Trade Deadline Rant to begin in 3...2....1...

Alright, perhaps the solution to my problem is to stop listening to talk radio. I’m sure that will keep my blood pressure lower. Forgive me this rant for I am normally a pretty laid back guy. Some might even say a little too laid back, but when I listen to some of the radio hosts and their callers it get’s under my skin.

Yesterday I actually yelled at my radio - loudly. It’s not something I’m proud of and I’m glad I was in the call by myself. Perhaps I should hook my Sirius back up for some nice commercial free music.

So what’s prompting these out of character explosions of emotion? Well Rays fans of course. It’s the trading deadline. The Rays are currently on the outside looking in as far as the playoff races go. That means “Rays Fan” (I.e. the ones who thought they traded Aubrey Huff for Aki!) get to bitch and moan about the team.

All day I’ve heard, from both the radio hosts and the callers, that the Rays have to make a move or the season is done. The problem is - the Rays already made their deadline deal. His name is Pat Burrell. They just did it January instead of July.

Once they inked the deal Stu Sternberg and the rest of nDRO made it clear that they were maxed out in the payroll department. According to a St Pete Times article from April the Rays have raised their payroll over 160% in the last two seasons.

If you had told me in 2007 that the Rays would bump their payroll to $62 million by 2009 I would have laughed at you and then asked what city they had moved to. Let’s get it through everyone’s head that they are maxed out.

I’ve written about it before, if the Rays shell out big money on free agents they can’t afford to make mistakes. I hesitate to call the Burrell signing a failure as of right now. I will say it’s not working out, but you can’t call it a failure until it’s over. Who’s to say Burrell doesn’t bang out 15-20 home runs over the next two months and leads the Rays to an amazing comeback?

What I’m trying to say is that yelling about something that you knew was going to happen is pointless. If I tell you for 8 months that I’m not getting you a pony for Christmas and I don’t get you a pony, why would yell at me?

All I’ve heard for the last 5 or 6 years is “we want the Rays to be competitive”. Well guess what, they are competitive! They are eight games over .500 and still in the hunt for the wild card. Now all I hear is that they’re not willing to spend enough to go the extra step. I suppose that’s easy to say when you’re not the one writing the check, but let’s be realistic. Small market teams like the Rays are always more likely to be sellers than buyers for the big names on the market.

Could they have offered Cleveland more than Boston did for Victor Martinez? Without a doubt. Guess what happens if they do. Carl Crawford gets traded or his option isn’t picked up in the off-season. So then you’re looking at losing whatever prospects they traded and Crawford for Martinez and his $7 Million option for next season.

Also, this organization is built on sustained competitiveness. They didn’t sell out the franchise last year when they were leading the division and they didn’t do it this year when they’re 4.5 games out of the wild card.

The Rays spent 10 years stockpiling their young talent, and it seems this team is more than willing to actually have these guys play for them. That’s in contrast to teams like the Red Sox or Mets who only seem to develop talent in order to trade it for established players.

There are weaknesses on this team (cough, cough Navarro), but not worth making a trade that could have sever repercussions somewhere down the line. The boys in the front office have proven that they know what they’re doing so stop whining at the moves they do or do not make. Seriously, stop it! Go out and cheer for your team instead.

So everyone in the TBA just relax. Sometimes the best deal is the one you don’t make.

I'm back

So what did I miss while I was enjoying beer and anti-Nazi riots ? Let’s see:

The Lightning were on a hot streak!
The USF Bulls are making a push for a bowl game not located in Birmingham.
Aubrey Huff said something dumb in Tampa about Baltimore. It’s like he never left!
New uniforms and a possible new stadium for the Rays.


The first three are nice stories and we’ll look at them in due time. For now lets focus on the Rays. It’s official they are now the Tampa Bay Rays and as expected they unveiled the worst kept secret in the TBA.

The uniforms will be comprised of a blue, white and yellow color scheme. The focus is moving away from the animal and more into Rays as in sunlight. The fate of the cow nose rays in the centerfield “Rays Tank” has yet to be determined.

