| Sunday August 21 |  | #DMD |  | Volume XXV Issue 21 |
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tillman’s shoulder bigger concern
than o’s bats
If something’s wrong with Chris Tillman, the Orioles are in trouble.
Tillman was wildly ineffective last night against the Astros, walking five guys in two innings of work and allowing six earned runs. He was supposed to start on Tuesday night against the Red Sox but was pushed back to Friday vs. Houston because of shoulder soreness.
There was no word afterwards if Tillman experienced any kind of discomfort or if last night’s poor performance was just one of those nights. If his shoulder is still bothering him, that’s a dangerous issue for the Orioles to inherit as September draws near.
It probably shouldn’t be a big deal to lose 12-2 to Houston, unless you also lost to them the night before, 15-8.
Baltimore’s offense wasn’t good last night, but the pitching couldn’t do anything worth a hoot in the first three innings, either. It was 6-0 before you finished your first beer.
That’s now 27 runs allowed in the last two games.
The bats got off to a good start in the Astros series, with a win on Thursday and a first-inning eruption on Friday that saw the Birds hit four home runs.
But, ever since that first-inning home-run episode on Friday night, the Orioles offense has pretty much gone on walk-about. They scored five times in the first inning on Friday and have scored just five times in the 17 innings since then.
The Orioles need a healthy Chris Tillman in order to keep pace with Toronto and Boston.
They also need Dylan Bundy to pitch above his head a little bit over the last five or six starts he makes this season.
And it would help if Yovani Gallardo would put together a month’s worth of good starts instead of that “good one, bad one, bad one” routine he seems to be buried in this season.
Tillman’s health is critical, though. He’s been nearly an automatic win this season and the Orioles offense seems to respond to him as well. Saturday notwithstanding, that is.
Sunday’s series finale with the Astros now takes on a little bit of added importance, as the Birds try to at least keep pace with what Toronto and Boston have been doing recently . . . winning.
what does baltimore’s sports “mount rushmore” look like?
This one might be fun.
One of our newest features at #DMD that we hope to have up and running here sometime soon is a Daily Poll that will allow you to post your answer(s) and see how it compares to others who reply as well.
This topic, Baltimore’s Sports Mount Rushmore, would be perfect for that daily poll.
But wait, let me explain what I mean by Baltimore’s Sports Mount Rushmore. We’re not talking about those who PLAYED in Baltimore. We’re talking about those who grew up here. And by “here”, we’ll include someone who attended high school in the general Baltimore metro area.
For those who are going to ask…yes, Cal Ripken Jr. constitutes a “Baltimore guy” even though he was from Harford County. He’s from “around here”.
This is truly about identifying the four athletes from Baltimore who would make up our mythical “Mount Rushmore” here in Charm City.
So, who are your four? Male, female, young, old…who are the four athletes on Baltimore’s Sports Mount Rushmore?
I’ll give you mine starting on Monday.
In the meantime, let’s see your four via the “Comments” section below.
we have a second bus for
the sept. 9 adele show!
I f you missed out back in the winter when we first offered our September 9th trip to see Adele in concert in Philadelphia, I have good news.
We've put a second bus on sale!
Adele will be performing at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Friday, September 9th. We'll be leaving Baltimore by luxury motor-coach at 4:00 pm. Dinner and drinks will be served on the bus to Philadelphia and we'll do some tailgating with more food and drink upon arrival.
All of our seats are grouped together at the show, so you'll be sitting with others on the trip or, even better, get a friend or two to come along and you can sit with them!
If you're interested in purchasing seats, please go here.
| Saturday August 20 | | #DMD | | Volume XXV Issue 20 |
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thanks, sally!
you said it better
than all of us
T here are times when I see a story and say to myself, “I can’t wait to sit down and write about that.”
The Ryan Lochte “robbery story” out of Rio was just that story.
How improbable was it—but not all that hard to believe—that a group of American swimmers were victims of a robbery in Rio after they left from an after-hours party hosted by the French Olympic Federation? Every U.S. athlete had been given ample warning that they were potential targets for robbers, thieves and pick-pockets while in Brazil.
And, as fate would have it, they were victimized.
Except, ummm, they actually WEREN’T victimized after all.
Lochte, from the cozy confines of someplace hidden in the U.S. apologized yesterday for his “role” in the now-wide-open story that actually wasn’t a story. It turns out that the American swimmers weren’t robbed. But they did vandalize a bathroom at a gas station, if that matters.
As it turns out, the story has blown up in Brazil and two of the four swimmers were pulled out of the airport minutes before departing for the U.S., to be detained and questioned by authorities in Rio.
And now, I tell ya, I’m ready to write.
Ready to write about how much of an entitled brat Ryan Lochte been for years now, only confirmed—completely—by this incident in Rio that he engineered.
Ready to write about how the American athletes who DID go to Rio and who behaved like sane, normal people should be the ones we brag about and put on a pedestal.
And ready to write about the real apology Lochte and the others owe the people they offended most with this silly charade—the people of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil, plus the thousands of folks who worked to put the Olympics together and did their best to guarantee the safety of all the athletes competing there.
But . . . I don’t have to write anything.
Because no matter what I write, nothing could come close to the tomahawk Sally Jenkins of The Washington Post crashed through Lochte’s spoiled brain in Thursday’s edition.
Jenkins hit a grand slam.
Everything or anything that we’ve thought about Lochte, she figured it out, too. And wrote it.
It’s been a long time since I’ve read something THIS perfect. This spot-on. This poignant:
The Washington Post
Sally Jenkins, Columnist
Nothing I could write could top the work of Jenkins.
It’s like shooting 70, coming in, and hearing the guy you needed to beat shot 65. You left a few out there, but not five of them. Hats off . . . .
Jenkins shot 65 on Thursday with her piece on Lochte.
So rather than sit here and bore you with three minutes of what I think, I’ll just say this: Whatever Sally wrote, I agree with!
who needs to shine tonight
for the ravens?
I t’s probably too early for a “season-defining” moment for anyone on the Ravens pre-season roster.
Those who are going to get the heave-ho as part of the early cuts have probably already been agreed upon by the Ravens coaching staff.
Those in a fight for the last few roster spots available likely won’t get cut after tonight, no matter what they do against the Colts.
This evening’s game in Indianapolis will, though, give a couple of players on the outer edge a chance to squeeze their way into “bubble status”, if nothing else.
Jeremy Butler has been hanging around Owings Mills for a few years now, but the wide receiver can’t ever do enough to latch on and make some sort of meaningful impact.
He’s always been one of the last cuts made, never making it from pre-season to regular season with the club despite a couple of promising camps.
He gets that chance to impress again tonight.
One issue involving Butler isn’t really connected to him at all. If the season started today, Butler would probably lose out to Chris Moore and Breshad Perriman.
Perriman, of course, remains the Ravens’ mystery man. You’ve played as many snaps as he has since being the team’s first round draft pick in 2015.
If Perriman is somehow not ready for the season opener, that could pave the way for Butler to make the roster on September 11. But he needs to perform well when given these opportunities in pre-season.
One thing working in Butler’s favor is the recent emergence of Kamar Aiken, who also battled drops and bad rout running in his initial foray into the NFL.
