City fathers warned fans to arrive early to beat the crush. City mothers have been naming their first-born males "Akinori."

Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially entered a parallel universe. Up is down, ugly is beautiful and the Tampa Bay Rays are the best team in baseball.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-whitley0108jul01,0,2641299.column

Pick the Cubs or the Rays! You can't be a true fan of either if you claim allegiance to both.

I thought you were a Cubs fan strickly. Did you just jump on the Rays bandwagon or what?

Pick the Cubs or the Rays! You can't be a true fan of either if you claim allegiance to both.
I've been trying to find a great quote from one of the best baseball fans of all-time, Harry Caray, for about half an hour now. But my Google-fu is lacking, so I'll paraphrase. The team is nothing more than a middleman through which a baseball fan channels his love of the game. Indeed, to show a rabid devotion to your team at the expense of the game is to entirely miss the point.
Did you just jump on the Rays bandwagon or what?
I was born in St. Petersburg and lived there for 18 years. I watched their first-ever game on March 31, 1998, and I can still remember much about it: The score (Detroit 11, Tampa Bay 6), the pitchers (Wilson Alvarez and Justin Thompson), and the first pitch (a ball to Detroit leadoff hitter Brian Hunter, which was followed by two strikes). My dad was at that game; I, unfortunately, wasn't, as tickets were hard to come by. My first game came five days later, on April 5. Alvarez pitched again, against the White Sox, and the Devil Rays won 5-0 (their first shutout) to improve to 4-2. I missed being at the Trop for Wade Boggs' 3000th hit by one day: He hit it on August 7, and my dad and I were to go on the Sunday game (as we often did), the 8th. I booed Vinny Castilla, along with the rest of the fans in Al Lang, in a spring training game against the Braves (for whom Castilla was playing at the time). Why? Castilla was a bum with the Devil Rays and complained all the time, then when he went somewhere else he decided to put up the numbers we had expected out of him with us. I remember when our "ace" was Tanyon Sturtze, and later, Dewon Brazelton. To be called a "bandwagon Rays fan" is, frankly, one of the most insulting things that has ever been directed to me.

To be called a "bandwagon Rays fan" is, frankly, one of the most insulting things that has ever been directed to me.

Didn't know you were from St Pete.

I lived in and around Atlanta until I was 8. I've been a Braves fan for as long as I can ever remember. I lived in Cocoa Beach (directly across the state on the Atlantic) for 13 years until I joined the Army, however I don't like a single Florida team, at all. I pledged all my sporting allegiances at a young age, lol.

I've been trying to find a great quote from one of the best baseball fans of all-time, Harry Caray, for about half an hour now. But my Google-fu is lacking, so I'll paraphrase. The team is nothing more than a middleman through which a baseball fan channels his love of the game. Indeed, to show a rabid devotion to your team at the expense of the game is to entirely miss the point.

HA! You can be baseball fan and a fan of one team, they aren't mutually exclusive. I wonder if I can try having multiple girlfriends and explain it by saying I'm simply channeling my love for women.

Speaking of Harry Carey, that befuddled old coot, I mean, great baseball fan, the rumor that's been going around for years is he was asked to leave his Cardinals broadcasting job because he was fooling around with the owner's wife. I heard that from a fan who thinks the Cardinals are godlike, which, of course, makes him an idiot, but.............................

PS I like the White Sox. I will die if the Cubbies, America's Loveable Losers, go to the World Series. I was counting on them to be horrendous for the next 100 years. It frightens me, the idea that some things are NOT written in stone, IE, the Cubs being cellar dwellers.

I was born in St. Petersburg and lived there for 18 years. I watched their first-ever game on March 31, 1998, and I can still remember much about it: The score (Detroit 11, Tampa Bay 6), the pitchers (Wilson Alvarez and Justin Thompson), and the first pitch (a ball to Detroit leadoff hitter Brian Hunter, which was followed by two strikes).


Damn,you are young.
I watched that game just because my daughters' grandparents had just moved to the Tampa area and their grandfather and I had a bet going on who would win.
As the Tigers fan I am,I of course won that bet. :D