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Thursday, July 03, 2008

Surviving Grady: “Open Letter to the Tampa Bay Rays” or “The Thing About Karma”

Okay, you swept us. And while I do question a few moves made by the Glorious Teets—such as not pinch hitting Casey for Tek in the ninth last night, when it is painfully apparent to all that the Captain has become the Craptain in any situation that requires him holding a bat—I’m man enough to say that you guys came out of this series looking spry and hungry. We just look like a team that desperately needs a steak and a triple shot of Papi.

But instead of just taking the high road, letting your performance on the field speak for itself and figuring a sweep of the defending World Champs would be message enough to send to the rest of the world at large, you had to go and do it.

You played “Sweet Caroline” after the final out of last night’s game.

That’s a play right out of Smug Upstart Wannabes 101--the mark of a team that’s so confused by its own success, it feels it has to take these opportunities to step on the 600 pound gorilla’s nuts when he’s down, because it’s not sure it’ll ever have another chance to do so. It was sophomoric--instantly recalling the “1918” chant that was popular ‘round Tampa Bay before our 2004 heroics--and frighteningly lame. But it doesn’t surprise me.

knucklehead7 Posted: July 03, 2008 at 04:04 PM | 102 comment(s)
  Related News: GeneralBostonTampa Bay

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   1. too fat and ugly to play third Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:18 PM (#2842291)
My friend's mom said Sweet Caroline was written about her. She was a Dodger fan, so I demand that the Red Sox stop playing it.
   2. Guapo Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:21 PM (#2842294)
This whole Rays-Red Sox rivalry has the potential to be really entertaining. Only problem- the Rays have no fans, so there's nobody around to participate in message board fights on their behalf.
   3. The Josecruz Blues (GGC) Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:27 PM (#2842298)
Guapo, Jim Wisniski and dJf both need to do the work of ten Primates.
   4. JoeHova Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:32 PM (#2842303)
If you look at wikipedia, there are dozens of teams in all major sports that use Sweet Caroline as a theme song. The Red Sox don't have a monopoly on it, this idiot should stop crying.
   5. Never Thought of Listach as a Sexual Reference Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:33 PM (#2842304)
Wait, a Red Sox fan calls someone else "obnoxious" when the PA gets his after a decade of enduring pink-cap-wearing invaders?

Thankfully for fans of baseball karma, there's this:

On the bright side, though, you're certain to finish ahead of the Orioles.


I agree the Rays will finish ahead of Baltimore.
   6. Swedish Chef Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:34 PM (#2842305)
Waaaaah! Waaaaah! Waaaaah!
   7. mopar Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:35 PM (#2842306)
Neil Diamond is our pedophile dammit!
   8. Baseballing powerhouse Crispix Attacks Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:42 PM (#2842314)
The Rays did that over their PA system? Awesome. We need to see a lot more of that. Actual rivalries! Far better than the soulless "random rock song"/"random dance song"/"hot dog shoot" that make up the entirety of most in-game entertainment.
   9. cardsfanboy Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:45 PM (#2842320)
This whole Rays-Red Sox rivalry has the potential to be really entertaining. Only problem- the Rays have no fans, so there's nobody around to participate in message board fights on their behalf.



win it, and they will come.

you have to build something positive before the fans come, and I do doubt that Tampa will ever have the base that other teams enjoy regardless of their success, but they will have plenty of people on their side in September.
   10. Mr2bits Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:45 PM (#2842321)
They also played it when they swept the Sox in April. The only thing different this time around is that people are starting to take the Rays seriously.
   11. cardsfanboy Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:47 PM (#2842323)
of course if this is about Karma, Boston as a city won't win another championship for at least three decades, is there a more obnoxious, pretentious fan base in all of fandom? even New York fans aren't as bad.
   12. jwb Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:49 PM (#2842325)
My friend's mom said Sweet Caroline was written about her. She was a Dodger fan, so I demand that the Red Sox stop playing it.
If your friend is named Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg, or John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg, you may have a point.
   13. ekogan Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:52 PM (#2842330)
is there a more obnoxious, pretentious fan base

Harvard Debate Team's
   14. Stosman Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:54 PM (#2842331)
I've never wanted to see the Rays win more than I do right now.

Just another case of a Sux fan showing why they're the biggest losers of the baseball universe even in the midst of the team's winning ways.
   15. Imagination ain't kind on JGLB tonight. Posted: July 03, 2008 at 05:59 PM (#2842335)
Guapo, Jim Wisniski and dJf both need to do the work of ten Primates.


I'm not like incredibly vocal about it, but I can pitch in with the snarking. Just as soon as I'm sure this isn't all some beautiful dream.
   16. Templeusox has reached his genetic threshold Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:02 PM (#2842337)
of course if this is about Karma, Boston as a city won't win another championship for at least three decades, is there a more obnoxious, pretentious fan base in all of fandom? even New York fans aren't as bad.
I'm not sure about the Cardinal fan-base, it's pretty bland and non-descript, but you're pretty bad yourself.
   17. Gonfalon Bubble Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:03 PM (#2842338)
In the immortal words of Michael O'Donoghue, "For is not part of greatness the ability of a man to laugh, not only at himself but, more importantly, at others?"
   18. Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:06 PM (#2842342)
Good to read, especially because we know how gracious the Red Sox have been toward the Yankees the last few years.

