Glenn Younes: Merging Markets O's & Nats
So, I read about the hubbub in DC because an Orioles billboard is (gasp) Less Than 7 Miles from Nationals Park!
WASHINGTON (CBSDC) The billboard, promoting the phone number fans can use to purchase tickets, went up last Thursday, and can be seen by traffic flowing into the District, and is located a mere 6.5 miles from Nationals Park.
What should make this particularly funny for Orioles fans, and utterly infuriating for Nationals fans, is the many, many years (34) D.C. went without baseball.
The idea that an Orioles Billboard is 7 miles from Nationals park means nothing more than the Baltimore Washington area is coming together as one.
Take it from me. Born in DC to native Washingtonians (about 100 yrs) raised in Montgomery county MD, now doing radio in Baltimore. Everyone of my childhood friends is an Orioles Fan... They are or were also Redskins fans. When the Nats came to town most stayed with the Orioles, some went with the Lerners.
None of that is important, what is are the numbers. There are still a vast amount of baseball fans in and around DC that support both.. YES, BOTH baseball teams. A billboard near DC is nothing more than a reminder that another baseball teams plays 35 minutes away. Hey commuters, we are up the road.
Oh and the Washington Post still covers the Orioles. Oh,...and the Orioles games are broadcast on the flagship Redskins station in DC. This billboard hubbub is really nonsense... except the Baltimore Washington region better wake up to the fact that we are merging. Period.
Two different regional sports networks straddle the market. Our all news FM station straddles the market. The Big 10 wanted University of Maryland because it captures the Baltimore Washington markets. And there is that little airport called BWI... Need I spell it out for you?
What's all this noise about a billboard? Talk to ya during inter league play.