I would also recommend sportssurge

I'm sorry your dad got mugged in Catonsville. I actually moved from the city to C'ville in 2021 and absolutely love it and feel relatively safe here (though a mugging can honestly happen anywhere). Still way safer than many parts of the city.

But I don't need to justify my Baltimore credentials to anyone and neither do you. I lived in the city for over 6 years (plus a native Marylander) so if someone doesn't think I'm "Batimorean enough" then that's their problem.

Hell, my cousin moved to Leesburg despite being an area native, hardcore O's and Ravens fan and still is way more culturally "Baltimore" than I am. It's all relative, my man.

Your dad was robbed at gunpoint. Sounds like you're from Baltimore to me. Put on Tom Waits' "Down in a hole", eat a crab cake, and tell people to piss off if they give you grief.

I would totally buy the MLB package online if they didn't blackout local games. But they do so I stream them on sketchy sites for free, simple as that. You cannot buy access to MASN without buying a cable package from Comcast and that's BS. Mlb needs to get with the times.

I am absolutely not buying a cable package just for MASN. Not going back to cable, that's never happening.

I have a friend that entirely stopped watching the Os when they took games off WJZ on Sundays. They're really screwing over their fan base.

So get more familiar and say you’re from the Baltimore metro area. Nothing to dwell on honestly. Get more involved with the city. Start reading local news.

I was born at Hopkins, my parents owned a home in Mount Winans when I was born that we lived at until I was one. Then we moved to Columbia, for 1.5 and waited for our house in Bel Air to be built, where I grew up. I grew up going to the city all the time as my family lived all over and my parents took us to various activities and events. Came for field trips and such. Even when I was little I was always fascinated by the city and I loved visiting my cousins and sleeping over, even in places that I now know is the hood lol. But it wasn’t until I got in college that I really experienced Baltimore on my own and really learned my love for it. Discovering all the cool places and meeting all the wonderful people (and not so wonderful too). Ever days like a mystery to quote Tracy Turnblad

my parents always use long fence in odenton, MD and they do great work. can't speak to prices

They drug tested me when I was hired. This was like 18 years ago. I've been told by more recent hires they still drug test. Don't know if they pot test.

So where did you go to high school?

So all jokes aside… I lived in the city my whole life. We always called y’all county boys. The reality is we just come from way different worlds. But anyone that loves the city enough to come to it and spend some money is a real one. We can all still get along. Maybe just show some love. Tell people about the good sides of the city… Places to eat and what not. My point is. If you want to be a part of Baltimore, you’re welcome to it, no matter what anyone thinks. As a third generation never leaving this place local… I salute you and anyone else that would like to see the better sides of this place

People know Westchester, NY… isn’t not some random nowheresville place.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/baltimore-county-job-club-liberty-career-center-tickets-590145901277?fbclid=IwAR0ypLen-r2wlK31wf5KSxsA_6Bfx586rdjL8l_-a2oewp39PrgYjSQ7Vfg

​

Check out this job fair happening this week.

I stopped at dad got mugged at gun point… You’re as Baltimore as the rest of us homie

[removed]

I have one too. She is my world. Hoping OPs friend gets their baby back soon.

I hope your friend’s baby comes home soon. She looks exactly like my cat.

Too funny! I have no problem owning Westchester and I’m proud to be from there. I only said NY because people in Baltimore didn’t know that area. I never felt like a city kid, even if I hung out in the city all the time, and I wouldn’t have wanted people to think I was someone I am not. Suburbs and cities really are different.

I definitely understand the appeal to wanting to "rep" a city that you feel you have a strong connection with. As someone who has lived in the city for almost a decade now, I would feel awkward telling people who may be interested to know what life in the city is like that I was from here if I had never actually lived here. I think it's perfectly reasonable to tell people that you're from "The Baltimore area" or "Baltimore County" if you were brought up in Catonsville. but there's a lot more to be discussed about the city itself than our sports teams and Inner Harbor. If you feel like representing Baltimore City is really important to you, I would recommend making the leap and moving somewhere in the city that suits you.

I hear you, this is a valid feeling. I was once asked where I was from and said "oh, around here," mistakenly thinking that was vague enough to include eastern Howard County where I grew up. This guy reamed me out because to him "around here" had to mean the neighborhood we were currently in (Reservoir Hill) and that I was somehow appropriating an identity by making that comment. It was bizarre and humiliating. I just didn't want to have explain to him what nearby town I'm from in case he wasn't local.

It's frustrating. I grew up coming to the city often and have lived in the city proper for over a decade now. But I know better than to claim I'm a Baltimorean because certain people do really gatekeep the term and you never know if you're talking to one - it can be folks of all ages, genders, cultural backgrounds. I get it, the counties aren't the same as the city, but how long does a person have to live here for their lived experience to be valid as a place-based identity?

im dealing with the opposite of you lol, i go to a college in ny with a lot of westchester kids

hoco is to bmore what westchester is to ny, its close but not really the city

There are things that are unique to cities over their suburbs or exurbs. People living in HoCo probably don’t deal with many of the challenges of city life. It isn’t just old bay. I say this gently as the person from your example: I grew up in Westchester County, NY. When I came to college in Baltimore I told people I was from NY, which I knew they’d interpret as the city because if I said Westchester they wouldn’t know where that even was necessarily. But I’d never have told someone from Manhattan or the Bronx I was from NY. My life was nothing like theirs even if we liked the same teams and food. And that’s fine! It’s fine to be from where you’re from even if it’s a suburb or a county and not a city.

I've seen that convo numerous times, it always devolves into suffering-porn. You're not from real Baltimore unless [insert increasingly bad things until Baltimore is defined as seen in The Wire].

Baltimore is many things, and different people will have different experiences here based on all sorts of variables.

Also, "belonging" to a City isn't a special thing. You can live somewhere your entire life and never feel like you belong there or culturally identify with that place.

Takes some trial & error but it can be done. Dm if you want

People will gate-keep the Baltimorean status. I was born and raised here in the city, I raised my children here, now my grandchildren live in Howard County and I show them around my city when they visit. 59 years of being a city resident, working with city victims, going to city schools, volunteering for city churches some people tell me I’m not Baltimore enough, or not really from West Baltimore. It’s a weakness people have when they have nothing else against you. People moved into my neighborhood in the last five years, they tell those of us who live here that we’re the ones who aren’t Baltimore enough or don’t understand city living. If you look at the people leading the city most aren’t from here, only Mayor Scott is from Baltimore and he’s not doing a good job right now.

The city needs fresh young minds and fresh ideas. Anyone who says you aren’t Baltimore enough is only gatekeeping because they have nothing better to say. Keep you head up and keep trying to experience the city, maybe one day you will be the person to really help the city.

Who cares? This seems like a problem that you have made up.

Entirely reasonable. I am not saying you have to mind paying. I am saying you shouldn't have to. This guy stating you're not a diehard fan unless you pay for a masn sub is just a stupid take.