Rays sweep Yanks!

[Velcro]

and don't get me wrong... just because there isn't a huge fan base, that doesn't mean the fans that go are less of fans.  I think the die hards that do support Tampa Bay are great.  I love seeing the fans get upset at losses and celebrate victories, especially over NY.  There are plenty that do love their team, with an intense passion.... but quantity of that type of fan is very low, especially in comparison.

[Guest wildrover]

Velcro,

We are just going to have to agree to disagree.  I am as much a die hard fan of the Rays as I am the Bulls, well not quit to the Bulls level but nothing in the pros will ever come close to the support I give to the Bulls.  I have a lot or Rays gear and go to as many games as I can and I always root for the Rays.  They are the team representing the town that is supporting me so I am going to support them.  

If I leave for a better opportunity somewhere else then I don't see how I could still support the team representing the city that did not provide me the opportunities that I left for in another town.  Honestly, I fell head over heals in love with my first girlfriend but she's not the woman I ended up getting married to and I can honestly say I don't' love her anymore.  Does that make me a worse husband because I now give my full devotion to the woman I am currently with and I no longer pine for the woman I loved all those many years ago?  Thought not.  

I completely disagree with your notion of not being able to love a team, though that is a very subjective notion and means many different things to many different people.  I love my teams as much as loving a pro team warrants.  Remember sports is competing with Hollywood for your entertainment dollars, thats all it is, to try to make it something more than that starts to drift into the irrational.  Of course fan is the root word of fanatic, so I guess there is some logic in that.  

I will completely disagree and say you are wrong about my attitude toward sports is what is keeping RayJay half filled.  Have you not been reading my posts?  I think a strong argument could be made to support the opposite assertions or that it is people like you who refuse to support their local team and won't let go of their original allegiances are the ones keeping that stadium empty.  I honestly don't see even a hint of logic in your statement suggesting the opposite.  I am willing to support the local team and support them big, you are not.  The Bulls are battling Long time Gator and NOle, and Buckeye allegiances that people refuse to change even if they've never been to those schools.  You are much more like the fans you accuse me of being than I am.  I honestly think I've touched a nerve with you and you don't like it and now you are trying to make it look as if I am the wrong kind of fan to justify your position.  That is the only reason I can come up with for why accusing someone willing to support their local team as being the wrong kind of fan and keeping the local team back.  Think about it for a second, are the Devil Rays being kept back because of fans in the area like me who support them or you, who won't?

[Velcro]

Your post backs up my point... you are blaming other teams fans for your team not having support, rather than looking within.

The Drays don't have support because people don't care about that team.  

You support your team based on where you live, not who YOUR team is.  Your team changes like the wind.  if you get a better opportunity somewhere in a different city, you drop your team like a bad habit.

That isn't loyalty.  Sure, it is loyalty to your home city... but I could never just switch loyalties to a different team.  It is obviously a different attitude about sports and I think your post just confirms that.

[flsportsfan83]

So when I move to a new city I am supose to drop the teams I have loved my whole life?

[Velcro]

So when I move to a new city I am supose to drop the teams I have loved my whole life?

That is what he is essentially saying, and claiming somehow saying that by us not switching allegience, WE are the ones hurting the local team... not the lack of locals supporting their team in the first place.

There is only so much you can do in arguing this point... but the end result is pretty much a lock, that the devil rays are going to be lacking fans, and that the games that make the most money for the drays are the ones against the teams that have monstrous fan bases spread across the country.

[Triple B]

So when I move to a new city I am supose to drop the teams I have loved my whole life?

Only if you're from Miami...

[Velcro]

one thing that could help tampa, is actually being IN TAMPA!

[Guest wildrover]

Your post backs up my point... you are blaming other teams fans for your team not having support, rather than looking within.

The Drays don't have support because people don't care about that team.  

You support your team based on where you live, not who YOUR team is.  Your team changes like the wind.  if you get a better opportunity somewhere in a different city, you drop your team like a bad habit.

That isn't loyalty.  Sure, it is loyalty to your home city... but I could never just switch loyalties to a different team.  It is obviously a different attitude about sports and I think your post just confirms that.

You are contradicting yourself.  You are saying that the DRays have no fans because people don't care about them.  I'm assuming you live in this area but are obviously not a DRays fan but I do live in this area and do support the local team.  You are not making any sense at all.  And to say that my team changes like the wind is silly.  It changes when I move to another town that provides me opportunities, how many times in life does that actually happen?  

You are right, I feel more loyal to the town that provides me opportunities and feel obligated to root for their local team than the town that did not provide for me.  Hand that feeds you type of thing you know and to me, the placement of that loyalty makes more sense then to root for a team in a town I left.  You obviously aren't loyal (I'm guess Boston) to the town you left or you never would have left.  How about the players, how do you feel about Johnny Damen now?  Should he have stayed a Red Sox just out of loyalty.  Players leave for better deals, even to their arch rivals, all the time, so its not like they are all that loyal.  I guess if you feel like a true fan is the fan that puts their loyalty to the organization and that won't change no matter what then so be it.  But this town, as I've said before has provided for me so rooting for its teams to me seems like true reciprocity and appropriately placed loyalty.  

Honeslty Velcro, your post makes absolutely no sense at all.  When I look in, as you say, I see a DRays fan that cares about that team.  If I'm not going to blame the bandwagoners in this town who root for the local winners but not the local losers then who am I going to blame?  I won't take responsibility because I feel I do my part to support the local team.  Its fans like you, who live here, but won't support the local team, that hurt the DRays, not me.

Honestly, you act like your first love and marriage is to a baseball team.  Did you grow up and get married to your first love and never have any other girlfriends ever?  If I can switch loyalties to a significant other (as just about everyone does as some point in their life) then switching who you root for in baseball doesn't seem like that big of a deal.  Unless of course your love affair with the Sox is more important to you than your marriage.  To each his own I guess but if thats how you feel then I guess there is no arguing with that (though it is a little obsessive and disrespectful to you spouse)    

[Guest wildrover]

So when I move to a new city I am supose to drop the teams I have loved my whole life?

That is what he is essentially saying, and claiming somehow saying that by us not switching allegience, WE are the ones hurting the local team... not the lack of locals supporting their team in the first place.

There is only so much you can do in arguing this point... but the end result is pretty much a lock, that the devil rays are going to be lacking fans, and that the games that make the most money for the drays are the ones against the teams that have monstrous fan bases spread across the country.

There are no locals in Tampa or Florida for that matter.  By your logic there should be no pro teams in Florida at all since everyone will just root for where they came from.

I will agree with a lot of the second thought, the DRays, until they start winning will lack fans but its because of fans like you not because of fans like me.  

[Guest wildrover]

one thing that could help tampa, is actually being IN TAMPA!

I'm no fan of the Trop but an open air stadium in St. Pete would be great.  Just as we keep saying winning fixes everything.  The Rays would do better in Tampa right now, maybe even worse if the stadium was in downtown Tampa, getting in and out of the place sucks compared to the Trop