Orioles CEO John Angelos blows up at his personal press convention

Stroll into any bar in Baltimore and randomly shout the identify “Angelos.” Chances are high somebody inside earshot could have some form of visceral ideas on the household that personal a majority of the Orioles. Identical as Steinbrenner in The Bronx or Buss in Los Angeles. The Angelos household patriarch, Peter, is 93. Crew CEO, son John Angelos, can also 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 management of the Orioles final June.

What does Angelos suppose a press convention is?

For the primary time because the lawsuit was filed, John Angelos was made obtainable 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 crew pledged $5 million to the CollegeBound Basis, a nonprofit that helps Baltimore’s youth attain faculty levels. And with the Orioles’ lease with the Maryland Stadium Authority expiring on the finish of this 12 months, 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 palms in the event that they learn protection of their beloved crew.

At a press convention the place John Angelos chosen the time and date, he’d be an fool to not know questions on the crew had been coming. Exhibiting your face at an occasion designed to tout one thing in entrance of reporters and tv cameras isn’t pure public relations within the skilled sports activities world. In any case, the Angelos household’s tenure atop the Orioles will have fun its thirtieth anniversary this 12 months. So, unsure when the subsequent likelihood will come, if one does, to ask John about his state of affairs, Connolly posited a prolonged, however truthful, 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 crew forthcoming.

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What happened next was a pure deflection from Angelos, as if his preparation to answer questions from the media had all failed. He invoked MLK and said the questions were inappropriate at a press conference he called. Reporters never choose the dates or times of media availability. Beat writers are at the will of the teams they cover. When they make players, coaches, and team leaders available is wholeheartedly up to the representatives of the school or franchise. Connolly didn’t curse, make any personal attack, or even take a stern tone with Angelos. He stated facts and asked a series of questions diehard baseball fans would love to know the answer to. Connolly serves his readership and being their eyes, ears, and megaphone is part of his job.

The Orioles have been mired in bad baseball for decades

Connolly states an Orioles spokesperson confirmed media members who cowl the ceremony and the crew would get to ask Angelos questions on the conclusion of the occasion. This wasn’t a paparazzi state of affairs or a casual or unsuitable setting to carry these in energy accountable. Chairs had 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 connected to bringing a music legend to Camden Yards in additional than 4 years, it was much less profitable than Walter Mondale’s 1984 Presidential marketing campaign. 

I’m not going to share giant elements of Angelos’ response. The complete video is included above in your viewing pleasure. And to be sincere, 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 crew’s 2022 turnaround, with out a fact-checker, doesn’t distract from how he went out of his technique to namedrop MLK and mentioned Connolly’s questions had been unfit for that day. Although Angelos knew he’d should 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 overall move of life. Discuss out-of-touch conduct. And Scott by no means obtained a phrase in. The perfect half about Angelos’ response about being “very clear” was providing to point out reporters the Orioles’ funds and governance selections. That might 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 gained two playoff sequence since 1998.