OK, a fairly large company (Under Armour) requested permission to paint its logo on the side of Federal Hill to welcome athletes to Baltimore City during a recent sporting event. The Baltimore City Recreation and Parks Department considered the request and granted permission (which wasn’t the first time, but I won’t drag the Baltimore Ravens into this).

What’s the problem? Did any babies die? Was the water in that area polluted? Did the act of painting the logo cause anyone economic harm?

The answer is NO to all of the above. In fact on the last point, a locally home-grown success story that has a track record of being a good corporate sponsor for the City, the Parks and Recreation Department and the area’s Tree Baltimore Program, was trying to promote its brand in a unique and interesting way and to generate some good will for people visiting our city who actually spend money while in Baltimore and help sustain our economy.

The City of Baltimore and our state have far more serious issues to deal with like neighborhood crime, poverty, homelessness, unbalanced budgets and drug and alcohol abuse — just to name a few.

From what I can see from the outside, Under Armour has done everything right in this matter and has handled the backlash superbly. They quickly agreed to cover over the logo and re-seed the area at its expense. And as far as the Baltimore City Parks and Recreation Department is concerned, they may have overlooked an ordinance prohibiting such actions.

But again, did any babies die?

It’s time to put our Under Armour t-shirts back on and move on to more serious issues. Seriously, can any of the Federal Hill residents even see the logo facing the Inner Harbor from their homes?