04/18/24
April 06, 2006
You Can Call Them Rays, or You Can Call Them Sting Rays, or You Can Call Them Sun Rays, or You Can Call Them ...: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have notified the league they are considering a name change, a choice that must be made by May 31. There's little affection from the team's fans for the existing name on the local paper's blog. One commented, "No matter how menacing [Vince] Namoli thought a 'devil ray' was, it's still a bottom feeder."
Or maybe the UV Rays...
posted by wingnut4life at 09:08 PM on April 06, 2006
Leave the name alone...like the "Blue Jays", the Devil Rays have pretty much already dropped "Devil". What's the big deal? I mean, how about the Duke Blue Devils? That University has had success. I think God knows that we Devil Rays fans our simply rooting for, what it is.....and what it is is a baseball team....that's all and no more. God bless the Devil Rays baseball team keep them healthy....so they can WIN!
posted by mascotman at 09:25 PM on April 06, 2006
How about reviving the NASL's Rowdies moniker?
posted by ajaffe at 09:37 PM on April 06, 2006
I've said it before. Tampa Torpedoes. (Don't tell them it's still a Ray.) Or they could change it to the Florida Marlins. I don't think that one is going to last much longer.
posted by ?! at 11:29 PM on April 06, 2006
But ya doesn't has to call me Johnson!
posted by pivo at 12:15 AM on April 07, 2006
Bottom feeders? Terrapins come to the top of their goopy habitat to get some sun; alligators (Gators, for short) slither from the worst environmental slime. A couple of national championship trophies in '06 allows me to wonder what is the beef over a name. Speaking of beef, "Hook 'em Horns," and I can say that as a former student. There is another '06 trophy there, but a longhorn is one butt-ugly cow, yet most loveable (I added that last part out of respect for my fellow tea-sippers). Before Texas, I went to Alabama. "Roll Tide!" Crimson Tide? Yeah, that's red tide, the phenomenon that leaves our beaches and shores smelling of rotting flesh from the sea. As I always say, "If you don't like the asshole who owns your team, buy his ass out and send him to ..." No, no, no, not Arkansas! Arkansas is reserved for Jerry Jones.
posted by Bud Lang at 01:48 AM on April 07, 2006
Bottom feeders? You really missed the point. The Devil Rays are horrible, always have been, and changing their name won't have any effect. Since the names they are looking at could be anything, the comment means they could be the Tampa Bay Asteroids but they would still be at the bottom of the standings and be bottom feeders.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:13 AM on April 07, 2006
Tampa Bay Manatees Tampa Bay Bowlegs Tampa Bay Turkeys Tampa Bay Whelk Shell Hammers Tampa Bay Fountains of Youth Tampa Bay Wild Ones Tampa Bay Gun Runners Tampa Bay Maine Rememberers Tampa Bay Andalusians Tampa Bay Longshormen Tampa Bay Shipbuilders Tampa Bay Cigar Rollers Tampa Bay Wild Oranges Tampa Bay Not Californians
posted by Joey Michaels at 05:17 AM on April 07, 2006
"The Tampa Bay Busch Gardeners" Wild animals, Baseball and Beer!
posted by OldSchoolBall at 05:24 AM on April 07, 2006
Hit the USFL nostalgia market in South Florida...bring back the Bandits!
posted by The_Black_Hand at 05:34 AM on April 07, 2006
The Devil Rays are a mess. They should adopt the name Florida Rays, make plans for an outdoor stadium in Orlando and switch to a sun-themed mascot. Florida's only going to have one baseball team after the Marlins move, which seems pretty inevitable at this point. Putting it in Orlando gives most of the state a stronger reason to follow the team.
posted by rcade at 07:07 AM on April 07, 2006
I think I remember reading somewhere (hell, maybe here in a link) that when the team did some market research recently, there was a really negative feeling to the name "Devil Rays", but not to just "Rays". I happen to like just plain Rays, with an updated version of that big happy sun from the old Kellogg's Raisin Bran commercials. Either that, or the Tampa Bay City Rollers. And from the article: Others disliked the devil reference and predicted God would doom the team because of it. Done and done.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:47 AM on April 07, 2006
They should adopt the name Florida Rays, make plans for an outdoor stadium in Orlando and switch to a sun-themed mascot. That's what I think. Sun Rays would be a perfect name if they didn't play in that hideous dome. Get them an outdoor stadium, for God's sake. All of spring training is spent outdoors for all the MLB teams, then, when the regular season starts, the D-Rays run indoors! Ridiculous. If Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, etc. all play outdoors, a team in Floriday should, too.
