DEAR RAYS, THIS RELATIONSHIP IS NOT WORKING OUT....AND IT'S NOT US, IT'S YOU!!!!

I have been in Tampa for 13 years and have never been able to figure out why the Tampa Bay Devil Rays(the team name when I moved down here) were located in St. Petersburg. Tropicana field was built for another team from what history I have gathered and they bailed on the idea for some reason or another. The team has changed owners a couple times with the previous owner Vince Nimoli being a huge creep from all accounts. The new owner, Stu Sternberg comes in gives free parking with 4 or more people in the car, bring your own food and drink to the stadium, hires a good manager and keeps the front office somewhat intact. Great right? Yet noone shows up. Sure we have heard about the economy, unemployment etc. But according to ESPN and all the local media and the star athletes on the team that is no excuse. Just ask David Price and Evan Longoria they will tell you to your face that the broken economy and unemployment is not an excuse. Let me ask you, would you rather go to a Rays game or go job hunting? I would rather go to a Rays game if I had a job and I know that if I didn't have a job, that my time would be spent looking for one. Even at 7:05pm on a Monday night when the games are on. I may watch it on television while job hunting on monster.com or I might catch the last 3 innings later say around 8:30pm after I put my kids to sleep on a school night. I would love to go see the Rays try to win the division more than almost anything but if I had no job guess what? If I had no job, I'm not going. I won't even bring up location because I live in North East Tampa and it's a drive to get there.

Now you read all this and think of the relationship between the Rays and their broke fans and question where can all this lead? Sure the fan is down but we can watch it on TV, but all you hear is the drive by media ripping the fans for not coming out. The stars and leaders on the team telling you they are embarrassed on the turn style count. Maybe Stu should not have let the cat out of the bag publicly last week when he said he is slashing the payroll next season. And this was just before the Yankee series, the biggest series of the season. Attention Rays PR dept. do not punish the fans who are single parents, unemployed, or worse off in a bad economy because those that are hoping for the return of the economy are the same one's that will not buy tickets next season if you keep this up! Right now Rays this relationship is on you! If you and the negative media want to see fans show up, sponsor a job fair after the games instead of concerts and play in front of a packed house every game from now till the end of the World Series! The Bucs are another story!