Catchin' Some Rays

When I become a billionaire, the first thing I'm going to do - okay, okay, the fiftieth thing I'm going to do - is buy the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team and move it to Charlotte.  I'm going off the top of my head here, but in a stadium (Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.) that holds about 35,000 people, the Rays were treated to a dismal showing of about 12,000 for a potential playoff-clinching win Monday night and about 18,000 (again, off the top of my head because I don't feel like looking it up) for the actual clinching game last night.  Now, Rays' president Matt Silverman is preparing to give away tickets to tonight's game.  That is a wonderful gesture, but one that should also be unnecessary considering that as I write this the team has baseball's best record (94-63) in baseball's best division (the American League East, also featuring the mighty Yankees and Red Sox and the not-so-bad Blue Jays and Orioles), which could lead one to make a compelling argument that they are baseball's best team.

Per the article above, star third-baseman Evan Longoria and ace pitcher David Price have shown their disgust with the fans.  Price's twitter feed has included the following gems in recent days:  "Had a chance to clinch a postseason spot with about 10,000 fans in the stands...embarrassing," followed by "If I offended anyone I apologize I did not think it was gonna turn into this....," and this re-tweet of another post, "Aaaaaaand @davidprice14 learns the power of twitter."

Evan Longoria needed a hug after looking at all the empty seats at the Trop.

 I don't understand it; this is pathetic.  I completely and unapologetically hopped on the Rays' bandwagon during their remarkable turnaround season of 2008, and I'm not about to jump off.  I just hope their fans down in Florida show up for the playoffs, because the owner has already announced some major payroll deductions for next season.  In other words, the time to take the title is now.