Seriously, though --

this.
   19. ValueArb Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:09 PM (#2842345)
Waaaaah! Waaaaah! Waaaaah!
   20. ekogan Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:13 PM (#2842350)
I'm not like incredibly vocal about it, but I can pitch in with the snarking. Just as soon as I'm sure this isn't all some beautiful dream.

There should be a name for the Rays worst to first season, like the Red Sox had with the Impossible Dream.
They don't make nicknames like they used to
   21. Andrew Lorraine Baines McFly (Dan Lee) Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:14 PM (#2842351)
Let's get the waaambulance to Surviving Grady headquarters, stat.

Also, it's not like Scott Kazmir or B.J. Upton played the song. It was some guy in the press box. I'm not sure how that reflects on the players.
   22. Jimmy P Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:15 PM (#2842352)
The Rays did that over their PA system? Awesome.

When I heard that, I started laughing my ass off.
   23. Jimmy P Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:19 PM (#2842355)
Let's get the waaambulance to Surviving Grady headquarters, stat.

No fake. "Waaah, the attention and love isn't on us anymore. PAY ATTENTION TO US!!"
   24. OCD SS Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:21 PM (#2842357)
win it, and they will come.


Yes, because elderly bandwagoneers are central to any sustainable fanba... hey, the game starts late enough that if we get the early bird special we can still make it in time for the first pitch!

The Sweet Caroline thing was clearly aimed to needle the Red Sox (or their fans in attendance). It's the sort of thing the winning team get's to do (at least if they don't have their own traditions), so if the Sox don't like it they should win.
   25. HotelSierraFoxtrot Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:21 PM (#2842358)
They played "Sweet Caroline," and people sang along, at Wrigley the other day.
   26. Guapo Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:21 PM (#2842359)
There should be a name for the Rays worst to first season, like the Red Sox had with the Impossible Dream.
They don't make nicknames like they used to


Rays are aquatic creatures, so how about "The Wet Dream"? It would work better if they didn't play in a dome.
   27. Baseballing powerhouse Crispix Attacks Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:24 PM (#2842362)
"The Dream of the Blue Turtles"

Their park looks kind of like a blue turtle, anyway.
   28. vortex of dissipation Posted: July 03, 2008 at 06:54 PM (#2842384)
"The Dream of the Blue Turtles"

Their park looks kind of like a blue turtle, anyway.


Yeah, but if you use that, Motoko will never be a fan...
   29. ekogan Posted: July 03, 2008 at 07:16 PM (#2842396)
"The Dream of the Blue Turtles"

The impossible dream is the name of a song, not the whole album (or musical).
So a more appropriate Sting based nickname for the Rays season would be "The Children's Crusade"
   30. Tim Lincecum-stain (SuperBaes) Posted: July 03, 2008 at 07:38 PM (#2842458)
is there a more obnoxious, pretentious fan base in all of fandom? even New York fans aren't as bad.

No. I never cared either way who won the last decade's Red Sox-Yankees battles because I'm a Pirates fan; just wanted to see good baseball. Then I moved to Tampa where, surprisingly, the Sox fans were WAY more obnoxious than the Yankees fans. The majority of Yankees fans are casual people who like the Yankees because they classically win all the time. The majority of Red Sox fans, like University of Florida fans, employ more homerism than Dick Vitale (also a Tampa guy, big Rays fan) on Duke baseketball.

All that being said: I like Remy and O-Dog on NESN. There's my disclaimer.
   31. kevin Posted: July 03, 2008 at 07:50 PM (#2842489)
of course if this is about Karma, Boston as a city won't win another championship for at least three decades, is there a more obnoxious, pretentious fan base in all of fandom?


Obnoxious? Maybe.

Pretentious? That's almost impossible, with all the success of the recent past.
   32. TerpNats Posted: July 03, 2008 at 07:52 PM (#2842490)
To borrow a line from another '60s icon: Hey, Bosox, how does it feel?
   33. robinred Posted: July 03, 2008 at 07:59 PM (#2842506)
Well, if Red Sox fans don't like the way fans in other ballparks behave, they can all just stay in New England and only attend games at Fenway.
   34. robinred Posted: July 03, 2008 at 08:16 PM (#2842548)
Pretentious? That's almost impossible, with all the success of the recent past.


It is not that kind of pretentiousness that bugs some of us.

I think this was a pretty good needle, and BoSox fans should take it with a chuckle. When other fan bases hate you, it means your team kicks ass.
   35. Neil Kinnock...Lord Palmerston! (Orinoco) Posted: July 03, 2008 at 08:20 PM (#2842563)
Pretentious? That's almost impossible, with all the success of the recent past.


Unsurprising that Battery Commander kevin has no concept of "nouveau riche".
   36. Greg Maddux School of Reflexive Profanity Posted: July 03, 2008 at 08:37 PM (#2842606)
When other fan bases hate you, it means your team kicks ass.

No, that's not what it means.
   37. Baseballing powerhouse Crispix Attacks Posted: July 03, 2008 at 08:50 PM (#2842645)
#36 makes a good point.

