I mean to post this last night....

[pat]

[cross posted to other blog]

It has been way too long since I have posted here. But I had to break radio silence simply to point out out that I have been a Tampa Bay Rays fan since before they stepped on the ever verdant Astroturf of Tropicana Field, and that the past week makes up for an awful lot of conversations which went like this:

"The X are doing really well this season," other baseball fan.
"I'm a [Devil] Rays fan myself," me.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!, or, if they are gentle souls, "Oh, I'm so sorry".

Ten years. Ten years of always being the miserable losing team -- not cute, not lovable, just bad. We weren't even the '62 Mets, who at least were amusing in an Ed Wood so-bad-it's-funny sort of way.

And this. Better than any of our dreams had a right to be. And with the strong possibility of getting better still. I just wish my Dad, who passed away the year before the franchise was awarded but who always wanted to see a MLB franchise in St. Pete, was here. He'd love it.

Worst to First (in the AL, at least). Not bad for a team named for a bunch of fish representing not a state, not a city, but a body of water.


GO RAYS!

Comments

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about you all week. Congratulations!

(But you know I'm rooting for the Phillies.)

Are there any good sports bars showing the World Series? We could get together. At least one of us would be happy.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I was rooting for them for you :).

I'm a National League gal, and will be rooting for the Phillies in the Series (also, my older son is living in the 'burbs of Philly, now, so I must).

I'm going to be missing a couple of the games, but for a good reason; we're traveling down to 29 Palms to welcome Danny home :):).

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Very glad for you, that they're going to the Series! Go Rays!

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I'm just disturbed that this happened exactly when they dropped "Devil" from their name.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Maybe he's not the only one who does deals...

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

The slightly serious part of this, though, is that, while not as much as other parts of Florida, the Tampa Bay area DOES have a non-trivial number of Biblical-literalist-flavor "fundamnetalists-in-the-scary-sense". (I keep trying to find some way to describe that group without INCLUDING a number of DECENT people. I mean, I've met fundamentalist, Biblical-literalist people who use those things to make themselves into better people. Um. I'm talking about the OTHER ones.)

So, what are THEY going to say about this?

[geekchick]

Nate Silver, the guy behind FiveThirtyEight.com (and well before that, the PECOTA projection system and writer at Baseball Prospectus), predicted back in February that Tampa Bay would do really well this season. This bodes well for his election projections. ;)

Congrats!