The news was met with a muted response. Any hope of suspense or excitement was removed when the details were leaked online during the summer. Luckily the Rays had another bullet in the chamber.

Reports surfaced and were confirmed that the Rays are in negotiation with the city of St. Petersburg to build a new stadium at the waterfront property currently occupied by Al Lang Field.

The public’s reaction has been less than positive. According to a special report by the St. Petersburg Times 57% of registered voters surveyed approval of the plans to build the stadium (yea more than half!), but 69% of those same voters don’t want taxpayer money to pay for it. The sample size was 616 voters and has a 4% margin of error.

Wow how about those numbers? This town loves its Rays don’t they? Instead of embracing the fact that the team is making a commitment to stay in town and improve the atmosphere for its fans the public is worried about paying for it.

It’s a tough time in Florida for sure. The housing market is down, taxes are creeping up and the threat of a hurricane wiping out everything is always right around the corner. That’s understandable, but if you want to call yourself a true sports town there are sacrifices that have to made. You concede that you’re going to pay more for tickets every year, you understand that the price of a beer inside the stadium is going to be more than a six pack outside of the stadium and once in your lifetime you and everyone else are asked to pony up for a stadium.

It’s not the Rays fault that the City of St Pete convinced voters and taxpayers to build a stadium as a way to entice Major League Baseball into giving the area a team. Tropicana Field was outdated before Wilson Alvarez threw a pitch inside it. Aren’t you embarrassed as a fan to have explain the catwalk rules to fans from out of town?

The days of owners paying for stadiums out of their own pockets have come and gone. I was surprised that the ball club has already said that they’re willing to kick in any money at all. Think back 10 years and ask yourself how much money the Glazers kicked in for Raymond James. Were the Bucs any better than the Rays are now? Fans can’t have it both ways. They can’t complain about the park the team currently plays in and then shoot down the idea of a new park before there’s even a concept in place.

This is a good thing. This needs to be done. Whining about the “secret” negotiations or the lack of parking or the burden it’s going to place on downtown isn’t going to endear the owners to the town. If this goes to a public referendum and gets shot down don’t be surprised to hear serious talk about the team moving. A cynical person may say that Stu Sternberg is floating this out there knowing it’s going to fail just so he has an excuse to move the franchise.

Don’t take this as a blanket endorsement for the current ownership. There are hundreds of details that need to be ironed out. The parking concerns are valid as is the minor problem of finding $450 Million + to pay for the stadium. The point is that it is not time to focus on the negative. What the team is looking for is excitement. Let’s talk about the virtues of an open stadium or a retractable roof. Should there be a version of McCovey Cove and what should it be called (Canseco’s Cove? Huff’s Harbor? Boggs Bay?)

2012 is the estimated completion date for the stadium. By then the organization should know what the product on the field is going to be like. Will Scott Kazmir and James Shields fulfill their potential? They’ll know if BJ Upton is an All-Star centerfielder and if Delmon Young is the player they hope him to be.

Imagine a team that has been able to compete in the toughest division in the MLB. Imagine a truly competitive team stepping out under a sunny April sky instead of the dull florescent lights of the Trop. Imagine ESPN and Fox gushing about seeing sailboats in the distance. Imagine an All-Star game in St Pete.

Those are things that team should be hearing about right now. There is plenty of time left for the details. For now imagine the possibilities.

Sick and loving it....

Last Wednesday featured a rare sporting double header in the TBA. With the O’s in town matching up against the Rays in a matinee and with the Lightning battling the Devils in game 4 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs I felt it was my duty to be there. That meant calling in sick to work. I had no problem with that. If you’re over 50 I’m sure you cringe at my work ethic. To you I say – Hey glad to have a reader!

Because I’m not a total ass I did let my teammate at work know that I would be calling in sick that day and she okayed it. As far as I was concerned my boss didn’t need to know. All she needed to know was that I had 136 hours of sick time that I would lose if I didn’t use it.

I decided to pack my trusty Paperblanks notebook in my back pocket so that I could give you loyal readers a running diary. For company Big Mike was with me for 10 hours of sporting fun. Enjoy!

