If you've stumbled upon this new blog, its probably for one of two reasons: 1. You're a Devil Rays fan looking for something about the Devil Rays to read. Bravo to you! Not just for finding the blog, but for admitting for all the world that you are, in fact, a D-Rays fan. That is, of course, one of the first steps people must take before this team can generate some real heat. 2. You accidentally showed up here, and are now looking for the quickest way out of here possible. STOP RIGHT THERE! I promise, its not that bad here. I don't bite (nor does my blog), and you might actually find some funny and interesting stuff here. Surf around. Read my posts. Argue with me through e-mail or comments. I encourage it. I thrive on it. Now that that's out of the way, you're probably thinking to yourself: "Why is this guy talking like this? Isn't this supposed to be a baseball blog? Wow, this Chinese food tastes good." Okay, the Chinese food is all me (kudos to China Bay in Winter Springs, FL for providing me with my sustenance tonight) - but I do want to give you a little bit of background on who I am, where I'm coming from, and what I hope to accomplish here. First of all, I'm not going to lie to you. I haven't been a D-Rays fan since day one. I wasn't at the Trop when Wade circled the bases for number 3,000. I never actually saw the "Hit Show" in action. (See, its not all bad.) By the way - in case you are wondering why I chose the name the "New Hit Show," its a homage to the Bash Brothers the D-Rays tried to create that year when they had Jose Canseco, Greg Vaughn, Fred McGriff, and Vinny Castilla. Now, some of you might be thinking, "That doesn't sound so bad! All of those guys were legit ballers!" Trust me. That group had definitely been in the oven a little too long by the time they got together in St. Pete. It would be the equivalent of the D-Rays going out this off-season and signing Rafael Palmeiro (he's not retired yet!), Moises Alou, Larry Walker, and... well.. Castilla, since he's still kicking around. TRUST ME - the results would not be pretty. But I digress. Anyways - let's get this out of the way right now. I was born and raised a fan of the New York Yankees. The Evil Empire. I'll give you a moment to wash the bile from your mouth. Good? Okay. I sat through the rough years early in my youth, and was joyous when they won those World Championships in the late 90's. Let's be honest. I've gotten a little jaded. I looked in the mirror one day and realized that it wasn't much fun being a Yankee fan. Not because of the playoff losing. I can deal with that. But there's no excitement in it. They are expected to win every single day of the season. I can only imagine what a White Sox felt in 2005 or a Red Sox fan felt in 2004 after years of futility finally resulted in a World Series win. Heck, even the Cardinals had gone a hefty chunk of time between titles. The point being - I hate the feeling that an ALCS loss is a poor season. Now that I'm in central Florida, I've been slowly taking steps to try and catch a few Rays. (Ha! See what I did there? I made a pun about the sunny Florida weather!) I've been trying to watch more games, pay closer attention to their news and players... and I've got to tell you, I really like a lot of the kids they've got here. Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli are flat out fun to watch. Scott Kazmir is going to be a stud for years and years. Watching him mature is going to be a joy. There are decent prospects all over the place. With a little bit of good management, this team really could be a contender within the next 5 years. I honestly believe that. Of course, a little bit of money will need to be spent to - at the very least - keep the current nucleus of stars intact. So that's the short of it. I plan on delivering editorial commentary on the things going on around Devil Ray nation - and maybe you'll get to watch me growing as a fan at the same time. I will likely, from time to time, be unfairly harsh with the team - I've been conditioned by the New York media, you see. But always feel free to debate, argue, yell, curse, and throttle me if you disagree with something I've said. I'm always game for a good debate. If you agree, or have a different take on something that I might have left out, please feel free to let me know what you think. The best part of this whole experience will be to talk to other fans who share a similar passion about the game of baseball. If you've got the time, feel free to drop by my Myspace page. I'll begin regular posting later this week (I hope you like some of my ideas for the first few posts!), and maybe I'll see you at the Trop!

baseball, video games, playing softball, good movies, rock music, good television shows