This interweb deal is pretty cool. Thanks to this blog, I have had the opportunity to “meet” a huge number of Rays fans that I didn’t know existed.
Before I dove into this enterprise, I was a little skeptical that I could find like-minded fans. At the time, I presumed the Rays fans in particular (and maybe even sports fans in general) had been centrifuged into four groups:
- Apathetic mainstream fans (I presumed their apathy by watching the size of my sports page shrink);
- Angry people that call into talk radio to tell the world what an idiot Joe Maddon is;
- Gamblers/Fantasy Sports Players (the only in-depth coverage I could seemed to be dedicated to this enterprise);
- Internet SABRists that didn’t really like baseball and didn’t want to tell you why; and
- Sophmoric men that acted like they cared about sports but, whose only real interest was players’ lives and girlfriends.
Thank goodness I threw my hat into the ring and discovered that I was wrong. Turns out, the SABRists were really nice and happy to explain their passion for baseball (they even like baseball, who knew!), the mainstream fans weren’t apathetic at all (in fact, they were begging for more attention), and the angry callers/gamblers/fantasy-guys/guys-that-google-players’-girlfriends were a small corner of the world well-serviced by the sites and stations dedicated to their interests.
The Rays fans I have met, both here and at some of the other excellent sites covering this club, are engaged, excited, positive people that see baseball as the entertainment option it is. It’s fun and positive. That is just awesome.
I say all this because someone called my attention to a tweet by Brighthouse Sports Report JB Long yesterday. He tweeted “What I like about Rays fan base: They trust Mngment [sic] to task [sic] risks b/c of positive track record, but critical enough to know not infallible.” (I’d link to the tweet but I don’t know how. His Twitter name is @JB_Long and you should follow him).
That is dead on. So, I guess I am saying thanks.
[I should probably also apologize to the SABRists -- particularly the guys at DRaysBay -- who I just presumed were snobs all those years.]
[I should also probably apologize to anyone that ended up at this post by Googling "players' girlfriends" and didn't get what they expected. I'm not judging you. It's just not my thing to care about the personal life of other men. But whatever blows your hair back.]
I’m giving you a virtual fist bump, Mark.
Nice piece, Mark.
Thanks for the compliment, Jason. I’m just ready to get this thing rolling again.
I loved this piece, and it makes me that much more upset with the way we are portrayed by ESPN and other media outlets. The jokes about us never end, and the knocks against the city never improve. It almost makes it worse that they are called the Tampa Bay Rays, creating the illusion that the support they receive in attendance is the best support the Bay area can offer. ESPN never points out how far away from the highest population saturation the stadium is…. All this aside, the Rays fans I have been fortunate enough to meet on this site /the Trop/around town have been great. People stop and talk to you if they see you wearing a Rays hat, or shirt/jersey. I have had great insightful conversations with total strangers just because we were both wearing Rays gear and spotted one another in the mall.
That stuff used to drive me crazy too. Then, one day, I stopped caring. I’m not angry at the misperception. I just don’t see it effecting either my enjoyment of the club or my daily life so, I don’t care. Does that make any sense? Even if it doesn’t, I recommend trying it. It’s liberating.