Seeing Announcers Come To Kevin Brown's Defense And Trashing The Orioles Front Office Has Been Awesome And Satisfying
This has become one of the most fascinating stories of the entire baseball season for me. The Baltimore Orioles, who are having a magical campaign, somehow turned into turned that into a negative when they suspended their announcer Kevin Brown for literally stating facts during a baseball game. The Orioles have been one of the darlings of baseball this season. Mike Elias has done a masterful job putting together an incredible young roster. It’s the kind of team everyone would root for if they didn’t have one of the most thin-skinned, pussy owners in all of baseball. Hopefully he doesn’t try to get me suspended for saying that.
What baffles me about this entire thing is that this happened a while back. It was a non-story until the Orioles decided to make it a story. I think every person who watched the original clip was waiting for the moment Kevin Brown honestly said something despicable. Not only did he not say anything awful, he didn’t even say anything that could be perceived as mean. He was reading off statistics that were given to him before the game. This has become such a PR nightmare. If the Orioles end up going on a losing streak after this, people will blame the suspension.
The reactions have been so strong that I think this will ultimately be a major positive for Kevin Brown. The Orioles reinstate him, or some other Major League ball club will happily bring him into their TV booth. He’s young, has a lot of experience, and has had many broadcasters and fans come to his defense over the last 24 hours, as they should. Baseball owners just stink. Yes, I know there are probably four or five exceptions out of 30 teams, but in general, most owners can't deal with criticism even when things are going right. If Kevin Brown had gone on the air and ripped the Baltimore Orioles for how they performed between 2017 and 2022, he would’ve had every right. John Angelos didn’t give a shit about giving those fans a product that was worth seeing. And it makes me very happy that broadcasters from major markets like New York and Chicago have quickly come to his defense.
As a fan of a bad team, it gets frustrating when local announcers are sometimes too hesitant to criticize the product on the field. Real fans want to hear the criticism. We want to know that you feel our pain. But the sad truth is that most broadcasters can't be critical of their teams or else you'll have an owner who will get pissy about it. I hope this is a watershed moment, not just for Baltimore but for all of baseball. I'd say, "If you can't take the heat," but there's no heat in this case. Kevin Brown told the truth, and he got punished for it.