WARNING…. a fiull blown rant inside enter at your own risk!

[Tobywan]

I am going to get this off my chest and rant here because if I rant on another message board at a moron that has me steaming I will get banned.

Everyone here knows (or should know) that I have been supporting this team since before they even got here. I was out with many other ball fans getting petitions signed for the referendums to get the city councils of ST PETE and Tampa to lobby MLB for a team 2 decades ago!

I have suffered through everyone poking fun at everything about this team, from uni’s to signings, from the last place finishes to the ballpark for over a decade. Heck, we stil get hassled about the park.

I was there when the area was giddy during the inaugural season to downright hateful during the “Hit Show” debacle. Through seasons where the team would be down by 6-9 runs by at least the third inning 4 sometimes 5 games a week. I suffered though Paul Sorrento, Kevin Stocker, Greg Vaughn, Juan Guzman, Matt White, John Rocker and sooooo many other disasters, including Vince Namoili and Chuck LaMar.

During a decade of only seeing the Rays get above 5th in the division once until they finally had a winning season I never once complained about drawing the lot of being in the same division with the Yankees and the Red Sox. Rooting for this team watching them year after year get pummeled by them, never *****ed about the money they spent, all the big monster players and pitchers they've had or again languishing in the same division.

2008 we finally get our shit together and compete for the first time against the two powerhouses, no longer are we the laughing stock, the lowly Devil Rays. It was the first time in what seems like forever the Yankees didn’t make the postseason, but we still had to get through the Red Sox, the same Red Sox that have won 2 World Series as recently as 2004 and 2007. No one, including me saw that season coming out of Spring Training, okay, Scott Kazmir, but he was the only one.

Now,this season we are toe to toe with the New York Yankees and some moron has the nerve to start whining at me about how UNFAIR it is that the Red Sox are in the AL East, because if they were in another division they might be able to make the play-offs. How UNFAIR it is to the White Sox (who won the WS just 5 seasons ago) that the AL East is so good now that the WC is going to be from that division ( he’s referring to the Rays) and the White Sox will be left out.

UNFAIR! UN &^&%^ing FAIR!?!?!!, BOO $#%&ing HOO!

I completely empathize with the plight of the Red Sox as there is no doubt they would be even closer if not for the decimating injuries, but that is baseball. They certainly don't suck, they have just had some bad luck..a lot of it actually, not their fault, they'll be back next season just as big a pain in ass as ever.

If the White Sox don’t make the play-offs they only have themselves to blame. They have lost more games than they have won against Cleveland and gotten their butts kicked by the Tigers and the Twins in their OWN division NOT because of anything going on in the AL East.

The Rays so far have a winning record this season against every team in their own division as well as the White Sox, Twins, Tigers and Cleveland.

What I wouldn’t give to be the Drill Sergeant in the Geico commercial and shove a box of tissues up that jackwagon’s butt!

Okay, I’m done!

Go Rays!!

[realmofotalk]

I suffered though Paul Sorrento, Kevin Stocker, Greg Vaughn, Juan Guzman, Matt White, John Rocker and sooooo many other disasters, including Vince Namoili and Chuck LaMar.

I see your disasters and raise you Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre, Jason Schmidt, Darren Dreifort, Brett Tomko, Esteban Loaiza, George Sherrill, Octavio Dotel, Ramon and Russ Ortiz and so on, not to mention Rupert Murdoch, the McCourts, Kevin Malone, and Ned Colletti.

[Tobywan]

Mofo, every team has had it's disasters. The Dodgers have had a long and storied past and with the exception of this current fiasco with the McCourts I don't think the majority would put them in the laughing stock category, because of that rich history. The Giants/Dodgers rivalry goes back as far as the Yankees/Red Sox and has been just as fierce and revered, yet in 2007 the Giants sucked and were at the bottom of the heap. What if they had screamed that since AZ won and the Rockies got the WC that NOW the AL West is so good it isn't fair to the Giants, or the Cubs and Brewers? I am sure you would have told them to shove an avacado up thier butt! Could you ever even conceive of MLB breaking up the Dodger/Giant rivalry, because once in a blue moon the upstart Rocs, Backs or Pads happen to have better records? I doubt it!



However, since you brought up so many names, did the Dodgers ever pay a guy a $10 milllion signing bonus that never got higher than AAA ball? Did they pay a pitcher $12 million for 1.2 innings? Did they back load so many contracts that for a few seasons they were paying more out in players that had left years before than what was on the field? Were they so bad that guys were retiring during spring training so they didn't have to play with them??? Did more than half the league put them on their no-trade list for almost a decade??

[Sabu88]

I'm a Pirates fan making your points irrelevant

[Tobywan]

Once again….


5 World Championships, 9 Pennants, 9 Division titles, 9 retired numbers and what 40 or so Hall of Famers???

Also, the Pirates not making the play-offs nor their last decade can be blamed on the Rays or the AL East.

[realmofotalk]

They can move the Giants to Saskatchewan and rename them the Eskimos and I wouldn't be sad about losing the Giants/Dodgers rivalry.

