A winning season. It?s not something the Orioles have accomplished in a few years, OK, a decade.
But beating the Yankees in a three-game series isn?t bad. At least it made things easier going into the opening game Monday against the defending American League Champion Detroit Tigers in the 45 degree chill with at least a small bastion of hope.
And hey, hope springs eternal, even if team owner Peter Angelos and his players don?t deserve it.
Christopher Boer, a sophomore at Carver Center for Arts and Technology, told The Examiner, “Whenever [my dad and I] wear the colors, it does seem to help … But if we leave a game early, things always start going downhill for the Orioles.”
So maybe its not all the team?s fault. When we don?t wear Oriole orange, and when we give up too soon, and especially when we don?t go to the games, maybe it does affect play.
It certainly affects business in Baltimore. The heads of the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the Maryland Science Center report spikes in attendance when the team plays the Red Sox and Yankees. Who would have figured Bostonians and New Yorkers are avid museumgoers.
Marylanders could be. How hard is it to eat a hot dog, drink a beer, cheer the team and maybe stay to visit the Inner Harbor? Oh yes, and cheer occasionally for the home team.
How come thousands of fans from Boston, New York, even Philadelphia, have figured out they can come to Baltimore for a good time, but we ? only a short drive or train ride away ? haven?t?
So come downtown! Who knows, maybe more fans will mean more reasons to believe in the Orioles. And Baltimore.
