They got rid of the Scalp Free Zone down at Camden Yards. The Orioles guy I talked to claimed it was because there was "not enough activity to justify it anymore". A more likely reason is that the Orioles didn't like it competing with the deal they have with Stub Hub.  

It used to be you could go down the the Scalp Free Zone before a late-August midweek-game against a team like the Royals, and for $20 you could score tickets three rows behind home plate. More recently, they watered down the Scalp Free Zone by making ticket agents act as middlemen between the buyer and the seller. It made shopping around and bargaining less possible and less enjoyable. If they really felt there wasn't enough activity in the Scalp Free Zone lately, they could have fixed that.

Instead, they went with Stub Hub so they could get their cut of the exorbitant transaction fees. If this is the way its going to be, I think the Baltimore City Council needs to go ahead and legalize ticket scalping. 

I went to the game tonight. Good game, I really enjoyed it. But once again they couldn't resist the urge to play the cheesy music way at top volume in between innings. Plus theres the stupid intro music clips before every Oriole batter. Miggy's intro music in particular annoys the crap out of me. Do they really HAVE to do that?

I didn't help that we were sitting under a loudspeaker. It really puts a damper on conversation.

If I had my way they would dump the bad DJ altogether and get a live organ player like they have at Wrigley Field. But I'd settle if they just turned off the loudspeakers in a few sections... I'd pay a couple dollars extra to sit there and watch the game in peace.

You know, I think those stupid cheers that get played on the jumbotron and PA system at Camden Yards are beyond lame. "LETS GO O's" has no poetry to it, and "O-eee-O" seems like its ripped off the Braves or something. That said, we could have used those lame cheers on Sunday afternoon as the Orioles were getting blown out 9-3 en route to a sweep by the Red Sox.

I went to the game with my wife, who, despite all her other wonderful qualities, is a Red Sox fan. But as far as Red Sox fans go, she is a good one. She sits quietly through the game, doesn't cheer much for her team, doesn't rub in in when the Orioles get blown out, and brings me snacks. I wish the other Red Sox fans would be so well behaved when they come to Oriole Park.

But no, I have to sit through nine innings of "Lets Go Red Sox" chanted in my ear over and over again, not to mention they way the stadium goes nuts whenever OUR team gets hit up for more runs. My only counter to this onslaught of cheering Massholes is to boo. And I hate having to boo, because then it seems like I'm booing the Orioles, when I am, in fact, booing the Massholes. And while I have been known to boo my own team on occasion, its not something I take lightly and its not something I like to do.

This is where the stupid cheers on the jumbotron should have stepped up. Late in the game, when the team is getting its ass handed to them and the stadium is 3/4 full of gleeful, drunken Red Sox fans, and those Orioles fans who remain are there out of some twisted sense of loyalty to the home - thats the time when the home team could really use some back up. When our guy is up at bat, and the Massholes are chanting "Lets Go Red Sox", would it have killed the jumbotron people to throw up the stupid "LET GO O's" cheer?

Well, not once durring the entire game did they play the "LETS GO O's". Red Sox cheers went unanswered, and our team on the field probably felt like they were in Fenway Park for all the crowd support they were able to muster.  

But the worst part was right before the 8th inning, when the jumbotron decided to show a highlight of the 1978 pennant fight between the Red Sox and the Yankees. They showed the Red Sox winning a game, and the Massholes went nuts.

That's BS. They've handed over the stadium to the Red Sox fans at the expense of the loyal locals. What they should have shown is a clip of some game with the Orioles beating up on the Red Sox, or a clip of Bill Buckner, or something that says "Hey Red Sox fans, this ain't Fenway South. Sit down and be quiet." Us beleaguered O's fans would have appreciated that. As would the team, I'm sure.

Anyway, its pretty pathetic that the Orioles have sold out their home team fans just to cash in some dollars from Massachusetts. Its no longer fun to be an Orioles fan at a Red Sox game - not just because of the losing - but because most of the stadium is rooting for the other team.

It just ain't right. I want my stadium back.