On Saturday, the Baltimore Orioles once again held their annual FanFest. I’ll have more thoughts later on, and so will James; however, I’m going to give you all some brief thoughts from the day.
This year, the keywords were patience and realism, not optimism or false dreams. Over nine-thousand fans showed up at the Baltimore Convention Center – seemingly no small feat considering the weather and anticipation for the big Ravens’ game on Sunday – longing for baseball again.
Rather than selling fans hope, Dan Duquette, Buck Showalter and others were a tad more realistic this time around with their thoughts along with expectations. I think that’s a good thing as the team is rebuilding, most likely to finish in the second division; therefore, we should not be fooled.
Well, now fans know the real state of the Baltimore Orioles, so expectations for next season seem to be much more tempered. The mood at the convention center didn’t have the same buzz as in 2011, although people were happy to have a taste of baseball back in the region – if only for a day.
I decided to change the coverage of the blog at this event. Instead of hanging out, meeting up with old friends and taking it all in at FanFest, I took very few pictures and instead wanted to cover the day as ‘media’. It was a very long day; however, it did go by ridiculously fast.
We were fully credentialed and stayed in the media to interview various players and team personnel. It was quite an experience and was able to get a ton of content and thoughts first-hand from many within the organization. I’ll try to post what I can starting tonight and into next week.
Spring Training opens up in a little less than a month, and it seems everyone at FanFest is looking forward to Spring Training and April.
What the new season brings remains to be seen. Let’s hope it’s not a painful one in Birdland.
