footballjunkie
Footballguy
I will apologize in advance for the length of this post -- but I'm just pissed off. I am getting really tired of fans and media from every other team being so critical of Rays fans. There are many factors that go in to why this area hasn't fully supported a baseball team the way others think we should have. Here are just but a few. I could write for days on this subject if I knew anyone would read it.
· Hugh Culverhouse (may he continue to rot in hell) left thousands upon thousands of professional sports fans in this area with a complete cynicism for anything to do with sports. He has been out of the picture now for going on 15 years and the memory of his dark reign over Tampa Bay is still fresh in the minds of many, including myself.
· Because the Rays are so new, we have not had the luxury of raising generation after generation of Tampa Bay Ray fans. In time, we will. Put just about any Red Sox, Yankee or Cub fan that you've ever known in front of me, and I will show you a fan who was born and bred to be a fan of that organization. It doesn't happen overnight. However, when we have our youth being suspended for refusing to shave their RayHawk at school, we know we are heading in the right direction.
· Speaking of the Red Sox, Yankee and Cub fans, as we all know, the Tampa Bay Area is one that is populated primarily with transplants from all around the country -- mainly the Midwest and northeast. You live in our communities, some of you for decades, yet refuse to switch your allegiance to the hometown team. This just compounds the problem in my second point. When over half of our residents raise the children to essentially "hate" the Rays (because of your senseless allegiance), it's going to take that much longer to build up a solid local fan base.
· This has been debated for years, but the simple fact is the location of Tropicana Field is a major factor in the attendance issues. By having the stadium on the farthest part of Pinellas county, hundreds of thousands of residents in Pasco and eastern Hillsborough are forced with commutes between 40 and 60 miles. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of a subway or transit system to make the commute easier. At $3-$4 a gallon for gasoline, the simple fact is many fans are priced out because of the commute.
· If you win, they will come. I know this is fair-weather philosophy 101, but it is the unfortunate truth. When the product on the field consistently loses 60% of its ballgames for 10 consecutive years, it is hard to convince people to separate themselves with their hard-earned money on a regular basis. Until 1996 (the Dungy era), you could walk up to Tampa stadium on any given Sunday and buy a Bucs end zone ticket for $16. Good luck with that now. Winning certainly has a way of changing things doesn't it?
Again, I could go on and on for hours with more points. However, I will instead, for those who care, spend a few minutes reflecting on my memories of baseball in the Tampa Bay area. My memories begin in the late 80's, early 90's when I was in my teenage years. I was born in Michigan and moved here when I was but 6. I was a die-hard Tigers fan for all of my youth until the day that Tampa Bay was granted a team. The rest, as they say, is history.
· I can't begin to tell you how many times I was teased with the prospect of baseball coming to the Tampa Bay area during my early teenage years, on through my early twenties. The ones I remember the most were the Mariners and Giants -- who were both stone-cold locks to be coming to Tampa. I even had T-shirts of both teams proudly supporting their new city affiliation. And what about the disappointment of the first round of expansion? Tampa Bay was almost guaranteed to get a team -- only for MLB to shaft us in favor of Miami.
· Who can forget the Rays first ever number one draft pick -- Paul Wilder? Yeah, that's what I thought, almost everyone forgot about him as he toiled in the minors for years and never made it past A ball.
· Remember the signing of the Cuban ace a year before our first team even took the field? I loved Rolando Arrojo! If I'm not mistaken, I believe he was our first All-Star as well. To this day though, I still don't know whether he was 30 or 40 years old. He sure fell off the radar fast after we traded him.
· How about Larry Rothschild? As much as I respected him, he drove me mad with his management sometimes. I don't know the numbers off-hand, but I seem to recall him being completely obsessive about not letting his pitchers go over 100 pitches -- no matter how well they were pitching. I remember yelling at my radio numerous times those first few years.
· Speaking of those early years, do any of these names bring back memories? McGriff? Boggs? Stocker? DeFelice and Flash Flaherty? Bubba Trammell? McCracken? Roberto Hernandez? Despite the losing that year, I still remember those days like they were yesterday.
· Who can forget the saga of Tony Saunders, the Rays first pick in the MLB expansion draft -- from the Marlins I believe? To this day, the guy had one of the best left-handed changeups that I can ever remember a pitcher throwing. He struck out a ton of people with that pitch (he walked a few too… ha). Unfortunately, his mastering that pitch in high school may have contributed to his arm eventually snapping in half (literally) during the delivery of a pitch. I was at the Trop that day and I have never, ever heard it so quiet. And remember his comeback attempt two years later? He suffered the same exact injury and I can remember how upset I was. I still miss seeing him on the mound.
· Maybe it's because he didn't say it that often, but I remember how special it was every time I heard Paul Olden yell "Say Hello to Victory Tampa Bay!" I loved the announcing of Paul and Charlie Slowes. The other memorable phrase that used to make me laugh was when Paul would say "Wagging the wood back and forth…" Where is he now anyway?
· Remember all of the crazy hype around Josh Hamilton when we picked him in '98? He was as sure a prospect as there ever was. Now in 2008, he's proving the Chuck Lamar move right -- albeit many years and problems too late for the Rays. Be that as it may, I'm proud of Josh for cleaning up his life. It was getting old to read three or four local stories every year saying how he had messed up yet again. What a talent though!
· Does this ring any bells? "Hit show! Tampa Bay Devil Rays!" God I hated that commercial. I hated it even more when Canseco, Vinny Cash-stealer, Greg Vaughn and McGriff promptly failed to live up to the hype at all. The Devil Rays couldn't run to their marketing company fast enough to change the motto for the next year. I think the hit show debacle led in to the "It's a new day in Tampa Bay" jingle.
· I remember the minor guilt for feeling even remotely happy when Larry Rothschild was fired and replaced with Hal McRae. You just knew that Rothschild wanted to win and was an original Devil Ray. But, it had to be done. Not that the McRae experiment worked out though. I guess the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
· To this day, I can still remember the excitement when Sweet Lou came on board as our new manager. Although it never really worked out, I think Lou definitely sent the organization in the right direction. We very clearly got younger in his years and stocked up on a lot of future talent -- Kaz, Cantu,Young, Upton, etc. He also brought up a lot of the talent that was already in the organization and got them the exposure and experience needed to later trade them away. Without Lou's three years in the Rays organization, there's no way they would be in the World Series today.
· Speaking of the World Series, we also obviously wouldn't be there without some of the moves that Maddon made in his first year. Consider the sell-off in '06 that saw the likes of Hendrickson, Huff, Gathright and Lugo being traded away for players like Zobrist, Talbot, Navarro, Howell and Ruggiano. While some of those players plan to contribute in the next year or two, others (like Navarro and Howell) are a major reason that the Rays were successful this year.
· And finally, while it's a little fresher on the minds of many, how about the offense of that 2007 team? It might have been 6 years late, but the "Hit Show" finally arrived. Pena, CC, Upton, Aki, Young, Dukes, etc. That was without question the best offensive team that we had ever field up to that point. Too bad it was also one of the worst bullpens that we ever had. It sure made for a lot of high scoring slugfests anyway.
Again, I could keep rambling on for hours about things that keep coming up in my head. My point of this post is that there are many, many real baseball fans here in the Tampa Bay area. And I understand the general smack-talk that happens between fans of opposing teams. Hell, that alone is a major draw to sports for millions of people. But, the constant questioning of the integrity of the Tampa Bay Rays fans has simply got to stop. With the current success and the future potential of this team, we may be talking about this 10 years from now the same way we talk about the old Bucs. It truly is a new day in Tampa Bay and I, for one, am damn proud of it!
· Hugh Culverhouse (may he continue to rot in hell) left thousands upon thousands of professional sports fans in this area with a complete cynicism for anything to do with sports. He has been out of the picture now for going on 15 years and the memory of his dark reign over Tampa Bay is still fresh in the minds of many, including myself.