Aiken blossomed last year and was particularly impressive once Steve Smith Sr. went down at mid-season and someone, anyone had to take over the prime spot in the receiving corps. Aiken did that and more.
So, in the back of John Harbaugh’s mind, he might see a little of Kamar Aiken in Jeremy Butler. Or, at the very least, he knows the situation is similar with Butler, and a team can never have enough emerging receivers who just need a break or two to make their impact.
Former Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds is trying to make it with the Ravens as a wide receiver/kick returner, but that doesn’t look very promising at this point. The wide-receiver portion of that equation is almost a definite no. He just doesn’t have the size or the pass-catching acumen to stick with a team that’s relatively deep at that position.
But there’s always a need for a game-breaking kick returner, and if Reynolds could fill that role, he’d have a job in the league this season. But he hasn’t showed the ability to hit the hole on kick returns and a couple of fumbles in training camp haven’t helped the coaching staff’s confidence level in him.
Michael Campanaro will likely serve as the team’s kick returner at the start of the season, but that will last only until the diminutive receiver from Wake Forest goes on the disabled list, which seems almost inevitable, unfortunately.
If Reynolds could be trusted to returns kicks and, possibly, punts, it could be Campanaro in trouble—roster-wise—but that’s just not going to happen based on what we’ve seen for the last three weeks.
Still, that’s why they play these pre-season games. As bland and benign as we consider them, a handful of players are playing for their careers, literally, and every opportunity they get needs to be turned into a productive piece of evidence that showcases their talents to the coaches.
Reynolds would be a nice story, obviously. He was sensational at Navy, but everyone in the NFL knew his future wasn’t at quarterback. The Ravens—and particularly John Harbaugh—have a fondness for players like Reynolds, who has more heart than skill at this level.
If I had to make a friendly wager, I’d bet Reynolds sticks with the team, in some fashion. Harbaugh wouldn’t keep a player just because he went to a military school, but it works in Reynolds’ favor that he’s a terrific young man and a decent enough player . . . oh, and he also happened to attend the Naval Academy.
Unless something happens to Campanaro in the next three pre-season games, my guess is Reynolds winds up—borrowing a trick from the Orioles—on the injured-reserve list with some sort of weird “knock” towards the end of training camp.
The benefit for Reynolds is he gets some money for being a pro football player in 2016 and the Ravens benefit by not exposing him to other teams via the practice squad.
With some more seasoning and a year in the weight room, who knows where Keenan Reynolds might eventually fit in with the Ravens?
we have a second bus for
the sept. 9 adele show!
I f you missed out back in the winter when we first offered our September 9th trip to see Adele in concert in Philadelphia, I have good news.
We've put a second bus on sale!
Adele will be performing at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Friday, September 9th. We'll be leaving Baltimore by luxury motor-coach at 4:00 pm. Dinner and drinks will be served on the bus to Philadelphia and we'll do some tailgating with more food and drink upon arrival.
All of our seats are grouped together at the show, so you'll be sitting with others on the trip or, even better, get a friend or two to come along and you can sit with them!
If you're interested in purchasing seats, please go here.
| Friday August 19 | | #DMD | | Volume XXV Issue 19 |
| subscribe to the #dmd rss feed | ||||
my favorite charley eckman story
I'm not sure why the mood struck me to offer this to you today.
During a melancholy moment recently—we all have those, don’t we?—I got to thinking about my days in the soccer business. My thoughts drifted back to times of traveling around the country with the great Charles Markwood Eckman.
If you’re too young to remember Charley’s impact on the local sports-broadcasting scene, all I can say is, “You've no idea what you missed.”
Eckman was a legendary sports-personality in Baltimore. I was privileged to travel with him when I worked for the Blast and Spirit indoor-soccer teams. Charley traveled with us off and on from 1981 through 1992, serving as both radio and TV color-commentator for both franchises.
I could give you a story a day—for a month, honestly—but the Orioles are in a pennant race and the Ravens are four weeks from playing for real.
So I’m picking my favorite Charley story and sharing it with you today.
It was the 1983-84 season. The Blast were playing in Phoenix on a Friday night. I think we might have played in Los Angeles earlier in the week. I remember the team playing a game on a Tuesday—somewhere—and then we traveled to Phoenix on Wednesday for a little R&R before the game on Friday night.
On that Thursday morning, three of us, team coach Kenny Cooper, his player/assistant Dan Counce, and I, were headed out for a day in The Valley of The Sun. Eckman met us at breakfast and said, “It’s too hot out there for me. I’m going to stay here, have a drink or two, and I’ll see you guys when you get back.”
We told Charley we’d return around 5:00 p.m. and that we’d have dinner at 6:00. We agreed to meet him in the bar just before 6:00 p.m.
For reasons I don’t remember, we were late getting back to the hotel. We called the front desk and had them page Charley. He answered the phone, said that he was hungry, and that he didn’t want to wait for us.
And now, the story begins.
Eckman ventured into the restaurant of the Phoenix Hyatt and got himself a table for one.
Five minutes after Charley sat down, a middle-aged guy came in, alone, and sat at the table next to him.
The waitress came to take Charley’s drink order. “Give me a Scotch, whatever you've got that’s not gonna make me go broke,” he likely said.
She brought Eckman a Scotch, then went over to the other man who had sat down at the table next to Charley's. He ordered a drink for himself and told the waitress to get Eckman another drink.
When she came back, she served Charley his complimentary cocktail and told him it was from the guy at the next table. Five minutes later, the man was sitting with Eckman.
”I’m just happy to have someone to share a few laughs with,” the visitor send to Charley. When the waitress came for their next drink order, the man, a rug salesman said, “Put this all on my check. I’ll take care of dinner.”
That was music to Eckman’s ears. He loved a free meal.
The two enjoyed a laugh-a-minute dinner, with Charley relating stories of coaching and refereeing in the NBA and his new friend telling him about traveling around the country selling Persian rugs and his encounters with women in every city who were interested in welcoming a visitor in their own special ways.
Eckman, a connoisseur of good stories, especially if they involved women, told his own war tales through appetizers, entrées, desert, and after-dinner drinks.
When the waitress came over to present the check, she said, “Can I get you guys anything else?
Sensing he had a new friend and a wealthy one at that, Eckman quickly ordered another Scotch.
”Just add that to the bill,” Charley’s new friend said.
As they sat there, solving the world’s problems, the rug salesman said to Eckman, “I’m gonna pay the check now. What do you say we go in for a nightcap and see if there are any pretty girls in the place?”
Eckman agreed, and made his way to the bar.
Fifteen minutes later, the waitress from their table appeared at Eckman’s side and said, “Are you guys going to take care of the bill?”
“My buddy’s taking care of it,” Charley said, pointing back to the restaurant.
”He’s gone,” the waitress explained. “There’s no one in the restaurant. We checked the bathrooms, too. He’s not there. There’s no one there.”
Charley’s heart sunk. He had been had. The check sat on the table, still, as Eckman walked back to the bathroom to see for himself if his new friend, had, indeed, walked out.
Eckman wound up paying $150 for dinner (1983 prices, remember) and getting the wool pulled over his eyes in a way that made him sound almost proud when he related the story to us when we got back to the hotel.
”This guy was perfect,” Charley said. “He got me hook, line, and sinker. I never thought he was scamming me. Not once. What a performance!”
