Who thought baseball in a Florida dome could be so exciting.
I had the chance to check out the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Red Sox last week in what became a three game sweep for the AL East powerhouse: the Rays. Coming from the New York market, or really just the anywhere besides the west coast of Florida market, it has been a little tough to follow the Rays. I knew they played in a dome, that Wade Boggs played in it too, and that they've always been horrible.
That's really about it. Before the uniform and name upgrade this year (artist formerly known as Devil Ray) their uniforms were so technicolor the only thing they were missing was unicorns holding baseball bats on the sleeves. It was uniforms like these that always led me to wonder whether or not athletes make decisions to play somewhere based on how dumb they would look in the uniform-I'm convinced this is why the Marlins have trouble signing free agents. That and they have no money.
A few friends and I got prime seats in the last row out in left-center field, just close enough to make out the fact that BJ Upton was in center field playing a sport called baseball. Yet as I gulped down the first of a few $8 beers I began to notice a phenomenal in western Florida; one that I'm guessing hadn't been there before. You see for the Rays have been an MLB after thought since they arrived on the scene in 1998 sporting an odd shaped ocean animal and Fred McGriff. I'm sure it's as easy to get behind a perennial losing baseball team as it is to get behind the cast of SNL of the last five years, but as the Sox took the field last week in Tampa they were greeted to a chorus of boos that overshadowed their usually high fan base on the road. Baseball, although a decade late, had arrived in Tampa Bay.
The reason I bring this up is because it was something that wasn't a foul mouthed Yankee fan screamin' 'Manny Sucks'. It was something that wasn't a foul mouthed Red Sox fan screamin' 'Arod Sucks'. It was something different. The Ray had taken over first, and they had done it in a likable style that was filled with timely hitting, quality young pitching, and enough awkward man hugs to last through the next few seasons. Yet as I watched these new look Rays battle back against the Sox bullpen for the win I couldn't help but thinking 'now this is exciting'.
Rays fans will tell you they saw it coming all along. When Scott Kazmir was traded from the Mets in exchange for a bullpen chair and the rights to Fred McGriff's "Tom Emanski Baseball Videos" VHS career Tampa knew they had something worth keeping.
They'll tell you they knew that when the likes of Longoria, Upton, and Crawford finally came together literally under one roof that they had something special. Yet they'll also tell you that most of them weren't around for the Dark Age in Tampa. They were a town too busy with the Bucs to travel out to St Pete's just to watch a team win 66 out of 162 games. It's winning that heals all wounds though, and as the team finds ways to battle against the likes of the AL East the fans in Florida will find ways to battle the lack of adequate parking and fan-friendly locations around Tropicana. The local sports radio hosts won't have to deal with callers complaining about the drive out to the stadium, but rather the trade deadline deals made and not made. That's how the baseball fan should be, and at a time when the sports media is wrapped up in the demise of the teams from the northeast, the team from Florida keeps moving forward into uncharted territory with a fan base who's still learning the ropes.
As the Rays clinched their sweep against the Sox that night I watched from left-center field as Upton, Crawford, and Gabe Gross leaped for joy with a few 1993 high fives. This team was having fun. These fans were having fun. It was late June but that night under the roof it could've been late in the fall season. And as the Rays continue to make franchise history it's hard not to root for the team that takes on the perennial powerhouses and comes out on top. Call it fan-envy if you want, but who thought baseball in a Florida dome could be so exciting.
I had the chance to check out the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Red Sox last week in what became a three game sweep for the AL East powerhouse: the Rays. Coming from the New York market, or really just the anywhere besides the west coast of Florida market, it has been a little tough to follow the Rays. I knew they played in a dome, that Wade Boggs played in it too, and that they've always been horrible.
That's really about it. Before the uniform and name upgrade this year (artist formerly known as Devil Ray) their uniforms were so technicolor the only thing they were missing was unicorns holding baseball bats on the sleeves. It was uniforms like these that always led me to wonder whether or not athletes make decisions to play somewhere based on how dumb they would look in the uniform-I'm convinced this is why the Marlins have trouble signing free agents. That and they have no money.A few friends and I got prime seats in the last row out in left-center field, just close enough to make out the fact that BJ Upton was in center field playing a sport called baseball. Yet as I gulped down the first of a few $8 beers I began to notice a phenomenal in western Florida; one that I'm guessing hadn't been there before. You see for the Rays have been an MLB after thought since they arrived on the scene in 1998 sporting an odd shaped ocean animal and Fred McGriff. I'm sure it's as easy to get behind a perennial losing baseball team as it is to get behind the cast of SNL of the last five years, but as the Sox took the field last week in Tampa they were greeted to a chorus of boos that overshadowed their usually high fan base on the road. Baseball, although a decade late, had arrived in Tampa Bay.
The reason I bring this up is because it was something that wasn't a foul mouthed Yankee fan screamin' 'Manny Sucks'. It was something that wasn't a foul mouthed Red Sox fan screamin' 'Arod Sucks'. It was something different. The Ray had taken over first, and they had done it in a likable style that was filled with timely hitting, quality young pitching, and enough awkward man hugs to last through the next few seasons. Yet as I watched these new look Rays battle back against the Sox bullpen for the win I couldn't help but thinking 'now this is exciting'.
Rays fans will tell you they saw it coming all along. When Scott Kazmir was traded from the Mets in exchange for a bullpen chair and the rights to Fred McGriff's "Tom Emanski Baseball Videos" VHS career Tampa knew they had something worth keeping.
They'll tell you they knew that when the likes of Longoria, Upton, and Crawford finally came together literally under one roof that they had something special. Yet they'll also tell you that most of them weren't around for the Dark Age in Tampa. They were a town too busy with the Bucs to travel out to St Pete's just to watch a team win 66 out of 162 games. It's winning that heals all wounds though, and as the team finds ways to battle against the likes of the AL East the fans in Florida will find ways to battle the lack of adequate parking and fan-friendly locations around Tropicana. The local sports radio hosts won't have to deal with callers complaining about the drive out to the stadium, but rather the trade deadline deals made and not made. That's how the baseball fan should be, and at a time when the sports media is wrapped up in the demise of the teams from the northeast, the team from Florida keeps moving forward into uncharted territory with a fan base who's still learning the ropes.As the Rays clinched their sweep against the Sox that night I watched from left-center field as Upton, Crawford, and Gabe Gross leaped for joy with a few 1993 high fives. This team was having fun. These fans were having fun. It was late June but that night under the roof it could've been late in the fall season. And as the Rays continue to make franchise history it's hard not to root for the team that takes on the perennial powerhouses and comes out on top. Call it fan-envy if you want, but who thought baseball in a Florida dome could be so exciting.
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