Note to Yankee and Red Sox fans at Tropicana Field: If you’re down here on holiday, then by all means root away for your Yanks and Bosox. You support your team on the road. It’s what hard-core fans do. And, by the way, thank you for visiting the Tampa Bay Area and attending the game. The Devil Rays can use the attendance boost. And win or lose, please come back.
To those Tampa Bay relocatees from New York and Boston who retain childhood allegiances and persist in putting them on display at Rays’ home games: Hey, you live here now. By choice, presumably. Act like it.
And, no, I don’t root for the Phillies, Eagles or Flyers when they’re in town to play the Rays, Bucs or Bolts. There’s a reason I no longer live in my home town of Philadelphia, and Tampa Bay has everything to do with it. But you do have to be born somewhere.
Of course, once the Rays get competitive, and tickets aren’t so easy to come by, such issues become moot. Remember those hordes of New York Ranger and Chicago Bear fans at Lightning and Bucs’ games, respectively?
Winning ultimately conquers all. And that’s on the home team.