Matt Palmer, The Examiner
2007-11-13 08:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

Pride.

It’s a word that once meant so much to the men who played for the Baltimore Orioles.

For several decades, the Orioles were among the elite of Major League Baseball as the club claimed three World Series titles.

Someday, the word “pride” might mean something again, but not with this malcontent bunch that occupies the clubhouse at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

For the last ten years, Orioles fans have complained players are disinterested in Baltimore and the welfare of the team. They are there simply to get a paycheck, some claim.

Ten straight losing seasons are all the ammo they need. Despite routinely having one of the larger payrolls in baseball, the team has been an utter embarrassment on and off the field, where steroid accusations have made Baltimore sound like BALCO-East.

While some players swear their love of Baltimore, part-time first baseman, and full-time waste of cash, Aubrey Huff laid it all on the table last week in an appearance on the subscription-based, SIRIUS satellite radio’s “Bubba The Love Sponge.”

Asked if there was more respect toward the Orioles than his former club, the Tampa Bay Rays, Huff offered a gem that is sure to endear him to Baltimoreans.

“It is because it’s an older organization. It’s got some pride, but what a horse[expletive] city,” Huff said in an unprovoked swipe at Charm City.

If that wasn’t enough, he joked of the team’s miserable performance on the field last season, saying: “The way we’re playing we’re going to have as many fans as in Tampa.”

Huff’s appearance, complete with his taking his shirt off, was filled with epic confessions, including his penchant for late-nights on the road resulting in hangovers lasting well into the following afternoon. He also boasted of watching pornographic films in hotel rooms when the team was on the road.

That’s pretty admirable, right? But at least now we know why the power-hitting Huff mustered just 15 home runs with 72 RBIs in his first year with the club this past season: He was really tired after all that activity in bars and hotel rooms.

Since spilling all to “Bubba,” Huff has told one Baltimore newspaper writer he was talking about the bar scene when calling Baltimore a “horse[expletive] city.”

You’re splitting hairs there, Aubrey.

This hasn’t been a terrific offseason for Baltimore players in the public relations department. Kevin Millar’s appearance last month at Fenway Park before an American League Championship Series game to throw out the first pitch caused a furor here in Baltimore.

In the span of a month, we’ve seen one player cheer an AL East foe to victory and another jokingly compare the Orioles to the worst club in baseball.

Leave it to a guy named “The Love Sponge” to help make it crystal clear it’s time to scrub the Orioles clean and flush the horse [expletive] players down the toilet.

Matt Palmer is a staff writer for The Examiner who regularly writes columns about Major League Baseball. He can be reached at mpalmer@baltimoreexaminer.com