♫♫ cue up to the 7:30 time mark with Chris Davis home run clips on mlb.com).

October - Now move forward to around 8:18 until Raul Ibanez ruins everything.

Besides changes in how I've watch the Orioles, there are broader social changes. Some changes are small and obvious like massive game day threads at Camden Chat or the feeling of excitement at Orioles Park. Who could forget the packed stadium in September 2012 after the statue ceremonies and when Mark Reynolds blasted the Yankees to oblivion. Then there are smaller details that make life as an O's fan different now.

- Games that rained out games must be made up.

- The O's actually show up on prime time now even if the announcers are still NY/BOS homers. During the dark days, I don't think I ever saw a Sunday ESPN game with the O's (except when Cal retired). In fact, since I didn't live around DC/BAL at the time, the only time I saw the O's on TV was if the O's played the Braves during interleague on TNT or the White Sox on WGN.

- The local media had to advertise the stars players on opposing teams to promote O's games. "Come see Troy Glaus and the Angels take on the O's..." Ugh.

- I now follow the minors not because I've been driven there by the abysmal play of the the big league club but because pieces there could help a playoff run now.

The only downside is that I'm guessing it's a little harder to get tickets now versus the dark days of 2003. But that's OK. Just please don't let me go back to losing baseball.

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