When other fan bases hate you, it means your team kicked ass at one point, thus leading to
A) resentment and envy from other fan bases
B) the development of hordes of arrogant bandwagoneers who inspire personal loathing from other fan bases.

But it doesn't mean that your team kicks ass at this very moment. For example, most fan bases hated the Dallas Cowboys even during the Quincy Carter era.

The only exceptions I can find to this rule is when a team's image is spoiled by a number of players turning out to be criminals or cheaters or something. But even if the Bengals of today, or the Trail Blazers of ten years ago, are hated, their fans aren't.

In fact, generally having a fan base at all indicates that your team has been successful recently. I live in Pittsburgh and it's unusual that I see a single person in a week who I'd be comfortable identifying as a "Pirates fan". The fan base has melted away, leaving no target for potential hatred or even scorn.
   38. OCD SS Posted: July 03, 2008 at 08:51 PM (#2842649)
The majority of Red Sox fans, like University of Florida fans, employ more homerism than Dick Vitale (also a Tampa guy, big Rays fan) on Duke baseketball.


Hasn't Vitale always been a Yankee fan? Just another example of bandwagon jumping.
   39. Nasty Nate Posted: July 03, 2008 at 09:00 PM (#2842683)
There should be a name for the Rays worst to first season, like the Red Sox had with the Impossible Dream.
They don't make nicknames like they used to


when did the Rays have a worst to first season? all i see is one year they went from worst to second to worst. j/k, i see what your saying and if they pull it off they deserve some cool nickname, either for the season or the team.

Well, if Red Sox fans don't like the way fans in other ballparks behave, they can all just stay in New England and only attend games at Fenway.


umm, what? where is there anything here about Sox fans not liking fans in other ballparks? i didnt RTFA, but I thought it was just some guy trash-talking about the Ray's PA music? Am I missing something?
and if other team's fans dont like us coming to their home games, fill the place up with your own damn people.

I think this was a pretty good needle, and BoSox fans should take it with a chuckle.


agreed, i thought it was a nice little touch
   40. Fred C. Dobbs Posted: July 03, 2008 at 09:13 PM (#2842731)
When other fan bases hate you, it means your team kicked ass at one point, thus leading to
A) resentment and envy from other fan bases
B) the development of hordes of arrogant bandwagoneers who inspire personal loathing from other fan bases.


Wrong, because Cubs fans are second only to Red Sox fans in levels of D-baggery and their team hasn't kicked ass for a long long time. Some groups of fans simply act like idiots a great majority of the time. Not all, but some.
   41. kevin Posted: July 03, 2008 at 09:39 PM (#2842836)
B) the development of hordes of arrogant bandwagoneers who inspire personal loathing from other fan bases.


This isn't true in the case of the Red Sox. They had hordes of fans before they started winning championships. They're just more visible now because the new ownership markets the team so much better than the previous regime.
   42. AROM Posted: July 03, 2008 at 09:59 PM (#2842902)
The Sweet Caroline thing was clearly aimed to needle the Red Sox (or their fans in attendance). It's the sort of thing the winning team get's to do (at least if they don't have their own traditions), so if the Sox don't like it they should win.


No, they should lose. Lots and lots of games. Fall into dead last. Then when the Mighty Rays sweep them they won't do anything special, just act like it was expected all along.
   43. robinred Posted: July 03, 2008 at 10:18 PM (#2842937)
No, that's not what it means.


Right. That's why there are millions of people complaining about the arrogance of Rockies and Padres and Rangers and Mariners fans.

The Cubs are an exception.

umm, what? where is there anything here about Sox fans not liking fans in other ballparks? i didnt RTFA, but I thought it was just some guy trash-talking about the Ray's PA music? Am I missing something?
and if other team's fans dont like us coming to their home games, fill the place up with your own damn people.


You ever lived in a transplant city? I am sure part of what triggered this was Rays "home" games against the Yankees and the Red Sox being full of transplants and tourists and band wagoners being loud and in some cases obnoxious in their team gear. It gets old in a hurry, and the "fill the place with your own damn people" line--which I have heard from loudmouth east coast guys who'd moved to SoCal since I was a kid--would resonate a little better in cities with different demographics. Rays fans--and there are some--have been watching Red Sox and Yankee fans come into their ballpark and crow and yap since 1998, and have been looking up at the Yankees and the Red Sox since their inception. They finally get a little payback, and you get a guy on a blog whining about a needle.

You do of course have a point--the only way to shut them up is to win--but unless you have been on the other end of it, you don't get it. When I have watched my teams on the road, I have never talked smack or call attention to myself, based on seeing/hearing guys in Cub/Yankee/BoSox etc stuff in SD and Anaheim for years.
   44. Darren Posted: July 03, 2008 at 10:20 PM (#2842939)
You know who sucks? Fans of every team but the Red Sox.
   45. villageidiom Posted: July 03, 2008 at 10:28 PM (#2842951)
I think this was a pretty good needle, and BoSox fans should take it with a chuckle.

The Rays' music coordinator is Nelson Muntz. The Red Sox humiliated themselves (or were humiliated by the Rays), after which the PA system blared the equivalent of a "Ha-haw" aimed squarely at them. Classless, but inconsequential and a little funny.
   46. Gonfalon Bubble Posted: July 03, 2008 at 10:43 PM (#2842967)
After Game Six of the 2001 WS, the Diamondbacks played the opening to Sinatra's "New York, New York," then a phonograph needle screech, and then the full recording of "Celebration."

