710 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

Put it this way...Hunter isn't going to ask the tough questions and really press them for answers.

 

I want to see these guys actually answer the questions.

 

And please, spare me the bs of "Mr Angelos has never turned down a request for a player"..blah blah blah.

 

 

I think the Orioles owe it to the public to answer questions from everyone. Primarily there has to be some discussion about the revenues being generated from MASN, and salary.

If the O's come out and say we don't want to spend more than $75M (hyperbole on my part, know them staying at $95M to $100M is likely)... I'd respect that. I'd be irritated, because I would believe they were not doing everything possible to win, but I'd respect them being up-front about that.

If the O's want to operate as a small-to-mid-market team... operate as such. Get younger, get cheaper cost/team-controlled players, and roll with that. Don't play the fence.

When you trade away Johnson as a salary dump... there has to be some discussion of why the salary dump is necessary. Why won't they go to $115M, when logic says they should be capable of such?

 

 

I have respect for and personally like Thyrl, Pete, and Luke Jones... but I generally hate everything about WNST, due to my distaste for Nestor's antics*. However, I've never thought he was off for criticizing the O's. I've disliked the manner he has gone about it, and often thought his arguments were poor at best... but the general critique that the O's do a lot of things wrong has always been fair.  (However, the O's don't do everything wrong - on or off the field, and a good portion of Nestor's antics are overly calculated.)

 

(*I was listening to Nestor on WWLG 20 years ago. I do actually respect what Nestor has accomplished. He was with the Evening Sun, he has written several books. I was in college when he was doing National Radio with Sporting News... and the way he has built up NST from the ground-up is impressive. I remember NST when it started... listening to Mark Mussina, and Spiro... taking lunch breaks to listen to Bob.  I could go on, but the point is I do respect a lot of what Nestor has achieved. I'll also always appreciate that he had me on the radio before anyone else, and then including me in his Sports Talk competition which Luke Jones won.)

 

Nestor has continually made the point that nobody locally but NST can or will call the O's on anything. An example being yesterday when Nestor called out Roch, questioning Roch's integrity as a journalist.

 

Roch and Steve are great reporters. Frankly they often make their opinions known in various mediums. The fact that they aren't burning down the Warehouse, doesn't mean they are unable to report and critique fairly. Heck, Steve said on BSL yesterday that if the O's don't use the savings from the Johnson trade to improve the team, that would be wrong, and the fan-base would be rightfully irritated.

It's not on Roch or Steve for the O's and MASN as a whole to report their revenue, and provide greater transparency. That's on the O's.

 

Nestor likes to also include Brittany (who is not an O's employee, but an employee of MLB.com) and WBAL (as the flagship) in those critiques as well. Saying that due to their relationships they can't be trusted as anything but shills for the O's. All-the-while ignoring the fact that both Brittany, and Brett Hollander have critiqued the O's plenty.

Nestor would say that 105.7 The Fan can't (or does not) ask any questions that matter, because CBS Radio is also full of corporate out-of-town shills (Like his former employees Bob, Rob, and Jeremy fit that narrative).

The Baltimore Sun isn't capable of criticism in Nestor's eyes because they occasionally take advertising from the O's. How insulting is that to guys like Encina, or Connolly, or Schmuck, etc?

PressBox, or CSN Baltimore?  It's easy for Nestor to just dismiss either, and continue to grandstand as Baltimore's 'savior of journalistic integrity.' For the record, Paul Folkemer and Stan Charles are regularly criticizing the O's where necessary, and Rich DuBroff has made his opinions known as well.

 

Rant against Nestor aside, I think the O's would be best served by regularly having Press Conferences... inviting Nestor (and everyone else) and answering any and all questions. Nestor isn't the only one with questions for the O's, and I've made that clear to the O's.

If they don't want to answer those questions though.... that's just the way it goes. Our approach is that we will continue to talk about the O's... we will continue to provide our opinions. When we agree with something, we will say so. When we disagree with something, we will say so...

 

 

 

 

(EDIT: I've moved posts from a couple of threads which were discussing other local outlets, and combined them into one thread here.)

[PD24]

Must be nice to be able to spend your revenue. Hell, I'm jealous of Oakland's spending power. We really need every local media member to be forcing the Angelos issue. Its absolutely indefensible.

 

Well, there is a certainly group of media members that HAVE tried to force the Angelos issue and they've/we've gotten mocked for years now by many people. 

