Orioles CEO John Angelos blows up at his personal press convention

Stroll into any bar in Baltimore and randomly shout the title “Angelos.” Likelihood is somebody inside earshot could have some type of visceral ideas on the household that personal a majority of the Orioles. Similar as Steinbrenner in The Bronx or Buss in Los Angeles. The Angelos household patriarch, Peter, is 93. Workforce CEO, son John Angelos, can be the president and chief working officer for the Mid-Atlantic Sports activities Community (MASN), which airs the O’s video games regionally. John Angelos’ brother, Louis, sued John and their mom, Georgia Angelos, for control of the Orioles final June.

What does Angelos assume a press convention is?

For the primary time because the lawsuit was filed, John Angelos was made out there to reporters on Monday, which was additionally Martin Luther King Jr. Day. His uncommon public look got here alongside Baltimore’s mayor, Brandon Scott, because the staff pledged $5 million to the CollegeBound Basis, a nonprofit that helps Baltimore’s youth attain school levels. And with the Orioles’ lease with the Maryland Stadium Authority expiring on the finish of this yr, there are loads of questions for the household to reply publicly. Enter The Athletic’s Dan Connolly, a fixture on the Orioles’ beat for round 20 years, and somebody the Angelos household ought to know just like the again of their arms in the event that they learn protection of their beloved staff.

At a press convention the place John Angelos chosen the time and date, he’d be an fool to not know questions on the staff have been coming. Displaying your face at an occasion designed to tout one thing in entrance of reporters and tv cameras is rarely pure public relations within the skilled sports activities world. In spite of everything, the Angelos household’s tenure atop the Orioles will have a good time its thirtieth anniversary this yr. So, unsure when the following probability will come, if one does, to ask John about his state of affairs, Connolly posited a prolonged, however honest, query on the Angelos household and the Orioles’ long-term future in Baltimore. Connolly additionally directed a query at Scott on how he felt about organising charitable occasions just like the Orioles’ donation with a sale of the staff forthcoming.

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What occurred subsequent was a pure deflection from Angelos, as if his preparation to reply questions from the media had all failed. He invoked MLK and stated the questions have been inappropriate at a press convention he known as. Reporters by no means select the dates or instances of media availability. Beat writers are on the will of the groups they cowl. After they make gamers, coaches, and staff leaders out there is wholeheartedly as much as the representatives of the varsity or franchise. Connolly didn’t curse, make any private assault, and even take a stern tone with Angelos. He acknowledged details and requested a collection of questions diehard baseball followers would like to know the reply to. Connolly serves his readership and being their eyes, ears, and megaphone is a part of his job.

The Orioles have been mired in unhealthy baseball for many years

Connolly states an Orioles spokesperson confirmed media members who cowl the ceremony and the staff would get to ask Angelos questions on the conclusion of the occasion. This wasn’t a paparazzi scenario or an off-the-cuff or unsuitable setting to carry these in energy accountable. Chairs have been arrange for the media in entrance of the place Angelos and Scott spoke. If Angelos went rouge and determined to attempt to make an instance out of Connolly for asking him an in depth query at his first media look not hooked up to bringing a music legend to Camden Yards in additional than 4 years, it was much less profitable than Walter Mondale’s 1984 Presidential campaign. 

I’m not going to share giant elements of Angelos’ response. The complete video is included above to your viewing pleasure. And to be trustworthy, the four-minute phrase vomit sounds extra disconnected from actuality every time. Calling somebody “out of contact” within the context Angelos used it was past comprehension. Touting the farm system and the staff’s 2022 turnaround, with no fact-checker, doesn’t distract from how he went out of his approach to namedrop MLK and stated Connolly’s questions have been unfit for that day. Although Angelos knew he’d need to reply questions on a federal vacation.

It’s simply one other day of an individual in energy attempting to keep away from accountability for his or her actions or believing they’re above the final circulation of life. Speak about out-of-touch habits. And Scott by no means received a phrase in. The perfect half about Angelos’ response about being “very clear” was providing to indicate reporters the Orioles’ funds and governance choices. That will be fairly the reversal from how the group has been run. Baltimore’s sports activities media would eat that up. I doubt Angelos stays true to that decree. And as anticipated, that might be removed from his candid projection. It’d be extra of the identical from the Orioles, who’ve received two playoff collection since 1998.