Birdland Mecca

We moved to Norfolk, Virginia in 1981.  Previously, we lived in Terre Haute, Indiana where baseball took a definite backseat to basketball (Larry Bird was attending ISU at the time my father taught there), and football was still higher on the totem pole (ironically, Steeler country, despite being 3 or so hours from Cincinnati).  So, baseball was a novelty to me when we arrived in Norfolk.  I had to have a "team," thus spake my third-grade classmates.  There were a lot of choices -- the Baltimore Orioles were the closest, but there were also fans of the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and, intriguingly enough, the Montreal Expos.  I think I started with the Dodgers -- who couldn't love Tommy Lasorda?!  That didn't last long...I loved the Expos logo.  It was just fluid oddity, embodied.  So, that lasted about a month or two.  I finally settled on The Birds.  The Orioles.  I happened onto the team the year prior to the arrival of a very special shortstop.  So, I found "my team" and watched them as often as I could on the television and collected as many stickers -- remember the Topps sticker albums?? -- and cards as I could.  Tirelessly, I followed Dwyer, Dauer, Murray, Lowenstein, Palmer, Martinez, Martinez (Tippy and Denny), Sakata, Roenike, Bumbry, Ford, Singleton and, the following season, Ripken, Jr. 

We're going to have to fast forward, now, to 2008.  I've been living in Dayton, Ohio since 1995 and have become almost a de facto Reds fan, having lived in and been immersed in the local sports talk radio for the last 13 years.  I know more about the Reds than I do about any other team in the country, save the Bengals, and almost find myself rooting for them, despite my continued -- albeit fairly closeted -- loyalty to the Baltimore Orioles.  While the last few years have been filled with Danny Graves flameouts and Adam Dunn trade rumors, they have also been filled with  moments like the retirement of Cal Ripken, Jr. and a brief, terrible season with Sammy Sosa.  Not that the Reds and Orioles haven't shared a distressing lack of winning over the last 13 years...so, there's a segue, here, and not a two-wheeled geekmobile...  We're spending the summer -- well, OK, my wife is working, we're taking up space -- in Baltimore. 

So, it was discount night -- $8/ticket -- at Camden Yards, and we decided we should have a guys night.  So, we went to see the epic battle, or would that be "titanic struggle?" between the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals.  Unfortunately, even after three days of watching chunks of games on MASN, I still don't know many players.  I know some of the "old guard" -- Mora, Millar and Cormier.  Who these new guys are...no idea, really.  That's OK -- that's what a $5 program is for. 

Well, it was a really neat experience.  The boys really enjoyed it and, as a bonus, it was a good game.  George Sherrill came in and gave everyone heart failure with 2 runs in the 9th, bringing the score to 7-5 Os, but he struck the next two batters out and everyone left happy.  That was cool. 

On to the pictures: