BY JonSel

A Swing and a Miss

Hello! I’m Jonathan Selikoff, along with Jim Palmer, Tim McCarver, Dick Vitale, Mel Allen, Dick Enberg and Dr. Joyce Brothers. Join us, for this all-important contest between the logos and uniforms of the old Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays.

We’ve got a heck of a competition tonight, don’t you think Dick?

Dick Vitale: Absolutely, baby. When it comes down to it, a ray of sunshine vs. one of those devil rays? Baby, who are you kidding? No way, baby! My money’s on the bright light.

JS: Dick, there’s no gambling in baseball. I’m afraid you’ll have to leave the booth.

Here’s the scene on the field: last year’s TB Devil Rays, in white uniform vests with green piping, and a green undershirt and some sans serif typography that should be escorted out of this ballpark immediately.

On the other side of the field, new for 2008, we’ve got the Tampa Rays, in classic white with blue piping, a big serifed “Rays” across their chests with quite possibly the longest tail on an R I’ve ever seen. And inside the R we’ve got a burst of, something. Oh, it’s some rays. I get it. Let’s turn to our hall-of-fame pitcher, Jim Palmer, and see what he thinks.

Jim Palmer: I have to tell you, I come from the old school, where we wore stirrups and images of little birds on our chests. Nothing frightens an opponent like an orange and black bird flyin’ in your face. Am I right?

JS: Not really, but I’ll give you this, orange and black certainly beats the bleak green last year’s Devil Rays were sporting. And I’m having a hard time picking those players out on the field. They’re just blending in with the astroturf! So I’ll give one point to the new 2008 Rays. In fact, I’ll give them two points for shedding the oh-so-frightening visage of that pesky underwater bird, the devil ray.

Dr. Joyce Brothers: If I can add a point, the psychology of color plays a big part in who wins this contest tonight. That dark green is for losers. And I mean REAL losers. For ten straight years. The Devil Rays can barely beat their mothers on the field. A ray of sunshine? That golden color combined with some deep blue is just the prescription I’d order. I think even Freud would agree that the players and their mothers will just feel better about themselves in this look. And a winning attitude is 90% mental, the other half physical.

JS: Are you even a practicing psychologist? And channelling Yogi Berra to boot…interesting. But yes, I’d have to agree with you that the new blue scheme, with a hint of sunshine gold is nice. It’s a nice classic fit with baseball, America’s pastime. Of course, I’m a bit biased towards navy blue myself. Just like my old friend Mel.

Mel Allen: Heh, heh. How about that!

JS: Exactly. But we’ve got some bigger fish to fry tonight, folks. Oh, wait, this just handed to me by the good folks in the production booth. The devil ray lives on on the sleeve. That’s just ridiculous. What are these guys, sunshine or fish? McCarver, help me out here.

Tim McCarver: I have to tell you JS, the Rays organization just doesn’t know what it’s doing here. They never have, they never will. They’ve shown they can’t build a quality franchise, and now they show they can’t build a quality uniform.

JS: Well, that’s a bit harsh, but they’re trying to have it both ways here. They want a break with their unsuccessful past, but they just can’t quite let it go. The players seem to like it, though, so maybe that says something. Mel, tell us some more about the new logo.

Mel: Heh heh. How about that!

Dick Enberg: I’ll take it, Mel. That logo is about as special as a Ralph Branca fastball. We’ve got some serifs, some shadows, and a baseball diamond. And, apparently the logo was hit by a laser blast. I hope it’ll be ok.

JS: Right on, Dick. I could be happy that this hasn’t gone the swoosh route, or been illustrated with inlines, outlines and shadows. And for heaven’s sake, at least no rainbow embroidery. But I just can’t. It’s a little league logo for a little league team. It’s a pretender. It wants to be an old-school baseball logo, but just isn’t there. It’s the safe and conservative route, and I don’t see it in the hall of fame anytime soon.

Ok, folks. That wraps it up tonight. What do we know? That the 2008 Tampa team is now the Rays, and they’re hoping for a brighter future on the field. Good luck to them, because they’ll need it.

Thank you, and good night.

The original, 1998 logo. Yikes!

\n\nHello! I'm Jonathan Selikoff, along with Jim Palmer, Tim McCarver, Dick Vitale, Mel Allen, Dick Enberg and Dr. Joyce Brothers. Join us, for this all-important contest between the logos and uniforms of the old Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays.\n\nWe've got a heck of a competition tonight, don't you think Dick?

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