Did they pay a pitcher $12 million for 1.2 innings?

We paid $45 million for something to that effect with Jason Schmidt.

Did they back load so many contracts that for a few seasons they were paying more out in players that had left years before than what was on the field?

Yup, they're doing that right now with deferred salaries to Manny (on the books for next three years), Pierre, Andruw, Schmidt.

[Sabu88]

Once again….


5 World Championships, 9 Pennants, 9 Division titles, 9 retired numbers and what 40 or so Hall of Famers???

Also, the Pirates not making the play-offs nor their last decade can be blamed on the Rays or the AL East.

what the hell does that have to do with me?

How old do you think I am?

9 retired numbers?

I dont go into every year saying "Boy I'm so pumped to be watching the Pirates this year, they have 9 retired numbers!"

The last time the Pirates won a world series i was 8 years from existing. I was too young to remember the early 90s teams. My first recollection of the Pirates aka when I became a true fan was in 1994. Do you know how many winning seasons I have seen?

0

How many have the Rays had in that same period?

2? 3?

You're complaining about something that is retarded to complain about is what I'm getting at. You're making it seem like it's the worst thing ever that your team is going to the playoffs and other teams aren't and their fans are upset. I'm saying it's a retarded rant.


wah wah Greg Vaughn. Jesus.

The Pirates are what a hundred years older than the Rays? Come back to me in 100 years and maybe those numbers will even out. What the **** do you expect a team about a decade and a half old to be setting the world on fire in an historically rough division? I really dont get your problem because it's pretty much the equivalent of a rich kid not getting the ferrari he wanted. Enjoy your winning season and be humble that you've been around to see the team through the shit.

Your "years of suffering" aren't any better than an 18 year old Pirates fan or a 13 year old Orioles fan who have NEVER seen their team win. Your team is DIFFERENT now though, they have a plan in place and they're getting results...something that orioles and pirates fans cant say.

[realmofotalk]

I should point out that Tobywan's arguing about who has had it worst as a fan wasn't the heart of her rant. But that was a solid humble rant, Sabu. If I didn't know any better, this is the kind of diatribe Leo should be making for America's Finest City's teams.

[Tobywan]

They can move the Giants to Saskatchewan and rename them the Eskimos and I wouldn't be sad about losing the Giants/Dodgers rivalry.

Considering the attendance at those match-ups I doubt the majority of the Dodgers and Giants fan s feel that way.

We paid $45 million for something to that effect with Jason Schmidt.

That’s pretty close to what I am talking about.

Yup, they're doing that right now with deferred salaries to Manny (on the books for next three years), Pierre, Andruw, Schmidt.

So, you know more of what I am talking about, do you somehow think it is unfair for the Dodgers to be so far out this year because the NL West has gotten so good? I doubt it, seems to me from what I have read you would put the blame squarely where it belongs on the DODGERS!

[realmofotalk]

I blame some of that on this year's bullshit Interleague schedule, where we drew the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, and Tigers while the Padres got the Jays, Orioles, and Mariners to offset the Rays. Same thing with the Giants getting the Jays, Orioles, and A's to offset the Red Sox. Not to mention we drew an extra series with Reds, while the Padres and Giants respectively drew the Marlins and Astros.

[Tobywan]

what the hell does that have to do with me?

Nothing and neither does anything that I was talking about in my original post because for one thing the Pirates aren’t anywhere close to being in the postseason so they aren’t being shoved out of a spot by a WC team in any division.

How old do you think I am?

I don’t give a shit!

9 retired numbers?

Among a lot of other history, you at least have some. The Red Sox and White Sox as well and some has been made recently.

I dont go into every year saying "Boy I'm so pumped to be watching the Pirates this year, they have 9 retired numbers!"

The last time the Pirates won a world series i was 8 years from existing. I was too young to remember the early 90s teams. My first recollection of the Pirates aka when I became a true fan was in 1994. Do you know how many winning seasons I have seen?

One more time have the Pirates been edged out of a play-off spot in recent years due to having a better record than a team in another division?
Is it somehow unfair for the Pirates to be in the NL East or are they just run poorly and pretty suck overall now????

As for the rest of your crap, not even worth bothering.

You come back and talk to me when your team has a shot at winning a play-off spot and a Phillie or Braves fan comes whining at you because they might be edged out.

Sounds like you need a box of tissues yourself.

[HollywoodLeo]

If I didn't know any better, this is the kind of diatribe Leo should be making for America's Finest City's teams.

I'm seriously considering it with the way the Padres decided to go on a surprise run all the way through mid-August just long enough to get my hopes up in a season that wasn't supposed to mean anything just to go on a ridiculous losing streak all of a sudden.

Still, the Padres have made the playoffs on occasion since I've been following them and even got as far as the World Series once so Sabu still has me beat if we're only comparing the time frame in which we've followed our favorite teams.

[realmofotalk]

I'll give you that the Padres at least have had seasons in which they surprise the baseball world and went as far as they could in the playoffs, so I can't hate on that. The Chargers on the other hand continue to embarrass themselves in the face of high expectations.