7:30am – Alarm goes off. I forgot to change it last night before I went to bed. It is quickly changed to 8:30.

8:30am – Alarm goes off again. I contemplate hitting the snooze bar, but then remember I have to call in sick. I look for my phone. I can’t find it. I decide to use technology to my advantage. I stumble into my second bedroom and turn on the computer. As it boots up I go the kitchen for breakfast.

8:35am – Nothing to eat in the kitchen so back to the computer. I send a vague email to the boss stating that I won’t be in today. No details so I’m technically not lying about why I’m not there.

8:45am – I check myspace.com. Sweet Gabriele wants to be my friend! She is quickly deleted. I don’t know her and I doubt she’s a sports fan.

9:30am – The Internet has been giving me issues for the last 45 minutes so I shut it down. I tried to see if there was anything interesting in the world since last night. I guess I’ll have to watch SportsCenter.

9:45am – I realize that it’s pretty much the same SportsCenter that I watched at 2:00AM so I decide to do something productive. I find some shorts and shoes and go out for a run. I live about 2 blocks from the Pinellas Trail which is convenient when I am in a workout mood.

10:15am – I’m back from the run. Being productive sucks.

10:45am – 12:30pm – I take a shower and then proceed to watch daytime TV. Ahhh a relaxing pastime since 1994 for me.

12:30pm – Big Mike calls to say he’s on the way. I find some shorts and my Michael Restovich game worn jersey. Restovich never officially played for the Rays he only spent some time with them in Spring Training a few years ago. I guess it’s stretching the “game worn” aspect of it, but it was cheap and it is a nice looking jersey so I don’t care.

2:30pm – After a nice lunch at St Pete institution “Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill” it’s into Tropicana Field for the game. Now this is the way to spend a day. The stadium isn’t as bad as make it out to be. It’s not the best in the league but it’s waaaaaaaay better than Olympic Stadium was.

3:08pm – The Rays music director has a sense of humor. As the players take the field he plays The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. Good song… interesting line – “Meet the new boss/ Same as the old boss”. A discreet shot at the Sternberg ownership or a coincidence?

3:12 First pitch from Scott Kazmir is ---- a ball. Hope it’s not one of those games from the young ace. The Rays are playing in front of friends and family as the saying goes. There can’t be 6,000 people here. (Note the announced crowd was over 10,000).

3:21pm – Rocco Baldelli goes yard. It was a titanic blast. Big Mike points out that the most amazing part of the blast is that it actually hit a fan.

5:08pm – Time to leave Tropicana Field and head across the bridge. It did turn out to be one of those games for Kazmir who lasted 4 innings. The Rays were losing 5-3 when we left and trust me you didn’t miss anything.

6:45pm – 10 minutes before the puck is dropped and from our vantage point in Section 320 the arena is 75% empty. Gotta love late arriving Tampa fan. During the pre-game warm ups Big Mike comments that, “They have to ride Holmer as far as they can, Ramo is a sieve”. He’s right, I think I could beat Kari Ramo tonight. Good thing he’s on the bench.

7:18pm – Brian Gionta knocks in a rebound for the first goal. It sucks the energy out of the crowd. The Devils were on a power play thanks to a phantom hooking call on Jason Ward.

7:24pm – Bedlam. Eric Perrin flips a puck past a screened Marty Brodeur to tie the game at 1.

7:39pm – Sadness. Zach Parise adds the “toe” to the tick, tack passing play by the Devils. 2-1 Devils.

8:00pm – Comment of the night courtesy of the drunk salesman from behind us. As a svelte women with low jeans, a thong and a tattoo wiggles her way down the steps he tells his buddy, “The wife moved out and she moved in…. she’s a nice girl”.

8:05-8:26pm – I seriously can’t write anything cohesive about the last two minutes. Lest just say Devil fans should stick around for the end of the game when they get to see the presentation of the pay off money to the officials. Horrible calls (including a boarding call on Brad Richards) lead to a 3-1 Devils lead.

8:27pm – St Louis gets the Bolts back to within one goal. It’s 3-2. The scoreboard pans to a sign in the crowd. “We have the real Marty!” Hope that doesn’t upset the karma in the series.

9:39pm – Sorry nothing in the last hour or so. The nerves are setting in and I don’t feel so good. The Bolts tied it up and we’re heading to overtime. Lecavalier looks shaken up as the horn sounds. It looks like he took a bad slash, of course there was no call.

10:00-ish – fukity, fuck, fuck FUCK! Sorry for the language. The Devils just won on a Scott Gomez goal off of a Corey Sarich turnover. Dang, Holmer stood on his head this game and has nothing to show for it. I have a feeling Brodeur is warming up. Not good for the Bolts.

There ya go. That’s how I spent my Wednesday. Two losses, no beer but a hamburger and a pretzel and several Pepsi’s pretty much ruined my diet.

A Brave New World

As usual I am sliding into the blogsphere, blog-o-sphere, World Wide Blog or whatever you want to call it several years late. I've spend the last year or so randomly posting on myspace and since I've cracked the 500 reader barrier I figure it's time to post on a real blog site. Ok, so I got sick of my girlfriend making fun of me every time I logged onto myspace around her.

I don't have any goals with this site (other than to be on the 2010 list of most influential bloggers list) so I don't know how long this will last. This site be mostly about sports, especially on Tampa Bay professional teams, but might branch out to other areas as well.

This is a one man operation. A one man operation whose one man has sufficient spelling and grammar issues. So if you are one of the chosen few who reads this blog don't nitpick the details. The one man operation also has a full time job, you'll read about it from time to time. It's a great place to work... really... I'm not lying.

About the title of the blog - I love the Tampa Bay area so it's not a shot at the Gulf Bay Area. Yes it's alright to refer to it as the "Tampa Bay area" because even if you live in Tampa you hang out in St Pete and vice versa. I'm a St Pete guy - love the beaches and it's close to the No Limits Fun Factory. It's more of a shot at the fans and their mentality about sports.

Major professional sports in the Tampa area is a fairly new business. Of the big 3 (NFL- Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NHL - Tampa Bay Lightning, MLB - Tampa Bay Rays) the Buccaneers have been here the longest and that's only 30 years. While 30 years may seem like a long time in this instant information age just think about how long professional sports have been in cities like New York, Los Angeles and even good ol' Baltimore.

So even though the fans have gone though their share of misery in this area it's not like they have the generational losing aura like Cub fans or Red Sox fans before they became pompous assess. Losing is only one generation in this town. For as young of a sports town this is it has enjoyed success with a Super Bowl and Stanley Cup in the last 5 years. That breeds a bit of an impatience among local fans.

This area also has a huge transplant population that brings their old team loyalties with it. Even I your intrepid blogger is a Ravens fan and partial O's fan. Fan bigamy thrives in the TBA as evidenced by the crowds at Tropicana Field when the Yankees and Red Sox are in town. Winning cures some of that as you can tell by the diminished cheesehead appearances at Bucs games.

What bothers me the most, however, is the overall lack of knowledge displayed by the majority of fans in the area. For instance a few Lightning games I sat in the nosebleed seats and listened as fans whined for a penalty shot despite the fact that Brad Richards wasn't clear from the defense and got off a solid scoring opportunity two factors that by themself would negate a penalty shot. Among friends we usually refer to them as the "shoot the puck" crowd.

Speaking of friends you will hear the occasional mention of my close circle of friends including but not limited to Link - former Pittsburgh resident trapped in the 8th circle of hell known as South Carolina, Big Mike - local product who could rattle off Duke and Seton Hall's starting line ups from 1992 and Hamel - former co-worked at No Limits and roommate who is currently residing in Arizona.

To wrap up this will be a place of discussion primarily of the Devil Rays and Lightning. Nothing to fancy or scaldingly snarky as the deadspin and KSK kids. I doubt there will be much breaking news, but it should be semi interesting.

Hope you enjoy.