David Rubenstein Is Having The Time Of His Life As The New Owner Of The Orioles And Will Be The Camden Yards Guest Splasher On Friday
No one, and I mean NO ONE is having more fun as a professional sports team's owner than David Rubenstein in Baltimore. The hero Baltimore needed has been such a breath of fresh air after years of John Angelos in control and the cloud of farts that followed him around. It's incredible how the vibes and image surrounding a team can change with one simple transaction. We all like to think that if we owned our favorite sports franchise that we would be loose with it, have fun, keep fans entertained and put a good product on the field, well that is exactly what David is doing. He's just having fun, like any sports owner should. He isn't making promises he can't keep, he isn't putting his foot in his mouth by scheduling press conferences on holidays and then getting mad at the media for asking questions, he isn't suspending the best announcer in baseball for repeating stats that were given to him, he's actually having fun with the ball club. For example, the video above. What other owner would go out and playfully spray his fanbase with a hose while dressed up like Mr. Splash? NO ONE! He's going to be Mr. Splash this Friday night in the Bird Bath and I can't tell you how hilarious that's going to be. He's a 74 year-old BILLIONAIRE who willingly put of a floaties and goggles for a video shoot just because he thought the fans would like it and boy was he right. We love it.
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He really does just seem like a little kid who happens to own his team, it's basically Little Big League all over. If you go to an Orioles game chances are you'll see Rubenstein walking around the concourse before the games. He'll be hanging out in the team store, chilling on Eutaw Street in his trademark O's hat, he goes and says hi to the concession workers, it's an incredible 180 from Angelos who refused to show his face unless prime time TV was in the ballpark, then he would act like he he was always there. Rubenstein is legit the complete opposite of everything Angelos stood for. Breath of fresh air. He sits in the stands with the fans and just watches the game, how great is that? I saw him last weekend and when he got up out of his seat to head to the concourse the fans around him gave him a standing ovation, just because they could. He tweets back and forth to us, he gets the pulse of the fanbase, he understands the players, you can tell he's having so much fun. It also helps that the Orioles are probably the best team in baseball. He'll start to lock up some of these young guys soon and then the real fun starts. But as of now, you couldn't ask for much more from David, he gets it.
He's staring in all these "This Is SportsCenter" type commercials for the O's and it's fantastic stuff. Again, what other owner gets involved like this? None of them. He stays out of the way like an owner should, but he's involved in the stuff he should be. Again, opposite of Angelos. The fact that he's going to be Mr. Splash on Friday night is the icing on top of this first month plus for the club. They're playing awesome baseball and have an owner who is more than just along for the ride, he's a damn trip. He has that grandfather humor which you can't match. He came to the ball club at the perfect time with the perfect sense of what he needs to do to make this club go and to bring fans back. The anti-Angelos, in Rubenstein we trust. Can't wait to get hosed down by Papa Rubes this week.
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Show me another owner who dressed up like this for a video shoot, it ain't happening. Rubenstein is a 1/1. Looks like me going to Seacrets. He's fully embraced this team, the city and the culture. He's from Baltimore so it makes sense but man is it awesome to see.