· Because the Rays are so new, we have not had the luxury of raising generation after generation of Tampa Bay Ray fans. In time, we will. Put just about any Red Sox, Yankee or Cub fan that you've ever known in front of me, and I will show you a fan who was born and bred to be a fan of that organization. It doesn't happen overnight. However, when we have our youth being suspended for refusing to shave their RayHawk at school, we know we are heading in the right direction.
· Speaking of the Red Sox, Yankee and Cub fans, as we all know, the Tampa Bay Area is one that is populated primarily with transplants from all around the country -- mainly the Midwest and northeast. You live in our communities, some of you for decades, yet refuse to switch your allegiance to the hometown team. This just compounds the problem in my second point. When over half of our residents raise the children to essentially "hate" the Rays (because of your senseless allegiance), it's going to take that much longer to build up a solid local fan base.
· This has been debated for years, but the simple fact is the location of Tropicana Field is a major factor in the attendance issues. By having the stadium on the farthest part of Pinellas county, hundreds of thousands of residents in Pasco and eastern Hillsborough are forced with commutes between 40 and 60 miles. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of a subway or transit system to make the commute easier. At $3-$4 a gallon for gasoline, the simple fact is many fans are priced out because of the commute.
· If you win, they will come. I know this is fair-weather philosophy 101, but it is the unfortunate truth. When the product on the field consistently loses 60% of its ballgames for 10 consecutive years, it is hard to convince people to separate themselves with their hard-earned money on a regular basis. Until 1996 (the Dungy era), you could walk up to Tampa stadium on any given Sunday and buy a Bucs end zone ticket for $16. Good luck with that now. Winning certainly has a way of changing things doesn't it?
Again, I could go on and on for hours with more points. However, I will instead, for those who care, spend a few minutes reflecting on my memories of baseball in the Tampa Bay area. My memories begin in the late 80's, early 90's when I was in my teenage years. I was born in Michigan and moved here when I was but 6. I was a die-hard Tigers fan for all of my youth until the day that Tampa Bay was granted a team. The rest, as they say, is history.
· I can't begin to tell you how many times I was teased with the prospect of baseball coming to the Tampa Bay area during my early teenage years, on through my early twenties. The ones I remember the most were the Mariners and Giants -- who were both stone-cold locks to be coming to Tampa. I even had T-shirts of both teams proudly supporting their new city affiliation. And what about the disappointment of the first round of expansion? Tampa Bay was almost guaranteed to get a team -- only for MLB to shaft us in favor of Miami.
· Who can forget the Rays first ever number one draft pick -- Paul Wilder? Yeah, that's what I thought, almost everyone forgot about him as he toiled in the minors for years and never made it past A ball.
· Remember the signing of the Cuban ace a year before our first team even took the field? I loved Rolando Arrojo! If I'm not mistaken, I believe he was our first All-Star as well. To this day though, I still don't know whether he was 30 or 40 years old. He sure fell off the radar fast after we traded him.
· How about Larry Rothschild? As much as I respected him, he drove me mad with his management sometimes. I don't know the numbers off-hand, but I seem to recall him being completely obsessive about not letting his pitchers go over 100 pitches -- no matter how well they were pitching. I remember yelling at my radio numerous times those first few years.
· Speaking of those early years, do any of these names bring back memories? McGriff? Boggs? Stocker? DeFelice and Flash Flaherty? Bubba Trammell? McCracken? Roberto Hernandez? Despite the losing that year, I still remember those days like they were yesterday.
· Who can forget the saga of Tony Saunders, the Rays first pick in the MLB expansion draft -- from the Marlins I believe? To this day, the guy had one of the best left-handed changeups that I can ever remember a pitcher throwing. He struck out a ton of people with that pitch (he walked a few too… ha). Unfortunately, his mastering that pitch in high school may have contributed to his arm eventually snapping in half (literally) during the delivery of a pitch. I was at the Trop that day and I have never, ever heard it so quiet. And remember his comeback attempt two years later? He suffered the same exact injury and I can remember how upset I was. I still miss seeing him on the mound.
