The Tampa Bay Rays

[Spectre General]

Here we are, effectively 6 weeks away from post season Baseball, and the Tampa Bay Rays are the American League East division leaders, a spot they've stayed in the entire summer. What a travesty, right?

I don't think so.

Now before you accuse me of being a Rays fan, or worse, jumping on the (non-existant as far as I can tell) bandwagon; I'm not (lifelong Braves fan here.) I simply think it's awesome because the "we've never had a winning season" 10 year-old redheaded stepchild team of Major League Baseball is effectively, consistently, and contiunally beating the pulp out of the two most obnoxious teams in the history of sports. I'm talking of course about the Yankees, and the Red Sox, or to those of you who don't follow Baseball; the only two teams there are.

I swear, even with both teams losing, and having been losing for the majority of the year you can not escape the nauseating ubiquity of the Yankees and the Red Sox. You'd be hard pressed to walk around any middle-sized or bigger town in North America without seeing someone sporting a Yankees or Red Sox hat, and most of the time it's not even the classic design but some ghettofied "colors to match your wardrobe, be sure to leave the price tag on for bragging rights" fashion item. Why is this obnoxious? Because the people who sport these [i]aren't[/i] fans of the teams, it's fine if you truly are, then you're allowed to wear them, but if you've bought a Red Sox hat since 2004, you're not a fan, you're a sheep. The only reason these teams are so omnipresent is becaue they're traditionally (in the case of the Yankees) and recently (in the case of the Red Sox) winners, period. The people who have their apparel are the same people who bought Tigers gear in '06 and the same people ordering their Cubs gear now. They wanna look "trendy" they wanna look like they make wise decisions and that they only back a winner. Instead of wearing those "fashionable" items they might as well just be wearing a sign that says "look at me, I'm completely incapable of thinking for myself, and if that weren't enough, I'm also a tool."

So what could be more poetically just than having the lifelong loser Tampa Bay Rays, who probably have the smallest fanbase of any Baseball team anywhere beat the everloving tar out of the two most gigantic representations of materialistic worthlessness that our society has become? If you're the Yankees, or the Red Sox, this isn't: "you had a bad year." This is: "you got beat by the Tampa Bay Rays." Which is something that no team has really ever heard before with any meaning attached to it. I can only hope that come September both teams take a brief moment to take a sideways glance away from all the cameras and glitter and oceans of sycophantic fans toward the scoreboard only to be shocked utterly to see that they're not on top of it.

Now, I'm by no means pulling for the Rays to go to or win the World Series, I'm not gonna go buy their apparel, even if they win. I just want to see them get their fair share of the limelight, something they've never had and something they will have no doubt earned. Let's face it, the Yankees and Red Sox are no pushovers, and that's what makes the reality all the more impressive. Despite this however, Yankee and Red Sox news bulletins fill the crawlers everywhere, show up in the front of sports magazines, tv shows and news sites. There are probably more people who care about A-Rod's sex life than there are people who know the Rays exist. But the last time I checked, Baseball was played on the diamond, not the field of public opinion or media extravaganzas, and that is a lesson I simply can't wait for the Rays to teach a teeming mass of faux fans in 6 weeks.

Also, I realize like half of you live in New York and hate me now. I never said you couldn't be a legitimate fan, I just said a [i]majority[/i] who wear the gear, aren't, and I stand by that.

-------------------------------------------------
What is love after all
but occasional steps
of a dance.........
.......In a trance?

[enzfan]

Lifelong Indians fan here, not a lot of joy in Mudville this season. I do find it amusing that the Yanks are spending truck loads of money for the results they are achieving on the field.

[coop41]

[quote]Originally posted by Spectre General
[br] the Tampa Bay Rays [/quote]


Never heard of 'em.[:o)]



Holy Crud SG, when you started typing that they were only 1 game up on the Yankees!


Great Post! The rays do have some sweet gear though!

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by coop41[/i]
<br>Holy Crud SG, when you started typing that they were only 1 game up on the Yankees!
[/quote]
LOL. I think the Cubs had just won the world series actually.

