Countdown to Relevance: 80 O's Notch First Win and the Home Opener

So the O's were able to get their first win of the season last night. It's great they avoided being swept and that they are managing to keep games close. That bodes well for the season. There are a few areas that really need improvement though. First, let me admit that I did not watch all of last night's game, only the 9th inning. But I can tell you one thing from the games I've watched. This closer, Gonzalez, needs to step up and step up fast. Some fans, including me last night, are calling for his head. I was nicely reminded that it was only the third game of the season so maybe I should give him a little more time before trying to rush the field and remove him.

Maybe I should give him time. But as an O's fan, it's especially hard to be patient with erratic pitchers. I'm incredibly optimistic about the Orioles, but years of sloppy relief pitching and terrible bullpens have worn my patience thin. Giving a young star, like Wieters, time to mature was pretty easy. He slumped when he first got to the majors, but not for long and you could see the talent was there. I'm having a hard time seeing that talent in Gonzalez, and trust me I'm looking. I cling to even a glimmer of talent with the hope it will grow into something great. Now, I trust Andy McPhail to make good selections and find the right talent for the team. But everyone misses sometimes, right? I'm hoping I'm wrong and Gonzalez settles down and becomes a great closer, but right now his erratic throwing makes that hard to believe. On the other hand, you can't say he isn't exciting to watch. I've been on the edge of my seat both times I've seen him play.

The other major problem has been hitting with runners on base and in scoring position. The O's are getting the hits but not capitalizing on them. But with consistent hitting, I think this will improve as the season goes on. I'm not too worried about this only three games in. Ask me about it again in June. The Orioles have kept all the games close so far. And if they can improve here, the future of this team will be very bright.

Now onto a happier topic, the Home Opener. Yes, it's not technically Opening Day, but it still deserves to be celebrated as such. The beginning of baseball season in Baltimore is a glorious time. Everyone is excited for the game and the team. Many people still believe that this year, it will be better. The hope and enthusiasm is palpable. This is traditionally a holiday in Baltimore. Sadly, I have to work in the morning but will be attending the game. Bergesen will be returning to the mound and after a promising start last season before his injury, I'm excited to see what he can do. Hopefully the offense will light it up and hit in the clutch we won't have to rely on our closer.

LET'S GO O'S!!!

Countdown to Relevence: 80 wins, 159 games remaining

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Countdown to Relevance

Welcome back to baseball season. The days leading up to Opening Day are some of the best for rebuilding teams. For a few days we can truly believe we will contend in our division, that great things will be in store this year. This is a time of hope. Tomorrow will be a time for reality to start again. But this year, that hope seems less starry eyed and a little more realistic. I'm not saying that the O's will be contenders this year, not by any means. I'm hoping for relevance. Therefore, I'm starting a Countdown to Relevance. A non-losing season would make the O's relevant again. Right now the team is 81 wins away from that relevance.

Last year the O's got off to a fast start, followed by a terrible decline which led to a pitiful end to the season. This year the Orioles look well equipped to become relevant again. Youngsters like Wieters, Markakis, Bergesen, Matusz and Jones make this a team with some up and coming stars. Yes, the AL East is stacked as always.

This countdown will try to focus on the positive, the things the Orioles are doing right, the great moments, the great plays, the games they win and the players who play their hearts out to make the game worth watching. This is a countdown devoted to giving hope to Orioles fans. Yes, I'm sure it will be tough at times, but I'm willing to take on this challenge. I'm hoping this is not as futile as my countdown last season. Yes, I did abandon it due to shear desperation. Whatever, I have a good feeling about this season. You should too.

Countdown to Relevance: 81 wins, 162 games remaining

Basketball Season In Full Swing

I am so happy for college basketball season to be back. The Terps got off to a good start and even broke into the top 25. They then fumbled in the Maui invitational to Cincinnati and Wisconsin. Both of those teams look poised to do good things this season. And the Terps managed to persevere against the Indiana Hoosiers in the ACC-Big Ten challenge. Overall, my Terps are looking good this year. I've heard naysayers talk about how in a month the fans and Washington Post will be calling for Gary's head. But I'm not so sure.

