(what?) say does that...

baltimore is like a virus. the part of my life spent singing the national anthem at sports events was perfectly fine until terps fans visited lane stadium, and showed hokie fans how to yell "O!" during the national anthem. that reminds me: dear terapins, you are not the orioles.

of course, this caught on at lane stadium, and i'm pretty sure half the people don't even understand what it means (which is not to say that nobody knows what it means--i'm sure there are hokie fans who also happen to be orioles fans). overly-excited college students? check.

but even if you understand why you're doing it, it just seems disrespectful. the patriotism aspect aside (and i'd really only bring that up in terms of hypocrisy--some people who yell might also get angry at, say, flag issues), i don't go to redskins games and cheer for the hokies (okay, i don't go to redskins games period, but if i were to go to a redskins game, i would not cheer for the hokies. or the caps. or the lakers. or the pistons. point clear?), so why is it okay for you to show your oriole-ism (or baltimore-ism) at a non-oriole, non-baltimore game?

i'm okay with the yelling of the "oh" at camden yards. it's what they do there. i'm not going to say that i like it, but i'm okay with it. similarly, i'm against yelling "oh" at the verizon center, but yelling "red" at a caps game might be acceptable. i won't do it, but i'm not going to call you a dumbass if you do.

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speaking of which, why is the word "red" in our national anthem, anyway? shouldn't mccarthy have done something about that?