Swept Away

Swept by the Nationals and the Diamondbacks. I actually think that the Orioles would make a great Harvard Business School case study. Peter Angelos as the despotic owner who micromanages everything and his approach spreads like a cancer throughout the organization. The manager plays it not to lose. The players second guess themselves. There is a malaise, a bad luck schleprock cloud over the team's head. There is a nasty steroid controversy surrounding some of the players who just happen to be underperforming this year. A "once-proud" franchise sinks to new depths. Many of the best free agents refuse to even consider Baltimore as an option. What is needed to turn things around? An intervention? What is a franchise? It's the players, the organization, and the brand. It's also the fans--without the paying customers the franchise goes under. The most important asset of any organization is the fan base. There are Yankee fans replicating by the second in their pink caps and Jeter jerseys. They have a product on the field. There are Dice K fans wearing garb at my neighborhood pool because there are players in Fenway Park who win basbeall games. My ownership won't put the name of the city on the away jerseys because it is a feudal dictatorship. What is needed is a revolt, a revolution, a coup d'etat. Hundreds of thousands of fans surrounding the warehouse demanding change. We need to stand up to this ineptitude or move on. If change doesn't come, the only people attending Oriole games will be the owner and his friends.