NBA Blog

I just cannot take it anymore, and I finally had to say something about it.  I let it slide when they continually overspent on over-the-hill hitters in the mid-to-late 90’s, and failed to bring in a manager with a pulse.  Then, they had a ton of young pitching talent coming up, both as starters and closers, yet failed to hire a pitching coach who was competent (at least until this season).  However, after watching them play like the worst team in baseball, fire a lame duck manager (who will actually be really good when he goes elsewhere), get rejected by a potentially great manager, and just be an all out disgrace to baseball, I cannot let the Orioles slide anymore.  It is absolutely pathetic how bad they are. 

Let’s take a look at guys they have signed to large deals over the last decade that never produced yet hung around eating up their money:

Albert Belle
Rafael Palmiero
Will Clark (this hurts me, but Will needed to go back to the National League long before his finaly half-season with the Cardinals)
Kevin Millar
Javy Lopez

Once again, these were just five guys that immediately popped into my head.  It required no thought whatsoever.  Now, the Orioles cannot get any young talent to come play for them, yet they have the finances to field a great team.  Instead, they keep bringing around retreads or junk from other rosters (read Millar, Patterson) and fail to make any moves to support their current talent (read Roberts now and Tejada two years ago).  They have even failed to hold on to quality young pitchers (read B.J. Ryan).  Even in deals where it looks like they made the right move, it blows up in their face (read the Jorge Julio trade) because the player they landed could not stay healthy.

If that weren’t enough, their owner is a meddler and will not let his general managers or managers run the team without his interference, despite the fact that he has continually shown his incompetence when it comes to baseball teams and talent.  He is also a complete jerk that alienated the entire D.C. fan base to the point that the Expos were welcomed with opened arms and Nationals hats outsold Orioles hats like 5-to-1. 

I had the opportunity to go to Camden Yards with the lady friend last summer, to watch an Orioles-Red Sox game no less.  I was fired up, because I always wanted to see Camden, and we were going to see my favorite team play a high scoring, mashing game.  I was so disappointed to see the lack of Oriole fan turnout, especially for a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in August.  To make matters worse, the entire left field section (E-bay is great for finding homerun porch tickets) was full of Red Sox fans.  I made the future Ms. Hoops wear the Orioles shirt that she purchased, just so I would not be alone.  For the record, she buys a home team tee-shirt/jersey at every MLB ball park she visits, and has a nice collection of shirts from the New York Yankees (Mantle jersey), Baltimore Orioles (Brooks Robinson jersey), Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, and Washington Nationals (spent two days in Washington D.C. and caught a Nationals-Mets game before driving to Baltimore for the Orioles game).  And you wonder why I popped the question.

To further prove my point, take a look at this article and make a note of how the Orioles are the most prevalent team on the list. 

Every once in a while while scouring the Summer League rosters, I see long lost college stars that never quite made to the NBA.  Then, once in a blue moon, I discover something far more interesting, players that I actually played well against while growing up in San Antonio.  This always makes me feel good, in an I-need-something-because-I-never-really-achieved-the-success-I-was-hoping-for-and-now-feel-aged-and-diminished-athleticly type of way.  This feeling began when I had the opportunity to watch Devin Brown succeed as a Spur.  Brown was a star in the San Antonio high school sports scene when I was entering my junior year in high school.  We had the opportunity to play West Campus at our house that year.  Brown showed up wearing the Horace Grant blue rec-specs, and we immediately wrote him off.  We also had a 6′9″ center who was hoping to garner some area recognition by shutting Brown down.  Well, Devin went for something like 40 points, at least that’s how I remember it.  I guarded Devin for about 1 minute and 33 seconds, and he did not score on me.  It’s pathetic, I know, but at this point, I’ll take whatever recognition I can get. 

Two summers ago, I was watching some Summer League games and I discovered a player that I played many games against in high school.  His name was Steven Barber and he was playing for the New York Knicks.  I watched that game intently, and Barber played very well.  In fact, he played well enough to earn a preseason roster spot with the Knicks.  He did not make the roster, and I failed to pay too much attention to what he was doing.  The story does not end there however.  Earlier this morning, when I should have been working, I was checking out the 2007 Pepsi Summer League rosters.  During my search, I was happy to see that Steven Barber was once again on the NBA radar.  He is currently on the Orlando Magic summer league roster.  He did not play in the first game (check the box score), but I will be watching the Magic box scores in the hopes that Barber will get some run. 

You see, I went to a high school that was in the same district as Barber’s high school, and we were in the same class year.  Therefore, I played against Steven two times per year.  His high school was much more talented than ours, and they always killed us in basketball.  During our freshman year, we were both the leading scorers for our teams.  He was the point guard, he was probably 5′5″ at the time, and I was our power forward.  They ran a 2-3 zone against us, which always suprised me, because they easily could have manned up on us.  (It did not matter, they beat us by 30 every time).  However, I was able to find all kinds of holes in their zone at the high post, and averaged 23 against them.  (I can only verify this, because when I was cleaning things out of my old room at my parents’ house, I found an old scrap book of newspaper clippings and other sports stuff that my dad kept for me).  We also met up in AAU games during the summer.  There were guys who were just as talented as Steven, both on his high school teams and his AAU teams, but for one reason or another, they disappeared off the radar.  Obviously, my game never fully developed (neither did my height, I think I grew one inch in high school) and I went on to be another anonymous Division III athlete (football and baseball), while Steven went on to be a star at UT-Arlington.  (Read more here).  It just feels good to know that some people that I played against have been able to continue playing and doing what they love to do.  Trust me, I would rather be pulling 1,000 jumpers a day than sitting at a desk. 

Recently, he has been bouncing around leagues (playing briefly in the new ABA, the USBL, and the NBDL last year), looking for a home and an opportunity to continue to play the game we all love.  I can only hope that he enjoys every second of his journey, and the people here at nbahoops.blog.com (me) will be rooting for him and keeping a watchful eye on his career.