Who are the Baltimore Orioles of English football

I certainly don't think this thread is anything other than wholesome and good. I was just twisting yer noodle.

 

Which will limit their payroll and income, thus becoming the Kansas City Royals.

The Orioles haven't won a division or pennant since 1983. They've had their problems long before current management got a hold of them.

I think Chelsea on many levels. They both think they are God's gift to their sport and try and dominate the "block" they live on, all the while sucking major ass.

 

yes, because the f.a. cup is rubbish. there has been one decent final in ten years, the competition consists of premiership b-teams up until the semis, and i am actually having trouble remembering who last year's beaten finalist was. oh yeah, them.

 

Arsenal - Chelsea was a decent enough final in the second half. Arsenal - Liverpool was great too.

Chelsea - Middlesbrough and Chelsea - Villa were pretty poor, but Manchester United - Chelsea was a good 'un. As was Liverpool - Sunderland, Arsenal - Newcastle, United - Newcastle (if only due to the Treble factor). Which leaves United - Everton. Which was a crap game, but an hilarious occasion.

That's nine of the last eleven. I can't remember the 1993 one - was it Arsenal - Wednesday? Yes, it was. Yeah, that was poor.

Oh - and Liverpol - United of course. That sucked. Poor game. But then, I would say that.

The FA Cup has thrown up some utter magic in recent years, although admittedly the best has tended to come prior to the Final.

But the point remains - if people congregate to watch the FA Cup Final, they watch the game, not the half-time commercials.

 

I would say though that the FA Cup isn't the big occasion that it once was. The viewing figures recently show that the nation hardly stops to watch the final. That's a shame in my opinion as I'm sure 15-20 years ago winning the FA Cup meant a lot more than winning a European Trophy. The early rounds of the cup now normally pull worse attendences than a league fixture would. As for the league cup, that's now just a back door into Europe and nothing more. The sooner it is scrapped the better.

 

Actually, now that I think about it, a teamt that would be the Orioles, would have to be a team that was dominant in the 60's and 70's, and early 80's, yet hasn't done much since.

 

Re: Re: Who are the Baltimore Orioles of English football

The O's won the East in 1997, hon, and lost to Cleveland in the ALCS. Then owner Peter Angelos, with unlimited funds and an ego to match, went psycho in the way Steinbrenner did in the 80s. He fired manager Davey Johnson and replaced him with a succession of former assistants and/or incompetents, bought every overpaid free agent he could get his hands on, and his once-proud team became a laughingstock. Now he's trying to rebuild with youth, but he's given up much of the farm in his quest for immediate success.

So Chelsea it is, then...

Dave

 

Re: Re: Re: Who are the Baltimore Orioles of English football

1997 1st place wire to wire only to lose out to the stinking Cleveland Indians when Armando Benitez went mental.

As a fan of both the Os and Chelsea, I couldn't have said it better myself. The big parallel in my mind is that both teams came into large sums of money and instead of investing in a youth structure tried to buy a championship. For an interesting read about baseball that, among other things, touches on Baltimore as a baseball town and the "Oriole Way" of running a baseball club, read George Will's Men at Work. It's well written and very interesting.

As dcaddick's assertion that "I think Chelsea on many levels. They both think they are God's gift to their sport and try and dominate the "block" they live on, all the while sucking major ass."

Get a grip.

Chelsea has been a very good, if wildly inconsistent, club of late and has done a better job than Charlton in maintaining a high level of play.

Only on a few occasions in the last 40 years have the Orioles "sucked major ass."

Baltimore is God's gift to baseball along with St. Louis.

All of those 'great' Yankee fans only came out of the woodwork when Steinbrenner finally figured out that he had better just shut the hell up and hire good people. I know there are many good people that have always stuck with the Yankees, even in their Fat Elvis stage during the 80's, so I don't begrudge them anything.

The true Oriole fans have been chased out of Camden Yards by the mobile-phone toting, prawn sandwich eating, chardonnay and brie devouring, DC/Mont. Co./NOVA crowd. Right field bleachers at Memorial Stadium was my favorite place as a kid and young adult. You could get into the game for 4 bucks and and have a beer for $2-3 even near the end of its life.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Who are the Baltimore Orioles of English football

[movie ad announcer's voice]
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is Albert Belle.
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Dave

 

Um,.....Leeds.

 

Erm, let us do that. Under Robson, the average age of the squad has plummeted.

Shearer and Speed are the only players over 30. Two players are 28 (Dabizas, Robert) and one is 27 (Solano).

In fact, the Toon could field a very competitive side with the elder statesmen being Shay Given (26). Against Dirty Leeds, no one among Newcastle's back four was over 23. At times, the club's midfield has consisted of Viana (19), Jenas (19), Dyer (23) and Gavilan (22).

At forward - after Shearer - the remaining healthy forwards are 22 or younger.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Who are the Baltimore Orioles of English football

This statement is incredibly ignorant (coupled with your previous ones). While I find it ignorant for most Americans to dismiss soccer merely as a foreign sport, your comments are no better - that is suggesting that two sports that are integral part of American culture branding as "two most boring games." Especially considering that you hail from Seattle, WA (which, last time I checked, is on this side of the pond).

In case you haven't noticed, this website is mostly visited by Americans (and based in USA - as ".com" suggests), and most people in US enjoy baseball/football. Even though we like soccer considerably more, most of us are still pretty knowledgeable about other American sports. So, I don't see anything wrong in trying to draw a parallel with a US sport, especially for someone who's just trying get their hands around EPL. Now, if you have a problem with this, I suggest you go to bigsoccer.co.uk or .es or .fr and there you surf freely without being "harassed" by heretic Americans.

 

Well, look at where Newcastle is in the table, and look at how they did Wednesday at St. James's vs. dirty Leeds.

Forgive me for putting words in your mouth, but you could also argue (Satan can quote scripture for his own purposes!):
1. The jelling factor is at work and it takes time
2. You are thinking of CL.

I actually have great respect for Robson. He's my second favorite manager in the PL.;-)