This story won’t end and it’s driving everyone crazy, but I can’t put it to rest without highlighting the people that continue to spread misinformation and that continue to wrongfully blame the Baltimore Orioles for making the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens open their season on the road. Eutaw Street Report’s Andrew Stetka fought the good fight last night on Twitter and highlighted NFL employees and reporters that specifically targeted and criticized the O’s for the schedule conflict.
In short, if you don’t know by now, the game wasn’t moved because Major League Baseball, the visiting Chicago White Sox and the MLB Player’s Association didn’t agree to change the time. All three would have had to signed off. In addition to these details, the NFL wouldn’t move the game to Wednesday, despite playing their Kickoff Game on a Wednesday last season, and used the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah (which lasts from Wednesday-Friday) as the reason for only allowing the Ravens to open on Thursday night.
With all that said, here are a few people who work for the league and for Commissioner Roger Goodell who wrongly criticized the Orioles for the Ravens opening their season in Denver.
Greg Aiello – NFL PR
Tell the Orioles Birdman. RT @birdman546: @gregaiello this game should be in Baltimore. What a shame
— Greg Aiello (@gregaiello) September 6, 2013
Brian McCarthy – NFL PR
@EdwardStGrey23 we wanted the game to be in Baltimore. orioles wouldn't move their game
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) September 5, 2013
@AStetka we wanted the game in Baltimore. orioles wouldn't move their game
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) September 5, 2013
@AStetka conflict with Jewish holiday. we don't make more or less money if game is in balt or Denver. we were not happy we had to move game
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) September 5, 2013
Albert Breer – NFL.com
Bet there's no storms in Baltimore. #ThanksOrioles
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 6, 2013
Fourth place-Orioles leading the last-place White Sox 3-1 in Baltimore. Must be tense there.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 6, 2013
This weather delay, brought to you exclusively by the Orioles' inferiority complex.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 6, 2013
Just passed along to me…Orioles announced 17,383 at Camden Yards tonight. NFL pregame concert — a concert — in Inner Harbor drew 42,500.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 6, 2013
Dave Dameshek – NFL.com
First nominee for the Shame/Shek Report: the Baltimore Orioles.
— Dave Dameshek (@Dameshek) September 6, 2013
Additionally, Al Michaels commented on the Orioles being unwilling to change their game for the Ravens during Thursday’s broadcast.
It’s alarming how many reporters the NFL employs that share the same factually incorrect opinion about the Orioles. Thankfully there were a few people out there who talked some sense into folks.
@darrenrovell Actually, it was the NFL that made a "stink." The Orioles game was scheduled long before.
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) September 6, 2013
@jfish80 But it wasn't possible. And when the NFL was told this they threw a temper tantrum. Still are, via PR people and NFL media.
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) September 6, 2013
@jfish80 Moving it was not in the Orioles power. It required signoff from the White Sox and the MLBPA, both of whom were unwilling. cont'd
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) September 6, 2013
The Orioles should've totally done the right thing and moved the game. The NFL woulda done it for them! Oh, wait … http://t.co/2K3oBuqDfK
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) September 6, 2013
Okay. Maybe just one.
This was so annoying last night, it was as if the NFL sent out 1 talking point. Blame the Orioles for everything. Maybe the goal is to scare the city in case this happens again. Maybe the 34 minute delay was to annoy the Ravens also just like in New Orleans 🙂
Totally agree Josh 🙂
The NFL has screwed Baltimore for years and we just keep taking it and asking for more.
Colts move in the middle of the night? *Crickets*
Expansion draft – the metropolises of Jacksonville and Charlotte get teams despite Baltimore having the best financial package. We’re told to “build a museum”.
Ravens win the 2000 Super Bowl, yet did NOT host the season opener – LOOK IT UP!
Ravens win 2012 Super Bowl and the NFL says they can’t play opener on Wednesday (they did last year – LOOK IT UP).
They can’t play on sundown on Rosh Hossanah but they did last year – LOOK IT UP.
The NFL screws us at every turn and we keep taking it.
MGW right on! Also a THURSDAY night advertising money grab for the NFL! Not the O’s fault….NFL all the way!
I’m not sure which is more shameful, the fact that the NFL and its media partners have been so forceful with the false narrative that the Orioles are to blame, or the fact that so many people can’t seem to get a clear picture through their bull**** prism.
