The Baltimore Orioles have been one of MLB’s better storylines all season long. They sit at the top of the American League standings and look poised to win their first pennant in over four decades. But anyone who follows the Orioles closely will understand just how miserable they’ve been in recent years.
This is a concept the Orioles and their main broadcast partner, MASN, don’t seem interested in reminding people of.
On Monday, a report from Awful Announcing revealed that MASN Orioles play-by-play broadcaster, Kevin Brown, was apparently suspended for recently pointing out that the Orioles had once lost 15 straight road series to the AL East rival Tampa Bay Rays.
The Orioles snapped this streak to Tampa Bay, taking three of four games… in late July. Brown hasn’t been on the air since, serving an indefinite suspension. The report was corroborated by John Ourand of Sports Business Journal.
I don’t know about you, dear reader, but highlighting that a now good team used to be bad seems pretty anodyne and harmless to me!
Here's the clip of Kevin Brown's pregame comments on the Orioles' recent record against the Rays ahead of a series finale on July 23. Sources tell AA these comments led to Brown's current indefinite suspension from Orioles' broadcasts. pic.twitter.com/csURU04fJU
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 7, 2023
All Brown did above was point out an impartial truth — the Orioles were, in fact, awful. For a long time. No one who loves the team and follows their every exploit has forgotten the three 100-plus-loss seasons in four years from 2018 to 2021. That kind of atrociousness gets embedded into a fan’s psyche. And the good folks at Baseball Reference won’t erase that history, either.
If anything, it’s such futility that makes the Orioles’ meteoric rise into contention all the sweeter. Many of us watch our favorite teams toil around for years, hoping for one glorious moment of joy. Orioles fans are simply reaping the benefits of a sports fan’s evergreen rite of passage.
Well, it sure doesn’t seem like it if the Orioles or MASN have anything to say about it, apparently.
This was how Twitter reacted to the reasoning for the announcer's suspension
What’s he supposed to do, say the Orioles are back-to-back-to-back World Series champs https://t.co/ApqrnneAAs
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) August 7, 2023
I was waiting for something racist or homophobic to be said. All this announcer mentioned is how awful the team has been against the opposition in recent memory.
This is nuts. https://t.co/wImpaeNOzo
— Chris Walder (@WalderSports) August 7, 2023
Bro got suspended for reading factual information that was put on screen that is absolutely wild https://t.co/ttPOilCOye pic.twitter.com/TwkBckCVSH
— Addison (@YankeeWRLD) August 7, 2023
I remember this bc I started crying and shaking uncontrollably when Kevin revealed for the first time that the Orioles were bad prior to this year https://t.co/PwkwJNsOB9
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) August 7, 2023
Uh… huh? He's saying what's on the graphics. https://t.co/ur6iPqvcNz
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) August 7, 2023
They wanted him to say that there was no war in Ba Sing Se https://t.co/kKfOIQLjQV
— Zito (@_Zeets) August 7, 2023
Nothing unreasonable was said here, basically just reading out the recent results between the two teams. Teams corning coverage towards in-house exclusivity and going full State Media about it is going to create a lot of damage in an already declining sports media landscape. https://t.co/yVANyPHTic
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) August 7, 2023
Not only this this flat out ridiculous, but it also perfectly highlights what’s wrong with broadcasting today. People just want someone real, man. Everyone sees through the sunshine and rainbows bit at this point, especially when your team has been or is bad. Grow up. https://t.co/T0IvVrmW9R
— Scott Bentley (@BentleyScotty) August 7, 2023
This is absolutely ridiculous. Kevin Brown is one of the best broadcasters in the sport. And he’s literally just stating facts and context.
Fans like a measure of impartiality/reality when watching games. https://t.co/F0udy1HFR6
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) August 7, 2023