Though the stakes were a lot higher, I don't recall any whiny "open letters" about the frighteningly lame low road to sophomoric bad karma. Nor the classless mistreatment of the Yankees' gorilla nuts.
   47. ghost of perros Posted: July 03, 2008 at 10:54 PM (#2842978)
At least the Yankees and their fans earned the right to this much obnoxious condescension.

My tipping point for most disliked baseball franchise is close at hand.
   48. Richard Posted: July 03, 2008 at 11:18 PM (#2842986)
After Game Six of the 2001 WS, the Diamondbacks played the opening to Sinatra's "New York, New York," then a phonograph needle screech, and then the full recording of "Celebration."

Though the stakes were a lot higher, I don't recall any whiny "open letters" about the frighteningly lame low road to sophomoric bad karma. Nor the classless mistreatment of the Yankees' gorilla nuts.


Joe Torre, I think, and possibly some of the players, complained about this in post game interviews, but from the point of view that it was disrespectful to New York as a City so soon after 9/11, rather than because it was disrespectful to the Yankees.
   49. Vaux, A.B.D. Posted: July 03, 2008 at 11:30 PM (#2842990)
Someone in the Diamondbacks organization had some balls. I heartily approve.
   50. Templeusox has reached his genetic threshold Posted: July 04, 2008 at 12:05 AM (#2843000)
My tipping point for most disliked baseball franchise is close at hand.
Let us know when you come to a decision. We're all waiting with baited breath.

Jealousy woes.
   51. Master of Karate and Friendship (Kyle C) Posted: July 04, 2008 at 12:37 AM (#2843013)
I'm amazed that someone is upset about Sweet Caroline being played and it's not because it's one of the worst songs ever written.
   52. Lassus Posted: July 04, 2008 at 12:50 AM (#2843020)
Joe Torre, I think, and possibly some of the players, complained about this in post game interviews, but from the point of view that it was disrespectful to New York as a City so soon after 9/11, rather than because it was disrespectful to the Yankees.

Oh please.

At least the Yankees and their fans earned the right to this much obnoxious condescension.
My tipping point for most disliked baseball franchise is close at hand.


This one is beyond "oh please". More like uproarious gales of laughter.
   53. Eraser-X is dominating this site! Posted: July 04, 2008 at 12:55 AM (#2843024)
Joe Torre, I think, and possibly some of the players, complained about this in post game interviews, but from the point of view that it was disrespectful to New York as a City so soon after 9/11, rather than because it was disrespectful to the Yankees.


Why, is there some kind of plane crash sound-effect in "Celebration"?
   54. Nasty Nate Posted: July 04, 2008 at 01:18 AM (#2843028)
You ever lived in a transplant city? I am sure part of what triggered this was Rays "home" games against the Yankees and the Red Sox being full of transplants and tourists and band wagoners being loud and in some cases obnoxious in their team gear. It gets old in a hurry


well fenway is a tourist haven so there is always visitors, especially for weekend yankees games. and when the Cards were there for interleague (03? 04?) they came out in full force, but no i've never lived in a transplant city.

When I have watched my teams on the road, I have never talked smack or call attention to myself, based on seeing/hearing guys in Cub/Yankee/BoSox etc stuff in SD and Anaheim for years.


i've been in the yankee stadium bleachers during the ny-bos lcs w/ a B cap on, so ive been to hell and back. I've also been to sox games in seattle/bal/philly and i'm not the loud obnoxious type, although some of me brethren are. I cant help but feel that some of the annoyance is on the sox road fans' sheer numbers more than their behavior but i might be wronmg and drunk. if we have enough numbers on the road to start a chant, i think its more fan-gamesmanship than obnoxiousness. Ive had to put up with yankee fans cheering Jeter hits at fenway but I have to admire their cajones doing it but also try to non-violently intimidate them into thinking twice.
   55. Richard Posted: July 04, 2008 at 01:21 AM (#2843030)
Actually, having checked, it wasn't Torre who complained about what the Dbacks did - he was quoted as saying they could do what they like in their ballpark - but there was some adverse comment at the time about, I recall.
   56. Gold Star for Robot Boy Posted: July 04, 2008 at 01:35 AM (#2843033)
but there was some adverse comment at the time about, I recall.
Probably from overheated sports writers who were dying to tell us, in the same column, It's Just a Game and 9-11 Changed Everything.
   57. Elevate Phil Coorey Later Posted: July 04, 2008 at 01:35 AM (#2843034)
I think I speak for all Red Sox fans here who don't care what the Rays do with their music. Feasting on our bullpen is another thing...

There are more evil people on the planet anyway like Paul Collingwood...(sorry Richard - couldn't resist!)
   58. Softball-Playing Human Refuses to Be Walked Posted: July 04, 2008 at 02:08 AM (#2843050)
I'll second Redrobin in #43. For a hardcore fan, there's no worse feeling than being outnumbered and shouted down in your own stadium as the visitors slap your beloved home team around. Thankfully, those days seem to be over for the Angels, but I still remember the nights when it seemed even Royals fans outnumbered Angel fans.

