The Tampa Bay area seems to be in disbelief right now with the team that resides in St. Petersburg performing in a certainly non sub-mediocre level that the area is so accustomed to.

Yes, the mighty Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Mighty? MIGHTY? They aren’t world beaters (as the series in Boston last week could certainly point out) but they are a sight better than what they have been in the past.

St. Petersblog pointed out how the Rays are ranked #4 on the worst-franchises ever list and it’s certainly fitting and deserved of the franchise that once attempted to charge a marching band to stay and watch the game after they performed the national anthem. On the field, they have won 70 games ONCE in ten seasons. Off the field… well, that national anthem flap is only the tip of the iceberg. I won’t go into that.

So with a whole lot of pathetic anecdotes and poor play dominating the team history, it’s not surprising that Friday’s game versus the Angels — a thrilling win with strong pitching and a Sayanora home run by Evan Longoria — drew a paltry 12,000. Even American Idol top-three performer Syesha Mercado couldn’t lure a larger crowd of people to spend a hot and muggy Friday night inside the climate controlled comfort of Tropicana Field and watch two of the top performing teams this season in the AL go at it.

It won’t take long for fever to truly grap Tampa Bay with this baseball team. But there have been a few seasons where there has been one degree or another of promise that only spiraled out of control into a pit of desolation and humiliation.

Terrence Mann’s soliloquy from Field of Dreams doesn’t apply yet. People won’t necessarily come, Ray. Winning may cure all ills but the element of belief hasn’t hit the general sport-fan populous in the area. Once it does… Look out. Until then, however, empty nights at the Dome will be what greets the team.

I’ve gotten used to the New York Islanders pulling stuff like this and I’ve also gotten used to the Tampa Bay lack-of-Devil Rays pulling this on a cost effective platform in the past…

But a nine year investment in a rookie? This takes things to new risk levels:

“This is obviously fairly unique,” Friedman said. “But it was something both sides had interest in really exploring and talking about. And both sides had to make some concessions along the way to get to this point.

“… We have to stay open minded. The economics of the game and us being a low-revenue team, we have to think differently and take chances such as this to keep our nucleus in place as long as we can.”

The salaries for the first six years of the agreement are guaranteed, with the team holding a one-year option for 2014 season and a subsequent two-year option for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The contract guarantees $17.5 million. If the Rays exercise both options, Longoria would earn more than $44 million over the life of the nine-year agreement.

“Fairly Unique” does not begin to explain it. But Longoria was signed on the cheap considering what has has already accomplished and what he could command on an open market… IF he pans out (and even if not — scrub players are getting obscene money in MLB in recent years).

The Tampa Bay Rays have been doing much to improve their image the last few eyars since Stu Sternberg took over the team. But you want to know one quick way to tear all that down with fans who are sick of the scandals, sick of the fact baseball has been sullied by BALCO and artificially inflated stats?

Explore signing Barry Bonds.

A great young nucleus with some new veteran additions this winter… Ruined by bringing in the biggest blowhard in pro sports.

Do the Rays really need a new stadium?

At the same time, do they really need a new stadium on a cramped location on the water that offers no parking? Continues life on the tip of the Pinellas Peninsula at an increased distance from points east?

There’s a lot to be discussed — And it’s getting discussed at Skyscrapercity.com with minor rumblings also going on at SkyscraperPage and FanHome of course. That being said, the most discussion (rambling about development, economics of baseball, the real estate bubble bursting and what not) are on the SkyscraperCity link.

There will be a press conference in little less than an hour with renderings of the Rays proposed ballpark. The St. Petersburg Times already did a mock rendering from passed-on takes of the stadium rendering. It raises more questions than answers though.

The St. Petersburg Times blog The Heater brings you the leaked supposedly new Rays logo, colors and uniform.

My gut reaction is that I liked the green (which many people around baseball ridiculed) and that this new logo is a mix and match reminder of various logos from around the MLB world. It reminds me mostly of various San Diego Padres logo elements since 1991, it reminds me of the Milwaukee Brewers, it reminds me of the California Angels before they became Disney-fied in the 1990’s and reminds me of the Florida Marlins somehow).

Are they bad? Arguable. Are they good? Arguable. Will I go out and buy a ballcap? Not until the team shows more promise than a few games a season. That’s been my mantra since 1998 and it hasn’t yet changed.

I got sent a story last night from my friend here in Tampa. He’s a Red Sox fan and this was about a Yankees fan… So I wasn’t at all surprised when he told me “Why is this news?”

Yet this is news indeed:

Fred Slaven is convinced this makes him the victim of a hate crime. And after six years in Florida, he’s going back to New York.

Yankees - and their fans - are generally welcome there.

The opposite may be true on Blackstone Drive in Embassy Hills, where Slaven lives. About a month ago, someone stole the Yankees vanity plate from his Chevy Malibu.

Then, on Wednesday morning, he walked outside and saw his limited-edition Yankees flag, complete with the dates of all 26 world championships. It was still hanging from the pole attached to his garage. But someone had burned a black hole in its center.