 

Who's going to force the issue? Roch Kubatko or Steve Melewski? WBAL, who broadcasts their games? 105.7, who is laying in the weeds waiting to broadcast their games once something falls apart with WBAL who previously had the radio rights? The Baltimore Sun, who has been an O's partner forever? 

 

Who else is going to?  

[bnickle]

Well, there is a certainly group of media members that HAVE tried to force the Angelos issue and they've/we've gotten mocked for years now by many people. 

 

Who's going to force the issue? Roch Kubatko or Steve Melewski? WBAL, who broadcasts their games? 105.7, who is laying in the weeds waiting to broadcast their games once something falls apart with WBAL who previously had the radio rights? The Baltimore Sun, who has been an O's partner forever? 

 

Who else is going to?  

Everybody has known Angelos is a bum. It's not that Nestor or many of the people at his station have been wrong in their assessment of Angelos as an owner. It's the way they've gone about it. Especially, attacking other BMore media members and walking out on the players. Those are just two examples of things that are unacceptable IMO. Chris made a good post about WNST earlier in some thread.

[PD24]

I think the Orioles owe it to the public to answer questions from everyone. Primarily there has to be some discussion about the revenues being generated from MASN, and salary.

If the O's come out and say we don't want to spend more than $75M (hyperbole on my part, know them staying at $95M to $100M is likely)... I'd respect that. I'd be irritated, because I would believe they were not doing everything possible to win, but I'd respect them being up-front about that.

If the O's want to operate as a small-to-mid-market team... operate as such. Get younger, get cheaper cost/team-controlled players, and roll with that. Don't play the fence.

When you trade away Johnson as a salary dump... there has to be some discussion of why the salary dump is necessary. Why won't they go to $115M, when logic says they should be capable of such?

 

 

I have respect for and personally like Thyrl, Pete, and Luke Jones... but I generally hate everything about WNST, due to my distaste for Nestor's antics*. However, I've never thought he was off for criticizing the O's. I've disliked the manner he has gone about it, and often thought his arguments were poor at best... but the general critique that the O's do a lot of things wrong has always been fair.  (However, the O's don't do everything wrong - on or off the field, and a good portion of Nestor's antics are overly calculated.)

 

(*I was listening to Nestor on WWLG 20 years ago. I do actually respect what Nestor has accomplished. He was with the Evening Sun, he has written several books. I was in college when he was doing National Radio with Sporting News... and the way he has built up NST from the ground-up is impressive. I remember NST when it started... listening to Mark Mussina, and Spiro... taking lunch breaks to listen to Bob.  I could go on, but the point is I do respect a lot of what Nestor has achieved. I'll also always appreciate that he had me on the radio before anyone else, and then including me in his Sports Talk competition which Luke Jones won.)

 

Nestor has continually made the point that nobody locally but NST can or will call the O's on anything. An example being yesterday when Nestor called out Roch, questioning Roch's integrity as a journalist.

 

Roch and Steve are great reporters. Frankly they often make their opinions known in various mediums. The fact that they aren't burning down the Warehouse, doesn't mean they are unable to report and critique fairly. Heck, Steve said on BSL yesterday that if the O's don't use the savings from the Johnson trade to improve the team, that would be wrong, and the fan-base would be rightfully irritated.

It's not on Roch or Steve for the O's and MASN as a whole to report their revenue, and provide greater transparency. That's on the O's.

 

Nestor likes to also include Brittany (who is not an O's employee, but an employee of MLB.com) and WBAL (as the flagship) in those critiques as well. Saying that due to their relationships they can't be trusted as anything but shills for the O's. All-the-while ignoring the fact that both Brittany, and Brett Hollander have critiqued the O's plenty.

Nestor would say that 105.7 The Fan can't (or does not) ask any questions that matter, because CBS Radio is also full of corporate out-of-town shills (Like his former employees Bob, Rob, and Jeremy fit that narrative).

The Baltimore Sun isn't capable of criticism in Nestor's eyes because they occasionally take advertising from the O's. How insulting is that to guys like Encina, or Connolly, or Schmuck, etc?

PressBox, or CSN Baltimore?  It's easy for Nestor to just dismiss either, and continue to grandstand as Baltimore's 'savior of journalistic integrity.' For the record, Paul Folkemer and Stan Charles are regularly criticizing the O's where necessary, and Rich DuBroff has made his opinions known as well.