First of all, I want to enjoy the success while it's going on. Why assume bad things are going to happen? I'm trying to be positive. Maryland has a good mixture of young and experienced players. The new big freshman will need to grow as players to make Maryland great, but I think they have done well so far. The defense is playing well so far.

For that reason, I think Maryland can do well. The Terps tend to rely on their star shooters, like Vasquez and when he doesn't come through, the Terps are lost. But this year they have the defense working for them. The shots will start to fall more. They will struggle on Vasquez off nights, but I don't think it will kill them. There shouldn't be any games like last season's Duke blowout loss. I think that will bode well for Maryland.

This team also looks like a group of hard workers. They seem to have a drive early in the season that Gary's teams sometimes appear to lack. Even in their lackluster performances, the team did not give up, they always looked like they were working hard. This is good. I don't want to watch a team that doesn't try, even in the pushover games. In recent years, Maryland has lost to some cupcake team and then started to spiral downward. I think that can be avoided this year.

I don't want to be waiting anxiously on Selection Sunday, I don't want to be strung along throughout the season and have my emotions played with again. I don't want to mourn Maryland and I don't want to call for Gary's head. So I'm hoping the experienced Terps are teaching the freshman and that Maryland continues to improve over the season.

I have high hopes, here's hoping the Terps don't let me down.

GO TERPS!!

Stupid Sports Bet

So before the college football season started I made an imprudent bet with another blogger about Maryland football. I had this crazy idea in my head that Maryland might actually be decent or even good at football this year. I was wrong. Very wrong. Maryland is terrible, but I'm not one to go back on a bet. So here's the wager that I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose.

The Maryland - Virginia Tech game is this weekend. I bet the fine people at College Game Balls that whoever won would get to redesign the other blog's banner. CGB is a VT blog, just in case you were wondering. They do good stuff, you should check them out either way. Honestly, I have even learned how to use any of the software to design a banner. So I'm guessing next week my banner will be a little obscene.

Maybe Maryland will pull some type of magical upset similar to what they did over Clemson. But they've lost to pretty much everyone else, so I'm not particularly hopeful. I've pretty much given up on this season of football. Maybe next year will be better, but for now I'm focusing on basketball season, which starts tomorrow for Maryland.

Don't be thrown if my banner looks different on Sunday. If I can fight off this I'll be at the game on Saturday cheering on the Terps. Maybe I'll see a miracle. But I'm think its more likely I'm going to see a train wreck.

GO TERPS!!!

Beaten By the Bungles

The Ravens were terrible this weekend. Just awful to watch. They lost 17-7 to the rejuvenated Bengals, but the game wasn't even that close. Cincinnati dominated every aspect of the game. They stalled every aspect of our offense, the picked off Flacco, they sacked Flacco, they stopped the run and the Ravens seemed powerless to stop them. And with the Ravens' defense not playing up to it's reputation, the game was just painful.

The Ravens managed to mount some offense in the 4th quarter. But at that point it was too late. And any hope of a comeback was killed when Hauschka missed that 38 yard field goal. It would have put the Ravens within one touchdown with a little over 6 minutes left. But no, wide left, and the life that was starting to come back into the team was extinguished just like that. This is the second critical 4th quarter field goal that he has missed for the Ravens. I know Raven's fans have been spoiled by Matt Stover and his great accuracy. But still, I'm starting to worry about Hauschka's mental toughness.

Next week, hopefully the Ravens' can bounce back against the Browns and regain some of their swagger. The rest of the season is going to be hard. The schedule is unforgiving and the Ravens need to take next week and make a statement. They are going to struggle to catch even be a wild card team right now. They can't afford to give up the easier games. Here's hoping they can bounce back.

