"You like Tampa Bay? Why? They're terrible. It's a place for has-beens to go before they retire!"
"Sure, they're going okay this year, but Boston and the Yankees will clobber them by the season's end!"
"Oh sure, you're a Rays fan now that they're winning. Just another bandwagon fan. Go Sox!"

These are just a few of the wonderful things that fans of Tampa Bay's baseball franchise have had to endure for the past eleven years (the last was just uttered in 2008). Being a fan of virtually any Tampa Bay team has always been hard as they've all had their share of bad seasons and for some reason the town is synonymous with teams that never do that well.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had to go nearly two seasons before seeing their first win. Of course, a few years back they won the Superbowl and are usually contenders in the post-season. So, no one can pick on them anymore.

The Tampa Bay Lightning were a bit of a joke for a while. After all, they played in a stadium that was designed for baseball of all things. It was easy to pick on them that is, until they won the Stanley Cup.

You could pick on the Tampa Bay Storm, but they've won a few championships but, they're Arena Football and no one cares about that, do they?

So, that leaves you with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a team that went its first ten seasons finishing under .500 every year. They were considered an easy victory by any team. The only time that their stadium, Tropicana Field ever had decent attendance was when a team like the Red Sox or the Yankees was in town and it would quickly fill up with transplants that had moved to the Bay Area from Boston or New York. To the rest of the league, it looked like Tampa Bay had no fan base. But they were out there, but it was hard to show their faces.

When your team spends all but one of its first ten seasons in last place in the toughest division in baseball, you can't exactly jump on the sports blogs and cheer for your team. I'm pretty sure that no one wants to hear fans say "This is the year that we lose less than a hundred games!" or "This is the year that we actually win a game versus the Yankees!" and I'm pretty sure it's something that no one wants to ever say.

So, in 2008 when the Rays dropped the "Devil" from their name, it seemed that the team had a new lease on life. A new owner and a new manager with a new philosophy decided to mix things up a little. No longer will the team depend on aging stars to somehow help them. No longer will excessive funds

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