NOTHING is that black and white – anyone who gives the blanket statement that the Orioles are to blame is either lazy, or has an agenda.
MGW has it right. NFL always disrespects the Ravens. Obvious fix was a Wednesday game.
The Orioles are taking the high road, not saying anything while they are trashed left and right
Another reason to appreciate #Bolts4Life
The Oriole crybabies are out in force… Yeah, you sheetrock installers, fuel distributors, trash collectors all know more than the people behind the scenes…
The concert getting 42k fans and the Orioles getting 17k tells you right there that the Baltimore fans are on the Ravens side…
I should have bought stock in Kleenex Wednesday for all the crying the Oriole fans are doing…
Concerts appeal to non-sports fans, too. The Oriole game going up against a Ravens opener was not going to draw well. A concert to kick off the NFL season appeals to Ravens fans and non sports fans. Comparing the two tells you only what you want to believe.
This isn’t about sides. This is about people being driven to take sides out of their own willing ignorance (and arrogance).
If you’re a Baltimore sports fan, you can support the Ravens and the Orioles – you’re not required to pick. And anyone who tries to tell you otherwise has an agenda.
Choose whether or not you want to play into it.
You said alot but said nothing. What are you an idiot savant? As a Baltimorian I agree with the Raven-man.
Yes I did say a lot. Because I had something substantive to say. I offered an opinion rather than an insult. That’s what happens when you come into a debate supported by a well thought out position.
I’ll try again. And I’ll try to use small words.
Saying that a concert (which attracts a wider slice of the population than a sporting event) outdrew the Orioles game does not prove that people agree with the NFL’s take on the scheduling conflict.
You can read into it that way, but only if you’re trying to make actual facts support a position based on half truths.
There are plenty of people who wanted to gaze dreamily into the eyes of Kieth Urban who don’t know – or care about – the difference between an RBI and a TD.
Moreover, there are plenty of people who either watched the Ravens game on TV or went to the Orioles game who weren’t trying to prove a point, or take sides.
You can generalize it in that way, but only if you’re trying to make actual facts support a position based on half truths.
You can blame the Orioles for the scheduling problem all you want. But it requires that you ignore significant facts, and take a rather simple view of the issue.
Speaking of simple views of the issue: I’m not calling the people who disagree with me “crybabies” who have drawn the wrong conclusion because they don’t have all the secret information that the insiders do.
This position seems to imply that “Angelos was too stubborn” is what went on in the back room, and not “NBC wouldn’t support a move to Wednesday, because its sponsors don’t value that time slot as much as Thursday.” It doesn’t factor in MLB, the White Sox, MLBPA, or the in-house options available to the NFL.
This was a case where big business screwed the fans of Baltimore. And the biggest and most inflexible business involved was the NFL. To add insult to injury, the NFL managed to convince some Baltimore fans that the one of their teams should bear the brunt of the blame for that disservice.
Great reasoning. All the people who are upset about the O’s not moving the game do is bash the team and Peter Angelos. They never give one good reason why the NFL couldn’t move the game to Wednesday.
Jewish Baltimoron here – nobody consulted with me. And I know plenty of Jews all around Baltimore, all of which agree that we would have had no issue with the game on Wednesday. This includes multiple ultra religious, who wouldn’t even be allowed to use televesion on that night, but still agree that the league shouldn’t schedule based on one religion’s holidays. Whoever consulted the “Baltimore Jewish community” in the NFL offices obviously did no such thing, or maybe asked one random rabbi in charge. All a PR move, as this just puts blame on Jewish community when we had nothing to do with it. As frustrating as it is for all of the Oriole fans hearing the O’s being blamed, just think of being a Jewish O’s fan. Can’t escape it on either end.
I blame the NFL….who made the rule that the superbowl champs HAD to play Thursday night….how about Sunday night??? Also MLB is to blame….6 out of 30 cities have this issue and none of them should have a home game on the first thursday of football season….just in case their ajoining football team is the super bowl champs. I hope everyone learned from this….Jewish Holiday nonsense was a smoke screen…..we play on Christmas and Thanksgiving don’t we?
Guys,
Great discussion. This is what makes BSR the best place to come for Baltimore Sports Talk. I’m proud to be apart of such a great organization.