----------
Charles Markwood "Charley" Eckman
Sep. 10, 1921 — July 3, 1995
----------
 |  this weekend in | |
Contributed by #DMD's English Premier League Reporter MATTHEW CARROLL | ||
matchday 2 preview
Matchday 2 of the English Premier League will get under way a little earlier than usual this weekend when, following the lead of other domestic leagues in Europe and the National Football League’s attempts to maximize revenue by making sure there is a game played on almost every day of the week, the first of twelve Friday kickoffs spread throughout the year gets the weekend action underway.
Tune in early and often throughout the weekend and, as usual, catch every game live on the NBC family of networks or online at NBC Live Extra.
Friday, August 19 (all times eastern)
3pm – Southampton @ Manchester United – Old Trafford, NBC Sports Network
The Jose Mourinho era at Manchester United got off to a flying start on the opening weekend, with the Red Devils easing to a comfortable 3-1 victory away at Bournemouth. Mourinho will take his place in the home dugout at Old Trafford for the first time when they welcome Southampton to the historic footballing ground, with the Saints entering the weekend matchup up on the backs of a 1-1 draw with Watford, thanks to summer signing Nathan Redmond’s second half equalizer to give the Saints and manager Claude Puel a share of the spoils in his first game in charge of the south coast club.
While Mourino’s first home match would likely be enough to garner all of the headlines, he will not mind being trumped by the likelihood that we will see the first appearance of Paul Pogba following his world record $115 million transfer last week, with the Frenchman set to make his United return after leaving four years ago on a free transfer. They are likely to have their work cut out for them against a Southampton side who, after failing to beat United in their previous sixteen meetings (L14 D2), have not lost at Old Trafford since 2013, taking all three points in two of their last three visits.
Saturday, August 20 (all times eastern)
7:30am – Manchester City @ Stoke City – bet365 Stadium, NBC Sports Network
Manchester City were much less convincing than their cross town rivals in their opening fixture, but a late own goal from Paddy McNair, who somewhat ironically had joined Sunderland just days before from United, made it six consecutive victories for City on the opening day of the season to ensure that Pep Guardiola’s long awaited debut in England ended on a positive note. They will travel to the bet365 Stadium on Saturday to take on Stoke City, who shared the points with newly promoted Middlesbrough when Xherdan Shaqiri’s free kick overturned a first half deficit.
The draw kept Stoke winless on the seasons opening day since 2007, but manager Mark Hughes will be happy with the away point ahead of their early season showdown against the club that controversially gave him the boot in 2009 despite laying the groundwork for their European renaissance. City have failed to take points from Stoke in just three of their last sixteen meetings since the Potters returned to the Premier League back in 2008 (W8 D5 L3), but have managed only one win in their last eight trips to the grounds now formerly known as the Britannia Stadium (L2 D5).
12:30pm – Arsenal @ Leicester City – King Power Stadium, NBC
Leicester City may have shocked the world with their improbable run to the title last season, but they were delivered a shock of their own on the opening weekend when they lost to the newly promoted and manger-less Hull City, their first loss in the League since February of last season and the first defending champion to ever lose on the opening day of the season. They will welcome Arsenal to the King Power Stadium for Saturday’s primetime matchup with the Gunners still licking their wounds following a 4-3 defeat at home to Liverpool that has only increased the growing pressure on manager Arsene Wenger.
Already beset by injuries and with a lack of definitive action in the summer transfer market to adequately address their deficiencies up front and at the back, Wenger cannot afford to start the season with consecutive defeats. Despite the tough matchup he will like his chances to avoid that fate, with a trio of returning stars in Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud, and Laurent Koscienly set to return for the early season crunch meeting, and the Gunners unbeaten in their last nineteen encounters with Leicester (W13 D6), including handing the Foxes two of the three defeats they suffered the whole of last season.
last call for our
springsteen bus
september 1 at nats park
If you're a Bruce Springsteen fan, come along with #DMD on Thursday, September 1st when we head to Washington, D.C. to see The Boss -- and The E Street Band -- live at Nationals Park.
WE ONLY HAVE TWO SEATS REMAINING ON THE BUS!
We have a great event planned for the September 1st show and we'd love for you and your friends to be part of it. We've put together another one of our awesome bus packages for the Nationals Park show, which includes tickets to the concert, food, drinks, trivia and a whole night of great fun. We'll take you down to D.C. and back to Baltimore in a luxury motor-coach with Springsteen music blaring the whole way down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
We have lower-level and upper-level seats left for the show.
Package prices for the two seating levels are:
$200 for upper-level,
$295 for lower-level.
All packages include the bus ride, ticket, dinner on the way to D.C., beer, wine and soda, plus a "to go" sandwich/snack on arrival at the stadium.
If you've never seen Springsteen live, this is an awesome venue for your first-ever Bruce show! If you're like me and you've seen him at Nationals Park before, you know that already. It's truly a great place to see a concert.
This will be my 25th time seeing Bruce Springsteen since 1978. It's a milestone of sorts, so I plan to celebrate it with a few special twists on the 1st of September and hope you're there to enjoy it all with me.
I can promise you this: If you attend the show with us, you'll get your money's worth and a lot more. We have some fun stuff in store for everyone.
If you're interested in purchasing one or more spots on our "Bruce Bus," please go here. Reservation information is there for you.
Any other questions about the trip/concert? You can reach me at: drew@drewsmorningdish.com
mark your calendars for september 29 and come out for a great day of golf with me!
OK, friends, I need your help.
Once a year, I make this plea. If you’re a golfer, and you have golfing friends, I’d love for you to join me on Thursday, September 29 for my 12th annual Charity Golf Outing at Eagle’s Nest Country Club, presented by Jerry’s Toyota.
This year’s event will benefit the great people at Best Buddies Maryland, who have a special place in my heart because the man who runs the organization, Vince Fiduccia, once worked for me in the indoor soccer business.
To learn more about Best Buddies Maryland and what they do for our community, please visit their website.
This is NOT just a “hit and giggle” charity outing like you’ve probably played a hundred times over the years.
This is a fun, legitimate four-person “Captain’s Choice" competition, with prizes in the gross and net divisions. We have a putting contest with a cash prize for the winner, plus on-course contests for closest-to-the-pin and long drive.
Unlike most outings, who just let you buy as many mulligans as you want (and, therefore, you just keep trying to make that putt until you actually make it), everyone gets the opportunity to buy ONE mulligan before my outing and that’s it. There’s no string, no “throws” or anything like that in this event. It’s a four-person scramble, but it’s a fair, evenly played charity golf outing.
Everyone who has played the event loves it. The pace of play is great – we limit the field to just 24 foursomes – and the prizes and awards are even better.
It’s a handicapped tournament, meaning you can bring a 5, a 10, a 15 and a 20 if you want. You’ll get your shots accordingly and the competition will be fair across the board.
And we’ll be raising money for a great cause!
The entry fee for the tournament is $750, which includes four playing spots and two (2) promotional tee signs for the company or business of the designated team leader. It’s basically $150 per-player and $150 for the signs, the proceeds of which all go to Best Buddies Maryland.
The schedule for the event is: Lunch and practice range access at 11:30 am. Golf begins at 1:00 pm. Awards, prizes and dinner starts around 5:30 pm.
