Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Football vs Baseball

It is that time of the year. The Boys of Summer (who play 162 games) have to share the airwaves and fan interest with the behemoths of autumn who play 16, 20 counting pre-season, games per season. Football training camp is starting.

OK--it is true--I love baseball.

This year is different for those of us in Baltimore. The baseball season is not effectively over. Baltimore has a team with a winning record and contending for a post season wildcard playoff berth. While I fear the annual July-August Orioles meltdown, I hope fervently that this year is different and that the team grows stronger, rather than weaker as the season begins to draw to a decisive conclusion.

And then there are the Ravens (or the Steelers, or the Redskins) who are beginning training camps and trying to monopolize the sports interest in a manner only the overpaid football players can do. Football is the king of the autumn, but it is still summer and our Boys of Summer are still in the hunt.

This week begins some important series which will definitely shape the Orioles post-season aspirations. They face the Tampa Bay Rays, the Oakland Athletics and then head off to New York to face the (I hate to even write the name) Yankees. Our small budget team can turn some heads by winning these series. I will be at the Thursday afternoon game against the Rays.

The Ravens (as well as the other football teams) will still be on the sidelines during these pivotal series, but the sports media will be all over ever practice snap of the ball. It is like a soap opera with a gangland style ending.

Baltimore is a baseball town. Don't forget that. Having a winner again is awesome. While I enjoy having a great football team and experiencing the intense rivalries of the AFC North, the Orioles are in the AL East, perhaps the toughest division in all of baseball--and they are still alive.

And if the Boys of Summer can keep the football teams on the sidelines for a few extra weeks--all the better. Autumn needn't come too quickly this year.


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD


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