· Maybe it's because he didn't say it that often, but I remember how special it was every time I heard Paul Olden yell "Say Hello to Victory Tampa Bay!" I loved the announcing of Paul and Charlie Slowes. The other memorable phrase that used to make me laugh was when Paul would say "Wagging the wood back and forth…" Where is he now anyway?
· Remember all of the crazy hype around Josh Hamilton when we picked him in '98? He was as sure a prospect as there ever was. Now in 2008, he's proving the Chuck Lamar move right -- albeit many years and problems too late for the Rays. Be that as it may, I'm proud of Josh for cleaning up his life. It was getting old to read three or four local stories every year saying how he had messed up yet again. What a talent though!
· Does this ring any bells? "Hit show! Tampa Bay Devil Rays!" God I hated that commercial. I hated it even more when Canseco, Vinny Cash-stealer, Greg Vaughn and McGriff promptly failed to live up to the hype at all. The Devil Rays couldn't run to their marketing company fast enough to change the motto for the next year. I think the hit show debacle led in to the "It's a new day in Tampa Bay" jingle.
· I remember the minor guilt for feeling even remotely happy when Larry Rothschild was fired and replaced with Hal McRae. You just knew that Rothschild wanted to win and was an original Devil Ray. But, it had to be done. Not that the McRae experiment worked out though. I guess the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
· To this day, I can still remember the excitement when Sweet Lou came on board as our new manager. Although it never really worked out, I think Lou definitely sent the organization in the right direction. We very clearly got younger in his years and stocked up on a lot of future talent -- Kaz, Cantu,Young, Upton, etc. He also brought up a lot of the talent that was already in the organization and got them the exposure and experience needed to later trade them away. Without Lou's three years in the Rays organization, there's no way they would be in the World Series today.
· Speaking of the World Series, we also obviously wouldn't be there without some of the moves that Maddon made in his first year. Consider the sell-off in '06 that saw the likes of Hendrickson, Huff, Gathright and Lugo being traded away for players like Zobrist, Talbot, Navarro, Howell and Ruggiano. While some of those players plan to contribute in the next year or two, others (like Navarro and Howell) are a major reason that the Rays were successful this year.
· And finally, while it's a little fresher on the minds of many, how about the offense of that 2007 team? It might have been 6 years late, but the "Hit Show" finally arrived. Pena, CC, Upton, Aki, Young, Dukes, etc. That was without question the best offensive team that we had ever field up to that point. Too bad it was also one of the worst bullpens that we ever had. It sure made for a lot of high scoring slugfests anyway.
Again, I could keep rambling on for hours about things that keep coming up in my head. My point of this post is that there are many, many real baseball fans here in the Tampa Bay area. And I understand the general smack-talk that happens between fans of opposing teams. Hell, that alone is a major draw to sports for millions of people. But, the constant questioning of the integrity of the Tampa Bay Rays fans has simply got to stop. With the current success and the future potential of this team, we may be talking about this 10 years from now the same way we talk about the old Bucs. It truly is a new day in Tampa Bay and I, for one, am damn proud of it!
I assume you're talking about the Troxler column in the Times. He's not a sports writer, more of a politico actually.
I assume you're talking about the Troxler column in the Times. He's not a sports writer, more of a politico actually.
Yeah it was the Troxler piece.
I wonder how many Philly message boards that hit?
Given they have the lowest payroll of any team to make the World Series since free agency, I think this year is even more special than people even think. Baseball is pretty strange and depth could be an issue going forward although the starting pitching should have them in the playoff hunt for awhile.
Enjoy watching the series, Bitterness.
I can assure you nobody cares if you tune in tonight or not.
Enjoy watching the series, Bitterness.
I have thought about the Tampa and Miami fan bases ever since Selig wanted to contract the Marlins years ago.
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