If you’re interested in playing in my 12th Annual Charity Golf Outing, please send me an e-mail: drew@drewsmorningdish.com -- so I can reserve your team a space in the field.
We need all the golfers we can get! I promise you this will be one of the best outings you’ll play in this year!
| Thursday August 18 | | #DMD | | Volume XXV Issue 18 |
| subscribe to the #dmd rss feed | ||||
survey shows orioles' attendance woes
mostly connected to safety
Earlier this summer, the Orioles commissioned a local company to conduct a survey of fans and ticket holders, and those who no longer attend games, to learn more about attendance habits in the wake of a disappointing season at the gate for Baltimore’s major-league team.
#DMD was provided the results of the survey, which was conducted after season-ticket sales and regular-season sales were lower than expected in the wake of four competitive campaigns in succession and the January signing of Chris Davis.
The Orioles currently rank 10th of 15 teams in American League attendance, nearly 2,500 per-game below their 2015 average.
This week, the Birds drew 53,000 to a pair of home games with the Red Sox, and reports from those in attendance on Tuesday night indicated there were fewer bodies in seats than the announced attendance of 26,000.
The company that completed the survey asked a variety of questions of those polled: Number of games attended in previous years, number attended this year, reasons for attending or not attending, how many home games watched on television, and general questions about lifestyle and sports-spending habits.
The company pinpointed a handful of reasons why fewer people are attending games this season than in previous years.
Lingering discontent — A significant percentage of those polled admitted to having a general lack of interest in the team, a result of the club’s decade of losing that ended in 2012 when the Orioles captured the A.L. East title.
Overall cost of attendance — Those polled cited the overall per-game cost, including prices of tickets, parking, food, drinks and souvenirs.
Television access — With all home (and away) games televised on the team’s regional sports network (MASN), those polled indicated they are attending fewer games due to the convenience of the team’s broadcast package.
Off-season ticket delay — During the protracted period when the club was negotiating contract terms with free-agent Chris Davis last winter, the front office was mandated by ownership not to establish or distribute season-ticket or group-sales information. With Davis not signed until January 19, the team wasn’t able to set its pricing for 2016 until roughly ten weeks prior to the start of the season.
Of particular concern were the price increase that occurred after the Davis signing and the fact that the club’s sales department wasn’t able to make progress selling group tickets for individual games until the season-ticket and mini-plan sales efforts were completed in late March.
But the number-one concern of those polled was deemed “individual safety”, and a significant percentage of those who offered replies indicated they were attending fewer games based solely on this concern.
So what does all this mean?
For starters, none of the information comes as a surprise. A ballgame is, after all, an expensive event to attend when you factor in a ticket ($20), parking ($10), beer/soda ($8), food ($10), etc.
All the games ARE on TV. That’s a fact. And if you get home after a long day at work and a buddy checks in at 5:15 pm and asks you to go to the ballpark, knowing that the game is televised on MASN makes it easy to say “no thanks” to your friend.
I don’t know how much stock I put in the “lingering discontent” angle, but that’s what the survey says, so I’ll make comment on it. I know a number of people, personally, who haven’t been to a baseball game in Baltimore in over a decade. They follow the team from afar, watch a game here and there, but have vowed not to go a game until the team’s ownership changes. In 2000, they were rabid fans with season tickets and mini-plans. Now, they don’t go to the games at all.
The safety issue was what the Orioles believed the survey would indicate. They turned out to be right. Some people associated with the team believe the club’s late start in selling tickets for the 2016 campaign is the biggest factor, but individual safety was the one mentioned most often in the survey.
As someone who walks from Lot G to the stadium when attending games on my 13-game plan, I have a heightened sense of awareness of my surroundings and who is in my general vicinity. I try to walk along with a large or expanded group of people if it’s at all possible.
But am I “scared” to go to a game at Camden Yards? Absolutely not. Am I on alert when I’m downtown? You bet.
The Orioles expected their average attendance this season to eclipse the 2014 average of 30,426, but it’s likely they’ll come up about 3,000 per-game shy of that total when all the dust settles in late September.
At an average ticket-price of $17, that’s $51,000 per-game short of their expected goal, or about $4 million in lost revenue over what they anticipated in 2016.
And, with fewer people buying tickets, that’s fewer parking spots sold, decreased beer and food sales, and fewer hats and shirts sold.
There are some involved in city government who are anticipating the Orioles asking the city and state for some sort of relief on tax monies owed based on the results of the survey and factors they’ll deem “out of their control”.
”This wasn’t a panic move by the Orioles,” said a city official who requested anonymity. “They have some legitimate concerns about their attendance, particularly in light of the fact they’ve been good on the field over the last few years and this year’s team is as exciting as any in the American League.”
A long-time associate of the team cited the delay in distributing ticket information as the biggest reason for this year’s drop in attendance. “They didn’t send out information until late January. The season starts in April. They cost themselves a month and a half by waiting that long. Lots of people would buy mini-plans as Christmas gifts, but they couldn’t do that this year.”
 | from the desk of | |
| BRIEN JACKSON's work at #DMD promises to provide some of Baltimore's best sports insight and commentary, brought to you by SECU, the official credit-union of Drew's Morning Dish. Brien has done sports media work with ESPN, CBS and NPR. His contributions to #DMD will focus on the Orioles, the Ravens, and national sports stories. | ||
hey, look:
the ncaa is still a sham.
The college football season is just around the corner, but lately the biggest players in the game, namely Nick Saban and the SEC, have been in the news for the wrong reasons.
If you haven't been following the saga of Maurice Smith, here's the quick summary: The Alabama defensive back wanted to transfer to Georgia as a graduate student, following former Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, who's entering his first year as head coach of the Bulldogs.
NCAA rules generally permit graduate-student transfers without the sacrifice a year of eligibility (Smith only has one year remaining), but SEC rules prohibit transferring within the conference without sitting out a year unless a waiver is granted.
Simple enough, except that Saban refused to grant Smith a release to transfer to Georgia. That isn't the be-all and end-all of it, as final authority rests with the conference president. But it was certainly a complicating factor that the team was fighting the transfer, and the fact that the SEC drug its feet on the matter until Saban finally relented—amidst a flurry of bad press—strongly suggests that the SEC wasn't going to rule in Smith's favor had Saban maintained his objection.
The whole fracas was outrageous, and goes as far as anything in recent memory in exposing what a crock the NCAA's "student-athlete" garbage really is.
Now to be fair, let's stipulate the (mostly) obvious: Smith almost certainly isn't transferring for academic reasons. He wants to take advantage of a window to change schools to stick with a coach he knows and with whom he is comfortable. The quality of graduate programs that the University of Georgia offers doesn't make a whiff of difference to him.
But . . . so what?!
None of that changes the fact that Smith has graduated from Alabama (in three years, no less) nor provides any compelling reason why he shouldn't be allowed to attend the graduate school of his choice, for whatever reasons, just like any other student.
Furthermore, rules aren't just about responding to individual cases. What if the next time this happens, it isn't a guy who's going to start for a National Championship contender, but a backup or special-teams player who really does want to further his education in another university's graduate program while still retaining his eligibility to play football?
Now let's be equally honest and stipulate that Nick Saban is full of crap.
