i could live the rest of my life without Tampa pro sports teams

things that irritate me about "The Trop":

1. Dwayne Staats and Joe Magrane. the stupid 70s hair. the innane commentary. the freaking delusion that the Rays are a great ball team.

2. they insist on calling David Ortiz "Dave". listen. if you aren't going to refer to him by his last name, then it's David or Big Papi. you aren't his buddy. you don't get to call him Dave. the most familiar you are allowed to get with him is Papi. that's it. now knock it off.

3. it's a dome. i HATE domes. and i firmly believe that if you want to build a dome ball field then you aren't allowed to do so unless you can afford to make the roof retractable. and you may only close it on account of rain. period. baseball is an outdoor sport. (so is football but that's got nothing to do with the price of tea in China. not till September anyway.)

4. "house rules". namely ones that benefit only the home team. for example: ball hit by A-Gon hits speaker but lands in fair territory & is dropped by pitcher = foul ball. ball hitting the "C ring" by Rays player and bouncing back onto the field = home run. ball hit by Youk off the "B ring" and bouncing back onto the field & caught = a fly out. just who makes up these rules??

5. just because Carl Crawford steals home does not mean we are looking at an all star player. get OVER it. we are NOT looking at the most exciting player in Major League baseball. and if you are awed by him, maybe you ought to at least LOOK at the other teams you play against. he's a *good* player but there are a lot of other players out there who are a lot better. 'nuff said.

6. Manny Ramirez sitting out of the All Star Game does not have anything to do with "Manny being Manny" you asshats. Manny sitting out of the game is because Manny has been having knee & back trouble for a couple of months now & he is electing to make a decision based on his health & needing to be a healthy part of his team's line up for the second half of the season. he is showing responsibility to his team by bowing out & giving his spot to the next guy in line. i will point out to you that this person is NOT Carl Crawford.

7. a park bench & a strip of dirt along the sidelines for warming up while constantly needing to check over your shoulder for foul balls lining your direction is *not* a bullpen. are you seriously THAT cheap??