In a little more than 24 hours, it will be Opening Day in the city of Baltimore for the Orioles.
It’s supposed to be a cool, but sunny day out at Camden Yards on Friday; however, I’ll be excited be to out at the park and the Birds of Baltimore start the season out on a high note.
The game is sold out on Friday, and I’ll be curious to see what attendance is like on Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon. The local media will treat the day as holiday with wall-to-wall coverage, it will be a day of pomp-and-circumstance with the pre-game ceremonies, and people will be excited to baseball back in toen.
The bars around the stadium will be buzzing, there will be a lot of alcohol flowing, and there will be a lot of fans dressed in black and orange to partake in another start of the year for the Orioles.
However, I do get the feeling now that Opening Day at Oriole Park is like going to church on Christmas, or Easter in the city.
Well, sort of like people are glad to be there for the sake of being there, and the other 80 home games don’t matter.
It’s all right though. The Orioles have not given fans a lot to cheer about. The buzz has to be built back up when it comes baseball in the region, and the bottom line is that the Orioles have to start winning.
Many are picking the Orioles to finish last in their division; however, Friday is a day of optimism and to look at things with rose-colored glasses.
Yesterday at the Camden Yards 20th Anniversary event at the ballpark, the other fan bloggers who were there – Stacey Long of Camden Chat, Chris Stoner of Baltimore Sports and Life, Daniel Moroz of Camden Crazies, and Mike Williams of Orioles Hangout – all had varying opinions of the state of the team.
However, everyone came to a consensus that the team will struggle.
Despite it all, I’m just glad baseball – for real – is back. Considering everything that we all have to deal with in life, the good and bad, sports is a great diversion from the reality of life – at least for a few hours.
No matter what happens with the Orioles this season, I’m glad to see Opening Day just around the corner.
