Bent Corner

I read over on Randomonium, an excellent blog maintained by fellow Marylander, that Baltimore is in consideration for Celebration V, a four-day Star Wars convention. The con would take place in the early spring 2009 or 2010.

I think this would make an awful lot of sense. Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area is a great place to hold a major convention. The Baltimore Convention Center is ideally located in relation to other tourist attractions along with a good many restaurants only a few minutes away.

The only caveat would be to make sure to schedule the event when the Orioles are not in town. Oriole Park at Camden Yards is directly across the street from the Baltimore Convention Center. When the Yankees or Red Sox are in town, hotel rooms in and around Baltimore become rather hard to get. I’m assuming that the powers that be over at Lucasfilm Ltd. would be smart enough to take this into consideration, but the folks that run the Baltimore Comic-Con never seem to. This year the comic book convention is being held the same weekend the Orioles play their final two games of the season. At least the Ravens are playing on the road that weekend.

Former Baltimore Orioles outfielder and human growth hormone (HGH) junkie Jay Gibbons has finally found a place in professional baseball. Too bad for Gibbons it’s with a team in the independent Atlantic League.

Evidently he sent a letter to 29 Major League Baseball teams asking for chance to play. No team was interested.

It’s not like he needs the money. Even though the O’s released him last year after he admitted to using HGH, they are still paying him. He is being paid a guaranteed $11.9 million by the Orioles until the end of the 2009 MLB season.

Far be it from me to ever criticize anything the Oriole front office do, but I wouldn’t have released him. I would have kept him around. They have to pay him no matter what. I would have made him sell beer or cotton candy at Camden Yards. I’m sure the MLBPA would have had something to say about it, but I would have at least tried.

I would never fire someone I had to still pay.

Gibbons to join Atlantic League [Baltimore Sun]