Tampa Sinking

So how good will Tampa be this year? Crawford signed with Boston (more on that later), Pena signed with the Cubs, Matt Garza is being shopped, Bartlet is a Padre, and Choate is close to a deal with the Marlins. So where does this leave the Rays in 2011? Metaphorically speaking...

They're sunk. While they do have one of the best farm systems in baseball (a few years ago their AAA team may have been able to beat the Pirates major league team), their rookies are just that, rookies. They're untested, and being tossed right into the fire that is the AL east will undoubtedly be too much for them to handle right away. The Yankees missed the playoffs in '08, the Rays in '09, and the Red Sox in '10, it's the Rays' turn again. I predict them to be in the position often held by the Blue Jays of "If they were only in a different division they would have made the playoffs...", and win 89 games, finishing behind the Yankees and the Red Sox.

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

While 161 and River is intended as a mostly Yankee-Centric blog, there's a lot in the sports world that's been bothering me over the last year or so that I would like to address, so here it goes:


Rays' Attendance:

Proposed Meadowlands Ballpark

For years we kept hearing the same diatribe about how "they'll draw when they're competitive". Well guess what? The Rays went to the World Series in 2008, competed with the Yankees and Red Sox in 2009, and had the best record in baseball in 2010, yet still finished with the 9th best attendance out of the 14 American League teams. It got so bad that the players started calling out the fans and the team was forced to give away 20,000 tickets to what became the Division Clinching game, and only drew an average of 23,025 fans per game, despite being neck-and-neck with the Yankees for the majority of the season. Face it, the Florida baseball experiment has failed. The Marlins and rays both post some of the lowest attendance figures in the league, despite being two of the best teams. It's time to consider relocating the Florida Franchises. The Marlins just got a new stadium, so they're not going anywhere, but the Rays play in one of the worst stadiums in baseball, and draw flies. Since the Athletics are moving to San Jose, there are only a few options left for the Rays to move to- Portland, Vancouver (who just renovated their BC place stadium that was origionaly intended to attact MLB), North Carolina, North Jersey (The area CAN support a third team, it has before), and, dare I say it, Montreal who has been without a team since 2004. The Rays need to move, because whether they like it or not, the Yankees are still the most popular team in Tampa, and no matter what they do, that's not going to change.

New Marlins Ballpark Rendering

The Florida Miami Marlins:
While on the topic of Florida teams that should move, the Florida (soon to be Miami) Marlins finaly recently received the permission and funds to build a new retractable roof stadium on the Orange Bowl site set to open for the 2012 season. This sounds great, and since we always hear that a retractable roof will make the attendance in Miami reach respectable levels. The problem, however is that the long held-belief that the Marlins owners have been taking the majority of the money they receive each year in MLB luxury taxes for profit, rather than reinvesting in the team. It gets worse though. The Stadium Project, which is estimated to cost taxpayers $2.4 billion over multiple generations, was said by the Marlins to have been to expensive to undertake on their own, so Miami-Dade county gave them the stadium at tax-payer expense. However, an analysis of the Marlins' finances shows that not only could they have payed a significant portion of the stadium, but they would have turned a profit at the same time.  So there you have it, full-on stadium socialism! As John Hammond would say "we've spared no expense".

Soccer Fans:

At least the NY Post got it right

Once every four years these people come out of the woodwork, telling us that we should care about the World Cup because everyone else does. Well you know what? I'm as patriotic as the next guy, and I'd like to see my country do well, but I don't give a shit about soccer. It's boring. Nothing about it is appealing. They kick the ball around for 90 minutes and nothing happens. Hell the game can even end in a tie! What the hell is that? That's not exciting! That's called being anti-climactic! When I invest time of my life into a game there had damn well better be a winner at the end. And whenever the players get mildly tapped, they roll around on the ground like they just got shot (see: diving), and that's considered good strategy in soccer! Please, I watched Mark Texeria play first base with a broken toe for most of the season and he didn't let up on his play one bit. If this happened in any other sport that would be outrage. In fact, it did happen, to Derek Jeter just this past season, and it was all over ESPN, MLB network, and the internet people were absolutely furious about this. And Jeter didn't even beg for the base, he was given it and just didn't give it back. But in soccer, that's a great play, not unsportsmanlike conduct. And one more thing, it's called soccer, not football. We already have a sport called football, and a lot more people like it here.

Anti-New York Bias: 
I don't watch ESPN any more. I exclusively watch MLB network for highlights during the baseball season, NFL net for football season, etc. Why you ask? Because whether it's the Yankees, the Giants, the Rangers or even the freakin' liberty ESPN hates New York. Maybe it's because their headquaters is well behind the lines of Red Sox Nation, but whatever the reason, they're reporters, there should be no bias either way. The same goes for Joe Buck, the Fox sports broadcaster who hates the Yankees more than anyone I've ever met. Even worse is MLB umpire Angel Hernandez. Whenever I see him behind the dish, it seams like the New York (Yanks or Mets) pitcher will be done by the forth inning thanks to a series of bad calls, and the opposing pitcher will have the best game of his career. He is easily the worst umpire in MLB. At least we've got John Stewart on our side.

Rally Towels:
Has there ever been a more vile invention? These things are so stupid, designed for fans who don't want to watch the game. Here's a novel idea..how about you..ya know watch the damn game! The same thing can be said for the wave, which I have been seeing a lot more than I should be at Yankee Stadium this year. If you want that gimmicky shit, go to Queens! The Bronx is for baseball purists. We don't do the wave here! OK, rant over...

 SF Giants fans smoking weed in the stadium:
 We get it, your star pitcher smokes weed and you're a generally progressive city. Hell, by Tuesday it might even be leagal to smoke weed in Cali, But wait till Tuesday, ok? The fact that most San Franciscan's can't go through a whole baseball game without smoking up is scary. Josh Hamilton, a recovering addict, has even smelled it in the outfield. And one Texas-based reported has even smelled it on multiple occasions around the city. So long story short San Fran - wait till Tuesday to light up. And even then have some respect for the people around you.