Birdland Crush

Last autumn I spent some time writing about over-regulation for the Baltimore Orioles and Major League Baseball. We’re starting to see it across the board in baseball, such as the rules governing takeout slides and blocking the plate. The more rules and stipulations that exist, the more they’re open to interpretation by different umpires.

And over the weekend we saw the dark side of interpreting rules in a college basketball game. In short, St. Bonaventure beat VCU in an apparent upset victory – or did they? “The Bonnies” hit a shot to take a one-point lead with what appeared to be .4 seconds on the clock. At one point the clock actually said zero, and the students stormed the court in celebration.

However the game wasn’t over – there were .4 seconds left. That’s barely enough time for a heave-ho at the end, but in theory it’s enough time. However the game official whistled a technical foul against St. Bonaventure because the crowd stormed the court. VCU was awarded a free throw (which they converted to tie the game – with .4 seconds left), and then won the game in overtime.

This is where we get into well “technically” the letter of the rule says… And that’s where frustrations can boil over. Major League Baseball should look at that situation and take note. Because something like that could in fact happen in baseball if an umpire wanted to interpret a rule one way or another.

In accordance with the rule the way it is written, the referee in that game was within his right to whistle a technical foul. Some people might even argue that he would have shirked his duty had he not done so, in fact. But baseball fans have a word/hashtag for this: #umpshow. Basically when an umpire decides to make himself part of the show, we start seeing that term thrown around.

And in my view that’s exactly what the ref in that basketball game did. Because he absolutely had to rigidly enforce the rule by the letter, he not only became part of “the show,” but he put his own stamp on the game. That’s not supposed to happen.

So some might ask what exactly I want officials to do. If a rule is broken, should some sort of enforcement not occur? Of course it should. However if you’re an umpire or ref, you’re also schooled in how the game works. So in that case the ref should have understood the magnitude of that moment, and yes in essence looked the other way. That’s not to say that he should have just given the St. Bonaventure students carte blanche to storm the court before the game was over, but he should have looked at the circustance of the moment as opposed to just the letter of the rule.

And yes folks, if there are too many rules sometimes things like that can happen. So MLB needs to take note of that. I’ll let you throw scenarios around in your heads as to how something along those lines could in theory occur in baseball, but when something along those lines flat out costs you a game that you rightfully won it’s no laughing matter.

As an aside, baseball does have one advantage over the rest of the sports in situations like these. The concept of “playing under protest” still exists according to the rules. If a manager thinks a rule has been unfairly applied or misinterpreted, he can let the umpire know that he’s playing under protest. The umpire is then supposed to document that, and put that in his report to the league office after the game.

The manager can drop the protest after the game if he so chooses (which most managers will do if they end up winning the game). However if he chooses to continue his protest he has until noon the next day to send in a formal notice of protest to the league office. The league will then review the situation, and if they decide that yes in fact a rule was misinterpreted or misapplied by the umpire, they can order the game to be re-played from that moment.

Apparently that concept doesn’t exist in college basketball – but I think it should exist in all sports. However that aside, the more rules and regulations which exist the more chance there is that something like that could happen.

Like the rest of the sports world, most of the Baltimore Orioles will be watching the Super Bowl tonight. So I’m going to keep this brief today because everyone’s focusing on that. As well they should be.

Super Sunday also means that pitchers and catchers will be reporting soon. But again – another story for another day! Baltimore does have a rich history in a sense when it comes to the Super Bowl. The Baltimore Colts of course were the vanquished in one of the most famous Super Bowl games of all time, Super Bowl III. My Dad always told me to dislike the Jets growing up as a result!

However two years later the Colts made it back to the big game, defeating the Dallas Cowboys on a Jim O’Brien field goal as time expired. Baltimore returned to the Super Bowl in the form of the Ravens in the 2000-2001 season, defeating the NY Giants. And of course in 2012-13 when they beat San Francisco. So all in all, the city of Baltimore has only lost the Super Bowl once.