He has no reason to refuse Smith's release.
He's not "sticking up for the rules" as he claims, because the rule itself is explicitly not ironclad and overtly allows for exceptions to be made.
It's completely within the bounds of "the rules" for Saban to give Smith his release and state plainly that he thinks the case warrants a waiver, if he so chooses. No, Nick Saban is doing this for the only reason Saban does anything: To win football games and compete for championships.
Georgia is a threat to Alabama in the SEC Championship game and the BCS football playoffs, and Saban is trying to do what he can to prevent them from getting better (coaches also have a weird hangup about letting players leave to play for one of their old coaches).
All of this would be defensible if Saban and Alabama dropped the facade that big-time college athletics has anything to do with higher education, and admitted the obvious:
Nick Saban is paid to win football games, not to be a teacher or mentor or to "mold young men."
If he accomplishes any of those things, it's fortuitously incidental.
Let's not pretend this has anything to do with academics. Preventing graduates from selecting where they will pursue post-secondary studies serves NO academic purpose.
The only purpose it serves in fact is the same purpose that the NCAA's various other draconian rules serve: to minimize the agency of players, even in cases where further education is the ultimate goal, while maximizing the power that coaches—and school and league administrators—have over them. ("Draconian" is not an unfair characterization. The scope of the NCAA's definition of "amateurism" is FAR more restrictive than any other amateur league in the world.)
That in itself is bad enough, but to add to it by insulting our intelligence by insisting that Nick Saban and NCAA and SEC officials—who are getting fat off television-rights contracts—are only doing the things they do because they care about academics is downright obscene.
mark your calendars for september 29 and come out for a great day of golf with me!
OK, friends, I need your help.
Once a year, I make this plea. If you’re a golfer, and you have golfing friends, I’d love for you to join me on Thursday, September 29 for my 12th annual Charity Golf Outing at Eagle’s Nest Country Club, presented by Jerry’s Toyota.
This year’s event will benefit the great people at Best Buddies Maryland, who have a special place in my heart because the man who runs the organization, Vince Fiduccia, once worked for me in the indoor soccer business.
To learn more about Best Buddies Maryland and what they do for our community, please visit their website.
This is NOT just a “hit and giggle” charity outing like you’ve probably played a hundred times over the years.
This is a fun, legitimate four-person “Captain’s Choice" competition, with prizes in the gross and net divisions. We have a putting contest with a cash prize for the winner, plus on-course contests for closest-to-the-pin and long drive.
Unlike most outings, who just let you buy as many mulligans as you want (and, therefore, you just keep trying to make that putt until you actually make it), everyone gets the opportunity to buy ONE mulligan before my outing and that’s it. There’s no string, no “throws” or anything like that in this event. It’s a four-person scramble, but it’s a fair, evenly played charity golf outing.
Everyone who has played the event loves it. The pace of play is great – we limit the field to just 24 foursomes – and the prizes and awards are even better.
It’s a handicapped tournament, meaning you can bring a 5, a 10, a 15 and a 20 if you want. You’ll get your shots accordingly and the competition will be fair across the board.
And we’ll be raising money for a great cause!
The entry fee for the tournament is $750, which includes four playing spots and two (2) promotional tee signs for the company or business of the designated team leader. It’s basically $150 per-player and $150 for the signs, the proceeds of which all go to Best Buddies Maryland.
The schedule for the event is: Lunch and practice range access at 11:30 am. Golf begins at 1:00 pm. Awards, prizes and dinner starts around 5:30 pm.
If you’re interested in playing in my 12th Annual Charity Golf Outing, please send me an e-mail: drew@drewsmorningdish.com -- so I can reserve your team a space in the field.
We need all the golfers we can get! I promise you this will be one of the best outings you’ll play in this year!
last call for our
springsteen bus
september 1 at nats park
If you're a Bruce Springsteen fan, come along with #DMD on Thursday, September 1st when we head to Washington, D.C. to see The Boss -- and The E Street Band -- live at Nationals Park.
WE ONLY HAVE TWO SEATS REMAINING ON THE BUS!
We have a great event planned for the September 1st show and we'd love for you and your friends to be part of it. We've put together another one of our awesome bus packages for the Nationals Park show, which includes tickets to the concert, food, drinks, trivia and a whole night of great fun. We'll take you down to D.C. and back to Baltimore in a luxury motor-coach with Springsteen music blaring the whole way down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
We have lower-level and upper-level seats left for the show.
Package prices for the two seating levels are:
$200 for upper-level,
$295 for lower-level.
All packages include the bus ride, ticket, dinner on the way to D.C., beer, wine and soda, plus a "to go" sandwich/snack on arrival at the stadium.
If you've never seen Springsteen live, this is an awesome venue for your first-ever Bruce show! If you're like me and you've seen him at Nationals Park before, you know that already. It's truly a great place to see a concert.
This will be my 25th time seeing Bruce Springsteen since 1978. It's a milestone of sorts, so I plan to celebrate it with a few special twists on the 1st of September and hope you're there to enjoy it all with me.
I can promise you this: If you attend the show with us, you'll get your money's worth and a lot more. We have some fun stuff in store for everyone.
If you're interested in purchasing one or more spots on our "Bruce Bus," please go here. Reservation information is there for you.
Any other questions about the trip/concert? You can reach me at: drew@drewsmorningdish.com
| Wednesday August 17 | | #DMD | | Volume XXV Issue 17 |
| subscribe to the #dmd rss feed | ||||
comeback foiled, orioles lose
tough one to betts
Rick Dempsey thinks he has it all figured out.
In last night's post-game show on MASN, Dempsey said, "You have to stop pitching to Mookie Betts. It's that simple."
I'm not ready to go that far, but it's probably an idea Buck Showlater should at least consider after Betts homered twice last night to give the Red Sox a 5-3 win over the Orioles in the first of a two-game series at Camden Yards.
Betts has enjoyed an almost surreal season against the Orioles in 2016. Last night's outburst gives him 12 HR and 18 RBI in 11 games vs. Baltimore this season.
Want some perspective? Matt Wieters has 10 home runs. In 88 games. So, there's that...
Betts homered off of Yovani Gallardo in the 5th inning, then belted a 2-run dinger off of Brad Brach in the 8th. The Birds had to pitch to Betts in the 5th. There were runners on 1st and 2nd in a scoreless game.
But, in the 8th? With David Ortiz at first base? Maybe putting Betts on via intentional walk would have been the more prudent move.
The loss spoiled an insipiring comeback from the Orioles, who were no-hit through six innings but then not only broke that up in the 7th, but clicked for three runs via a bunch of walks and a 2 RBI single from Matt Wieters.
All was looking promising until Ortiz led off the 8th with a single and Betts clobbered his 7th home run of the season in Camden Yards moments later.
Gallardo battled through his five innings of work, but it was once again the free pass that got him in trouble. He walked five more batters to push his season total to 46 in 16 starts, and allowed three earned runs to push is ERA to 5.18 on the season. Those are hardly numbers the Orioles thought they'd be getting back in March when they inked him to a 2-year deal. But he's still better than Ubaldo Jimenez.
A not-so-great crowd of just over 26,000 saw the action on Tuesday, and a large number of those in attendance were Boston supporters. The crowds continue to be concerning as the Birds officially enter "the pennant race", but the club expects huge numbers at the turnstiles this weekend when the Astros are in town.
