tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889333447515035362.post85301050400580181..comments2024-03-24T03:26:59.588-04:00Comments on Uncle Mike's Musings: A Yankees Blog and More: Rays Beat Yanks But Shame On Their FansUncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889333447515035362.post-85875482230358666692013-04-26T09:36:14.826-04:002013-04-26T09:36:14.826-04:00No, Tampa Bay does NOT deserve a team just as much...No, Tampa Bay does NOT deserve a team just as much as everybody else. You see, I posted evidence. Those teams I mentioned do NOT have "attendance problems."<br /><br />I could have posted the Oakland A's, who really do have a problem, but I didn't, because we know why they've got problems: A lousy ballpark, management committed to saving money and not to winning (last year's AL West title to the contrary), and a more successful (for the moment) team in the same metro area. The A's fans have viable excuses. The Rays fans do not.<br /><br />The problem with calling the Trop a piece of crap is that, even if it's true, the evidence that building a new stadium would help attendance is murky at best. Look across the State at the Marlins: They built a new ballpark, but the fans aren't coming out, because the team was stripped and now stinks. The Rays don't stink, haven't since 2007, they've won... and the fans STILL won't come out!<br /><br />Contrast that with the San Diego Padres. They got a 30-year head start on the Rays, have made the Playoffs 5 times in 44 years compared to the Rays' 3 times in 15, haven't made the Playoffs since 2006, lost 86 games last year and 91 the year before, and are in a metro area roughly the same size as Tampa Bay's (3.1 million for them, 2.8 million for you), with a lot of retirees just like you. You know what attendance was for that lousy team last year? 26,218, 7,000 per game more than yours. They've got more excuses than you do, but they come to the game. And don't tell me they don't have to worry about bad weather out there, because you've got a damn dome.<br /><br />You want to battle wits? You're taking a knife to a gunfight.Uncle Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889333447515035362.post-31837595177660211112013-04-26T07:57:41.149-04:002013-04-26T07:57:41.149-04:00Tampa Bay deserves a team just as much as everybod...Tampa Bay deserves a team just as much as everybody else. look at some of the teams you mentioned. been around decades longer than TB and still have attendance problems, we haven't even been around 20 years every game i go to i'll see fans of say the red sox or yankees, and guess what else I see, their kids wearing rays stuff, our fan base needs time to grow. also Have you ever been to the Trop? if you have you'd know it's a nightmare to get there from tampa (where most rays fans live) and it's a piece of crap. the TV Broadcast alone gets about 100,000 viewers a night, which is about 5% of households in tampa bay. not bad.LeanMrfuzzleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08877150176892964010noreply@blogger.com