Merry Christmas, Rays Fans

(Guest post for you all today, courtesy of Nails, the world's biggest Rays fan. As Nails might say, Merry Christmas, y'all.)

Imagine you're an 8-year-old kid living in Tampa Bay. You're just old enough to start really following sports and 2008 was quite the summer for you. Huddled in bed with your transistor radio on after bedtime, you spend weeks of your formative years rooting for Longoria home runs, Upton stolen bases, and Kazmir Ks. When you grow up, you want to be a Ray.

Then you wake up on December 24, 2008, and my, oh, my, has Christmas come early for you. The Rays expressed interest in LHP Willy Ohman! Ohman, 31, was 4-1 with a 3.68 ERA in 83 games last year for the Braves. Look out, AL East, last year's defending champs have added some depth to the bullpen!

Then you look at the top of the sports page (because you're only 8 and the bottom of the sports page is closer to your eyes when you sit at the breakfast table so you read it first) and you find out the Yankees have signed Mark Teixeira to an 8-year/$180 million contract. Kinda saps the fun out of the offseason for ya.

In light of this perspective, does anyone honestly believe it is Tampa Bay's fault their fans were slow to get excited about the 2008 Rays?

Hank and Hal Steinbrenner are the Wayans brothers' version of their father. At this point, is there one Yankees fan out there who is so excited about the 2009 season starting that he is counting down the days? Goosebumps thinking about Yankees' greats CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett, Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez, and Xavier Naxy taking on the Orioles?

And then we got my buddy down in Tampa. Baseball's not looking all that hot to him anymore, so he spends his time doing his math homework so that 20 years from now he can come up with a complex formula to package mortgage-backed securities which earns him enough money to buy season tickets to the Metropolitan Opera which is what kids do in 2028 because none of them want to watch baseball which was ruined by the Yankees when they were 8.

You're doing a heckuva job, Selig.

- Nails