Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter fired back Friday at New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan, who ripped the Orioles and Major League Baseball on Thursday for the scheduling issue that forced the Baltimore Ravens to play their NFL season opener at Denver.
Traditionally, the Super Bowl winner opens with a Thursday night home game.
"I think I'd be a little more concerned about November 24 when the Jets come here and try to figure out a way to beat the Ravens; wouldn't you?," Showalter said, via CSNBaltimore.com. "I'd think that would be a little bit more of a challenge. I try to stay out of things I don¹t know about. Like I don't know about the NFL schedule and the NFL challenges. So that would be my advice. I would stay in what is my area of supposed expertise."
Perhaps because he worked as an assistant with Baltimore for 10 years, Ryan felt the need to weigh in on this topic. The Orioles have a home game scheduled on Thursday, Sept. 5, and because the two Baltimore stadiums—Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium—share parking facilities, it was deemed impossible for both teams to play that day. "I understand the Orioles are playing a game at home. Well, who really cares?" Ryan said Thursday, via a story from USA Today. "You've got 81 of them things at home and maybe you could've done the right thing and given one up and played 82 on the road and 80 at home. I really don't think people are going to care about that game."
It's highly unlikely Ryan will leave Showalter's comments alone. These two could be going back and forth for a while.