O's Stuff: Gifts & Promos/Being a Bat Boy, Ball Girl...

I got an email from orioles.com and it looks like the team is hitting hard with promotions to get the fans ready and pumped for the baseball season.

Here’s the text:

The Orioles have scheduled a variety of giveaways and promotions designed to appeal to fans of all ages during the upcoming season. Highlights of this year's giveaway schedule include two bobblehead doll giveaways honoring 2007 Hall of Fame inductee CAL RIPKEN JR. and a new season-long promotion, T-Shirt Tuesdays. Returning favorites include several cap giveaways and fireworks nights. The Orioles will also offer special ticket offers on three nights each week when the club is at home - Bargain Nights on Tuesdays, MasterCard Thursdays and Student Nights on Fridays.

The first bobblehead doll giveaway featuring the Orioles' newest Hall of Famer will be held on Sunday, June 10, when the first 25,000 fans 15 and over attending the 1:35 p.m. game against the Colorado Rockies will receive a bobblehead depicting Ripken's catch to clinch the Orioles' 1983 World Series championship over the Philadelphia Phillies. The second bobblehead, commemorating Ripken's record-setting 2131st consecutive game played, will be given to the first 25,000 fans 15 and over attending the Orioles' 7:05 p.m. game against Tampa Bay on July 24.

New this season, the first 10,000 fans 15 and over attending Orioles' games on the first Tuesday of each month will receive an Orioles player t-shirt. Players featured on T-Shirt Tuesdays include NICK MARKAKIS on April 10, ERIK BEDARD on May 8 and CHRIS RAY on June 12. Other T-Shirt Tuesdays are scheduled for Aug. 7 and Sept. 11. A special Wednesday T-Shirt giveaway is scheduled for July 25.

The Orioles have also scheduled four cap giveaways this year. The first 20,000 fans will receive an Orioles Knit Beanie Cap prior to the game against the Kansas City Royals on Friday, April 13, and the first 20,000 women attending the May 6 game against Cleveland will receive a pink and white Orioles hat. On June 13, the first 20,000 fans 15 and over at the game against the Washington Nationals will receive an Orioles replica cap, and the first 25,000 fans 21 and over attending the June 29 game against the Los Angeles Angels will receive an Orioles Floppy Hat.

A popular attraction for the whole family, post-game fireworks return on five Friday nights this season - May 25, June 15, July 13, Aug. 24 and Sept. 28. Fireworks will begin shortly after the completion of the 7:05 p.m. games.

Special ticket offers are available on three weeknights the Orioles play at home. Each Tuesday home game is Bargain Night. All upper reserve and left field upper box seats are reduced to $8 each, a savings of $7. On MasterCard Thursdays, fans using a MasterCard can purchase a Eutaw Street Reserve ticket and Boog's Pit Beef Sandwich for only $15. And every Friday home game is Student Night at Camden Yards. Students with a valid ID may purchase a left field upper reserve seat for $6.

"There is something special about going to an Orioles game with friends and family. This extensive schedule of giveaways and promotions will make that experience even more appealing," said Orioles Director of Communications Greg Bader. "While fans ultimately come to Oriole Park to watch the team and enjoy all that Camden Yards has to offer, this combination of new giveaways and old favorites will enhance every fan's trip to the ballpark."

To purchase tickets or for more information, call 1-888-848-BIRD or visit www.orioles.com

Also, Want to Be Bat Boy or Ball Girl?

While Orioles players are in Fort Lauderdale preparing for the upcoming season, Orioles front office "scouts" will be at Camden Yards on Saturday, March 10, looking to sign a few fans that are good with a glove.

Outgoing and athletic men and women ages 18 and older who are interested in serving as ballboys and ballgirls for the Orioles during the 2007 season are invited to an open tryout at Oriole Park beginning at noon on March 10.

Candidates should dress casually, bring their own gloves, and use the Home Plate Plaza entrance to Camden Yards on the southwestern corner of the ballpark. Complimentary parking is available in Lot A.

In addition to being able to handle a glove and field ground balls, interested candidates should be personable and customer-service oriented, and be available to work the entire 2007 season.

The Winter of Discontent - The Ides of Peter, the Inepitude of the Front Office and More Issues...

How tough it is to an Orioles fan. 9 losing seasons. The team under the watchful eye of Peter Angelos. Flanagan and Duquette appearing to be lacksadical. Declining Attendance. Being the laughing stock of the media. Being too lazy to pull the gun on a deal.

We are in the middle of the winter meetings, and there seems to be very little optimism at this time that the Orioles are doing anything to get better.

On the popular Orioles' fans forum at http://www.orioleshangout.com and https://orioles.com the venting and the frustration of the fans is alarming. No one seems to be happy about our off season so far and there seems to be a resignation that we will finish in 4th place again, and while the moves are nice, they have improved absolutely nothing (with the bullpen being pretty much the lone exception and some people are not happy about that either).

Much of the ire these days is sparked towards the owner & the captain of the ship, Peter Angelos. He's had a lot of negative press the past couple of years and even moreso lately because of the recent Orioles' protest and the continuation of the losing seasons. Seen as an owner who's very much hands on and a micro-manager, he's probably a large part as why the Orioles have been so bad.

Is he a bad owner? From the outside looking in, yes. However, a sports team is technically private enterprise, and for the amount he and his investors paid for the right to own a team, I may or may not have the right to tell him what to do. As a season ticket holder and a constant patron to Oriole Park, I'd demand a much better product for my investment.

If I can see the Yankees and Red Sox improve, there should be no reason in hell why we can't.

This week, he's been reported to have nixed a trade for Adam LaRoche and Marcus Giles of the Braves for our own Hayden Penn and Brian Roberts. As much I love B-Rob, the face of the Orioles, a great ball player, and a great citizen of Baltimore; the businessman in me would have made the trade, especially since a power hitter, much less a fairly young one, is very much at a premium.

The second issue seems raise the anger of the fans has to be with the front office. The main guys of the front office, Mike Flanagan and Jim Duquette have an image in the public of a who lot of talk, but little to no action. Unlike the past couple of years, this offeason, the Orioles spent a significant amount of money to shore up the bullpen, which was nothing short of awful outside of Chris Ray and Chris Britton. Again, the fans are not happy at all, as year after year, the Yankees, Red Sox and most recently the Jays have made moves to jockey their position at the top in the AL East, while the Orioles seem to be completely inept.

While we have courted various free agents in the past couple of years like Paul Konerko, Carlos Delgado, and Vladmir Guerrero, all have said no to Baltimore because they wanted to win for the most part, and no matter how much money Baltimore threw at them, a union was not going to happen. Furthermore, fans are not happy at the way the contract negotiations went for Mike Mussins and BJ Ryan, and now both men are thriving for our rivals in the AL East.

For the fans, it means feelings of apathy, anger and sadness. In the past, what seemed to be the ideal franchise has now turned into the laughing stock of professional sports.

Pathetic.

I hope before the close of the decade, we can turn the table. Maybe our young pitchers do develop and the Yard will be packed again. If the economic scene stays the same in baseball as we have seen this off-season, maybe the job will be harder despite the MASN deal.

However, if there's a will, there is a way. Look at Minnesota, Oakland, Detroit and yes, the Florida Marlins!

Until then, we can hope. I'm an optimist and like to be positive, I don't want to give up on my O's, but it's now really hard to be a fan and see the bright side of things right now.

We need a plan, take a risk and not do business as usual...