Can You Geek Out Over a Last Place Team?
Sports fans are a crazy bunch, aren’t we? We pay ridiculous amounts of money to wear the name of our favorite players on our backs. We follow our teams in person, on TV, online, through Blackberries, etc. We are insatiable…and that is a very good thing.
However, when your team is in last place, and has been for over a decade, is it OK to keep that passion burning?
That’s the situation I find myself in, as a lifelong fan of the Baltimore Orioles. Heck, I had the Oriole Bird at my Bar Mitzvah! (If I had those pictures on a computer, you bet I’d share them!)
My beloved Orange-and-Black Attack sits in last place in the American League East…again…wallowing in another year of futility. Despite two straight wins over the surprisingly good Toronto Blue Jays, the season-long prospects of the team appear to be fairly dim.
But the news that came last night from VP of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail has changed the dour mood in Charm City (and of displaced fans), with Baseball America’s #1 prospect Matt Wieters scheduled to make his major league debut on Friday night at home in front of a packed house at Camden Yards.
O's Future-Is-Now Catcher Matt Wieters
Looking up and down the roster, it’s easy to see that THIS is the transition year every Oriole fan had been waiting for. Nick Markakis gets an extension, Adam Jones cements himself in centerfield for the long-term (who was the last dominant CF the O’s had? Brady Anderson? Paul Blair?), Nolan Reimold has grabbed the leftfield job tightly, rookie starting pitchers Brad Bergesen and Jason Berken have been impressive (with David Hernandez starting tomorrow and guys like Patton and Tillman not far behind).
Ideally, I’d like to see the team develop a few corner infielders to replace Huff, Wigginton and Mora, but that’s just nitpicking. Those guys have done their jobs very well.
So, for the first time in a VERY long time, I find myself completely geeking out over my last-place baseball team.
The question I ask of you: What is the most embarrassing thing you have geeked out about recently?
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