Here's hoping for a Rays-Diamondbacks Series, so I can go to bed early every night while laughing at the MLB. [}:)]

[abacab66]

I'm still hoping the Marlins make it so we can really have a snore of a World Series.

I'm a very big Yankee fan but in a way I'm looking forward to a quiet fall this year.[;)]

[coop41]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by coop41[/i]
<br>Holy Crud SG, when you started typing that they were only 1 game up on the Yankees!
[/quote]
Diamondbacks [/quote]

Best starting pitching staff in Baseball bar none. Webb, Haren and Randy Johnson has been simply amazing since the break and has completely re-tooled his pitching philosophy. Adam Dunn has been a major factor, was only 0-1 last night with 3 runs and our run production since he has arrived has jumped considerably.

[club80]

Hey...the emergence of The Rays as a contender is good for baseball, if not so good for the networks. I don't think anyone wants to see the same guys there year after year. You certainly can't include The Red Sox in the latter group since their championship drought, until 2004, was legendary.
Since expansion began in 1962, only four expansion franchises have ever had the final say. The Mets, The Blue Jays and The Marlins won it twice apiece and The Diamondbacks, Angels and Royals won it once apiece. That's ten times in 45 years (exclude the 1994 season which had no postseason)! Now you have two expansion franchises, The Angels and Rays, with the best records in baseball and a third, The Diamondbacks, as another favorite in October. Add in the Cubs (who now have the longest streak of futility) as a viable contender and you have the ingredients of an interesting postseason for baseball fans.
I'm a New Yorker, but not a Yankees' fan. I have been a lifelong Mets fan. We're there too, but our bullpen is a HUGE issue and we definitely need to fix that or we'll be out early. However, I am hopeful!

Spectre...one other point. I couldn't agree more about the designer team gear. I own about 50 replica baseball caps that I get in Cooperstown every year. I would never, EVER, consider getting one that was not as close to the real thing as possible. Those "fashion" hats piss me off.



We didn't sell a lot of records, but somehow we left an impression.
-Johnny Ramone-

[Spectre General]

While it's true that the Red Sox had an incredible drought and an epic comeback against the Yankees in the ALCS in '04 after that it was like nothing but Red Sox fans everywhere, and I live in Virginia. Then they won again in '07 and the amount of Sox fans multiplied. It's as if these people had been Sox fans their whole life, which I know can't be true. Either that or they were too embarrassed to show it until they finally won again, in which case you're not a real fan anyway. [xx(]

It's almost as if Yankees and Red Sox fans are black ants and red ants, they're everywhere, they hate each other, and there are other ants but nobody notices.

-------------------------------------------------
What is love after all
but occasional steps
of a dance.........
.......In a trance?

[randy]

Lifelong Sox fan here...but loving the fact that the Rays are now contenders!!! Really gets boring after a while with only 2 teams in the division being any good!

[Terim]

Isn't it just about time for the NFL & NHL to get started again?

Thank goodness for Euro 2008 & the Olympics filling in those summer months where there is usually no sports worth watching on TV.

As for the Yankee/Red Sox fashion statements (and we have our fair share of wannabees up here), at least we know that in the long run, it doesn't matter what you wear, or how cool you think it is, your kids will find it hilarious.

[club80]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Terim[/i]
<br>Isn't it just about time for the NFL & NHL to get started again?

Thank goodness for Euro 2008 & the Olympics filling in those summer months where there is usually no sports worth watching on TV.

As for the Yankee/Red Sox fashion statements (and we have our fair share of wannabees up here), at least we know that in the long run, it doesn't matter what you wear, or how cool you think it is, your kids will find it hilarious.
[/quote]

I guess it's tough most summers if you don't like baseball. At least this summer you had Euro 2008 followed by The Olympics and, of course, The English Premier League is back in swing!

We didn't sell a lot of records, but somehow we left an impression.
-Johnny Ramone-