If Kevin Brown’s statement was supposed to clear up any of the stench surrounding the Orioles and owner John Angelos, it had the decidedly opposite effect.
Multiple reports indicated that Brown had been sidelined from his play-by-play duties on Orioles telecasts over innocuous — and true — comments he made on-air about the team’s past struggles in Tampa.
Angelos allegedly detests any reference to the past, lest anyone question who was presiding over the performance, and the story has distracted from a surprisingly positive Orioles season where the team is 71-44 and atop the AL East.
Brown appears to be returning to the broadcast booth on Friday night for Baltimore’s game against the Mariners, and he wrote a statement on X, formerly Twitter that almost felt like a forced confession in a Communist regime.
“O’s fans – I’m a storyteller. And never want to be a part of the story. The most compelling story in baseball right now is the story of the league-leading Baltimore Orioles – the best, most exciting young team in the American League,” Brown wrote.
“Unfortunately, recent media reports have mischaracterized my relationship with my adopted hometown Orioles. The fact is that I have a wonderful relationship with the organization, and our ownership and front office has fully supported me since 2019 when I first came aboard.
“I ask that everyone disregard the distracting noise of the past few days. I have worked closely with O’s SVP Greg Bader for the past four years, and John Angelos and I have a solid dialogue based on mutual respect. We are all good here in Birdland! I am proud to be an Oriole and call Baltimore home, and there is no place in baseball I’d rather be now and for the long haul. Go O’s!”
The statement makes it look like Brown had to grovel to come back on-air, hardly clearing up any of the perceptions that Angelos is paranoid and overbearing.
It doesn’t reflect greatly on Brown, either, as he frankly didn’t do anything wrong to deserve to be taken off-air.
What, specifically, was “mischaracterized” by the media?
And why did he wait several days to address the matter, as Orioles fans chanted “Free Kevin Brown!,” national broadcasters lined up one after another to berate the Orioles, and the legendary Al Michaels opined that whoever made the decision — widely believed to be Angelos — was a “doofus”?
If all of this attention was based on misconceptions, shouldn’t he have cleared them up sooner?
Brown, 33, is a talented broadcaster and in addition to his job with the Orioles calls college basketball and football games for ESPN.
As much as he says he did not want to be a part of the story, this saga will undoubtedly be a big positive for his career, as his martyrdom has made him a household name.
He didn’t exactly issue an apology in his statement, but he would’ve looked a lot better in this situation if he just returned to air and carried on with his job rather than give the appearance that he had to grovel to get it back.