The NFL is the biggest game going today, so of course there is going to be an uproar when the defending Super Bowl champions are forced to start their season on the road because of a scheduling conflict with their baseball little brothers.The Baltimore Ravens will open the 2013 NFL season on the road in Denver, because the Orioles did not want to move the start time of a baseball game they scheduled for that night.
Both teams share a parking lot, and the Orioles say it would have caused a logistics nightmare. People in Baltimore are outraged, including a former coach and resident.
New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan is not feeling the Orioles or Major League Baseball for their stance, and according to USA TODAY, he ripped both parties for their decision.
“I understand the Orioles are playing a game at home. Well, who really cares?” Ryan said. “You’ve got 81 of them things at home and maybe you could’ve done the right thing and given one up and played 82 on the road and 80 at home. I really don’t think people are going to care about that game. You have a chance to have the defending world champs open the season at home where they rightfully should. I think that’s unfortunate.
“It’s my love of this game, of the National Football League. The defending champion, in my opinion, should always open at home. They’ve earned that right. To think that something couldn’t have been worked out, that’s disappointing. I do love Baltimore. I spent 10 years there. I love the New York area here better than I do Baltimore now.
“It’s not just my loyalty to that fan base, it’s anywhere. If whoever wins it. That’s just the way I feel. If baseball had a 16-game schedule, you might understand it. But when they have 162 games, I think you might just, out of common courtesy, say, ‘You know what, maybe I’ll play this one on the road or whatever.’ “
The Orioles are 8-7 on the season and three games back of the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. For the Orioles' sake, they better not be completely out of the race on Sept. 5, or their stance would have been for naught.
