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2008 World Series Running Thread: Phillies-Rays (No. 3: The Babe Ruth edition)

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by 2muchcoffeeman, Oct 19, 2008.

  1. Trey Beamon

    Trey Beamon Active Member

    Rays in 6.

    Tampa Bay mashed Boston's pitching. Cole Hamels notwithstanding, I can't see those bats cooling off.
     
  2. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    I'm not quite sure that's fair. The Rays were so dogass awful for so long that I can't blame fans for being slow to embrace the team. And if you were an old-school Rays fan, I doubly can't blame you for being slow on the embrace...they must have felt like the spurned lover who is being pursued by someone who is seemingly perfect, yet he/she can't forget the last piece of shit he/she dated. I'd be fuckin scarred for life, too, if I had to root for a team owned by Vince Naimoli.

    (Along those lines, what is it with Tampa and shitty original owners? Hugh Culverhouse was a piece of work too. No idea who owned the Lightning originally, don't care. :D)

    Has anyone in Tampa/St. Pete done the "What do you think of this now Vince?" story. I'd love to read that. He's probably still mad that guy got to bring food into the press box.
     
  3. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Old school after 10 fucking years? Give me a fucking break.
     
  4. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    I was being sarcastic. Duh. :D
     
  5. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    Not to mention the history with the other team in Florida and the World Series. I know there's very little carryover between the two markets, but that legacy is there as well.

    But what it comes down to is that people love a winner, plain and simple. Forget new ballparks and splashy free-agent signings. Win and they'll come.
     
  6. bostonbred

    bostonbred Guest

    Rays fans are fucking terrible, period. Philadelphia outdrew them by 20,000 per game in the regular season. Tampa's season total was still far below the AL average. It's embarassing.

    In fact, if it doesn't have to do with football (preferably DA GATERSSS!!1), residents of Florida are generally clueless.
     
  7. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Your theory is spot on. :D

    Phil and Tony Esposito recruited a Japanese business consortium headed by a golf resort company after the original local ownership group (the Pritzker family, they of Hyatt Hotels fame) bailed during the expansion process. The Esposito brothers were battling Peter Karmanos, who didn't want to pay the full expansion fee. The Japanese ownership group didn't give a shit (the listed owner never visited Tampa and never saw a game), the group financed the team by loaning it money (at one point the Lightning had a debt ratio equivalent to 236 percent of its net worth), the IRS nearly slapped a tax lien on the Lightning and the Esposito brothers were no great shakes in the front office.
     
  8. Beaker

    Beaker Active Member

    If you put a gun to my head, I'd say Phils in 7, but I could just as easily see it going the other way.
     
  9. budcrew08

    budcrew08 Active Member

    Re: 2008 World Series Running Thread: Phillies-Rays (No. 3: The Babe Ruth editio

    Fixed.
     
  10. steveu

    steveu Well-Known Member

    Deskslave, I wholeheartedly agree, with one addition: Win and they'll come, PROVIDED YOU DON'T TEAR APART THE TEAM. (See 1998 and 2004 Florida Marlins)
     
  11. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    That won't happen unless ownership suddenly decides to copy the Pirates' business model. This team isn't built like the Marlins' first World Series team, which they started ripping apart almost immediately. I doubt they will be pushing the payroll up even to $60 million any time soon, which may mean that B.J. Upton will spend his prime years elsewhere, but they have some key pieces locked up long term at reasonable enough rates that they can keep most of this group together for a while.

    Now imagine what an organization with the resources to go up to even a $100 million payroll could do with a core group like this one. Imagine if they could keep all of these guys long term and maybe even add a piece or two through free agency.
     
  12. GB-Hack

    GB-Hack Active Member

    Here's that story Beej, about Naimoli, LaMar and Stewart, the original brain trust.

    http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/19/190014/na-they-were-there-at-the-beginning/
     
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