Why I can't Root Root Root for the Tampa Bay Rays
by Central Coast Mariner on Oct 17, 2008 11:08 PM PDT
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PrintEverything is right for us to root for the Tampa Bay Rays; they feel like the underdog, they have a great young team and they aren't the Yankees. They're hunky. They've never been to the postseason before. They beat the Yankees and the Red Sox in the regular season despite a much smaller payroll.
Even with all this I find I just can't cheer for them, because they are called the Rays when they used to be called the Devil Rays.
I'd be ok with it if 'Rays' was referring to stingrays and manta rays and all the other fishy rays. It would have been cool to do a "King County" and honour the USS Ray, Ray's Music Exchange or even Ray Reardon (that's for English Mariner). But in a 2007 press release the owner of the Rays said, "We are now the 'Rays' - a beacon that radiates throughout Tampa Bay and across the entire state of Florida." And that is a load of bollocks.
My family is from cow country: Waikato Province in NZ. New Zealanders know Waikato is damp muddy cow country so Waikato rugby fans live it up and ring cowbells at games. So I'm not impressed with the Tampa Bay cowbells despite Bruce Dickinson's fever.
Therefore I can't cheer for the Rays. Go Red Sox! Crush this moment in 'underdog' history.
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Good prediction
It is a purely emotional reaction to the playoffs – I can’t root for the Rays because their PR choices felt so clumsy – a name change with a silly ‘beacon of light’ justification and the introduction of cowbells. I know it isn’t particularly logic and I’m OK with my fan choices being emotional.
by Central Coast Mariner on Oct 18, 2008 9:09 AM PDT up reply actions
"I'd be ok with it if 'Rays' was referring to stingrays and manta rays and all the other fishy rays"
You might direct your attention to the side of their uniforms, where there is a manta ray:
Yeah, that's part of the reason
They were named after a fish. They’re still named after a fish. But they got rid of the ray from the front and demoted it to the side, placed a star on the front and put out a press release saying they are a beacon of light radiating across Florida.
by Central Coast Mariner on Oct 18, 2008 9:42 AM PDT up reply actions
But the "Devil Ray" IS an actual fish, and the "Ray" is a class of fish
It’s not at all clear that they’ve gone away from that.
I really don’t get what this has to do with Waikato, NZ, either. (I’ll be honest, my inclination right now is to bomb the place.)
Seriously though, the big flashing light that gave this away as sheer idiocy was the line, “Therefore I can’t cheer for the Rays. Go Red Sox! Crush this moment in ‘underdog’ history.” That’s some dumb-ass shit, is what that is.
Are you kidding?
This doesn’t seem like it needed to be posted..
by seattlesundevil on Oct 18, 2008 1:18 AM PDT reply actions
*shrug* meh
It’s bizarre, but at least it’s not stupid. To each their own.
That makes sense to me.
I can’t root for the Red Sox because red socks killed my father.
I can’t root for the Yankees because my grandmother was pulled to death.
I can’t root for the Blue Jays because effeminate blue birds raped my mother.
I can’t root for the Rockies because I suffer from excess calcium.
I can’t root for the Astros because Elroy violated me.
I can’t root for the White Sox because improper spelling of the word “sock” flunked me out of college.
I can’t root for the Angels because two angels gave me AIDS.
I can’t root for the Athletics because I’m out of shape.
I can’t root for the Giants because I have elephantiasis.
I can’t root for the Phillies because my ex girlfriend left me for two dudes named Phil.
I can’t root for the Dodgers because I like it when things hit me.
I can’t root for the Royals because I’m poor.
I can root for the Brewers because I like beer.
I can’t root for the Twins because I’m afraid of the mirror.
I can’t root for the Tigers because I was stuck on a lifeboat with one that may or may not have represented the chef that killed my mother, whom I subsequently ate.
I can’t root for the Indians because I lost all my money at the Casino.
I can’t root for the Mets because most people pretend they don’t know me.
I can’t root for the Marlins because a marlin swallowed my baby son.
I can’t root for the Orioles because Adam Jones.
I can’t root for the Cardinals because I’m Jewish.
I can’t root for the Padres, same reason.
I can’t root for the Pirates because I was born without a skull and crossbones.
I can’t root for the Nationals because I’m Canadian.
I can’t root for the Braves because I’m agoraphobic.
I can’t root for the Reds because I’m racist against Indians. Also, Casinos.
I can’t root for the Cubs because my scout leader touched me.
I can’t root for the Diamondbacks because Miles O’Keeffe is a douchebag.
I can’t root for the Rangers because I really hate Texas.
So as you can see, all I have left is the Mariners and the Rays. And that is why I support them.
...and now I'm here
by CapSea on Oct 18, 2008 1:27 AM PDT reply actions 13 recs
I love that book.
I suffer for baseball so damn much.
by .Taylor on Oct 18, 2008 12:08 PM PDT up reply actions
while I agree about the "King County" thing
and am wondering at what point our county is renamed after Don King and then followed by Rodney King costing tens of thousands of dollars in letter heads alone I can’t help but not see the parallel between this and the Devils Rays name change. The double negative aside the Rays are a breath of fresh air away from the Red Sox, and while I doubt most have you have ever been to Tropicana Field to root for Rays I think most of us can come together and say that a Rays nation is far more tolerate then an addition to Red Sox nation
Don't believe the lies Bill!!!! look at the sparkly ERA!!! Sparkly, Sparkly!!! - McCovey Chronicles
Agreed
There are a dozen reasons not to cheer for the Rays. Because they haven’t suffered long enough, because they’re going to be in the ALCS every season until 2014, because now I can’t wear my Rays memorabilia without looking trendy, because you just know that girls with their boyfriends will be showing up at Safeco next year with pink Longoria t-shirts on, because you’re jealous of Tampa’s success, because Florida doesn’t deserve three World Series titles, because you feel bad for the Jays that there are now three super-teams in the ALE, etc.
