5 October 2023
Nobody asked me, but nobody in Birdland should be even mildly upset with baseball experts who predict that the Houston Astros — and not the Orioles — will represent the American League in the World Series. The Birds are underdogs, and Orioles fans should be fine with that. Better to be underestimated than overrated, I always say. (Actually, I have never said that. But, now that I have, I declare it my intellectual property, all rights reserved. Any reproduction or other use of this phrase without the express written consent of this columnist is prohibited.)
Nobody asked me, but maybe Gov. Wes Moore should put some distance between himself and Orioles CEO John Angelos until he signs an actual 30-year lease at Camden Yards. Moore seems to be more concerned with bright, shiny optics than substance when it comes to this lingering matter. Thus, the big reveal last week that a deal had been struck, with Moore and Angelos appearing in celebration — the governor far more animated than Angelos — on the big screen at Oriole Park.
He might think that’s a good look, but, for a guy who’s supposed to be watching out for Maryland taxpayers, Moore appears way too chummy with Angelos. The morning-after revelation that the Orioles had only entered into a nonbinding memorandum of understanding, and not a lease, underscores that view. With his subsequent guarantees and his assertion that the stadium issues are “bigger than baseball,” Moore starts to sound like a press agent for Angelos. It’s not a good sound, not a good look.
Nobody asked me, but more travelers need to try checking their carry-on bags before they board direct flights. Having taken four recent trips through BWI, I’ve developed an aversion to the awkward, time-consuming carry-on chaos. I found checking a bag easy, with an efficient DIY process. There was less fuss at the security point. I had two free hands as I moved through the terminal. Boarding was a breeze. The wait at both Southwest’s and Delta’s baggage claim lasted maybe six minutes. Of course, I’d have been on my way much sooner if not for all the passengers retrieving their carry-ons from overhead. That took way too long.
Nobody asked me, but recent history makes this clear: Most Republicans in the House, not just the MAGA extremists, contributed to the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as speaker. The vast majority of them supported Donald Trump in two elections; most still support him. Trump packed the Supreme Court with conservative zealots who overturned Roe v. Wade. That decision caused a backlash in the midterm elections, reducing the GOP majority in the House. If the Republican majority wasn’t so small (221-212), Matt Gaetz and other extremists would be irrelevant loudmouths, not successful saboteurs bringing chaos to Congress.
Nobody asked me, but Rep. Andy Harris, a member of the extreme-right Freedom Caucus, ought to explain why he voted to let McCarthy keep the gavel and why, now, he thinks Byron Donalds, a second-term rep from Florida, should replace him. Of course, this would require believing that what Harris says or does in Washington matters. So far, in six and a half terms, there’s not much there there.
A young man I spoke with the other day said this about McCarthy’s ouster and the dangerous foolishness of the MAGA Republicans: “I don’t understand why so many Americans want to see America fail.”
I didn’t ask him, he volunteered it: Bill Gillespie, an ardent angler known as Eel, says the fishing around Gunpowder State Park, in the Hammerman area of eastern Baltimore County, is always best in October and particularly good right now. Eel, who is 70, fishes there almost every day and prefers it over nearby Dundee Creek. He is often the lone angler in the Hammerman waters on weekdays and, given the words on the T-shirt he wore when we met, I think he likes it that way: “When this virus is over I still want some of you to stay away from me.”
Nobody asked me, but I bet Pimlico Race Course survives as the home of thoroughbred racing in Maryland and Laurel Park ends up a housing development. Check me when the Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority issues its recommendations.
Nobody asked me, because a lot of people know how I feel about it already: It’s a shame that so few Maryland restaurants offer New England-style fried clams on their menus. I’m talking about soft-shell clams, fried whole (belly and neck), served with tartar sauce (plus coleslaw and a Narragansett lager beer.) You can get a delicious fried clam roll at the Thames Street Oyster House, but that’s the only place I know of in Baltimore. The soft-shell harvest in the Chesapeake fell off significantly in the last 50 years, rebounded, then fell off again. But the Bay Journal reports the possibility of another rebound via aquaculture. Morgan State University’s Patuxent research lab has been engaged in a study of that, and the potential for the bay’s oyster farmers to augment their crops with a soft-shell clams harvest looms. I’ll toast a ‘Gansett to their success.
Nobody asked me, but should the Orioles again have cause for celebration — by, say, winning the American League pennant — they might want to toast and spray each other with a Maryland bubbly. I recommend either the Wine Collective’s 2019 Brut Nature or Black Ankle’s 2020 Malintzi.
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