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September 22, 2006
Orioles Fans Show Up Cuban Pete
Almost 18,000 fans showed up in Baltimore yesterday for a more or less meaningless regular season game between the Orioles and the Tigers. But what was surprising was that about 1,000 of those fans showed up at a day make up game in September just so they could walk out in the midst of it to show up Orioles owner Peter Angelos. It was a protest organized by Nestor Aparacio, owner of a Baltimore-area sports talk radio station WNST-AM and the nephew of former Orioles shortstop Luis Aparicio. The radio station owner organized the protest to express fan frustration over Angelos' tenure as owner, one that includes a streak of nine straight losing seasons since the team's last postseason appearance in 1997. One would think that the 25,000 or so fans who attended yesterday's game disguised as empty seats, a sight that has been repeated often in Baltimore in recent years, would serve as protest enough. Then again, given some of the things that Angelos said in an interview with the Associated Press after the game, it's clear that Aparicio got inside of Angelos' kitchen and rattled some pots and pans: "He [Aparicio] is a very unimportant person who has delusions of grandeur," Angelos said. "To begin with, to leave in the middle of the game is an abuse of the players who have worked hard and played their hearts out." My friends, that is the sound of a man who doesn't like to have to trifle with the little people. And it's also the sound of an owner who doesn't seem willing to be accountable to his customers for the performance of the team. Maybe 15 years ago you could have gotten away with talking about your fan base like this. But not today. Fans talk to one another. They share their ideas and their anger in real time. And if they want to pay for a ticket just so they can stand up in the middle of the game and leave to make a point, then so be it. Perhaps Angelos needs to have something explained to him -- like the fact that people aren't just skipping trips from Washington to Baltimore to see the Orioles because of the Nationals, they're skipping these trips with malice in their hearts. That's thanks to the way Angelos stood in the way of the relocation of the Expos to Washington, then fumbled the creation of his regional sports cable network so badly that he kept the vast majority of the team's games off Washington area television for almost two full seasons. Earlier this week, the Orioles abandoned their team store in downtown Washington, D.C. after 20 years in business -- and the locals who actually noticed, cheered. Ever since it became apparent that baseball was coming back to Washington, Angelos has behaved as if fans in this area were part of an inherited patrimony, rather than customers who can pick up and leave any time they want. Well, you can only abuse folks for so long before they either stand up and fight, or just vote with their feet. The result: Meet one of the only owners in professional sports who is reviled in not just one, but two different cities for entirely different reasons. That's some kind of daily double if you ask me. UPDATE: Murray Chass of the New York Times got Angelos on the phone for an interview. I loved the photo with the fan holding a sign that read, "Asbestos has poisoned my team." Here's what Orioles pitcher Kris Benson had to say about the protest: “It was pretty hard to miss,” he said. “But I think all the players liked it. We don’t mind if they come every single day because they were kind of cheering for the team. From the time that we stepped on the field until the time that we left, everybody was pretty excited to have some pumped up fans.” So much for that disrespect angle.
Eric
02:30 AM
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