The Loss Column — Baltimore Sports Blog and Community

I’ve had a few interesting things building up over the past week or two, so here we go:

– This one comes from the “this is what the Internet is really for” files: NumerOlogy, a site dedicated to Orioles uniform numbers.

It’s an absolutely amazing piece of work, chock full of both interesting information and incredible photos. I can’t imagine the effort it took to put this thing together, but I’m grateful. Plan on wasting a good chunk of your day upon clicking the link.

– A site called Hardball Scouts sent me an email a few days back with their list of the Orioles’ top 20 prospects. Check it out here. You have to figure it’ll change if/when the Erik Bedard deal goes through, but it’s a decent list.

For my part, though, no rundown of O’s prospects means much until we’ve seen some of these guys sort it out at Spring Training and then in the minors this year. Who can really say what the difference is — right now — between Adam Loewen and Troy Patton? 2008 is going to go a long way to establishing just what we have on the farm, and to what extent we can count on it in the next few years.

– Admit it: you’re dying to know what’s up with Jay Payton. Well, wonder no more.

– You might not realize it, but Baltimore has a new indoor football team, the Baltimore Mariners. They’ve taken the place of the short-lived Baltimore Blackbirds, who were around for one useless season. They’ve also got cheerleaders.

– I’m officially in “no idea why it’s taking so long” territory with the Bedard trade. As of tonight, he’s still not in Seattle. Also as of tonight, it still looks like the trade will happen. At some point. Eventually. Soon.

That’s about it for now. Posting might be light over the next couple of weeks, depending on what happens with trades and such. This is The Great Lull for sports fans, as we wait between the end of football and the beginning of Spring Training. As always, though, seize the day in the comments if something strikes your fancy that I haven’t covered in a post.

Also, feel free to take this time to send me any suggestions you have about the site. Want something changed? Have a comment on the layout or design? Want to write a guest post? Want more coverage of something? Send me an email and I’ll do what I can. Thanks for all of your support.

(that bad-ass photo of Eddie Murray, by the way, comes from Robert K. Hamilton at the Sun)

Last night…ugh. I was up on the club level at the Verizon Center and a bunch of frontrunning Pink Sox yahoos were screaming things like “You’re in Boston now!! What’s up!!” For anyone with lingering doubts as to why all right-thinking Americans hate the Red Sox and their fans, there you go.

At least the Caps-Penguins matchup was fully awesome. Moving on to today’s slate:

It’s an eight-something first pitch in the deciding game of the ALCS, with Jake Westbrook taking the hill against Dice-K. When the Indians lose this one you can all go ahead and blame me. I jinxed the hell out of the Tribe when I put up that stupid post about how this Red Sox squad wasn’t a memorable one. Idiot.

The Ravens are in Buffalo with their b-squad looking to step up on the road. The Bengals host the Jets, while Pittsburgh travels out to Denver for Sunday Night Football. Down I-95 in Raljohn the Redskins host Arizona.

Should you find yourself in need of any context for that Bills-Ravens game, I present you willisistrash.com. Awesome.

And in case you need a break from football, Baltimore’s own Bucky Lasek and the rest of the world’s top skaters will wrap up the AST Dew Tour season today in Orlando. Lasek, alas, will not win his third consecutive Dew Cup — that honor has already been wrapped up by carrot top Shaun White.

It’s time to take a deep breath after that 57 comment (and counting) Orioles thread and turn our focus outward for a change. Specifically, to some of the other sites on the webonet that have shown The Loss Column love over the past few months, or for whom we just have a particular fondness.

– Sports by Brooks is one of the best daily sources out there for news, links, analysis, etc. I read the site anyway, but as it happens Brooks has been very kind to us with links of his own. Support him.

– Babes Love Baseball gave us a shout-out not too long ago and I felt humbled. They’re babes, they love baseball, and they know what they’re talking about. What’s not to love?

– Uni Watch, of course. One of my favorites since pretty much the day it went up.

– What Would Tyler Hansbrough Do? linked us up, as well. It’s a Tar Heels blog and that’s kind of a problem, but I figure a mutual hatred of all things Duke can be the tie that binds.

