Jason Unger

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I didn't blog about our trip to Orioles Opening Day this year because, well, I kind of assumed it just didn't matter.

It's the first game of the year, expectations are low, you lose to Tampa Bay 6-2 … it doesn't seem like there's anywhere to go — you're already at the bottom.

One week later, and you've rattled off a bunch of consecutive wins and sit at the top of the American League East … but is it for real?

In all honesty, I kind of stopped following the O's when we moved to Boston. After 1997, their fall to mediocrity was pretty quick. And it didn't help that the Red Sox won 2 World Series during my 7 years in Beantown after that whole 86-year mess.

I would love to recapture that excitement from the winning days, but I'm not sure if I have the time to invest in it.

Maybe it helps that I'm playing fantasy baseball this year — too bad I'm currently bringing up the rear.

I'm not much of a half-asser, so either I'm living and breathing Orioles baseball, or I'm only casually caring.

I want it to be the first, but I don't know if it will be.

(PS - MASN, get your act together and broadcast all of the games in HD. It's really second-tier of you to do otherwise.)

Welcome to the times, MASN.

According to my pals over at EngadgetHD, the morons at MASN have finally figured out what broadcasters in 28 other markets already knew — people want their sports in HD.

MASN will broadcast 40 O's games and 40 Nats games, sez the Washington Times. I'd like to think they heard my bitching about it, but I know I'm not the only one. (A number of people come to the site looking for MASN HD in Google.)

The schedule of HD games hasn't come out yet, but I know at least one I'll be seeing in Full HD - Opening Day.

Last night, I was watching a classic Orioles game — 1996, ALDS, O's vs. Cleveland, Game 4 — on MASN.

It was the Orioles' first playoff series in 13 years, and their first of two straight appearances in the ALCS.

Those were the days.

This year, I'm not expecting much out of the Orioles — especially with the O's three best players (Erik Bedard, Brian Roberts and Miguel Tejada) essentially gone.

But if there's one thing owner Peter Angelos can do for us lowly fans: please put MASN in high-definition.

It's despicable that the only teams to not have HD broadcasts are the O's, Nationals and Royals. Angelos has always treated our area like a second-tier market. It isn't.

(image from Nasty Nats)