Opening Day Thoughts

Opening Day has come and gone and yet again it was amazing.

It never ceases to amaze me the sheer amount of humanity that descends upon Baltimore on opening day. Every bar, every hotdog cart, every street corner is simply overflowing with people. The various critics of the organization and team always state that no one wants to talk about or really care about the Orioles anymore, yet Opening Day gives us a glimpse of what might be.

Obviously tonight's game against the Twins will not be as well attended as opening day was and not every game would be like that even in a good year but the point remains. After spending a day in the writhing sea of humanity that was downtown Baltimore yesterday you realize that this town wants to love the Orioles again and anyone who denies that is completely lost to their own curmudgeony ideology.

Random Thoughts about the day:

-The new hats make the Orioles look as if they have an entire new uniform, and they are great.

-It is really great to see Brady Anderson in an Orioles' uniform again.

-The new rooftop deck looks amazing, the food service was greatly improved over last year's opener - Natty Boh Brats all the way.

-I question the fence in the flag court. How long before we have a fan interference call out there? If you haven't seen it you are very close to the action in real life.

-The minor touches and aesthetic changes in and around the ballpark are perfect. The powers that be have taken great care to update the look of the park without making any real glaring changes. You look at some of these things and you have to remind yourself that they weren't always there.

-I really hope that the rooftop deck remains a general admission area. The issue is that it does have a seating capacity, of about 300 people according to the Baltimore Sun, and there is no way to really regulate that without 1) a bouncer or 2) selling tickets. So get out now and enjoy the great free view while you can. I can imagine the team keeping it open on non-prime games but selling tickets on prime-nights.

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