For most people, the seasons are changing from winter into spring. For sports fans it is a different kind of season change. This is the time of year that my Buccaneers shirts are now demoted to the second team and my Rays hat and shirt are officially promoted to the first team. It’s in the air, everywhere. You can smell it (unless that is the chicken wings and cheesecake from last night) as last second touchdowns transform into walk off grand slams. Just as we start to lament the end (come on, is the pro bowl really relevant, EVER?) of all things football, there is hope. We see the Rays Of Light, poking their heads over the clouds saying, ” Baseball is almost here!”
We have a long journey before opening day and the first pitch. There is the World Baseball Classic (which looks better this year then last), the Yankees off-season shopping spree (we’ll get to that in a separate article as it is worth of an article of it’s own), the RedSox got scarier with their pitching and the Rays made some moves of their own to actually get some bats. And before the WBC, we’ll get the Barry Bonds Court TV Show, 24/7. That will be good, hopefully Barry will get his just deserts. You get tired of people wondering if he did anything wrong and all you have to do is look at his head! Which player in baseball will out do Plaxico Burress from the New York Football Giants? That will be an award I will hand out at the end of the baseball season. I will give the first official Plaxico Burress award to some lucky player in Major League Baseball for off the field stupidity. Elijah Dukes, formerly (thank goodness) of the Rays, would have been the front runner for 2008.
Last year was one of the few times in a franchise history that a loss could have been a win. While it was frustrating to see the Rays fall just short of winning the World Series, just the mere fact that they got there was a miracle! This was defiantly the year of miracles, the Cardinals lost in the Superbowl and the Rays lost in the World Series. Maybe if we had some of those magic Doritos from last nights ad, we could have taken care of the Rays World Series batting slump and that nasty weather. This is historic in Tampa this year that anyone in Tampa (besides the Rays front office) will actually have post-season exceptions for these Rays! One bonus as far as radio coverage goes for the Rays radio play by play, this year the Rays flagship station will be 620 WDAE, which means we’ll have a MUCH stronger signal for quality AM baseball listening this year. There is nothing quite as good as relaxing a few hours with the radio on and the Rays up to bat!
I’m going to be covering the Rays hitting lineup this year for the Rays Of Light, plus I’ll also be looking at the AL East (mainly the BoSox and Yankees but the other teams also when they are actually relevant) and I’ll be writing this column as well, Monday Musings, which will sort of be a what ever happens to be on my mind at the time as far as the sports world is concerned. We might go “off the board” from time to time as my mind wanders quite often. I’m looking forward to baseball, this year…and we hope the AL East…feels the heat! GO RAYS!
Tags: Plaxico Burress, Rays, RedSox, World Baseball Classic, Yankees
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I am going to jump the gun here. Can we please not have more nonsense about the Bonds case? Please. I am exhausted from feeling obligated to respond to the frenzy over what should be a non-issue and the general ignorance that drives the anti-Bonds hysteria. Please, just leave it alone! It is boring and stupid and fit only for supermarket tabloids.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Bob, I’m just one of those folks who just want to see justice served with someone who deserves it. And before anyone jumps in with it’s a race thing, I also want Clemens to get his to. I’ll keep the Bonds comments to a minimum since the four letter network will be doing it non-stop.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:27 pm
So do I. I want to see the morons in Congress, the media and elsewhere who have launched this idiot witch hunt to get what they deserve. I know it will not happen so I do not initiate discussions about it. As for Bonds, McGwire and the rest, they have done nothing wrong and are being used as scapegoats. Please, let’s not perpetuate this discussion on this site. It is old and tired and serves no useful purpose.
If you insist on presenting it, I urge you to read this first:
http://steroids-and-baseball.com/
There are other rational discussions as well by people like Brattain, Carroll and Calcaterra, but their reasoned presentations are drowned out in the sensationalism that surrounds the presentation of the issues.
I am resigned to the fact that I will feel impelled to go into tedious detail about why the entire discussion is based on unexamined assumptions, a total blindness regarding the history of the game, an ignorant misunderstanding of drug laws and their history and a hypocritical sanctimony among other crimes. It will also require examination of the true crimes of constitutional & legal violations and a public willingness to sacrifice ethical and legal standards in the interest of gossip and character assassination. You can only defile yourself by joining the chorus.
Enough already. In a few years it will have died out; the people like Selig and Mitchell who should be ashamed will not admit to it but the rest will vanish into the “dustbin of history” where it belongs. Don’t prolong it, like trying to continue a discussion of why the country needs a prohibition amendment. Let the issue die its natural and inevitable death-or rather ignoble petering out.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:02 am
But Bob… sanctity of the game. Level playing field. Meh… I can’t even do it… I just want the story to die, too.