Where do you draw the line on discontent towards opposing opinions, ideas, principles and in this case, teams? I’ve heard stories like this with political candidates or political ideas/principles. I’ve dealt with the teens in my neighborhood, while growing up, giving my family a hard time by stealing things from my yard and such… But getting on a guy for being a proud fan of the Yankees?

Getting on a guy in the Tampa Bay area for being a proud Yankees fan? Tampa Bay, the home to thousands (if not millions) of New York transplants and the Yankees second home?

Nothing wins over my sympathy easier than seeing someone — an opposing teams fan — getting a hard time from the local fans. I was apologizing profusely at Game Seven of the Stanley Cup in 2004 to Flames fans who were harassed by a drunken idiot sitting behind us (but those Flames fans were resolute — they hollered back “It’s just him, don’t sweat it!”). Hearing stories of car windshields smashed in outside Raymond James Stadium at Buc games always gets me — how much hate can you show an opposing team? And why, especially when your team turns out the victor?

My friend tried to justify whatever happened to Fred Slaven by saying he must have done something to piss off his neighbors… But honestly, there is nothing that can justify someone going to these lengths to harass a fan of an opposing team. Slaven likens what happened to him as a hate crime, and I’m of the same opinion. There is a line and that was crossed here. The battle is on the field, not with the fans personally.

*

My good buddy Tommy Duncan at Sticks of Fire took the time Monday to break the news to me that over the weekend the Philadelphia Phillies became the first American pro sports franchise to reach 10,000 losses.

“Lets put a new poll up on Sticks of Fire asking who’s gonna’ be the next sports team to lose 10,000 games,” Tommy suggested, and include all of Tampa Bay’s pro sports teams as answers.

“That poll doesn’t make sense,” I told Tommy. “Only one local team even has an outside shot at it and it’ll take about 100 years.”

“You’re too damned serious,” Tommy retorted.

“I’m not being serious,” I told him. “I’m being logical. The Rays play 162 games in a season. The Bucs play 16. The Lightning play 82. Who do you vote for with that knowledge? Do the math.”

Now, any long time local sports aficionado can tell you that it feels like Tampa Bay teams have lost over 10,000 games already. The Bucs had 14 straight double-digit losing seasons before 1996, the Lightning had back-to-back-to-back 50 loss seasons, and the Devil Rays… are the Devil Rays. In honesty, the Bucs are 193-304-1 (.388) in the team’s 30 year history, the Lightning are 415-553-113-38 (.384) in 14 seasons, and the Devil Rays are 615-932 (.398) in 9+ seasons. For those of you with no calculator, that equals 1,223 wins and 1,789 losses (including OTL), and 39 ties.

Grudgingly, Tommy conceded the point (but I swear, I could hear him mumble “party pooper” under his breath), but his poll concept gave me an idea of my own: What is the next major feat to be accomplished in Tampa Bay sports?

The poll is currently posted on Sticks of Fire, have a look will ya?

Mentioning the Bucs kickoff-return-for-a-touchdown drought was a no-brainer to begin. The Buccaneers are oh-fer the franchise (that means the team has scored a grand total of zero (0) times on kickoff returns), making it the most renowned non-accomplishment in Tampa Bay sports.

The Rays winning their division seemed like the next choice as the team has yet to win more than 70 games in a season, let alone challenge for anything more than 4th place in Major League Baseball’s AL East.

From there it got murky. The Lightning have won the Stanley Cup, they’ve had the league MVP, they’ve had the league scoring leader… They’ve even had the most gentlemanly player in the league! What the hell could their next challenge be? Well, seeing it took the New York Rangers 54 years between Stanley Cup championships and the current longest drought in the NHL is 40 years (held by those crazy kids in Toronto, East Canucklestan) having the Lightning win the Stanley Cup a second time seemed like a good choice.

Speaking of franchises, will Tampa Bay get an NBA team before any of the aforementioned goals are reached? What about a new Major League Soccer team? Heck, there are so many feats to add to the list that we’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments.

The Tampa Tribune decided to piecemeal several current stadium concepts into one new ballpark for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays — You can check out the design and the features on their web site.

A retractable roof structure (of the clam-design featured at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is employed with minarets (a la the University of Tampa’s Plant Hall). The model is viewable from 360 degrees and is not an officially proposed stadium for the Rays. This is just wishful thinking by the staff at the Tribune. No doubt that wishful thinking also includes the stadium being dubbed Tampa Tribune Ballpark, with the stadium located in downtown St. Petersburg. After all, the Tribune needs a retort for the St. Petersburg Times owning naming rights to the arena formerly known as Ice Palace in downtown Tampa.

There is a forthcoming article about this proposal scheduled to be published this Sunday (7-08-07) in the Tribune.

Some people think he’s an outright bad seed, others think he was the victim of character assassination by way of the St. Petersburg Times. Regardless, he’s caught the Tampa Bay regions attention and inspired Tim (from The Journey of Jack Tripper) to write and record the Elijah Dukes is my Daddy Blues.

(Hat tip to Sticks of Fire where I saw Tim’s post)