This is from a distance, but I doubt that's been much of a problem for the Red Sox or Yankees in the last many, many years.
   59. Halofan Posted: July 04, 2008 at 03:11 AM (#2843068)
I recall a Tigers @ Angels game in August of 1986 and I was certain that the 50% of the crowd loudly cheering for the Tigers was some sort of charter trip - then, only then, did someone point out that they were transplants.

All of you, go back to where you are from.
   60. Mattbert Posted: July 04, 2008 at 04:50 AM (#2843074)
The guys who write Surviving Grady have been around a long time by baseball blog standards. The date of its inception should be fairly obvious; if not, this is their fifth year of Sox blogging. I read the blog from time to time. It's usually funny and entertaining, and--key point here--they don't take themselves too seriously. The same cannot be said, it would seem, of the folks getting all spun up about this entry. If you think Surviving Grady was seriously upset by the little "Sweet Caroline" dig, you're flailing around for any tenuous pretext to complain about the Red Sox.

The Rays' PA person needled the Sox after sweeping them at home. A long-standing Sox blogger needled them back. Ergo, the Sox have a loathsome and obnoxious fanbase? Seems to me that the bulk of any whining going on here is emanating from the increasingly teeming Boston Backlash Bandwagon. Must be standing room only on that wagon these days.
   61. Guapo Posted: July 04, 2008 at 08:33 AM (#2843089)
No, the new bandwagon is backlashing against the backlashers who backlashed against folks who backlashed against Red Sox fans. God, I hate posts like #60. Typical anti-backlash backlash.
   62. kevin Posted: July 04, 2008 at 08:33 AM (#2843090)
Let us know when you come to a decision. We're all waiting with baited breath.

Don't like to use flys, huh, Temple? See:

bated breath
   63. Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute Posted: July 04, 2008 at 08:45 AM (#2843096)
Seems to me that the bulk of any whining going on here is emanating from the increasingly teeming Boston Backlash Bandwagon. Must be standing room only on that wagon these days.

They keep adding new cars as folks get trampled and fall off the jam-packed Red Sox bandwagon.
   64. Mattbert Posted: July 04, 2008 at 09:14 AM (#2843107)
No, the new bandwagon is backlashing against the backlashers who backlashed against folks who backlashed against Red Sox fans. God, I hate posts like #60. Typical anti-backlash backlash.

Good thing you didn't read the Game Chatter last October when we bashed Lackey.
   65. Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute Posted: July 04, 2008 at 09:19 AM (#2843109)
That's pretty funny.
   66. Kirby Kyle Posted: July 04, 2008 at 09:57 AM (#2843123)
IIRC, the loudest complaint about Arizona's "New York, New York" stunt came from Peter Gammons.
   67. retro-shiite Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:07 AM (#2843127)
I thought the O's 7th inning stretch gimmick at the meetup game against the Sox was cute. Scoreboard reads "And now, something for you, Red Sox fans" (or something similar), before the PA goes into "Sweet Caroline;" naturally, the 40,000 or so Boston fans in attendance go nuts. For about 15 seconds, at which point the music grinds to a halt, and the scoreboard reads "PSYCH!"

Found that amusing. Wasn't as cool as seeing Manny's 500th, but still pretty cool.
   68. Smiling Joe Hesketh Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:10 AM (#2843129)
I usually enjoy Surviving Grady, but he sure comes across as a ######### here.

As a Sox fan, I couldn't have cared less that the Rays played Sweet Caroline after the series. Good for the Rays. They kicked the Sox' asses in every way in that series and the Sox embarrassed themselves on the field with disgraceful relief pitching and horrid situational hitting. Let the Rays do anything they want after that series; they deserve to have a little fun and the Sox deserved to have been humiliated by the shiitshow they put on down there.

Christ, I can't believe anyone was really upset by that stunt. It's entertainment and for the first time in their history the Rays fans are being entertained by a good baseball team kicking ass and not merely by the lovable antics of Raymond the Mascot. Let them have their fun after 11 years of suck.
   69. Lassus Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:15 AM (#2843133)
I work for a GC in the city doing construction in a well-known department store that starts off every morning's opening by blasting "New York, New York", which is just an awful song. Give me Crosby, Astaire, Nat King Cole, or dozens of other vocalists over Sinatra's annoying bombast and ego every single time. I have never been able to stand him.
   70. kevin Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:17 AM (#2843134)
Scoreboard reads "And now, something for you, Red Sox fans" (or something similar), before the PA goes into "Sweet Caroline;" naturally, the 40,000 or so Boston fans in attendance go nuts. For about 15 seconds, at which point the music grinds to a halt, and the scoreboard reads "PSYCH!"


Crap. I was so occupied talking to Andy and Larry, I didn't even notice that.
   71. retro-shiite Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:18 AM (#2843137)
Christ, I can't believe anyone was really upset by that stunt. It's entertainment and for the first time in their history the Rays fans are being entertained by a good baseball team kicking ass and not merely by the lovable antics of Raymond the Mascot. Let them have their fun after 11 years of suck.