And since there’s more to life than sports, and it’s my prerogative to link as I please, give these sites a look as well:

– The guys at Tomorrow’s Brightest Minds are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. Those Slim Jim “Snapalope” commercials? That’s them. The site hasn’t been updated in awhile but don’t let that scare you off. I’m privileged to call these dudes friends.

– The Girl Skateboards Art Dump houses a collection of some of the most inspiring, creative individuals alive today. Bookmark it and be happy you did.

And finally, don’t forget to periodically stop by our fellow “Behind Enemy Lines” alliance sites.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

That’s correct: I’m in no way above putting up a sexy cheerleader pic when it comes time to talk football.

Only one divisional game today as Pittsburgh heads to Cleveland at 1 pm. Mike Tomlin makes his Steelers debut, along with new offensive coordinator Bruce Arians and a revamped passing game that puts more responsibility on the shouders of Big Ben Roethlisberger. Romeo Crennel, meanwhile, has to be considered a prime candidate for dismissal if he can’t get the Browns moving in the right direction. That won’t start today.

The Redskins are at home against Miami. Look for renewed vigor and enthusiasm from that Skins D this year. They’re going to take a big step forward behind Rocky Macintosh and London Fletcher.

Consider this your all-purpose football thread. I figure every Sunday I’ll put one of these up — don’t be afraid to take it and run with it.

Welcome to a brand new, semi-regular Loss Column featurette: the Sports Latitudes. I took the name from one of my very favorite natural oddities, the horse latitudes. In much the same way that sailors had to occasionally jettison some extra weight, the Sports Latitudes is a place where I’ll dump all the extra links and thoughts that have built up over time. Feel free to do the same in the comments.

– According to Sports by Brooks, relaying a report on Larry Brown Sports, fast-declining broadcasting stalwart Dan Patrick might be leaving ESPN.

You could make a case that without the mighty ESPN brand behind him Patrick would never have gotten as far as he did. It’ll be interesting to see if he can pull this off.

– One of my all-time favorite ballplayers, Dale Murphy, recently spoke out on Barry Bonds and related issues. Which makes for a good excuse to remind everyone of my pet cause: Dale Murphy belongs in the Hall of Fame.

– Girls are Pretty is just about the best digest-sized, daily dose of humor on the internet. At least if you’re like me, which may or may not be something to be proud of.

– Remember Ivan Stewart’s Super Off Road? God damn that game was amazing. If you know of any arcades in the area that still have one (hell, if you know of any arcades in the area, period), let me know.

– One could easily get lost in the life of a Tennessee Titans cheerleader.

Julia listens to Christmas music all year long and is afraid of “missing God’s plan” for her life. Is that even possible?

Kristina’s biggest fears are regrets and birds. And the most unique thing about her? She lives in Kentucky.

LaToya fears both “failure” and not being able to accomplish her goals.

And on and on.

Not sure what to make of this yet, but here it is: at their Fan Fest Q&A a few minutes ago, Duquette and Flanagan revealed that they’ll be instituting some new initiatives designed to bring fans back to the ballpark and help soften the blow of nine straight losing seasons. They said they’re going to drop beer prices by a dollar across the board, institute an “Usher Code of Conduct” to address the many fan complaints, and start allowing people to move to empty/better seats after the fourth inning of all games. All of which sounds, frankly, awesome to me.

But then they dropped the real bombshell: starting in mid-June, the Orioles will feature a cheerleading squad at all home games. Called the “Oriolettes”, the team will perform a dance routine during the seventh inning stretch and also mingle with fans in the stands, at concession areas, etc.

On the one hand you can’t argue with the fact that they’re finally trying to reach out to a long-suffering fan base, but on the other hand…cheerleaders?

Get the full story at this link.

It’s not often that you can look at a given team’s uniforms through the ages and say “yes, they have finally gotten it right.” More times than not they had it right and have settled in the modern era for something altogether less inspiring. The same cannot be said for the Redskins cheerleaders.

Looking over this article at redskins.com, it’s actually shocking how poorly designed their look has been over the years, highlighted by the debacle at left. True, this is clearly hot as hell, but there’s no denying that the present edition is the best of the bunch.

On the same tip, and arguably more interesting: the Steelers — a team that currently has neither an official mascot nor a cheerleading team — were the first NFL team to have cheerleaders, starting in 1961. edit: maybe not? see comments This site tells the tale, and it’s worth a look. If only to see just how much the times have changed.