Happy 4th Rays Fans! I hope you all and the rest of the country enjoy the festivities that will saturate a day that should be recognized for its recognition of declaring independence from Great Britain rather than witnessing Kobayashi, Joey Chestnut and your fat ass neighbor, ingest more hot dogs than should be humanly possible.
Without further adieu I would like to say thanks for all of the Rays fans for their hospitable attitudes by letting me take part in the blogging / posting of commentary over the past five weeks. For the most part I've been a small time contributor but I read (the posts) and view (the pics) w/unbridled enthusiasm. I've read a number of different major league ballclub posts and none come close to the rants, imagination, imagery etc. that Rays fans contribute.
Yes, yes, yes...I am a true BLUE (and orange) METS fan. I am dealing w/the current anaemic play / management of the ballclub in the best way I know how. Anger and apathy. On many attempts I've tried to assuage the beleagured METS fans of their hopelessness and downright negativity w/creative pics like those I witness on the Rays blog. Alas, to no avail. You would think that a fan base that has roots in New York would be up for having some fun during such trying times. But that ain't the case. My fellow METS fans are extremely uptight and sometimes downright dull. That's why I enjoy eavesdropping on the Rays blog. IT'S JUST SO DAMN FUN! I think the only team that keeps up w/you in shear numbers of posts are the...CHICAGO CUBS...(and they hate pictures too)...oy veh.
To the point now. I believe you will agree w/me when I say that I have had it up to my gonads with all of the pundits and sports talk blatherers (especially Colin Cowherd from ESPN) about why small market baseball is bad for baseball. The last time I checked, sports were for the players first and then the fans. Without players there would be no sports to watch and w/out the fans there would be no players playing unless they were playing for free and playing for the fun of it. (Of course which they all proclaim to do).
You can provide me w/a bunch of research data if you want to about all of the people who would rather see two dominant (read big market) teams battle each other in a World Series. For my money, I'm for witnessing David versus Goliath! I don't want to see the old tired battle of 'has beens' and 'used to be's'.
Most recently the Celtics / Lakers championship in the NBA was whipped up into such a frenzy because of what the organizations had done in the past. There was no way on earth that this years championship was going to play out w/such drama as those epic battles of yesteryear. The characters on this year's teams weren't as compelling as the players from long ago. There was no bad blood between them. Yet big media tried using history to pump up this weak ass championship to do what else? Drive ratings!
Anyway, as a pure baseball fan, not some schmuck that doesn't have anything better to do come October, I'll take one small market team (Tampa, Oakland, San Diego, Kansas City, Minnesota etc.) and one medium to big market team in this years World Series than having to witness the same old tired teams play each other just because they have a higher number of people living in their respective city or geographic region.
So, for the teams currently w/winning records, the ones that are more compelling than any other; 1) due to history - Chicago Cubs, 2) due to being the new kids on the block and going from worst to first - Tampa Bay Rays. That's the World Series I want to see. So, now you've heard it from a "Baseball Fan", not some yuppy, corporate sellout...(That would be you Cowherd).

Good luck Rays fans!