 

Rant against Nestor aside, I think the O's would be best served by regularly having Press Conferences... inviting Nestor (and everyone else) and answering any and all questions. Nestor isn't the only one with questions for the O's, and I've made that clear to the O's.

If they don't want to answer those questions though.... that's just the way it goes. Our approach is that we will continue to talk about the O's... we will continue to provide our opinions. When we agree with something, we will say so. When we disagree with something, we will say so...

 

I appreciate the kind words Chris.

 

That said, let me ask you something. Obviously, some people have come to the conclusion that WNST has an anti-Orioles agenda, just because we (the owner) doesn't like Peter Angelos. Often times, when we say, facebook, tweet, write, whatever, something negative about the O's, people attack us for having an agenda. 

 

Meanwhile, Roch Kubatko was on Twitter talking about the move. He said NOTHING about the O's getting basically nothing in return. He said NOTHING about the fact that they should have traded him before last year. He said NOTHING about anything, well, negative.

 

But when Nestor calls Roch out for having an agenda, somehow that is an attack on his integrity? But saying that we're anti-Orioles isn't? I don't understand that logic.

 

I don't think WNST has an agenda. I think we all realize how the O's has hurt our business model, and the models of several other businesses. Ask Tony Assadi who owns Luna Del Sea how his business does on a Wednesday in April when there are 12K people at the game.

 

There are countless people around town in high places that are friends/allies of ours that have been royally screwed by Angelos that no one knows about. 

 

Plus, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the organization, mostly due to the owner, is F'ed up. I wouldn't call it an agenda. I'd call it facts.

 

Having said that, I can see why some people on the outside would come to the conclusion that we had an agenda.

 

But if that's the case, then how can you say Roch Kubatko doesn't have an agenda. It doesn't have to be a personal agenda. And it's not like he's doing anything wrong. It's common sense...you aren't going to attack the person you work for, regardless of what you think. Roch is probably making very good money compared to other people who do similar jobs and I'm sure he likes what he does. But that doesn't change the fact that he's never going to be anything close to critical about the team as long as he writes for MASN. I'd call that an agenda. And for people that look to him as a teacher/journalistic source, I think it should be made known the situation that he's in.

 

I could post hundreds and hundreds of links of positive O's stories/comments/thoughts from WNST over the past several years. Would be hard pressed to find 10 negative pieces from Roch Kubatko since he's been writing for MASN.

[Oriole85]

I appreciate the kind words Chris.

 

That said, let me ask you something. Obviously, some people have come to the conclusion that WNST has an anti-Orioles agenda, just because we (the owner) doesn't like Peter Angelos. Often times, when we say, facebook, tweet, write, whatever, something negative about the O's, people attack us for having an agenda. 

 

Meanwhile, Roch Kubatko was on Twitter talking about the move. He said NOTHING about the O's getting basically nothing in return. He said NOTHING about the fact that they should have traded him before last year. He said NOTHING about anything, well, negative.

 

But when Nestor calls Roch out for having an agenda, somehow that is an attack on his integrity? But saying that we're anti-Orioles isn't? I don't understand that logic.

 

I don't think WNST has an agenda. I think we all realize how the O's has hurt our business model, and the models of several other businesses. Ask Tony Assadi who owns Luna Del Sea how his business does on a Wednesday in April when there are 12K people at the game.

 

There are countless people around town in high places that are friends/allies of ours that have been royally screwed by Angelos that no one knows about. 

 

Plus, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the organization, mostly due to the owner, is F'ed up. I wouldn't call it an agenda. I'd call it facts.

 

Having said that, I can see why some people on the outside would come to the conclusion that we had an agenda.

 

But if that's the case, then how can you say Roch Kubatko doesn't have an agenda. It doesn't have to be a personal agenda. And it's not like he's doing anything wrong. It's common sense...you aren't going to attack the person you work for, regardless of what you think. Roch is probably making very good money compared to other people who do similar jobs and I'm sure he likes what he does. But that doesn't change the fact that he's never going to be anything close to critical about the team as long as he writes for MASN. I'd call that an agenda. And for people that look to him as a teacher/journalistic source, I think it should be made known the situation that he's in.

 

I could post hundreds and hundreds of links of positive O's stories/comments/thoughts from WNST over the past several years. Would be hard pressed to find 10 negative pieces from Roch Kubatko since he's been writing for MASN.