Photo: ESPN/AP/David Kohl

Mascot Halloween Costumes

As Halloween quickly approaches, a lot of people are still scrambling for costume ideas. Don't worry, as a sports fan there are always a bevy of ideas to be had. Grab a jersey and some eye black and you can be pretty much any player. But there is a great untapped resource of Halloween costumes in the sports world. Yes, the Mascot, these are people dressed up in costume every game and are a great way to support your team and have a fun costume or even better mock another (rival) team.

I personally am going as a penguin for Halloween this year. I do hate the Pittsburgh Penguins, but love there cute Antarctic counterparts. So I will do my best to be completely non-threatening and no way a fierce rival a capital. I'm more of a penguin from one of those cute animated movies they keep making. However, I thought about it and decided some other fun/easy mascots to dress up as.

First, there are any mascots that are people, Steelers, Patriots, Volunteers, you get the idea. Grab a hard hat and some overalls and you too can be Steely McBeam, preferably some parody of. For some reason the idea of a pirate carrying home plate is particularly funny to me. Probably because the Pirates were so terrible, actual pirates would probably have had more luck steeling bases.

Generally, I think some of the best mascot costumes are probably those creature that doesn't exist and aren't based on anything in particular. A prime example is the Western Kentucky Hilltopper. It's a big red blob. Also, though it pains me to say it, the Philly Phanatic would be a good one as well. These costume goers must make sure that their costumes are somewhat relative. The Hilltopper probably doesn't work outside of Kentucky and many people outside of Philadelphia probably want to punch the Fanatic so beware.

I personally would like to see people as Terps or Ninja Turtles or any type of turtle one might fear. I think that would be great. But seeing someone wander around in a Raven outfit would also be nice. Even an Oriole would be nice to see. Maybe one with a short leash being held by Peter Angelos.

Overall, if you are still searching for a costume, think local, everyone wants to buy there teams mascot a drink. Plus minor league teams have some crazy names and mascots. Show your support for your favorite team or taunt a rival. It's a win -win situation.

FAILgate

Oh, this title could refer to so many things. The Terps routing by Virginia, the Ravens coming back in the 4th quarter only to shank a 44 yard field goal. The miserable seasons both seem to be having now. My complete and utter lack of blogging for the last two weeks. So many things I wanted to write and just got caught up being distracted. I guess this might happen occasionally when someone starts a new job. So forgive me for the slacking. I promise to try and write more again, if there is still anyone out there reading.

I'm not going to talk about the Terps, I'm only going to say that tailgating in the cold rain sucks. And if possible, Maryland should try figure out a way to schedule homecoming for a day when it's not miserable out. This is two years in a row it's been terrible weather. If we are going to lose to a terrible team, I'd like to at least enjoy the tailgating. Come on now.

I also don't have many words for the Ravens right now. After an amazing start where there was talk of them being possibly the best team in the NFL, they seem to have fallen apart. Yes, they found their offense in the 4th quarter, but it didn't matter because of that lousy field goal attempt. People were calling for Stover, who is now a Colt. Something is just wrong in the world. I believe luck plays a big part in any season. And this season, it's against us. I don't know why, but we are not clutch this year. We just can't seal the deal. If you needed more proof than the Mark Clayton missed catch during the Patriots game, now you have it. A missed 44 yd field goal in a dome. No wind, no snow, not even any cold. A dome. Inside. I can't stop shaking my head every time I think about it. It's pathetic.

The Ravens have a bye week next week where hopefully they can regroup and come back strong. Unfortunately, their schedule remains much harder than expected at the beginning of the season. They face the surprisingly good Broncos and Bengals before playing the dismal Browns again. I hope that the Ravens are not relegated to the bottom of the AFC North with the Browns by the time they play again. This Ravens team has a lot of talent. But they need to step up and play every week.

There are some serious concerns about the defense. The cornerbacks can't seem to keep up and we need a real threat receiver, yes, Mason is good, but there is no fear there. Give Joe Cool someone to throw to and and Mason will get more looks by default. It all just makes me want to throw my hands up in the air. The AFC is too good as a whole to drop this many games so early and expect to make the playoffs.

Photo: ESPN/AP/Jim Mone