But not liking them because of they’re not called the Devil Rays is ridiculous.
I don't understand how this matters.
What people 3,000 miles away do with their spare time doesn’t make the Rays any less exciting to me.
My affinity for the Rays has nothing to do with their geographical location.
If anything the lack of enthusiasm of their fanbase makes me love them even more.
J.K.L.
by Aaron Campeau on Oct 18, 2008 12:11 PM PDT up reply actions
That the team was a perennial loser, and that they're front office put together a winner the right way... yeah, I appreciate that.
It just rubs me the wrong way that they continued to draw so few at the Trop, even though they were one of the top teams in baseball all year… and suddenly everybody has a cowbell.
I mean, the pink-hat wearing bimbo can’t be too far off from the cowbell shaker.
by oc on Oct 18, 2008 2:28 PM PDT up reply actions
Eh, I see what you're saying.
But look at the Mariners; never drew anyone, team almost moved, history of being awful. Just as bad as the Rays, but for twice as long. Boom, 1995 happens and they’ve drawn like crazy ever since.
I’m holding off on assuming the worst about the Rays fanbase for a little while. And the odds of them ever becoming anything close to as bad as the Red Sox fanbase are pretty much nil. The Red Sox Nation phenomenon has a lot more to do with the romantic notion of having Boston roots, appearing to be long-suffering, etc. The Twins are good all the time, but they don’t have fans taking up half the seats at every stadium they visit.
J.K.L.
by Aaron Campeau on Oct 18, 2008 2:37 PM PDT up reply actions
That Irish thing!
Every where you go! There’s a certain type of person that seems to love claiming Irish roots. They would probably also claim Native American heritage in a different conversation. By that I don’t mean a little either but the kind of heritage that deserves tribal membership, only they’ve just never filed for it.
Irish, my vote for the ultimate bandwagon.
"Sorry I hit you in the helmet Hank, I meant to hit you in the neck." Stan Williams to Hank Aaron.
Yep. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.
I hate that shit. Your mom was a quarter Irish? Whoopdeefuckingdoodah. This doesn’t mean you have some sort of spiritual fcking connection to Boston.
J.K.L.
by Aaron Campeau on Oct 18, 2008 5:17 PM PDT up reply actions
My wife just reminded me she has dual citizenship, she's a single generation from Ireland.
Guess they had another potato famine in the 1960’s, I must have missed that chapter in my history class. Anyway, that means I’m now covered in Irishness, just because it transfers like fairy dust. Or germs. So now I’m a Boston fan! Suck it Rays!! Whoohooo look at me I’m dancing a jig!!
"Sorry I hit you in the helmet Hank, I meant to hit you in the neck." Stan Williams to Hank Aaron.
You watch a playoff game between two teams you do not support
…and you end up picking one to cheer for. have no history cheering for either team. I found I had picked the Red Sox and when I examned the reasons what I came up with was a little bizarre.
The beacon of light radiating throughout Florida comment cracked me up as totally disingenuous and the cowbell thing was dumb given I don’t think of Tampa Bay as cow country. That’s a pretty silly reason to pick the Sox but that’s how it worked.
by Central Coast Mariner on Oct 18, 2008 9:20 AM PDT reply actions
Except the Red Sox are worse than the Yankees
by Graham MacAree on Oct 18, 2008 9:40 AM PDT up reply actions
This has become true.
I fucking hate you Mariners
by kentroyals5 on Oct 18, 2008 10:13 AM PDT up reply actions
Maybe I'm stuck in the 90s
…but the Yankees are worse to me. The first game of baseball I saw was when I was visiting Seattle back in the 90s. The Mariners versus the Yankees.
I got hassled by the cops for jaywalking, saw HRs from Griffey, Buhner and two from Edgar and lost half of my hearing from the crowd noise and fireworks. The Mariners came back twice. The Yankees have remained the number one enemy for me ever since.
It was quite a game. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA199510070.shtml
by Central Coast Mariner on Oct 18, 2008 11:27 AM PDT up reply actions
I still hate the Yankees, but the Red Sox are way way way worse.
More obnoxious fanbase, more dangerous, bigger chip on their shoulder.
J.K.L.
by Aaron Campeau on Oct 18, 2008 12:12 PM PDT up reply actions
Red Sox = New evil empire.
Rays = beacon of hope for the rest of us that their pesilence be stilled until another season arrives.
Go Rays.
Anyone remember a few years ago...
when the Devil Rays had a very religious quad-A pitcher on their team who announced that the team wouldn’t win as long as they had the word devil in their name?
I’m agnostic personally, but something makes me vaguely uneasy when I think that there’s probably a small minority of people out there right now who believe this season is evidence of that point’s merit. Not that the Sun Devils, the Blue Devils, or New Jersey Devils have ever had issue with it.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett http://mvn.com/milb-mariners/
It's silly.
They’ve had potential building for the past couple years. But again, people find it easier to believe in blind faith than do their own research and learning.
JI/Robert '08!
I liked the name Devil Rays
though Sundevils is better because they’re imaginary (I think). And the Devil Rays are one ugly fish. And they sting.
ignacio
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