The time to end the "O" screaming is long past due. It may have fit in with the spirit of the times back when Section 34 was the great Orioles' fans madhouse on 33rd Street and beer flowed like a river through out the stadium.
Today, we have troops overseas in two wars. 9/11 taught us a little bit about what it means to be American. The "Star Spangled Banner" should have special meaning to all of us, and just because the National Anthem was composed in the waters of our harbor doesn't give us as Baltimoreans a license to mess with it.
It's something that makes our city look like a bunch of rubes and low class low-lifes to the rest of our country. Fans in Atlanta could just as well scream, "BRAVES," at the end of "home of the brave..." They don't. In Houston, they could go to a basketball game and scream "ROCKETS" for "and the rockets' red glare." Hey Cincinnati Reds fans could scream “REDS.” They don't.
If we have no pride in our city and want to flaunt that we don't take certain important things seriously, if we want the rest of America to see us as a bunch of yokels, we can keep the stupidity up. Otherwise, STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!!
It’s amazing how much Baltimore sports fans love to whine about how they don’t get any respect from the rest of the country, how the national press either pays Baltimore no mind or seems to be quick to criticize its teams.
How does Baltimore’s quaint little habit of yelling “O” come across to the press that comes to town to cover our games?
This fan is embarrassed. This silliness has gone on long enough. It’s time to stop.
Today, we have troops overseas in two wars. 9/11 taught us a little bit about what it means to be American. The "Star Spangled Banner" should have special meaning to all of us, and just because the National Anthem was composed in the waters of our harbor doesn't give us as Baltimoreans a license to mess with it.
It's something that makes our city look like a bunch of rubes and low class low-lifes to the rest of our country. Fans in Atlanta could just as well scream, "BRAVES," at the end of "home of the brave..." They don't. In Houston, they could go to a basketball game and scream "ROCKETS" for "and the rockets' red glare." Hey Cincinnati Reds fans could scream “REDS.” They don't.
If we have no pride in our city and want to flaunt that we don't take certain important things seriously, if we want the rest of America to see us as a bunch of yokels, we can keep the stupidity up. Otherwise, STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!!
It’s amazing how much Baltimore sports fans love to whine about how they don’t get any respect from the rest of the country, how the national press either pays Baltimore no mind or seems to be quick to criticize its teams.
How does Baltimore’s quaint little habit of yelling “O” come across to the press that comes to town to cover our games?
This fan is embarrassed. This silliness has gone on long enough. It’s time to stop.
2 comments:
Sing it as it was written
Dear RMF,
I agree with you yet again on this issue. You commented on this subject a year ago. I made my thoughts known then. See my posting at: Agreed, the "O" must go
I would guess this is something I'll be writing about each April until our fans finally see the picture and stop the nonsense. What prompted this year's writing was an article in The Baltimore Sun in response to a letter they posted from a fan.
I would not say that an artist can't personalize "The Star Spangled Banner" to some extent if it is done tastefully and in the spirit of the song. As you cited last year, Whitney Houston's Super Bowl performance was quite moving. What draws my fire is what I'd consider "hot dogging" it.
As much as we hear Baltimore fans complain about how our teams and town gets no respect from the national press and other cities, what could give them better ammo than such rube-like conduct?
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