Having said that, most of Baltimore’s rich NFL history with regard to championships was before the Super Bowl existed. Johnny Unitas and the Colts of course won the greatest game ever played, the 1958 NFL title game against the Giants in NY. What most people don’t remember is that they also beat the Giants in the 1959 title game, this time at Memorial Stadium.

This year of course Baltimore fans will watch the hated New England Patriots take on the Atlanta Falcons. Along with everyone else, I’m pulling for Atlanta. But not simply because I don’t like Brady or Belichek – it would be fun to see someone win it all who’s never won it before. And I’ve been a Matt Ryan fan since he was at Boston College. He broke Maryland’s heart a few times, but he’s a decent QB.

But again similar to most people, I’m not sure Brady’s going to lose tonight. I do think it’ll be a competitive game, but I’m picking the Patriots to win and I’ll give three: New England 31, Atlanta 27.

When it comes to my own competitors covering the Baltimore Orioles, let’s just say that I read my share of articles from varying people. I noticed one yesterday by Camden Chat’s Chris Booze, advocating the Orioles move to the National League. As a person who admires the National League game, I clicked on it and read it.

First off, I highly recommend reading the article, as Mr. Booze makes some wonderful points. In short however, he wonders aloud if switching the O’s to the National League East might not be a part of a future realignment of some sort. Speaking for myself, I would welcome it.

National League baseball is old school baseball. And I’m an old school baseball type of guy (within reason – I am a fan of instant replay, but that’s another story). Whenever the O’s go on the road in a National League city, I love having the opportunity to see the pitchers hit. I’ve always hated the DH, and I think it takes the strategy out of the game.

I recognize that I’m in the minority, because even in Mr. Booze’s article he references the fact that American League games are more exciting. But are we simply trying to sell a few more tickets, or play the game in as pure a form as possible. My point’s always been that a pitcher should be just as accountable for hitting as anyone else on the field. It allows him to take ownership of run support in a way.

But we all know the strategy that comes with the National League game as well. Double-switches, pinch-hitters, etc. That’s part of baseball, although I’ll grant you that perhaps in the old days it wasn’t so much a part of the game. Pitchers pitched complete games in those days.

Obviously the one issue with this is that the traditional AL East rivalries would cease to exist from the Orioles’ standpoint. However would it not just feel “right” having division rivalries with Washington and Philadelphia? It would make for easy travel to road games, among other things.

Is this going to happen? Probably not. Or at least not at anytime soon. But it’s a thought. Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t mind it.

The radio home of the Baltimore Orioles, 105.7 WJZ-FM (“the fan”) announced their spring training schedule yesterday. The station will broadcast 12 of the Orioles’ spring games during Florida Grapefruit League action, beginning with the home opener on February 26th in Sarasota. The complete schedule is available by clicking here.

One of the games carried by WJZ will be the March 7th home game in Sarasota against the Dominican Republic’s national team. And that game will have a very strange quirk. Manny Machado will be absent from the Orioles that day…but he will be at Ed Smith Stadium. The O’s will actually be playing against Manny, who will partake in the game as a member of the Domincan Republic.

The final three spring broadcasts will feature the full game package, including a 30-minute pre and post-game show. Veteran announcer Joe Angel will return for his 18th season behind the microphone. His primary broadcast partner will be Jim Hunter, however similar to last year Mike Bordick and Ben McDonald will fill in on occasion as well.

Angel’s longtime broadcast partner, Fred Manfra, appears to be scaling back his schedule moreso than he even did last year, as he’ll call select home games. So in a sense we’re seeing the end of an era in the Orioles’ radio booth; Fred Manfra’s been a part of Orioles’ broadcasts dating back to when Chuck Thompson was calling games. So has Angel, incidentally; both men are institutions in Baltimore.

Yesterday I wrote about how the Baltimore Orioles would soon have a neighbor in the Sarasota area in the Atlanta Braves. However there’s little doubt that Orioles’ spring training has quickly become one of the hottest tickets in Florida. They’ve set attendance records at Ed Smith Stadium nearly every year since moving there in 2010, and teams literally line up to play the Orioles in their spring home yard.

