Kevin Costner Would Like To Serenade You

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are in the process of unveiling their new look, and do they have some great events planned to get the fans excited about it.

5:30: Fashion show featuring 18 players, manager Joe Maddon, coaches Tom Foley, Dave Martinez and Don Zimmer and ex-Rays Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff modeling new uniforms. New merchandise available for purchase.

A fashion show with the Crimedog and Wade Boggs? How much? Seriously, it has be like a $100 a ticket, right? What? It's free? Get the hell out of here! And we get the Zimmer too? Fuckin' right doggie!

Ok, now that I've got my heartrate under control what else do you have for me?

6:30: Kevin Costner and his band Modern West in concert performing original rock 'n' roll.

Now you're just fucking with me. No way that Costner is going to be there. You're serious about this too? The guy who played Wyatt Earp, Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy and Ray Kinsella is going to be there with his band? And they're going to be kicking out some "original rock 'n' roll", (whatever the hell that means)? Sign me up twice, I'll be there buying all sorts of new Devil...oops...Rays merchandise since the old stuff was obviously what was holding the team back. Well, that and never having Kevin Costner sing "Hotel California".

One Step Closer To Manufacturing The News

Amid the major league baseball games yesterday was a matchup between the powerhouses that are the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Texas Rangers. The big story wasn't about what teams were playing, but rather where they were playing. As this contest took place at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, FL.

At first, it seems like a great combination. Mickey Mouse and America's pasttime. Until you realize that Disney owns ESPN, and that ESPN aired highlights of the game on its SportsCenter segment. I also checked out the ESPN.com site to see if there was any type of commentary on the game, but as of right now they're just running the AP story. Though, I am interested to see if any ESPN contributors write or comment about it. Don't trust John Kruk's "comments"!

The other part of this story is that the attendance for the game was 8,443. It was roughly 1,000 below capacity of the Disney complex, but about 200 more than the Devil Rays averaged at home(Tropicana Field, capacity 38,437) for the six games against the Rangers last season. That's right, more people watched the Devil Rays play yesterday at a minor league park than they did at their home stadium last year against the same team. Though, the "rows and rows of empty green chairs for the first pitch" must have made them feel right at home.