Chris Davis went 0-for-2 on Tuesday night with two more strikeouts, but he did walk twice, which is now becoming the only way you can expect him to get on base during a game.
Adam Jones (0-3), Mark Trumbo (0-3) and Jonathan Schoop (0-4) also went hitless on Tuedsay evening.
The Orioles are now tied for second with the Red Sox and both teams trail Toronto by a full game in the American League East. The Blue Jays came back from an early 6-0 hole in New York on Tuesday to win 12-6.
captain davis love iii facing important ryder cup calls
One of the best things about golf's Ryder Cup is the new player selection format that has been adopted this year by the PGA of America.
For the first time in, well, forever, the Captain will actually get to choose a player right before the competition begins, giving him the opportunity to select "the hot stick" instead of making his captain's picks in mid-August and then waiting around six weeks to see which of the guys on the team actually plays worth a hoot in the competition against Europe.
Davis Love III is back for his second go of it as a Captain. He led the team four years ago when they collapsed on the final day at Medinah and squandered a 9-7 lead en route to a 14.5-13.5 defeat.
The powers-that-be gave Love another captaincy and tweaked the add-on process at the same time, as Love gets to make three selections on Sunday, September 11, immediately following the BMW Championship, which is part of The FedEx Cup. He then makes his final captain's pick two weeks later, on Sunday, September 25. The Ryder Cup takes place the following weekend at Hazeltine CC in Chaska, MN.
The United States used to chew bubblegum and kick ass in the Ryder Cup, all the way up until 1995 when Europe went on a run that has seen them lose just two times since then. That's not a misprint, by the way. Europe won in '95, '97, '02 (the '01 edition was postponed due to the 9/11 attacks), '04, '06, '10, '12 and '14. That's 8 of the last 10 for Europe.
This year, though, should be different for the United States, as a core of young players appear poised to battle and beat the best Europe has to offer. But the four players Captain Love chooses could be what makes -- or breaks -- the American team.
Here's a look at the top eight currently, and a quick comment on their chances for making the team. Those following the top eight are on the outside looking in, but Love III will most likely choose from the list you'll see below.
1. Dustin Johnson -- Status: Lock to make the team. The only question is whether or not the Ryder Cup really, really means anything to him. We'll find out.
2. Jordan Spieth -- Status: Lock to make the team. Putting usually dominates the Ryder Cup, which fits Spieth's arsenal perfectly.
3. Phil Mickelson -- Status: Lock to make the team. His summer play lifted him from the bubble to automatic. Play has been spotty over the years in the Ryder Cup, but you want him on the team.
4. Jimmy Walker -- Status: Lock to make the team. Don't be surprised if he grinds his way to some valuable points. When he's on, like he was at the PGA, he's as good as anyone.
5. Brooks Koepka -- Status: Likely to make the team. Just needs a decent finish in one of the early FedEx Cup events to lock up his spot. Bombs it off the tee but his short game will be under the microscope if he makes it.
6. Zach Johnson -- Status: Likely to make the team. In the same boat as Koepka. He's likely "in", but needs a top 20 finish to secure his spot. Loves the Ryder Cup. If he somehow falls out of the top 8, he'll be a Captain's pick for sure.
7. J.B. Holmes -- Status: Probable to make the team. Has quietly had a very solid season and should make the team on points as long as he doesn't fizzle in the FedEx Cup and bow out early.
8. Patrick Reed -- Status: Might make the team. Could be the odd guy out if someone just below him in the standings sneaks in, but Love III will almost certainly pick him if he falls outside of the top eight. He's the guy most likely to get in a fist fight with one of the European players.
------on the bubble-------
9. Brandt Snedeker -- Status: Breathing down Reed's neck. When his putter is "on", he's as good as anyone in the game with the flat stick. Erratic off the tee could hurt him in the alternate shot format at Ryder Cup, but don't be shocked if Love III takes him.
10. Bubba Watson -- Status: Will be a Captain's pick. Unless he blows up in the FedEx Cup and goes home early, Watson's going to play at Hazeltine. Too long off the tee to keep home, and beneath that goofy, country boy attitude is a guy who wants to play for his country and beat Europe like a drum.
11. Matt Kuchar -- Status: Will get strong consideration. Helped himself big time with a bronze medal performance in the Olympics and the fact he and Love III live in the same town in Georgia certainly won't hurt him. If the 1-8 rankings as they are today stay that way, he'll be one of the four add-ons.
12. Rickie Fowler -- Status: Needs to step up and win an event. Hasn't played well enough over the last 4-6 months to warrant a selection by Love III, so he'll need to get in by winning an event or two in the FedEx Cup and sneaking through on points.
13. Scott Piercy -- Status: Needs a miracle. Had a nice run at the U.S. Open and was red-hot for a few weeks in June and July, but his pedigree isn't that of a Ryder Cupper. Will need some major help to get in, since it's highly unlikely Love III would select him.
14. Bill Haas -- Status: Wouldn't be a bad selection at all. Was the man of the hour in the President's Cup last winter, winning the final match to secure the victory for the U.S., and has the kind of nerve and approach to the game that makes him valuable in the Ryder Cup. Putter might be too hot and cold, but there would be worse choices.
15. Daniel Berger -- Status: Needs to do something special. One of the hottest American players over the last few weeks, a win in one of the early FedEx Cup events might get him enough points to make it, or, at the very least, would probably force Love III to take him. Might not be ready for the heat of the Ryder Cup, but you have to start somewhere.
16. William McGirt -- Status: Needs a win badly. Much like Berger, he probably needs a win and a high finish in another event to sneak in. Sound short game would fit well with the Ryder Cup, but he has little "major event" experience in his career.
17. Kevin Chappell -- Status: Needs a lot to go right. Would have to do what Billy Horschel did two years ago and win the FedEx Cup out of nowhere in order to press Love III to take him with that final pick the week before the event.
18. Jim Furyk -- Status: If he has a decent FedEx Cup, he's in. That little "58" he posted a couple of weeks back was proof enough that he's healthy and ready to compete again and win. Providing he has a couple of decent FedEx Cup showings, he's going to be added to the team by Love III.
Drew's predicted Captain's picks as of 8/17/16 -- If the top 8 stay as they are now (which is actually unlikely), look for Love III to add Snedeker, Watson, Kuchar and Furyk.
mark your calendars for september 29 and come out for a great day of golf with me!
OK, friends, I need your help.
Once a year, I make this plea. If you’re a golfer, and you have golfing friends, I’d love for you to join me on Thursday, September 29 for my 12th annual Charity Golf Outing at Eagle’s Nest Country Club, presented by Jerry’s Toyota.
This year’s event will benefit the great people at Best Buddies Maryland, who have a special place in my heart because the man who runs the organization, Vince Fiduccia, once worked for me in the indoor soccer business.
To learn more about Best Buddies Maryland and what they do for our community, please visit their website at: https://bestbuddies.org/find-programs/maryland/
This is NOT just a “hit and giggle” charity outing like you’ve probably played a hundred times over the years.
This is a fun, legitimate four-person “Captain’s Choice competition”, with prizes in the gross and net divisions. We have a putting contest with a cash prize for the winner, plus on-course contests for closest-to-the-pin and long drive.