posted by dyams at 09:21 AM on April 07, 2006
I think they should have put the team actually in Tampa instead of St. Pete. That's like putting a New York team in New Jersey. Oh, wait . . . Devil Rays aren't even predatory. Couldn't they have come up with something better -- how about piranhas? I like wingnut's suggestion of UV Rays -- the team would be a public service announcement.
posted by bperk at 09:22 AM on April 07, 2006
All of spring training is spent outdoors for all the MLB teams, then, when the regular season starts, the D-Rays run indoors! It rains every afternoon all summer long (with lots of lightning). The rest of the time it is blazing hot. MLB wanted a dome.
posted by bperk at 09:24 AM on April 07, 2006
That's why they have night games.
posted by dyams at 09:32 AM on April 07, 2006
switch to a sun-themed mascot. Unless it's Rainbow Brite©, I hope this does not occur. The Red Sox TV color man, Jerry Remy, has an ongoing feud with Raymond and it's one of the few things that makes road trips to that hell-hole watchable.
posted by yerfatma at 09:35 AM on April 07, 2006
"Sun Rays would be a perfect name if they didn't play in that hideous dome." Oh, I'd love to see them become the Sun Ra. It's time for some of his music to hit MLB fans. ..."make plans for an outdoor stadium in Orlando..." No, no, no. The team needs a retractable roof stadium at the intersection of I-4 and I-75. Thirty minutes from Orlando. 45 Minutes from St. Pete and right in the middle of one the population booming areas of Florida. Do this soon, but kick Loria out of Florida first.
posted by ?! at 09:43 AM on April 07, 2006
If you really think about most of the MLB team names, they are pretty dumb. Red or White Sox? Phillies? Pirates? Orioles? Giants? No one thinks twice about the names of most of the current teams because they have built a history. Tampa should worry more about what's on the field - the name Devil Rays or whatever they decide to change it to will seem as normal as the Mets or Yankees with a few good teams and a few more years of memories.
posted by ChiSox1977 at 09:44 AM on April 07, 2006
Either that, or the Tampa Bay City Rollers. Ha! Thanks for the chuckle.
posted by qbert72 at 09:55 AM on April 07, 2006
The team needs a retractable roof stadium at the intersection of I-4 and I-75. ... I'd settle for that. But baseball's better in a downtown setting (like Coors Field in Denver) than the boonies (like Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas).
posted by rcade at 11:45 AM on April 07, 2006
The team needs a retractable roof stadium at the intersection of I-4 and I-75. ... That would be between Brandon and Tampa, right? Pretty suburban/rural over there. I agree with rcade and would prefer it in downtown Tampa, but that location would be about 10+ miles from downtown Tampa, so not too bad.
posted by bperk at 12:10 PM on April 07, 2006
So the Devil Rays haven't won in 8 years. The Cubs haven't won in 98 years, yet nobody wants to change their name!
posted by INOALOSER at 03:29 PM on April 07, 2006
The Cubs also have a rich history, have actually won something, and although they haven't won in 98 years, don't suck every single year. It also helps that they are the Cubs and not the Devil Cubs.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 03:44 PM on April 07, 2006
Right now the only thing rich about the Cubs is their owners!
posted by INOALOSER at 03:55 PM on April 07, 2006
If I understand correctly, if the Devil Rays drop "Devil," another team will have to pick it up under the proposed "team name cap." I think the "Devil Cubs" is really the best possible name, though changing the Indians' name to 'The Demon Rum Drinkers" would also satisfy the rule as I understand it.
posted by Joey Michaels at 05:44 PM on April 07, 2006
"Hey, bartender, Jobu needs a refill!" 
posted by wfrazerjr at 06:43 PM on April 07, 2006
The Cubs also have a rich history, have actually won something, and although they haven't won in 98 years, don't suck every single year. It also helps that they are the Cubs and not the Devil Cubs. In 1984 I hoping and praying that the Cubs would beat SD for the National league championship because I wanted to see them against my Tigers in the World Series. Would have been a much better series, though I still think the Tigers were unbeatable that year.
posted by commander cody at 11:33 PM on April 07, 2006
they should be the tampa bay "were not very good rays"