Roch said when he took the MASN job that you shouldn't expect him to criticize Angelos, he talked about how you wouldn't bad-mouth your boss. So say what you want about him, but he was upfront about this unlike Jim Hunter who pretends to be neutral but clearly isn't.

 

In terms of the O's hurting your business model and others in Baltimore, doesn't that kind of come with the territory even moreso with your company than say a restaurant? Atleast with a restaurant, if they have good food, they should be able to attract patrons with good food. Sure, many will go to a bar regardless of the food and even drinks because of convenience and the ambiance. Don't you know that going in that you partially dependent on how something you have little control over does? I'm sure Chris can talk about this as well, isn't there more traffic when the local teams are doing well? This is also true around the country, in college towns when the football team is having a down year, local bars are lacking patrons and bookstores don't sell as much merchandise. Sure, me and you will be there through thick and thin but most won't. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Drew's I like the fact, he's unapologetic about discussing the O's regardless of how they are doing. 

 

We had the "public trust" conversation earlier here and I see where these people are coming from, but at the end of the day, we're talking about private businesses as much as we want to think they don't belong to individuals (like Angelos/Bisciotti). If teams really were run like a non-profit with the fans serving on the board of directors, they'd be re-signing a lot of fan favorites to the detriment of that team. And likewise, you don't like how the O's are run, by all means, no one is forcing you to spend your disposable income with the exception of your cable bill. 

[DJ MC]

I appreciate the kind words Chris.

 

That said, let me ask you something. Obviously, some people have come to the conclusion that WNST has an anti-Orioles agenda, just because we (the owner) doesn't like Peter Angelos. Often times, when we say, facebook, tweet, write, whatever, something negative about the O's, people attack us for having an agenda. 

 

Meanwhile, Roch Kubatko was on Twitter talking about the move. He said NOTHING about the O's getting basically nothing in return. He said NOTHING about the fact that they should have traded him before last year. He said NOTHING about anything, well, negative.

 

But when Nestor calls Roch out for having an agenda, somehow that is an attack on his integrity? But saying that we're anti-Orioles isn't? I don't understand that logic.

 

I don't think WNST has an agenda. I think we all realize how the O's has hurt our business model, and the models of several other businesses. Ask Tony Assadi who owns Luna Del Sea how his business does on a Wednesday in April when there are 12K people at the game.

 

There are countless people around town in high places that are friends/allies of ours that have been royally screwed by Angelos that no one knows about. 

 

Plus, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the organization, mostly due to the owner, is F'ed up. I wouldn't call it an agenda. I'd call it facts.

 

Having said that, I can see why some people on the outside would come to the conclusion that we had an agenda.

 

But if that's the case, then how can you say Roch Kubatko doesn't have an agenda. It doesn't have to be a personal agenda. And it's not like he's doing anything wrong. It's common sense...you aren't going to attack the person you work for, regardless of what you think. Roch is probably making very good money compared to other people who do similar jobs and I'm sure he likes what he does. But that doesn't change the fact that he's never going to be anything close to critical about the team as long as he writes for MASN. I'd call that an agenda. And for people that look to him as a teacher/journalistic source, I think it should be made known the situation that he's in.

 

I could post hundreds and hundreds of links of positive O's stories/comments/thoughts from WNST over the past several years. Would be hard pressed to find 10 negative pieces from Roch Kubatko since he's been writing for MASN.

 

You cannot write what you did in this post, and in the midst of it claim, "I don't think WNST has an agenda."

[SBTarheel]

Everybody has known Angelos is a bum. It's not that Nestor or many of the people at his station have been wrong in their assessment of Angelos as an owner. It's the way they've gone about it. Especially, attacking other BMore media members and walking out on the players. Those are just two examples of things that are unacceptable IMO. Chris made a good post about WNST earlier in some thread.

Bingo.

 

If the Orioles traded Taylor Teagarden for Mike Trout straight up, Nes would figure out a way to turn it into a negative.

[Oriole85]

Bingo.

 

If the Orioles traded Taylor Teagarden for Mike Trout straight up, Nes would figure out a way to turn it into a negative.

Not the example you used with me in regards to Cabrera for Teagarden. People who wanted a choir boy would object to Cabrera atleast. What could you say about Trout? The fact he was pumping his chest after he robbed JJ Hardy?