Unlike most outings, who just let you buy as many mulligans as you want (and, therefore, you just keep trying to make that putt until you actually make it), everyone gets the opportunity to buy ONE mulligan before my outing and that’s it. There’s no string, no “throws” or anything like that in this event. It’s a four-person scramble, but it’s a fair, evenly played charity golf outing.
Everyone who has played the event loves it. The pace of play is great – we limit the field to just 24 foursomes – and the prizes and awards are even better.
It’s a handicapped tournament, meaning you can bring a 5, a 10, a 15 and a 20 if you want. You’ll get your shots accordingly and the competition will be fair across the board.
And we’ll be raising money for a great cause!
The entry fee for the tournament is $750, which includes four playing spots and two (2) promotional tee signs for the company or business of the designated team leader. It’s basically $150 per-player and $150 for the signs, the proceeds of which all go to Best Buddies Maryland.
The schedule for the event is: Lunch and practice range access at 11:30 am. Golf begins at 1:00 pm. Awards, prizes and dinner starts around 5:30 pm.
If you’re interested in playing in my 12th Annual Charity Golf Outing, please send me an e-mail: drew@drewsmorningdish.com -- so I can reserve your team a space in the field.
We need all the golfers we can get! I promise you this will be one of the best outings you’ll play in this year!
last call for our
springsteen bus
september 1 at nats park
If you're a Bruce Springsteen fan, come along with #DMD on Thursday, September 1st when we head to Washington DC to see The Boss -- and The E Street Band -- live at Nationals Park.
WE ONLY HAVE TWO SEATS REMAINING ON THE BUS!
We have a great event planned for the September 1st show and we'd love for you and your friends to be part of it. We've put together another one of our awesome bus packages for the Nationals Park show, which includes tickets to the concert, food, drinks, trivia and a whole night of great fun. We'll take you down to D.C. and back to Baltimore in a luxury motor-coach with Springsteen music blaring the whole way down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
We have lower-level and upper-level seats left for the show.
Package prices for the two seating levels are:
$200 for upper-level,
$295 for lower-level.
All packages include the bus ride, ticket, dinner on the way to D.C., beer, wine and soda, plus a "to go" sandwich/snack on arrival at the stadium.
If you've never seen Springsteen live, this is an awesome venue for your first-ever Bruce show! If you're like me and you've seen him at Nationals Park before, you know that already. It's truly a great place to see a concert.
This will be my 25th time seeing Bruce Springsteen since 1978. It's a milestone of sorts, so I plan to celebrate it with a few special twists on the 1st of September and hope you're there to enjoy it all with me.
I can promise you this: If you attend the show with us, you'll get your money's worth and a lot more. We have some fun stuff in store for everyone.
If you're interested in purchasing one or more spots on our "Bruce Bus," please go here. Reservation information is there for you.
Any other questions about the trip/concert? You can reach me at: drew@drewsmorningdish.com
| Tuesday August 16 | | #DMD | | Volume XXV Issue 16 |
| subscribe to the #dmd rss feed | ||||
from all of us in charm city to cam newton: we say "thank you"
A non-descript pre-season opener last Thursday night in Baltimore actually turned into a really cool story some four days later.
The Carolina Panthers were in town to take on our Ravens and in the first series of the night, Carolina QB Cam Newton engineered an impressive opening drive that resulted in a field goal and a 3-0 lead.
But that was far from his best moment of the trip to Baltimore.
The Panthers arrived in Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon and a group of players dined at a downtown steakhouse shortly after 6 pm. Newton was among those players.
As the group walked back to their Inner Harbor hotel, Newton carried with him a full meal that he ordered for carry-out from the steakhouse. Upon seeing a homeless man with a sign asking for food, Newton quietly slipped away from the group, handed the man the full bag of food, and got right back in step with his teammates.
The whole thing took about six seconds.
A couple from Charlotte who were in town for the game saw Newton and the rest of the players leaving the hotel and followed along behind, careful not to bother them but intrigued at the thought of following in the footsteps of their sports heroes.
When Newton moved over to give the homeless man the food, the woman following behind was able to snap a quick picture just seconds after Newton did his good deed.
Athletes are always doing good things in the community. Nearly every time, though, it's in THEIR community, and often times there are cameras and reporters hanging around to chronicle their work and convey it all back to the general public.
Newton wasn't in his community last Wednesday night. He was in Baltimore. And even though he does have a special connection to Charm City through his endorsement contract with Under Armour, nothing about the town mandated that Newton hand $100 worth of food to a homeless person on the sidewalk.
And spare me the comments about Newton's status as a millionaire football player making it easy for him to afford $100 worth of food. You can afford the same type of gesture. When's the last time you ordered $25 worth of carry-out, and dropped it off to a homeless person?
They say class is defined by what you do when you don't think anyone is watching you.
In Newton's case, teammates have quickly jumped in to say his display last Wednesday night in Baltimore is a fairly common occurrence. He evidently does that sort of thing all the time, both in Charlotte and other cities the Panthers are visiting.
Cam Newton had a checkered past, to say the least, before entering the NFL. He was kicked out of the University of Florida amid a stolen computer scandal and later surfaced at Auburn where a story circulated that his father once asked Mississippi State for $180,000 in exchange for Newton going to school there and playing football for the Bulldogs.
Everyone is free to believe what they want, of course, but all signs pointed to Newton being "pay for play" when he was in college. I was particulary critical of him back in the old days when I was on the radio and those stories about Newton percolated.
I'm here, now, to say it looks Cam Newton has cleaned up his act. Not only has he developed into an outstanding NFL quarterback, but he is evidently very mindful of the blessings he's been given as a result of his athleticism.
It's one thing if Joe Flacco stops at the corner of Light and Pratt Streets to give a homeless man some food. It's an even better story when a guy with no need to embrace Baltimore goes ahead and does it anyway...with his own money, to boot.
If you're not a Cam Newton fan today, I don't know what else to say to you.
could a davis dive affect machado's deal in baltimore?
Sure, you can file this one under "jumping the gun" if you wish.
But here's what I'm wondering today, in the wake of year number one of Chris Davis' 7-year deal with the Orioles, which, admittedly, is far from complete.
What if -- read that word there, "if" -- Davis continues with disappointing seasons in 2017 and 2018? Is there any way those two bad seasons could affect the Orioles thinking when it comes to signing Manny Machado to a long-term deal in the winter of 2018-2019?
It's much more complicated that, of course.
For starters, Machado isn't going to sign just any old long-term deal. There's a chance, a very real one, in fact, that Machado's contract entering the 2019 campaign might be the most lucrative in MLB history, approaching or topping the $400 million mark.
That's what the experts are saying now, and it makes perfect sense. By the time Machado reaches free agency, Mike Trout will be making $34 million a year with the Angels. It stands to reason that will be Machado's starting point for a deal, and factoring in everything else about the league's expanding revenue streams, it's easy to see where some player, somewhere, will garner a $40 million per-year contract.
Are the Orioles prepared to pony up that kind of money for Machado when he becomes a free agent after the 2018 campaign? I went to Glen Burnie High School where gym was more important than math -- at least for me -- but a 10-year deal at $400 million total is $40 million per-season.
