varaven45

Crav, Ocho has too much time on his hands (post Dancing with the Stars). He must have whiffed on one of his dance partners, huh ? Cleetz, I am with you on the close matchup. Its a toss up. In fact, they will proably take us the first game in Cincy. I dont like us in that game, esp with our CBs on the mend. I like us in Bmore as our CBs get healthy, and Flacco has his groove with the WR corps by then. Make no mistake, Cincy is formidable team, they beat us twice last year, and they had a comparable draft to us. To think anything less is short sighted. This should be a good rivalry in 2010. Cant wait !

Max, Suggs is talking out of both sides of his mouth. First, he says he screwed up last year and vowed never to pull that bullcrap again. What a BSer. He need to shut the hell up, train his azz off, eat smart, and get game. Anything short of that proved the guy is a big idiot and waste of talent. Let see how he shows up in camp. If he doesnt have a Pro Bowl type year, he is no longer relevant for this team and I would just as soon see him move on.

Its a bit early but this game shapes up as a dandy. Jets have made some great moves except for letting Thomas Jones walk. Lets hope that move haunts them in game 1 as I am not sure Greene and LT can carry the load. Time will tell, eh ? Go Ravens !!

Hadnt heard squat. You gotta link ? Id take it in a heartbeat, esp since we didnt pick a CB in the draft. Im in the camp that says we are going to regret not picking a CB and hoping we pick up someone in the FA scrap heap this Summer. Time will tell. In the meantime, Id be stoked if we picked up Nnamdi (even at the expense of losing Gaither).

No surprise in Thomas being released but where is he going ? I bet the house that Rex has (had) him locked up last night, and was camping outside his house. Bank on it !

All in all a good draft. Still should have drafted ONE cb. Otherwise, as good draft ! GO RAVENS !

I am all for trading back (from 1st round) to get mord picks. I hear we (Oz) would have passed on Dez Bryant if Dallas hadnt swapped with NE. My take: Oz was pissed when we lost out on Gresham, Demaryius and Bryant and, when offered the 3 Denver picks for Tebow, said "cool, lets take it, regroup for tomorrow and see what we get in round 2 ". I get what he did and like the extra picks but dont understand why we passed on Odrick (Penn State) and Kyle Wilson(Boise). I thought these guys were absolutely on our radar screen but we whiffed on em. I mean we need a CB and DT/DE bad. Whats the deal ? Anyone have another take ?

Crav, Indeed. We should go 16-0 and the Dolphin faithful should be shaking in their boots right now. Im ordering playoff and SB tickets right now !!! GO RAVENS !!

Anyone know who was pitching BP to Rays in 8th and blew the 3-0 lead ? Dang, Im glad the Ravens pre-season is almost 3 months away !

Appreciate your perspective DC ! I am glad you dont condone but the Os - mgr and players - cant condone. I remember a few years ago, after a bitter loss by the Tigers, Manager Jim Leyland royally chewed out his players up and down and said he/his team would not condone a loss like that again. He was pissed and vowed the team lackluster performance would not happen again ! That team went on a huge winning streak - like 25-5 - over the next month and went on to win Division. In my opinion, we need that attitude to right this ship. Otherwise, we are just biding our time.

DC, Imagine how Adam " tired of losing" Jones must feel. Must be sick to his stomach. How can a team fail to score with guys in scoring position with no outs. And twice, if i recall. And the second time- in the 9th with the top of the lineup coming up. This performance cannot be condoned under any circumstances. If the Manager and players accept losing, then they are who we thought they were.

Max and Crav, This game epitomized what we have seen for the past 12 years: the Orioles way - playing just well enough to lose. The O's must lead the league over the past 12 years in "runners (in scoring position) stranded with less than 2 out". Its only 1 game but this team has the exact same makeup/mindset from the past 12 years. Its a 70 WIN SEASON ! Sorry for venting guys but just tired of the losing.

Max, Agree with you on the depth. Not sure this guy is an upgrade but who knows ? With the loss of Bannnon and Edwards, we still need more. Hopefully, the draft will bear fruit for the DL !

Max, Didnt actually make it to a postseason game until 71 series against Bucs. I think it was game 2. Palmer pitched a gem and we blew out the Bucs 11-3. Palmer gave up a 3 run dinger to Ritchie Hebner. Somehow, we lost that series 4-3 no thanks to Roberto Clemente. Those were some good days my friend ! VARAVEN

Max, I have to agree. Interestingly enough, I watched MASN last night and checked out the O's playoff appearance in 2007 (vs Mariners). It featured Mussina vs Randy Johnson. The stadium was full (of course, for a plyoff game), there was excitement in the air and we had a major league product on the field. John Miller did the play by play and Joe Morgan was the analyst and they made reference to the Oriole way and tradition. Sadly, thats about the last time I can remember us fielding a decent team. Its gone ! Even worse, I dont see this ship turning around for years - not until Angelos is out of the picture. Even that may not be enough; it may be too late. I am actually looking more forward to the Ravens draft in April than the the Os season and I have followed the Os religiously since the '66 World Championship season. Go Ravens !!!

Draft implications ? Maybe we shift our attention to the DL.

Crav, Davon Drew. Isnt he hanging out with Randy Hymes, Clarence Moore and Devard Darling ?

Love it, too. Need one more toy, either FA or draft - for Joe - either a TE (future Heap) of WR (understudy for Boldin and Mason). Then we are talkin !

Keep adding those toys for Bazooka Joe !

Good stuff Cleetz. On the Gaither situation, we just need to protect our investment. I would like to see us lock him up long term unless we find someone better. Dont see that happening and dont like Cousins as the solution at either tackle. Backup ? OK. Thats just me.

I am with Cleetz on this. Its a bit premature to speculate on our "eliteness". We still have got questions : 1. Mason ? Are we signing him. If not him, who ? 2. Q should give us our "posession guy across the middle " but we still need a deep threat. I am not sure Stallworth is that guy. Maybe we get in draft. 3. TE ? Yeah, if we get Gresham or another draft pick. Dont think Heap has got much left in tank. Even my 86 jersey is looking a bit ragged. 4. LT. Last but not least, we cannot sell this matter short. We need to either tie up Gaither or, if we replace w/ Oher, make damn sure we have the OL nailed down. We are just getting stability on the OL; would hate to shake it up even by losing just 1 player. As an aside, its dang refreshing that we are finally starting to surround Joe with real toys. Lets hope this is the start of something good !

If Smith bolts to Browns, we are left with just Beck, right ? Its a bit premature to speculate, but arent we going to need another decent backup. I wonder how hard it would be a to pick up a Pennington or Dellome ? Just wondering ....?

Crav et al, Boldin was a huge pickup but we clearly need to resign Mason or pickup another FA. Marshall would be great - but I am just being greedy (I guess)- but we need to snatch another reliable veteran WR in addition to drafting a WR or TE in Round 1 or 2. If we do that, I am a happy man.