[PD24]

You cannot write what you did in this post, and in the midst of it claim, "I don't think WNST has an agenda."

 

Why not?

 

The agenda that we're accused of having is anti-Orioles...always saying negative things...thinking they are incompetent, under poor ownership. Seems to me like the majority of people on this board share those same feelings, doesn't it? 

[SBTarheel]

Not the example you used with me in regards to Cabrera for Teagarden. People who wanted a choir boy would object to Cabrera atleast. What could you say about Trout? The fact he was pumping his chest after he robbed JJ Hardy?

"If you think our cheap owner who has milked your cable bill to the tune of $650 quatrillionbillion is going to pay for Mike Trout when he's a free agent, then you're drinking too much Orange Kool Aid."

 

"Oh yeah, and the Ravens are awesome".

 

Or something.

[BSLChrisStoner]

I appreciate the kind words Chris.

 

That said, let me ask you something. Obviously, some people have come to the conclusion that WNST has an anti-Orioles agenda, just because we (the owner) doesn't like Peter Angelos. Often times, when we say, facebook, tweet, write, whatever, something negative about the O's, people attack us for having an agenda. 

 

Meanwhile, Roch Kubatko was on Twitter talking about the move. He said NOTHING about the O's getting basically nothing in return. He said NOTHING about the fact that they should have traded him before last year. He said NOTHING about anything, well, negative.

 

But when Nestor calls Roch out for having an agenda, somehow that is an attack on his integrity? But saying that we're anti-Orioles isn't? I don't understand that logic.

 

I don't think WNST has an agenda. I think we all realize how the O's has hurt our business model, and the models of several other businesses. Ask Tony Assadi who owns Luna Del Sea how his business does on a Wednesday in April when there are 12K people at the game.

 

There are countless people around town in high places that are friends/allies of ours that have been royally screwed by Angelos that no one knows about. 

 

Plus, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the organization, mostly due to the owner, is F'ed up. I wouldn't call it an agenda. I'd call it facts.

 

Having said that, I can see why some people on the outside would come to the conclusion that we had an agenda.

 

But if that's the case, then how can you say Roch Kubatko doesn't have an agenda. It doesn't have to be a personal agenda. And it's not like he's doing anything wrong. It's common sense...you aren't going to attack the person you work for, regardless of what you think. Roch is probably making very good money compared to other people who do similar jobs and I'm sure he likes what he does. But that doesn't change the fact that he's never going to be anything close to critical about the team as long as he writes for MASN. I'd call that an agenda. And for people that look to him as a teacher/journalistic source, I think it should be made known the situation that he's in.

 

I could post hundreds and hundreds of links of positive O's stories/comments/thoughts from WNST over the past several years. Would be hard pressed to find 10 negative pieces from Roch Kubatko since he's been writing for MASN.

 

Roch saying nothing on Twitter in that moment, or not reacting like a petulant child... means what? He regularly provides his opinions in his blogs, on the radio, and on MASN TV. He regularly questions things about the O's, and it's not hard to find him disagreeing with decisions the O's made. Now, there is a line he won't cross... because it his employer, but it's simply disingenuous of Nestor to pretend that Roch never critiques the O's. 

 

NST as a whole is unfairly painted with a brush of broad strokes. There is more than one personality there, yourself included, and each of you have your own unique thoughts. You are right to be annoyed by the fact that many believe NST as a whole has an agenda.... it's a bit unfair to everyone there, and doesn't point to the fact there are differing opinions.

 

On the other-hand, the mouthpiece of your organization likes to speak in broad strokes about the O's and the rest of the local media. Those who live in glass houses...

 

When Nestor started increasing his vitriol for Angelos, there was clearly a calculated agenda. 105.7 had the O's rights at the time, and Nestor capitalized on the general apathy (but also anger) that existed with O's fans at the time, by staking out the position that only he was capable of telling the truth about the O's.

 

Do I think NST currently has an agenda? No, not really.  Nestor, like most of Baltimore, has a distaste for the Ownership of Angelos... and he has a bully pulpit to speak from and express his views. Which is a good thing. I'd like to see the O's address any and all of Nestor's questions. (Though I often find Nestor's arguments to be extremely poor.)

The critique against the many things the O's do wrong is fine. It's always been fine. The idea that Nestor is the only one capable of critiquing (or does critique) the O's is laughable.

