9 Signs You May Be a Baltimore Orioles Fan

The few. The proud. The Baltimore Orioles fans.

Okay, so there may not be a few of them. There's plenty. It's just that most of them are in hiding.

Who can blame them after seeing 14 straight losing seasons of baseball from their favorite team?

But when the team turns it around, all of the O's fans will resurface once again. And in full force. Camden Yards will be packed and merchandise will be sold because the fans won't have anything to protest owner Peter Angelos over anymore.

So, if you're a fan of another team trying to spot the enemy or just a Birds fan who isn't sure you're a Birds fan, look for these signs to help you along.

You Will Argue That Your Ballpark Is the Best to the Death

Apparently, there are people in this world who think there's a more beautiful major league ballpark than Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Yeah, I don't get it either.

Since 1992, Camden has been and always will be the most magnificent place to watch a ballgame. No contest. There is no convincing O's fans otherwise.

I honestly don't understand how it isn't just a flat-out fact, but whatever.

Seriously, how many teams have had their ballparks modeled off of the influence of Camden Yards since it opened? That should be proof enough that this is the best stadium there is.

You Feels Like These Guys

Like I said in the intro slide, plenty of O's fans are hiding. These two are just publicly doing it.

Fourteen years of losing wears on a person, as you can see and as you probably know. The only ones who have it worse than us are Pittsburgh Pirates fans.

Pretty much all of us Orioles faithful want to run and hide from the fans of teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, etc. at some point in our lives.

But at the end of the day, we're all proud to have a team to root for; a team that's from our city. And we would never give that away.

Best Mascot/Logo? We Think So

Just like the ballpark slide, O's fans know for a fact that they have the best mascot and logo in baseball, and probably in all of sports.

It just doesn't get better than the cartoon bird and accompanying mascot costume. It's the perfect reminder than baseball as a game is supposed to be fun to play and watch, just as the mascot of the team is. What's more fun and appealing than a cartoon bird wearing your team's hat.

All other arguments are invalid, as you would find if you were to try and tell an O's fan that your team's logo is better than theirs. No... just no.

I'm sure the Oriole mascot is thrilled that the team brought back the cartoon bird as the official logo of the team, as well as the white-panel home hats with the cartoon logo.

Maybe he'll be thrilled enough to sign onto the O's pitching staff. I mean, he can't be much worse than what they've got right now...

Which brings me to my next point.

Don't Pick on Us!

Yes, we know our team sucks. We've heard all of your "clever jokes" and witty remarks.

You're not allowed to pick on us or our team. Only we are. And we all feel that way, so lay off.

We know our pitchers suck. We talk about it all the time. But don't you dare start giving us crap for it or anything else you may find to be humorous.

We're allowed to wear stupid hats if we want to or jump up and down and scream at our team for playing so poorly. Just us. Not you. Us.

Since I don't live in Baltimore, I don't get to go to Orioles games unless I visit the city. I've gone the last three summers and each time have attended a game during the visit. One of my favorite things is to see fans of the opposing teams come into the park talking huge amounts of smack, only to see their team lose.

Of the three times I've been to Camden Yards the last few years, the O's have won each time. I've been lucky to see one of my favorite things happen each time.

There's nothing better than seeing your O's shut up the fans of other teams, right fellow Orioles fans?

September 28, 2011

If you're like me, the picture that is accompanying this slide was one of the proudest moments you had ever experienced being an Orioles fan.

And it was definitely, easily, without a doubt the greatest moment of the last 14 seasons and probably will hold that spot in our hearts until the Birds win another World Series.

Thinking about that night, seeing pictures or walking by a Boston Red Sox fan (or in many cases, "fan", especially since I live in Florida) still fill me with the same incredible joy and excitement I experienced on that final day of the 2011 regular baseball season.

I'm positive that every single Orioles fan that's reading this knows exactly what I'm talking about and will agree with me.

To those of whom are reading this and don't know what I'm referring too, you probably don't claim to be an Orioles fan and are just reading this for fun. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just Google "MLB September 28, 2011." You'll get your explanation.

"Balmer Black and Arnge, Hon!"

If you talk like this, I'd place a friendly wager on the fact that you're an Orioles fan.

Like any other old city, the people of Baltimore have developed their own way of speaking; their own accent. You see, they don't live in Baltimore. They live in "Balmer."

His or her significant other is "hon," not "hun."

And the bill of the Orioles' hats is "arnge," not "orange."

Other than that, this slide is pretty self-explanatory. If you're an O's fan from "Balmer," you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, well then it doesn't matter to you anyway.

You Know Where Numbers 5 and 8 Stand

If you know that Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken Jr. are the all-time best players at their respective positions, then you're probably a Baltimore Orioles fan.

Or you just have a good baseball head on you.

Or both.

Brooks is the best third baseman to have ever played the game. No contest. You don't acquire the nickname of "The Human Vacuum Cleaner" on accident. This guy was just plain un-freakin-believable. As an O's fan, you're aware of that.

You also know that Ripken remains the best shortstop to ever set foot on a baseball diamond. Yes, Yankees fans, that means that he's better than Derek Jeter. I don't care the argument, Jeter is not better than Ripken, nor is anyone else.

Fact.

Matt Wieters' Hall of Fame Likeliness Is "YES"

If you know about the following website, you're probably an O's fan.

Matt Wieters Facts: http://www.mattwietersfacts.com

For those of you who don't know of it and don't care to look, it's basically a website full of Chuck Norris-type jokes, except about Matt Wieters. For example: "Matt Wieters can DH in the National League."

It's a fun little site and hopefully when all is said and done, Wieters' career numbers will justify the creation of such a site for him.

Unfortunately, the site doesn't seem to have been updated for quite some time, but oh well. It's still a good laugh every once in a while.

The Star-Spangled Banner

Whether it's a spring training game, regular season, or playoffs, you'll always hear this during the Star-Spangled Banner prior to ballgames where the O's are playing, as long as there's enough O's fans there.

And if you do this, I think it's safe to say you are most definitely an O's fan.

The second to last line of the Star-Spangled Banner begins with an "O!", just like the beginning of the song does. On that second "O!", at Orioles games, all the O's fans will yell that "'O!" at the top of their lungs, so it sounds like this:

"... Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,..."

Well, it doesn't translate well through text, but you get the idea.

"O!" "O's." Get it?

One of the coolest things about it is that the Star-Spangled Banner's lyrics actually come from a poem written by Francis Scott Key while he was witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry. Yes, the same Fort McHenry that is on the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore.