So the folks over at Red Sox Monster got a video from a fan at the game of the guy getting arrested on top of the Rays dugout during the last Sox/Rays tilt. The video isn’t especially revealing, (down in front everyone else!) but gives somewhat of an idea what was going down. I particularly enjoy the commentary from the guy filming, “this is making youtube baby!” quite the society we have built where anyone with a camera or a free blog can write or post anything they want. Totally lame right. Anyhoo, stick around for more of the always illuminating SLANCH REPORT!
Posts Tagged ‘Tampa Bay Rays
Last night at the Slopicana, the Old Scratch Rays took the season series against the Sox pushing their lead to 2 games with 10 to play and likely ensuring not only their first ever playoff appearance, but to win the division. Despite their success this year, the fans still haven’t been showing up enough, making it possible for Red Sox fans to buy tickets without a problem and make their voices heard, sometimes we wish they wouldn’t… Take for example Christopher Sciesinski, a Sox fan who attended the game and decided that it was appropriate to try and vault the dugout and run onto the field. The security folk jumped into action and nabbed him before he made it onto the field and took him into custody. While getting cuffed one of the cops pulled out his taser and held it against Sciesinksi’s neck, but never discharged it.
Things to love about this picture:
- Who knew Wade Boggs was working as a security guard. Is this the appearances agreement he made with the Rays?
- The security guard terrified of himself getting tased.
- How much I want to know what the cop is whispering into Sciesinski’s ear.
- The cop so desperately excited to get a chance to use his taser.
Clearly feeling lonely and outshined, later in the game Sciesinski’s friend Robert Mansour decided that he too wanted to taste the metal bracelets and got arrested after drunkenly starting a fight with another fan. That way they had a buddy in jail. Now that’s friendship!
The Rays have been a feel-good story all season long, already having won more games than they did their entire 2002. Attendance has been slowly rising but the residents of Tampa and St. Pete haven’t gotten fully on-board as yet.
Sports by Brooks found this the other day of one fan doing his best to add to the feel-good and to make the attendance rise.
Sure, she might not be giving him a handjob, but I prefer to be an optimist.
06
Jun
08
Coco Gets a Code Red
Last night’s Red Sox/Tampa Bay game featured so many crazy things going on that the actual action of the game was overwhelmed and pushed to the side. After Wednesday’s unnecessary hard slide and then subsequent yelling match between Coco Crisp and Rays hipster manager Joe Maddon (my favorite part was when Coco pointed at his uniform and yelled, “We’re the Red Sox motherfucker!”) there seemed little doubt that Coco was going to get plunked the next time he was at bat.
So, yesterday, in his first at-bat, first pitch, James Shields throws and hits Coco on the thigh. Then, as Crisp said,
I charged the mound. I feigned it like I was going to go to first base, just to get Navarro off me a little bit, and just charged the mound. He tried to hit me with a haymaker. He missed. I threw a punch. I pretty much missed. And the rest, went down to the ground… like the scratches on my face were people trying to scratch like we were playing football or something, like little girls, trying to scratch out my eyes. I move one hand down, scratch me right here [points to scratch to the right of his nose].
Now, as a Sox fan, I can admit that A) Coco shouldn’t have done the hard takeout on Wednesday, B) should have taken the hit-by-pitch and just gone to first. The brawl was unnecessary and Coco is definitely going to get a healthy suspension, (my guess 10 games.)
24
Apr
08
An Idea to Make Baseball Better
You’ve seen it at every Marlins home game. Same with the Pazuzu Rays or most Dodgers games. Nationals games definitely have the same issue; empty seats all over the stadium. There is nothing more pathetic than watching a game and seeing whole sections with no one in them, and no section is worse with constantly empty seats than the area behind home plate. Now, bad teams–although the Rays are on the upswing and the Dodgers should be good but their fans are generally some of the lamest possible–are always going to have trouble selling seats, I get that, but it would seem to me that there would be some inherent advantages in making it seem like more people are at the game.
There is probably no single shot used in a baseball game more than that of the center field camera focusing in on the plate, it’s probably used 200+ times per game. Wouldn’t there be some inherent value for the teams to at least pad their broadcast a little by making it SEEM like there are more people actually at the game?
I understand that for baseball teams the money generated by the seats behind home plate and around the dugouts can be enormous, but here’s something I don’t understand. If there is no one in those seats by the end of the first couple of innings why not have staff move around the stadium and offer those seats to the other fans that are spread out across the stadium. The premium seats are either sold and no one showed up or remain unsold and would be otherwise empty, so why not fill them up? Sure, some fans will be more than happy to stay in the upper decks or whateves, but most will jump at the opportunity to get closer to the action. For many fans, it would probably be the closest they’ve ever sat to the game and would be a forever memorable occasion.
What good does it do to keep those seats empty the entire game? The team wouldn’t be losing money because those seats are going to remain unsold or unused regardless and the fans that would be offered the seats would have already paid for their initial tickets. Furthermore, the amount of positive PR this would acquire could only serve to help the team that did this. If I knew that every time I went to a game that there was a chance I could be upgraded for free to a premium seat why wouldn’t I try and go as much as possible and take advantage of such an opportunity?
Now some of these seats include drink and food service, I could see that this might cause a financial loss for the team, so, solution, make server service unavailable for those who are upgraded and didn’t actually pay for the premium amenities. The game alone from that close would be special enough and I can’t imagine fans wouldn’t be cooperative or understanding.
Not only will some goodwill be earned with the fans who are supportive enough to keep coming to otherwise empty stadiums but it will spread out exponentially. As fans tune into the games or see recaps they will see that shot of home plate again and again, if they see lots of people in the seats the assumption would be that the team is more popular and might entice those important casual fans to make a few more trips to the stadium. Again, if those same fans knew there was a decent chance they would get a chance to sit in such incredible seats they would be even more likely to return several times.
In addition, the national media, ESPN, et al would eat this story up. Big rich company gives back to the little guy? Sounds to me like some really great PR for whatever team decides to employ such a strategy (or employs the brilliant guy who thought up said strategy…)
On Tuesday the Milwaukee Breweres bullpen (cough, Eric Gagne, choke, cough cough) allowed 5 runs in 2 innings to force the game into extra innings. Gabe Gross hit a double in the bottom of the 12th that got him into position to be scored by Gabe Kaplers single, winning the game. Going 2-4 with 2 doubles, 3 runs scored and a stolen base he had quite a fine stat line for the day. Not enough though in Doug Melvin’s, the Brewers’ GM, eyes. Immediately following the game Gross was dealt to the Tampa Bay Shaitan Rays for a minor league pitcher. Nice way to say thanks! What’s worse, is that this is not the first time this has happened to Gabe, he has a long history of things going well and then quickly not.
- In third grade, Gabe brought in cupcakes for his entire class. During the recess kickball game he started suffering cramps from eating too many and threw up all over Mindy Glotzberg, his crush was never realized.
- Junior year of high school Gross received his first awkward, teethy BJ and was feeling especially good. When getting a physical later that afternoon, the nurse informed him he had crabs.
- While playing in Single-A, Gross and some teammates went to a Hooter’s for some wings. He asked out one of the waitresses, who accepted. While walking out the door with her of the restaurant she was struck by a truck and dragged for 13.4 miles.
- On spring break in Cancun, Gross gets picked to be on an MTV show about wild spring breakers. He ends up on the Real World: Miami instead.
- A few months ago, during McDonald’s Monopoly game, Gross found all three green pieces, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Pacific, winning a free car! As he pulled off the lot he ran into a tractor trailer carrying frozen Burger King patties, totaling his new ride.
- Two weeks ago Gabe was specially selected online to get a FREE IPHONE, he followed the links for 2 1/2 hours until his computer was infected with 13 different viruses and then spontaneously started sputtering and smoking. No Iphone was ever delivered to him.
11
Apr
08
Al Reyes Knows How to Party
Al Reyes, the Beelzebub Rays closer last year, went out last night to celebrate his 38th birthday. Showing how baseball players are just like us, he entertained himself at a local bar and had a few drinks in his own honor. Then, as anyone is wont to do, he got into a fight, broke a ceramic pot, was Tased twice by an off-duty cop and spit blood on the people around him. Standard birthday fare. In fact, that’s the EXACT same breakdown of my 5th, 16th, 19th and 23rd birthdays. I hope he got a Game Gear too! According to Rays PR flak Rick “Please stop calling me ‘Wild Thing,’ I get it, I’m in baseball and we have the same name but please god just let me live my life in peace” Vaughn, “We are looking into the situation as we are just learning of it.” So rest assured the Beelzebubians are on top of it. Continue reading ‘Al Reyes Knows How to Party’
Frankenstein Duncan doesn’t think he did anything wrong with his slide and doesn’t understand why he was thrown out. The money quote, “I go out there and I try to play the game the right way, I told [Girardi] what I was doing, how the play went through my eyes.”
Well, did the play go through your eyes this way?
Because that’s you sliding into Akinori Iwamura’s junk…
13
Mar
08
Duncan Chasin’ Waterfalls
Over-eager uber-douche Shelley Duncan started what became sort of a brawl yesterday in a game between the Yankees and the Mephistophelian Rays when he, for no good reason, slid spikes up into second base. Duncan, who came up last year and showed all the exuberance of a kid straight after eating 37 pixie sticks and shooting up some ‘roids–not to say he does or is even rumored to do steroids, because that isn’t the case–was best known last year for being overly excited to punch his teammates in their forearms the moment they did anything noteworthy.
"Maybe later we can slam together other parts of our bodies..."
Duncan also earned notoriety last season when a 10 year old Red Sox fan asked for his autograph and he signed it “RED SOX SUCK, Shelley Duncan” so obviously there are few limits to his douchebaggery. Shelley is like that overly drunk guy at the party who keeps punching his passed out friend on the couch to wake up and mumbling about playing quarters or else his friend is a total pussy. Continue reading ‘Duncan Chasin’ Waterfalls’
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