As a former Orioles ticket holder I can appreciate the sentiment some fans express during Thursday's day game at Camden. Organized by
Sports Talk 1570 in Baltimore a group of fans attended Thursday's game and walked out in protest 1 hour into the proceeding. The protest was against Peter Angelos, the Orioles owner who is perhaps the worst owner in baseball after the Tribune Company. The fans want new ownership, a better team, or to at least "get some players in here who want to be part of the community, who understand what a crab cake is."
From a fan's perspective good business men make lousy owners because they usually put the bottom line ahead of winning percentage. Its precisely that characteristic of Angelos that guarantees this type of protest would never work with Angelos. He is a
business man and while you were "protesting" you did it without impacting his bottom line. If you want to make a statement in Baltimore stop buying tickets. Don't renew your season tickets. Don't buy yet another Orioles hat. Don't even wear the Orioles hats you have. Stop watching the Orioles on television. If you really want to protest do it outside Camden. If he can't sell tickets and can't sell advertising during the games....that is the kind of protest the Angelos would understand. Of course the real problem here is that Baltimore, as much as any city I've spent time in, is a baseball town. They love the game and they will keep buying tickets even if it is only to see another team win 9 games out of 10. And you know what....I suspect Mr. Angelos knows this too.
Baltimore Sun Story