No kidding. Surviving Grady comes across as awfully thin-skinned. It's kind of cool to see the Rays generating some excitement for the first time in their history. (And despite the "karma's a beeyotch" bit, it's pretty clear he feels threatened by the Rays, as well he should. They may not maintain the best record in baseball, but they're legitimately good, especially at the Trop.)
   72. Smiling Joe Hesketh Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:19 AM (#2843138)
Found that amusing. Wasn't as cool as seeing Manny's 500th, but still pretty cool.

I was at the Manny 500th game, and they did that as well. Problem was, the did it in the inning break after Manny went yard, so they started playing the song and the Sox fans went nuts, and then Manny came out of the dugout to go to LF and the Sox fans went even more nuts, and no one paid any attention to the PSYCHE on the scoreboard and continued cheering Manny. Probably not the effect the O's were going for.
   73. retro-shiite Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:21 AM (#2843139)
Crap. I was so occupied talking to Andy and Larry, I didn't even notice that.

I swear I didn't hallucinate it.
   74. retro-shiite Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:23 AM (#2843140)
I was at the Manny 500th game, and they did that as well.

Yeah, I know--I was at the same game with the BTF folk. That was my point--I got to see both!

Point taken about the timing, but I suppose you can't very well pull that gimmick at any time other than the 7th inning stretch.
   75. Mattbert Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:23 AM (#2843142)
Christ, I can't believe anyone was really upset by that stunt.

As I said above, I really doubt that Red was sincerely "upset" by it. I think he just latched onto that as a subject for a blog post that was pretty much a tongue-in-cheek riff on the old saw about waking sleeping giants. "Oh no you didn't..."

I will admit that the entry certainly leaves itself open to being interpreted as candyass whining, but given the history of Surviving Grady I am happy to give Red the benefit of the doubt and assume that's not the spirit in which it was intended.
   76. Smiling Joe Hesketh Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:29 AM (#2843146)
Yeah, I know--I was at the same game with the BTF folk. That was my point--I got to see both!

I was there with about 25 folks from SOSH. Maybe we could have had a rumble between boards after the game, heh.
   77. PJ Martinez Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:35 AM (#2843148)
The majority of Yankees fans are casual people who like the Yankees because they classically win all the time. The majority of Red Sox fans, like University of Florida fans, employ more homerism than Dick Vitale (also a Tampa guy, big Rays fan) on Duke baseketball.


So, in other words, the Yankee "fans" don't care that much and just like to win and the Sox fans are, you know, fans?

Seriously, though, Sox fans are obnoxious. Most sports fans are, in my opinion, and Sox fans are way up there in the obnoxiousness contest.

Also, I think we all need to genuflect before the great Pedro Jaime Martinez for laying the foundation for this rivalry. He always got those guys worked up. (See, especially, MLB regular season, 2000.) Man, he could start a rivalry with anyone. Smaller tips of the cap to Gerald "the Iceman" Williams, Worcester's own Tanyon Sturtze, and Trot Nixon.

I love the Rays, and think the PA guy deserves a round of applause. But I'm still pissed at the owners for removing "Devil" from the team name. I think we should call them the St. Pete Hell's Satans.
   78. Holliday in Alameda (jonathan) Posted: July 04, 2008 at 11:36 AM (#2843187)

You do of course have a point--the only way to shut them up is to win--but unless you have been on the other end of it, you don't get it. When I have watched my teams on the road, I have never talked smack or call attention to myself, based on seeing/hearing guys in Cub/Yankee/BoSox etc stuff in SD and Anaheim for years.



That's the worst part of it. They fill out your stadium and tell you variations of "deal with it/have more of your own fans show up/etc." but step one foot in Fenway with the visiting gear on and they act like it's the world's greatest insult- and proceed to let you hear how they feel about it.

I think I heard "OAKLAND SUCKS" "A'S SUCK" "SWISHER SUCKS" or something along those lines at least a dozen times yelled in my direction when I went last summer- which I'm fine with. Just don't get all whiny about it when the opposing teams/fans throw back shots your way when the pink-hat-brigade fills up some other park.
   79. ghost of perros Posted: July 04, 2008 at 12:08 PM (#2843209)
Jealousy woes.


Getting smacked around for nearly a century by the Yankees would tend to sharpen one's senses when it comes to jealousy.

No need to rank Sox and Yankees. Huis Clos.

Apologies to Yankees/Sox fans who aren't jackasses. (See #68)
   80. SoSHially Unacceptable Posted: July 04, 2008 at 12:40 PM (#2843234)
Also, I think we all need to genuflect before the great Pedro Jaime Martinez for laying the foundation for this rivalry. He always got those guys worked up. (See, especially, MLB regular season, 2000.) Man, he could start a rivalry with anyone. Smaller tips of the cap to Gerald "the Iceman" Williams, Worcester's own Tanyon Sturtze, and Trot Nixon.


And don't forget Tampa's strong pro-union campaign, when they repeatedly targeted Brian Daubach in their retailiatory strikes.

And count me among the Red Sox fans who thinks the PA announcer's dig is pretty funny.
   81. The Josecruz Blues (GGC) Posted: July 04, 2008 at 01:08 PM (#2843255)
And count me among the Red Sox fans who thinks the PA announcer's dig is pretty funny.