It's fine to point out the obvious that Roch and Steve work for MASN, and that as such - there are lines they are not going to cross. However, any representation that they do not provide criticism of the O's is ridiculous.

[DJ MC]

Not the example you used with me in regards to Cabrera for Teagarden. People who wanted a choir boy would object to Cabrera atleast. What could you say about Trout? The fact he was pumping his chest after he robbed JJ Hardy?

 

He's a product of sabermetrics. The team should be keeping gritty guys like Teagarden.

[DJ MC]

"If you think our cheap owner who has milked your cable bill to the tune of $650 quatrillionbillion is going to pay for Mike Trout when he's a free agent, then you're drinking too much Orange Kool Aid. One day I'm going to write a book about the time the Oriole Bird threw water on me and I got reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally mad".

 

Or something.

 

C'mon man, get serious here.

 

it was a SuperSoaker.

[PD24]

By your own words, you don't have any credibility on the subject. You work for them.

 

You can't criticize Roch for something you believe he is doing while trying to do the same thing.

 

Understand your point and your thinking on that and you've had this stance against WNST for several years now so I know I'm never going to win this battle with you or get through to you on this. And that's cool...we can agree to disagree. My main rebuttal is that our view is the view of 99% of people who have ever crossed paths with PA or that organization. And now, fans (check out the vibe on here) are starting to see the truth as well. 

 

It's not like people are accusing us of having some off the wall agenda. We think the O's are mismanaged and that most of what they do is F'd up. Not sure what is so wrong with that. 

[SBTarheel]

C'mon man, get serious here.

 

it was a SuperSoaker.

Yes, the old super soaker. Ruined many a fan over the years.

[DJ MC]

Yes, the old super soaker. Ruined many a fan over the years.

Ruined his $80 shirt, that's for sure.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Understand your point and your thinking on that and you've had this stance against WNST for several years now so I know I'm never going to win this battle with you or get through to you on this. And that's cool...we can agree to disagree. My main rebuttal is that our view is the view of 99% of people who have ever crossed paths with PA or that organization. And now, fans (check out the vibe on here) are starting to see the truth as well. 

 

It's not like people are accusing us of having some off the wall agenda. We think the O's are mismanaged and that most of what they do is F'd up. Not sure what is so wrong with that. 

 

There is nothing being said here, that was not said at Orioles Hangout during '98-'11, or on WBAL, or at Roch's blogs at The Sun, or MASN...

 

There is no 'starting to see the truth.' 

Everyone has always been well aware of the primary issues the O's face, no matter how many times Nestor wants to pretend he's some unique voice of dissent.

[SBTarheel]

Ruined his $80 shirt, that's for sure.

Such a tragedy.

 

Impossible to take him or NST seriously when discussing the Orioles, even if some of their points are valid.

[PD24]

Roch saying nothing on Twitter in that moment, or not reacting like a petulant child... means what? He regularly provides his opinions in his blogs, on the radio, and on MASN TV. He regularly questions things about the O's, and it's not hard to find him disagreeing with decisions the O's made. Now, there is a line he won't cross... because it his employer, but it's simply disingenuous of Nestor to pretend that Roch never critiques the O's. 

 

NST as a whole is unfairly painted with a brush of broad strokes. There is more than one personality there, yourself included, and each of you have your own unique thoughts. You are right to be annoyed by the fact that many believe NST as a whole has an agenda.... it's a bit unfair to everyone there, and doesn't point to the fact there are differing opinions.

 

On the other-hand, the mouthpiece of your organization likes to speak in broad strokes about the O's and the rest of the local media. Those who live in glass houses...

 

When Nestor started increasing his vitriol for Angelos, there was clearly a calculated agenda. 105.7 had the O's rights at the time, and Nestor capitalized on the general apathy (but also anger) that existed with O's fans at the time, by staking out the position that only he was capable of telling the truth about the O's.

 

Do I think NST currently has an agenda? No, not really.  Nestor, like most of Baltimore, has a distaste for the Ownership of Angelos... and he has a bully pulpit to speak from and express his views. Which is a good thing. I'd like to see the O's address any and all of Nestor's questions. (Though I often find Nestor's arguments to be extremely poor.)

The critique against the many things the O's do wrong is fine. It's always been fine. The idea that Nestor is the only one capable of critiquing (or does critique) the O's is laughable.

It's fine to point out the obvious that Roch and Steve work for MASN, and that as such - there are lines they are not going to cross. However, any representation that they do not provide criticism of the O's is ridiculous.

