Crab Cakes and Baseball. That’s What Maryland Does

Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

Since the early 2000s, the city of Baltimore has been all about football. The Baltimore Ravens and their two Super Bowl rings have contributed to that overall feel. It seemed as though Orioles baseball was just something to keep people in Charm City busy while they anxiously awaited Ravens football to return in late July for training camp.

Even in the movie Wedding Crashers, a character yells, “Crabcakes and football. That’s what Maryland does!”

However, in just the past three years, Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter have been able to change the “culture of Baltimore sports.”

With three straight winning seasons (two of them ending up in the Postseason), the Orioles are starting to regain the following they had for so many years up until the 14-year span of losing baseball.

In those 14 losing seasons of Orioles baseball, it seemed like there was no hope for Baltimore baseball. However, the hiring of Buck Showalter in 2010 and Dan Duquette in 2011 changed the face of Orioles baseball forever. Neither settled and both had a desire to bring a competitive baseball team back to Baltimore.

They both wanted to bring back the pride of Orioles baseball and in the 60th season of the ball club’s existence they did just that by winning the team’s first AL East Division Title since 1997. The celebration of that win against the Blue Jays to clinch the division will remembered for decades to come.

During the same time the Orioles were owning the AL East, the Ravens have been surrounded with controversy regarding Ray Rice and the team’s executives. And now it seems like the Ravens name has been tainted with what has unfolded over the past seven months.

I myself am a big Ravens fan. Nevertheless, with the “black cloud” looming over the Ravens and because of the success the Orioles have had this season, I have yet to watch a single down of Ravens football this season.

The only controversy the Orioles have seen lately is Chris Davis forgetting to get his prescription for Adderall signed by a doctor. Baltimore is more focused now on Orange Wednesdays than Purple Fridays and the city is covered in orange and black.

Has Baltimore really changed from a football town back into a baseball town? O.R.I.O.L.E.S. YES!