Ditto. I'm sort of happy for the Rays. I'd rather see them doing well than NYY or Baltimore. Wakefield and Varitek were on the Sox bak in '00. The longest tenured Ray is Crawford who didn't get called up until '02.
   82. Golfing Great Mitch Cumstein Posted: July 04, 2008 at 01:50 PM (#2843298)
I think people are missing something about the post. After I reread it, it came across as tounge-in-cheek. I think it was mock indignation used to hide the writer's respect for the Rays.
   83. Los Angeles Waterloo of Black Hawk Posted: July 04, 2008 at 02:14 PM (#2843334)
There is no such thing as karma.
   84. Mattbert Posted: July 04, 2008 at 04:32 PM (#2843487)
I think people are missing something about the post. After I reread it, it came across as tounge-in-cheek. I think it was mock indignation used to hide the writer's respect for the Rays.

Okay, thank you. I was beginning to think I was crazy since I was the only one here with that interpretation. This doesn't mean I'm not crazy, but at least now I've got company.
   85. Baseballing powerhouse Crispix Attacks Posted: July 04, 2008 at 04:38 PM (#2843490)
The longest tenured Ray is Crawford who didn't get called up until '02.

I thought Baldelli had been called up before him, but it looks like that's not true. Guys on the 100,000-day DL might not count anyway.

Of course, at any moment they could call up a guy who played for them on April 2, 1998.
   86. robinred Posted: July 04, 2008 at 05:19 PM (#2843505)
I think people are missing something about the post. After I reread it, it came across as tounge-in-cheek. I think it was mock indignation used to hide the writer's respect for the Rays.

Okay, thank you. I was beginning to think I was crazy since I was the only one here with that interpretation. This doesn't mean I'm not crazy, but at least now I've got company.

No sale here. Read this again:

That’s a play right out of Smug Upstart Wannabes 101--the mark of a team that’s so confused by its own success, it feels it has to take these opportunities to step on the 600 pound gorilla’s nuts when he’s down, because it’s not sure it’ll ever have another chance to do so. It was sophomoric--instantly recalling the “1918” chant that was popular ‘round Tampa Bay before our 2004 heroics--and frighteningly lame. But it doesn’t surprise me.


This is a common riff in fan culture, when an upstart knocks off a bigdog: You're a bunch of losers, and so when you do win, you can't handle it. The guy compared it to the "1918" chant--that does not seem like good-natured fun to me. The only tongue-in-cheek option that I see is the guy parodying a stick-up-his-ass Red Sox fan. Seems doubtful for a guy whose blog is called "Surviving Grady." I think he was pissed about the sweep and wrote a pissy entry to vent.
   87. robinred Posted: July 04, 2008 at 05:31 PM (#2843509)
if we have enough numbers on the road to start a chant, i think its more fan-gamesmanship than obnoxiousness. Ive had to put up with yankee fans cheering Jeter hits at fenway but I have to admire their cajones doing it but also try to non-violently intimidate them into thinking twice.


You ever had to put up with 15,000-20,000 or so of them in Fenway?

Also, one other reason that SoCal stadiums get invaded is that in SD and Ana, there is very little of this that I have seen:

but also try to non-violently intimidate them into thinking twice


I'll second Redrobin in #43. For a hardcore fan, there's no worse feeling than being outnumbered and shouted down in your own stadium as the visitors slap your beloved home team around. Thankfully, those days seem to be over for the Angels, but I still remember the nights when it seemed even Royals fans outnumbered Angel fans.


Yes indeed. During the Angels' down period in the late 1990s, LA Times stories would run that as an angle--how the opposing fans outnumbered Angels' fans. Being next to Disneyland of course adds an element to it we do not get down here. Now that the Angels have been good for awhile, it is better.

That's the worst part of it. They fill out your stadium and tell you variations of "deal with it/have more of your own fans show up/etc." but step one foot in Fenway with the visiting gear on and they act like it's the world's greatest insult- and proceed to let you hear how they feel about it.

I think I heard "OAKLAND SUCKS" "A'S SUCK" "SWISHER SUCKS" or something along those lines at least a dozen times yelled in my direction when I went last summer- which I'm fine with. Just don't get all whiny about it when the opposing teams/fans throw back shots your way when the pink-hat-brigade fills up some other park.


Yes, I recall that you are A's fan attending college in Boston. Your last sentence encapsulates my point: if RSN is going to aggressively take its act on the road, it has to expect a little blowback. I have read several references to Sox fans breaking out "Sweet Caroline" in opposition ballparks.

My tipping point for most disliked baseball franchise is close at hand.


I actually dislike the Red Sox now less than I used to. Now that the Curse BS is dead, they are just a big-money, winning team, which is fine with me. And, many of the Red Sox fans here at BBTF are great posters and seem to be good guys.
   88. SoSHially Unacceptable Posted: July 04, 2008 at 05:35 PM (#2843510)
That's the worst part of it. They fill out your stadium and tell you variations of "deal with it/have more of your own fans show up/etc." but step one foot in Fenway with the visiting gear on and they act like it's the world's greatest insult- and proceed to let you hear how they feel about it.


For what it's worth, these are overwhelmingly two different groups of people.
   89. The Josecruz Blues (GGC) Posted: July 04, 2008 at 07:19 PM (#2843627)
For what it's worth, these are overwhelmingly two different groups of people.


