The Ravens are purple.  The Orioles are orange.  There isn’t much they go well with as colors.  They certainly don’t go well together.   Except here in the “Charm City.”  For sports fans in Baltimore, the transition from Ravens to Orioles and Orioles to Ravens, has been pretty clear in the last decade.  Fans know when to pull off the Orioles jersey and put on the Ravens jersey.  Jones and Markakis get dumped for Flacco and Rice.  It’s been as dependable as a crab cake in this town.  Until this year …

For the first time in what seems forever, when training camp kicks off the Orioles are still “in it!” And not just in it, seriously in it! Like “let’s make a trade deadline deal that grabs us a playoff spot” in it!  Fans are passionate about the Orioles for the rest of this season.  There is debate, discussion and dare I say, even a little bit of drama around the “orange birds” in this town.  And I don’t know if there is still a hangover from the AFC Championship loss or what, but from this radio host’s point of view, I don’t feel as much fervor for the “purple birds” on the first day of training camp.  I fully expect that to change in the coming weeks, but for the time being, I am okay with baseball being a big story in a town that has longed for a winner.

Zinno

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