Baltimore Orioles: Learn from Super Bowl week

If there’s one thing the 2015 Baltimore Orioles should learn from last week’s Super Bowl week in Phoenix, it’s to keep their noses clean. In other words, stay out of trouble. That’s easier said than done for a franchise who can’t seem to get away from dramatics as caused by others, whether it’s a division rival trying to poach their GM, or someone flunking their physical and blaming them. But that aside, trouble will eventually find you if you’re in the public eye – I suppose it’s a matter of how you handle it.

We all know about the deflate-gate scandal facing the NFL and the New England Patriots. And we all see how that was handled by Bill Belichek, Tom Brady, and the entire organization – capped off by Robert Kraft the owner saying last week that he would expect an apology if his organization is exonerated. However Belichek and Brady see fit to stonewall the media – both the news media and sports. Refusing to speak publicly and address an issue like this makes one look even more guilty – whether they’re truly guilty or not.

Bear in mind, I’m not convicting the Patriots of anything here. I do believe strongly in the principles of innocent until proven guilty, and I’m not necessarily on board with the idea of lynching someone simply because they’re stonewalling. However that’s the reality of what’s happening, and it’s a tale that’s been told time and time again in sports and in all aspects of the public eye.

Courtesy of Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

So how does this relate to the O’s? Let’s look back to last season and Chris Davis‘ PED suspension. Davis didn’t offer any excuses as to why this happened, nor did he shy away from commenting on the fact that it was on him. Is he any more or less guilty of his “crime” than the Patriots may be found to be? Not in the least. However he was up front about the fact that he screwed up in some manner – be it a calculated decision to use PED’s, or a clerical error on his part (in not getting the proper paperwork for a waiver). He didn’t shy away from his mistake; instead he owned it.

Now in fairness, the NFL is still “investigating” the Patriots’ situation. So perhaps it’s fair to say that it wouldn’t behoove them to fall on their sword per se. However I would submit that they’d look a bit less villainous in all of this if at least there was some comment about them holding themselves accountable if someone in their organization did something repugnant.

So the lesson here is to own your mistakes and to take steps to remedy them when they occur. Obviously some errors require more than just owning the mistake in terms of fixing, however the point is that the issue goes away a lot quicker if you own the problem and address it head on as opposed to stonewalling and expecting it to go away. Thus the 2015 Orioles should take notice of this, and if they get caught up in any controversy, just speak to it and let it pass.