And to think the Birds nickel-and-dimed Chris Davis during his $161 million haul in the off-season, making Davis take a large chunk of the money on a deferred basis.
There won't be any gimmicks or games when it comes to the Machado contract. Pay the man, or someone else will, his agent will say.
But what if Davis stinks it up for the next few seasons and the Orioles are left with one of those albatross contracts that strangles the team's payroll? They forked over $85 million for Adam Jones a few years back but he's earned every penny of that money and then some. Davis, though, is in a much different category, as he's now making $23 million a season and will do so for the next six seasons.
Who knows how much longer Peter Angelos will own the Orioles, but you can just hear him now, can't you?
"Look, we caved in and paid Davis $161 million and it has blown up in our face. I like Mr. Machado, he's a fine young man and all, and a terrific ball player, but that's a gamble I'm not taking. I did it with Davis and got burned."
And, let's be honest, if Mr. Angelos actually DOES feel that way, he could very well be on target. Is it reasonable, even now, to think that a baseball player -- Machado, Harper, Trout et al -- could actually be worth $40 million per-season? I'm a skeptic on matters such as these, admittedly, but I don't see how it's possible.
The Orioles have been such rare participants in big money deals over the last twenty years that their experience level is still very raw. They weren't willing to pay Mike Mussina the money he wanted, signed Miguel Tejada for $72 million (at the time, their richest contract ever), backed away from the table almost immediately in the Mark Teixeira negotiations, then signed Adam Jones to an $85 million deal.
All of that, though, was chump-change compared to what they gave Davis last January. For the first time ever, the O's went to the big-boy table and played a hand. And won.
Is it reasonable to pay Manny Machado $40 million a season? Hell, a decade ago, the team's payroll for the entire roster for one season was just above $90 million, total.
And remember, in Machado's case, there won't be any jerking him around like the club was able to do with Davis last winter, when they convinced him to take $42 million of deferred money over the next 21 years.
Either pay Machado his money, or he heads to New York, Washington, Chicago, Boston or some other place who WILL pay him.
By means of comparison, is it safe to say that the free-spending Yankees, of all teams, calmed themselves down after spending $400 million on Sabathia, Teixeira and Burnett in 2009? They won a World Series, yes, but that's about all they got out of that big off-season spending spree.
The Orioles might find themselves in the same boat, particularly if they throw some big bucks at Mark Trumbo this winter. Oh, and Chris Tillman is also a free agent in the not too distant future. So, too, is Adam Jones.
Signing Machado will be a priority, obviously, but who has $400 million laying around for a baseball player? The economics of the game might indicate the Orioles and virtually every other team can afford to cough up that kind of money, but the reality is giving a player -- ANY player -- $400 million of guaranteed income is a whopper of a gamble, with no offense intended to anyone involved.
And in the case of the Orioles, if Chris Davis turns out to be a mega-contract bust, how eager will the owner and the organization be to get themselves involved in an even bigger game of high-risk poker with Manny Machado?
It's a fair question, I think.
Let's hope Chris Davis turns it around for a variety of reasons, including, perhaps, provding an example to Orioles ownership that long-term investments on players are both wise and worthy.
mark your calendars for september 29 and come out for a great day of golf with me!
OK, friends, I need your help.
Once a year, I make this plea. If you’re a golfer, and you have golfing friends, I’d love for you to join me on Thursday, September 29 for my 12th annual Charity Golf Outing at Eagle’s Nest Country Club, presented by Jerry’s Toyota.
This year’s event will benefit the great people at Best Buddies Maryland, who have a special place in my heart because the man who runs the organization, Vince Fiduccia, once worked for me in the indoor soccer business.
To learn more about Best Buddies Maryland and what they do for our community, please visit their website at: https://bestbuddies.org/find-programs/maryland/
This is NOT just a “hit and giggle” charity outing like you’ve probably played a hundred times over the years.
This is a fun, legitimate four-person “Captain’s Choice competition”, with prizes in the gross and net divisions. We have a putting contest with a cash prize for the winner, plus on-course contests for closest-to-the-pin and long drive.
Unlike most outings, who just let you buy as many mulligans as you want (and, therefore, you just keep trying to make that putt until you actually make it), everyone gets the opportunity to buy ONE mulligan before my outing and that’s it. There’s no string, no “throws” or anything like that in this event. It’s a four-person scramble, but it’s a fair, evenly played charity golf outing.
Everyone who has played the event loves it. The pace of play is great – we limit the field to just 24 foursomes – and the prizes and awards are even better.
It’s a handicapped tournament, meaning you can bring a 5, a 10, a 15 and a 20 if you want. You’ll get your shots accordingly and the competition will be fair across the board.
And we’ll be raising money for a great cause!
The entry fee for the tournament is $750, which includes four playing spots and two (2) promotional tee signs for the company or business of the designated team leader. It’s basically $150 per-player and $150 for the signs, the proceeds of which all go to Best Buddies Maryland.
The schedule for the event is: Lunch and practice range access at 11:30 am. Golf begins at 1:00 pm. Awards, prizes and dinner starts around 5:30 pm.
If you’re interested in playing in my 12th Annual Charity Golf Outing, please send me an e-mail: drew@drewsmorningdish.com -- so I can reserve your team a space in the field.
We need all the golfers we can get! I promise you this will be one of the best outings you’ll play in this year!
last call for our
springsteen bus
september 1 at nats park
If you're a Bruce Springsteen fan, come along with #DMD on Thursday, September 1st when we head to Washington DC to see The Boss -- and The E Street Band -- live at Nationals Park.
WE ONLY HAVE TWO SEATS REMAINING ON THE BUS!
We have a great event planned for the September 1st show and we'd love for you and your friends to be part of it. We've put together another one of our awesome bus packages for the Nationals Park show, which includes tickets to the concert, food, drinks, trivia and a whole night of great fun. We'll take you down to D.C. and back to Baltimore in a luxury motor-coach with Springsteen music blaring the whole way down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
We have lower-level and upper-level seats left for the show.
Package prices for the two seating levels are:
$200 for upper-level,
$295 for lower-level.
All packages include the bus ride, ticket, dinner on the way to D.C., beer, wine and soda, plus a "to go" sandwich/snack on arrival at the stadium.
If you've never seen Springsteen live, this is an awesome venue for your first-ever Bruce show! If you're like me and you've seen him at Nationals Park before, you know that already. It's truly a great place to see a concert.
This will be my 25th time seeing Bruce Springsteen since 1978. It's a milestone of sorts, so I plan to celebrate it with a few special twists on the 1st of September and hope you're there to enjoy it all with me.
I can promise you this: If you attend the show with us, you'll get your money's worth and a lot more. We have some fun stuff in store for everyone.
If you're interested in purchasing one or more spots on our "Bruce Bus," please go here. Reservation information is there for you.
Any other questions about the trip/concert? You can reach me at: drew@drewsmorningdish.com
please click here to see previous issues of #dmd.
| O's SCOREBOARD | |
| Thursday, August 4th | |
 Orioles3 |
 Rangers 5 |
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WP: A. Griffin (5-1) LP: W. Miley (7-9) HR: Trumbo (31), Alvarez (16), Kim (1), Lucroy (1) O's RECORD: 61-46 STANDINGS: Tied for first place with Toronto. |
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