 

Not saying Nestor himself is the only person that can critique the O's. And I'm not trying to toot our horn and try to make WNST out to be more or less important than any of you guys think we are. You either like us or you don't. (not you, but people in general) either follow us on Twitter and FB or you don't. You either read our blogs or you don't. Etc etc. I certainly don't take it personally either way.

 

Again, I'm not trying to say WNST is the best outlet in the are. Clearly, we have our strengths, but we undoubtedly have our weaknesses. I'm not blindly clouded by working there.

 

That said, if you could put aside the bias that you think I or we have for a minute, and really listen to what I'm saying about the media outlets...

And with all of this, you have to consider the man that Angelos is. You and Rob know somewhat...even though you guys had somewhat menial jobs (not trying to discredit what you guys did, and you likely could have really helped your departments if given the chance...I know Rob talks about how you guys had the original idea for the Orange Carpet Program which I think is one of the best ideas in the organization). You know who he is and how he is perceived and how it is to work for him. It's different than the Ravens. John Eisenberg writes a column for baltimoreravens.com, and he has personally told me that he is ENCOURAGED to be critical of the team because they don't want anyone thinking they are censoring the content on their site. That is a first class, smart owner and organization. The opposite is true for Angelos. If you piss him off, he will blackball you. See Miller, Jon. Johnson, Davey. WNST. 

 

WBAL broadcasts the Orioles games. They get to go out and sell sponsorship/ads surrounding the O's games. Now, that is no where near as profitable/valuable/treasured as it used to be, but it is a heck of a lot more valuable than whatever else would be on 1090 AM from 7p-10p or 10-1a at night. If you're an Orioles fan and you're driving and the O's game is on, you're going to be tuning into WBAL. That's a HUGE revenue source. Having one of their irrelevant personalities pissing on the O's is clearly not worth potentially losing that revenue.

 

105.7 is in the same boat. Honestly, 105.7 thrives because they are the CBS affiliate in Baltimore. When Subway makes a 1 billion dollar advertising buy, the head of the agency in Nashville looks in a book and gives X # of dollars to every CBS affiliate in the country. They aren't exactly sports personalties over there. Name me one view that Scott Garceau has? I bet you can't. Because he's irrelevant. You can't find him on Facebook. You can't find him on Twitter. He doesn't blog. He doesn't do anything other than take calls and stay neutral for 3 hours a day. So, they are much less of a journalistic outlet as they are an entertainment outlet...at least IMO. Plus, they are next in line to get the O's games as soon as WBAL pisses them off or vise versa...which I promise will happen at some point in the next decade.

 

The Baltimore Sun has been a PARTNER of the Orioles forever. Their name is on the scoreboard in CF. Now, to be fair, Schmuck was critical the other night on his radio show, which surprised me. But the main paper, with loads of politics behind it, in the city that PA has given millions and millions of dollars to for charity, is not going to openly come out and expose him.

 

The Washington Post is the one outlet that I feel can be objective, because frankly, they don't give a F because they have nothing to lose. That's why you'll see real journalistic reports coming from there with regards to the MASN/O's/Nats feud, etc. 

 

So having said all that, I really don't see where the criticism is coming from. It would have to be coming from WNST, BSL or some other less mainstream outlet that doesn't have $ to lose from getting on the owner's bad side.

 

BTW - Mike Preston has done FAR WORSE THINGS to the Ravens and been FAR MORE CRITICAL when you consider how successful the Ravens have been compared to the O's. That said, the Ravens welcome the criticism, and every Wednesday Mike Preston is plopped down in the media room eating his Papa John's pizza, whereas we're not allowed in the stadium.

One other BTW, and this is in response to Brandon's comment in another thread. WNST did not walk out on the players with the walkout. They walked out on the owner. In fact, Miguel Tejada commented after the game how refreshing it was to see that type of enthusiasm in a meaningless weekday afternoon September game. 

[BSLChrisStoner]

Pete... without going through point by point of your last post... there is some I agree with.

Again, I go back to what I said originally. There are a million things to critique the O's about, and there has been for years. Nestor taking the O's to task for the many issues the O's have had and continue to have... has never been a problem for me.

I do think a number of arguments Nestor has made have been poor.... and most importantly, I think many of his otherwise worthwhile arguments have been lost by the manner in which he chooses to deliver his thoughts.