Finally.
I was 18 when the Orioles won the 1983 World Series. I had been a huge fan since my dad took me to my first game on 33rd Street in 1976. During the first decade of being an Orioles fan meant 2 things:
A whole lot of winning
An organization that was the envy of baseball - "The Oriole Way"
Back then, I was naïve enough to think that winning titles would come rather quickly...an excruciating loss in '79 followed by a 100 win season in '80. The incredible end to the '82 season followed by the '83 championship team. Life was so good...
That was 40 years ago. Man, I'm getting older. Older, and still waiting for a return trip to the Fall Classic. So many of the last 40 years have been lost and hopeless. But now, the young guns are flourishing and it's been an absolute joy to watch. This team is fun. It plays hard. They play the game the right way. It's almost like a rewind of the clock back to when I was a kid...
But...now this. You all have said it better than I can. What an embarrassment. The thing that makes this particularly bad is that it now diminishes what's happening on the field. For the first time since I was a kid, the Orioles have been talked about by others with admiration...respect...awe...and now this.
Why? How can a family be such a public relations disaster?