Musings Of A Divorcee: Why This Fan Left The Orioles For The Nationals

I was very glad to see the Orioles and Ravens left off of this new DC regional site. It’s a whole different city, people, not just DC’s northernmost suburb. Want to read about the O’s? Great! There are many, many sports blogs that cover Baltimore and the Orioles, and at least a couple w/in the SB Nation network.

(I grew up in the area and steadfastly refused to root for the Orioles growing up—I was from DC, after all, and they were most decidedly NOT—but I understand that for many, some baseball is better than no baseball.)

BTW, welcome to the Nats fanbase!

Every Nationals fans is a “traitor” to someone in many ways. If you were a fan of baseball before they came here, you either rooted for someone else or you stewed in anger that baseball had left your hometown. I was from NY and I rooted for the Mets before I moved to DC. I think the truer Nats fans embraced the Nats in 2005 and didn’t go through the type of existential angst that Mr. Reed did but such is life.

Root for your hometown team unless you have a deep attachment to someone else. If you’re MD, especially tied to Frederick, Bowie, or outside of MoCo I can certainly see how O’s are the hometown team. But for us hailing from Northeast and elsewhere in the District can’t say that you can call someone a bandwagon jumper from hooking onto the local team.

Yes, the timing is a bit suspect. But far better for O’s fans to hope that some of this “jumping” will inspire Angelos to go after bigger name free agents and get more aggressive with improving his roster.

speaking as a nats fan…no, you can’t be a fan of both teams. not with the history behind washington’s attempts to acquire a franchise, and peter angelos’ actions to block that move at every turn.

if the writer of the article had been born and raised in baltimore, i might understand feeling like a traitor. but hey, you’re a DC guy and your city finally has its own team. embrace it! welcome!

You gotta pick one then.

The O’s have one a World Series title during my lifetime, and I didn’t think about rooting for them for a second.

If the situations were reversed (Baltimore has no team for 30+ years, suddenly gets one, fans jump ship to the new Bawmer franchise) I wouldn’t begrudge their departure at all. Not really sure where all this antagonism is coming from, other than it’s the Internet.

and by the way, you should probably know who your beloved franchise’s new cornerstone is, harper’s an outfielder

Ahahaha. Touché. Mr. Reed, you don’t really follow the Natinals that closely, do you?

The only reason I rooted for the Orioles through thick and thin for my entire life was because there was no DC team.

Then root for both.

The only reason I rooted for the Redskins through thick and thin my entire life was because Baltimore didn’t have a football team when I was growing up. Now they have one, but I can’t turn my back on 12 years of fandom. So I root for the ravens in the AFC, but keep the Redskins as #1 in my heart. Because if you can walk away that easily, you were never a fan in the first place.

Also, you contradict yourself in your own post. This has nothing to do with the Natinals appearing on the scene, and everything to do with the Orioles’ performance:

….I’d like to give you the, “It’s not you, it’s me,” but if brutal honesty is my goal, then let it be said: It’s you.

….But in the end, you have nobody to blame but yourself. For years, you underachieved, you blew saves in the ninth inning, you fired Davey Johnson and then Ray Miller, you didn’t make the playoffs, you promised that “this year” would be different, you conned me into believing in you after a hot start, only to crash and burn in the worst way imaginable down the stretch….

You, the Orioles, are inevitably doomed for the foreseeable (45 of the next 48 games against teams .500 or better) and unforeseeable (next season and beyond) future. …. The Nationals, meanwhile, have combined hope with on-field success, likable players, and a perfect timing. They are peaking when you are at your low point.

Is that your definition of rooting through “thick and thin”?

Just admit it. You’re a bandwagoner. Embrace it. Own it. ‘Cause this pseudo-rationalizing you’re doing is defensive and disingenuous.