Against better judgement, I’ve been spending time on fanhome.scout.com and the baseball boards that are a part of the network (note to FanHome members and mods — Hi, how are you, and i did not sell you out as much as others did), specifically at the Devil Rays baseball forum on the network.

And while I know how bad it is, and while I expect to hear such stories, I always end up shaking my head and tryign to comprehend the ineptitude shown by the Devil Rays in simple matters.

There is no glaring instance here but two different posts that got my attention. One dealt with someoen trying to simply get information if his toddler will need to have a ticket to go to the game, the other was commenting on the Rays ticket prices for a 7 inning game versus Navy today. In both instances, the Rays dropped the ball on trying to be fan friendly.

A seven inning game was full price while other teams playing in the area dropped prices for there opening games. As for the fan calling about ticket prices for little children? He got the run around, sent back and forth to Ticketmaster before finally finding a number (through the Washington Post’s web site) where he got an actual live person to answer his question…

It’s the little things that help show how porrous the Devil Ray franchise is in it’s existence….

And just out of curiosity, can the fans out there (readers) point out other instances with other teams of unfriendly PR from there teams? The Devil Rays have a long list of instances where they have been inept dealing with the fans… And certainly other teams around North America in pro sports are just as bad, right?

I love this thing….

Just as good as what Nike did at the start of the lockout….

From www.nhlfa.com

This note is being sent to the 26,912 Members of the NHL Fans’ Association.

The 2004-05 NHL hockey season has been lost, but our advocacy efforts on behalf of NHLFA Members are in full swing.

In the past few weeks, we have conducted numerous media interviews to voice our collective displeasure with the CBA negotiations. In the coming weeks, we will solicit your opinions on matters related to the return of NHL
hockey.

We are very pleased to announce the release of a 30 second public service announcement (PSA) that is being circulated to the media today. Hopefully, television stations will broadcast the spot and more fans will join our
ranks. The PSA was created (gratis to the NHLFA) by a group of hockey fans from Toronto, led by David Daga. Spy Films of Toronto also donated production time. We encourage you to view the commercial by visiting
www.nhlfa.com/psa and to consider sending the link to as many of your friends and colleagues as possible. The commercial depicts a lone man in a hockey arena walking on the ice. When he gets to centre ice, he bends to one knee and begins chipping at the blue circle with an ice pick. We watch as he uncovers what he came for. He steels the loonie buried beneath ice - a tradition Canadians began at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics. The title card asks the viewer: “When did hockey come to this?”

We are in the process of building a better back-end structure for our Web site. The new site will allow us to more easily and economically distribute news and polls to our Members. It will have an improved bulletin board and secure, self-management tool for each Member’s profile. Stay tuned…

We continue to solicit sponsors to support the Association. Please encourage business owners to support the fans of the game. We have sponsorship opportunities starting at $2000. Interested prospective sponsors should contact Jim Boone at boone@nhlfa.com

We are less than 100 people shy of the 27,000 mark. Please encourage your friends to join the NHLFA today (www.nhlfa.com/send.asp)

Finally, we encourage you to make a small donation to the NHLFA. If you are able to contribute some money, please use our PayPal account at www.nhlfa.com/2don8.asp or mail a cheque to

NHLFA
56 Glendenning Drive
Ottawa, ON. Canada
K2H 7Y9.