When I was a mere child (like ten years ago I'm only 20 after all) and you had told me that I would see the Red Sox win the World Series at least once in my life time, I would have agreed because I don't believe in curses, not even ones that Dan Shaughnessy makes up. If you had gone on to tell me Nomar wouldn't finish out his career in Boston and further more not propose to me but Mia Hamm instead, I would have told you off because Nomar loves Boston! And me! (shakes head sadly). And finally, if you had told me that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays would change their name to the Tampa Bay Rays and clinch their first ever playoff spot in franchise history in 2008, I would have laughed in your face.
Nomar and Mia, grrr. Photo from flickr.com
Well apparently 2 out of 3 is bad Meatloaf because my former child-self was wrong wrong wrong but the focus of today's blog unfortunately will not be on Nomar but instead the Tampa Bay Rays.
I'm sick of the Tampa Bay Rays success story. It's all well and good if it were a Disney uplifting feel good movie like Remember the Titans or Miracle (I don't know if that was a movie but it sounds good) but this is real life, these stories are not supposed to actually play out.
But I wasn't always this jaded. I was just as gun ho as the rest of the baseball world was when the Tampa Bay Rays were not 15 games out of first 4 weeks into the season as per usual. I gave them a round of applause just like the rest of the sportscasters and quoted glowing ESPN reports on how great of a season they were having so far and what a feel good story those ol' Rays were. But I think myself and the rest of the world were cheering for the Rays the same way you cheer for that gawky, un-athletic seven-year-old on the Tee Ball Team. You shower him with extra praise when he manages to make contact with the ball and run the correct way to 1st base (take a right sweetheart), but you don't expect him to consistently get hits and become the MVP of the team. Those spots are reserved for the bigger guys, aka Sox and the Yankees. That gawky un-athletic seven-year-old cannot become a superstar because it throws off the whole balance of sports.
Photo from Flickr.com
And that is what the Rays have done to me by clinching a playoff spot only a year after having the worst record in baseball. And call me crazy, but that seems a little suspicious to me. I could be normal and chalk it up to having the right players at the right time and simply playing some good ball but, I'm not. I have narrowed it down to two things, 1. Juice 2. the name change.
1. Juice: The Rays have been quoted as saying that the mohawks that most of them now sport are a testament to how close they have become as a team. Well know what also makes you close? Having to inject steroids in each others behinds every day. Nothing like a little HGH to bring a team together and start winning. (This is clearly speculation, they probably don't use steroids, it was just wishful thinking).
2. The name change: Personally, I liked the name Tampa Bay Devil Rays, it has a certain je ne sais quoi. But I think the removal of Devil from their name has something to do with their success. It seems reasonable that the Gods of Baseball are not big fans of the Devil so therefore by removing the Devil from their team, the Rays have been blessed with a remarkable turnaround from last year. Hm, maybe if I remove all the Devil from my life I will be blessed with, I don't know, 6 pack abs, a boyfriend, a better main facebook photo, the skies the limit. So to start, I should probably change my middle name from Devil to something a little more heavenly, then I should stop eating so many deviled eggs and devil dogs and throw away my dirt devil and stop exclaiming "oh the devil!". Hey it worked for the Tampa Bay Rays, it can work for me.
But really, the Tampa Bay Rays haven't sealed their Disney movie deal yet. They haven't won the World Series yet.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Hey Tampa it's Been Fun and All but Enough is Enough
Labels:
ESPN,
HGH,
Nomar Garciaparra,
playoffs,
Red Sox,
Tampa Bay Rays,
World Series
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hey, nice post. I just have to point out that there WERE people saying the Rays had a chance to win the division before the season started. I mean sane people. Like over at www.baseballprospectus.com, the stat nerds (i'm a disciple : - ) said in March and April that they'd win between 88 and 90 games. See this article from early March that predicts 89 wins based on computer models: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7206
I used to hear Dan Patrick on ESPN radio always referring to them as the "devil dogs" and it used to p*** me off so much. Many of the current players were a part of the organization at the time. They should all refuse any interviews with him.
They simply stockpiled SO much talent you could see them winning it all if things went their way. BP's projections system by the way has been the most accurate one out there for several years in a row now, beating out several other computer/database models as well as the experts, the pools of experts, and the 'wisdom of crowds' pool of fans approach.
That's an interesting website, I've never heard about it before but I'll have to check it out.
Change is difficult for me but it's very difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that they aren't just good, they are kicking the Sox butt right now. It's the same thing as it being hard for me to fathom the fact that for the first time that I can remember in my life, the Yankees are not that same dynasty of the 90's and are not seeing post season play.
And I remember when Rocco joined the team and started to acquire key players, it's just remarkable how quickly they were able to come together and start really dominating baseball. Trust me as a journalist it's fabulous story, one of the worst teams in baseball becomes one of the best in baseball, but as a Sox fan, I can't help but be a little biased in my blog :)
But I do think they're going all the way this year, with the talent and momentum they have going in their favor, I can't imagine it going any other way.
Post a Comment