Hot L Baltimore: A city joyfully learns to hate

Apparently, Baltimore has chosen to mirror the Redsock model for franchise development.

Hate. Pure hate.

Gin up as much as humanly possible for the Yanks, then build your fan base around it. Hate sells. Just turn on the radio. Hate is clean. Hate is effective. Hate is cheap. You don't need a winning team. Let other teams sign expensive free agents. Sell your fans on hating them.

And Baltimore rose to the challenge yesterday! They hated Mark Teixiera like the NY Post hates Al Sharpton. And with good reason, too! After all, he's from Maryland, and he didn't accept less money to play for the Orioles. (Who never offered close to what the Redsocks, Yanks and Angels socked-up.) Not willing to take a paycut? Hate him. Makes perfect sense.

Of course, Baltimore will have to hone its hatred. When Teixeira gets to Boston, they'll scream about his wife. That's art.

Yep, folks. Civic pride! By mid-summer, maybe the O's can compete with Boston, hating even more than the Redsocks (who built their organization around hating the Yankees.) The clubs can have a hate-off. Which crowd swears the loudest! Who burns the largest effigy! Who yells the most offensive taunts! Which city can wear the ugliest face!

Wait? Are we leaving out Cleveland?

Damn. They'll have reason to hate Sabathia. After all, he didn't accept less money to play for them.

Baltimore should get used to booing. They'll do a lot of it this year.