A tale of two Nations? FWIW, there's more bandwagoners living near me now. I think that they should make these people take a citizenship test. If they are over 40 and don't know who Stan Papi is, they are out! They also better know what pitcher was pinch hit for in Game Seven of the 1975 WS. 30-somethings need to know who would've been the 1986 WS MVP had it ended with Game Six. 20-somethings need to know what two-time All-Star replaced Wade Boggs at third base.
   90. ghost of perros Posted: July 04, 2008 at 07:37 PM (#2843665)
Bill Lee? Bruce Hurst? John Valentin?
   91. gps Posted: July 04, 2008 at 09:30 PM (#2843897)
Hope this guy doesn't hear about tonight's game -- during the in-stadium warmup stuff, they did a recap of the Red Sox series and played Sweet Caroline, almost in its entirety. Rays fans were into it, for the most part, with a few colorful adaptations of the sing-along parts.
   92. villageidiom Posted: July 04, 2008 at 09:51 PM (#2843951)
John Valentin?


Scott Cooper. He was a default All-Star pick because every team had to be represented, and the Red Sox were crap back then.
   93. Softball-Playing Human Refuses to Be Walked Posted: July 04, 2008 at 09:51 PM (#2843952)
That's the worst part of it. They fill out your stadium and tell you variations of "deal with it/have more of your own fans show up/etc." but step one foot in Fenway with the visiting gear on and they act like it's the world's greatest insult- and proceed to let you hear how they feel about it.

For what it's worth, these are overwhelmingly two different groups of people.
They're the same people. They were in that same group, and then they moved.
   94. Chip Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:15 PM (#2843987)
Hope this guy doesn't hear about tonight's game -- during the in-stadium warmup stuff, they did a recap of the Red Sox series and played Sweet Caroline, almost in its entirety. Rays fans were into it, for the most part, with a few colorful adaptations of the sing-along parts.


All 16,000 of them?
   95. Shredder Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:32 PM (#2844010)
I still remember the nights when it seemed even Royals fans outnumbered Angel fans.
Really? I don't. I remember a lot of games where if you sampled part of inning early in the game, you would have though there were more Sox or Yankees fans there. But that's because SoCal fans tend to be quiet when nothing is going on, and loud when something is going on. So yeah, it sounded like the Sox or Yankees had more fans there when there were two out with none on in the top of the second inning, but that's because their fans are loud, obnoxious a-holes all the time. Our fans are only loud when we score. When the Angels scored, or did something worthy of applause, it was ALWAYS clear who had more fans in attendance.
   96. Softball-Playing Human Refuses to Be Walked Posted: July 04, 2008 at 10:35 PM (#2844014)
They're the same people. They were in that same group, and then they moved. Case in point:
Hope this guy doesn't hear about tonight's game -- during the in-stadium warmup stuff, they did a recap of the Red Sox series and played Sweet Caroline, almost in its entirety. Rays fans were into it, for the most part, with a few colorful adaptations of the sing-along parts.

All 16,000 of them?
   97. Kyle S Posted: July 04, 2008 at 11:28 PM (#2844065)
I'm amused by the fact that many Sox fans seem to believe that their large numbers mean they are somehow "better" fans than those of teams like the Rays. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that uninitiated kids from Southie don't diligently study each MLB team in turn and decide to root for the Sox because of their blinding awesomeness.
   98. Rocco's Not-so Malfunctioning Mitochondria Posted: July 05, 2008 at 04:25 AM (#2844134)
Hasn't Vitale always been a Yankee fan?


He's been a Rays season ticket holder since inception, front row seats. He and Brian Knobbs are the resident celebs.

The other day it finally his me that the Rays have come of age. I've lived on and off in NYC for the past 7 years as a Rays fan. Normally, it was something more of a curiosity to people, and even when I went to games at Yankees Stadium, the Yankees fans would usually just playfully poke fun at me, since I was just a fan of the pathetic Rays. The other day I was walking around and started getting all kinds of dirty looks. It took about 10 minutes for me to figure out it was the hat - people in New York are actually pissed at the Rays. Kind of nice, for once.

Anyway, nobody has a right to complain that someone is co-opting your tradition when the tradition is only 5, maybe 10, years old. If they want to get revenge, the Sawks faithful should bring cowbells at their next home series against the Rays. That way they can steal our dumb, short-lived obnoxious tradition.
   99. HOPE: Madison Obamagarner (Flynn) Posted: July 05, 2008 at 05:33 AM (#2844143)
I can see why Yankee fans are pissed about the Rays. Red Sox fans, no. If the season ended today the Sox would still be in the playoffs and we as fans still have those two World Series to cherish. But the Yanks..well, they look like the one who's going to lose out.

I hate a lot of Red Sox fans right now. Before 2004 if you saw somebody in Sox gear you assumed they were a big fan. Now you assume they hopped on the bandwagon. It feels like having gone to house parties in Aberdeen and then having some meathead tell you how great Smells Like Teen Spirit is.
   100. ghost of perros Posted: July 05, 2008 at 09:04 AM (#2844161)
Too late to hop on the Nirvana bandwagon?

Nevermind.
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