So…how did that happen? First off, it came to be due to the fact that the O’s identified that they played in one of the worst facilities in MLB in Fort Lauderdale Stadium. It got to the point to where they were having a tough time convincing teams to come and play them. Furthermore similar to Atlanta’s issue, the bus rides to away games were getting longer and longer – many teams were moving to the Gulf Coast, and the ones who still were on the Atlantic side weren’t all the way down in southern Florida.

So when the Reds moved into the Arizona Cactus League, it left Sarasota wihtout a tenant. The Orioles had actually played there for one season in 1991, so they jumped on what the Reds left behind and moved in. However before they did so, they engaged in a massive outreach program to the Sarasota community. This effectively made Sarasota as much a part of Birdland as anywhere in the greater Baltimore area.

After that outreach program and after the team had actually moved there, they began renovating Ed Smith Stadium little by little. It quickly became “the place” to catch spring training baseball, and teams were lining up to play games there because of the great facility the Orioles had created. And in investing so much money in the ballpark and the community, the fans have consistently rewarded the Orioles by coming out in droves and helping to support the team.

Obviously, many of the fans who come to Orioles games in Florida do come down from Baltimore. However the Orioles also have strong “season ticket” sales in Sarasota, which in essence are local companies investing in their town’s spring team. One would think that tickets to a big league spring training game would be a great client gift – most games are in the afternoon, people can take a day off of work, etc.

So to teams looking to alter their spring training experience, the Orioles are really an example to be seen. It’s not just if you build it they will come. That probably goes without saying in a sense. If you want them to come and stay, you have to remain engaged. Look no further than last week’s FanFest, which every year is sponsored by the Sarasota County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau.

We know that the Baltimore Orioles have to work extra hard at winning over the hearts and minds of the mid-Atlantic region with the Washington Nationals right down the pike. And for the most part I would submit that they do a good job of that. However in a few short years they might have to do the same in Sarasota during spring training.

According to this article, it appears that the Birds will have a neighbor in Sarasota starting in 2019. The Atlanta Braves are planning to build a state-of-the-art facility which is expected to cost $75-$80 million. Atlanta of course has made their spring home Disney’s Wide World of Sports for the past 19 years in Atlanta. They’re planning to move for the same reason the Orioles did; to cut down on travel costs. All of the teams in the Florida Grapefruit League are either on the east or west coast of the state – the Braves were kind of isolated in Orlando.

However since moving to Sarasota, we’ve all seen how the local community has embraced the Orioles. And that’s partially due to the fact that the Orioles really spent a lot of money renovating Ed Smith Stadium, and embedding themselves in the Sarasota community. People felt like they had as much a stake in the team as the fans of Baltimore did. In fact I’ve met numerous fans who have journeyed up to Baltimore to catch the Birds at Camden Yards from the Sarasota area.

So will interest in the Orioles wane with a new team coming to town? It’s tough to say. On one hand the connection with the Sarasota community was almost instantaneous – and again that’s due in large part to the club embedding itself in the community right away. So in that sense one might say that the Sarasota community wouldn’t turn it’s back on the Orioles.

However in the same respect, I think you’ll see the same phenomenon as existed when Washington got a team back. There’ll be a certain novelty to Atlanta being in town, along with a brand new park. Furthmore my understanding is that their intention is to operate the park year-around, similar to what the Orioles do with Ed Smith Stadium.

At the end of the day, some would argue that competition isn’t a bad thing. And it’s probably not. Quite frankly, both teams have more important things to worry about than the hearts and minds of Sarasota residents. The O’s have played Atlanta several times over the past few springs, so one would think that trend will continue even more so given the fact that the two teams are going to be so close.

Incidentally, it’s not uncommon for teams to share towns in a sense for spring training. The Boston Red Sox and Minneosta Twins used to share a facility in Fort Myers – but now they just share the town. And starting this year the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals will be sharing the new Ballpark of the Palms in West Palm Beach. In essence, the idea is to get your work in first, and win the hearts and minds of the community second.