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document.write( " Thinking Out Loud \n" ); document.write( "June 1, 2008 \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Thinking Out Loud: Going To Hell In a \n" ); document.write( "Handbasket \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Almost a month ago I penned a piece about \n" ); document.write( "the entertainment at Tropicana Field -\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Rays Missing a Beat on In-house Fun - and how the departure of John \n" ); document.write( "Franzone, aka John the Maestro, has left a huge void inside the stadium. \n" ); document.write( "Having been inside the House of the Tilted \n" ); document.write( "Roof this entire homestand, there has been something else that has been gnawing \n" ); document.write( "at me but I just couldn't put my finger on it until Sunday's homestand finale \n" ); document.write( "with the White Sox. \n" ); document.write( "Before the new information screens and \n" ); document.write( "gigantic television in right field were installed, you could always find the \n" ); document.write( "Rays' lineups posted above the Batter's Eye Restaurant in center. Not so now. \n" ); document.write( "While the big TV shows an endless, \n" ); document.write( "dizzying and almost nauseating loop of a Rays' batter graphic spinning around \n" ); document.write( "like a top and the matrix board above the eatery showing the biggest digital \n" ); document.write( "clock this side of Uranus, fans entered the Trop two hours before the game with \n" ); document.write( "nothing else to do but sit in their seats and listen to the kids screaming at \n" ); document.write( "players to throw up a baseball or two. \n" ); document.write( "Baseball fans who like to settle in with \n" ); document.write( "their just purchased scorecards from concession stands, or carry their own from \n" ); document.write( "home, get to stare at blank pages until the nitwits who run things think it \n" ); document.write( "appropriate for the basic of baseball information is doled out. \n" ); document.write( "Pitchers for that day are already in the \n" ); document.write( "bullpen warming and still nothing. Everyone has the lineups - the media, TV, \n" ); document.write( "radio and even those on the Internet - but the fans in the stands? In military \n" ); document.write( "parlance, they are told to hurry up and wait, as in get to the park early and \n" ); document.write( "sit in anticipation of a voice over the speakers tells you it's time to get into \n" ); document.write( "baseball mode \n" ); document.write( "Sunday the visitor's names were not read \n" ); document.write( "until 1:26 pm for a 1:40 pm start. The Rays? Nothing, nada, zilch, zero until a \n" ); document.write( "grand and spectacular "commercial" preview of the game tried to get people \n" ); document.write( "jacked up and as the clock rolled over to 1:29 pm, Joe Maddon's name was finally \n" ); document.write( "blurted out. \n" ); document.write( "But still nothing on a board. Any board.\n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "Batting practice isn't just for show, it \n" ); document.write( "is a time where fans get to see who is playing and begin their daily ritual of \n" ); document.write( "dissecting the game about to be played. Somehow the powers that be have no sense \n" ); document.write( "of the game. \n" ); document.write( "It is somehow tantamount to former boss \n" ); document.write( "Vince Naimoli who hired all his cronies from the business world but lacked the \n" ); document.write( "basic necessities to understand the business of baseball. \n" ); document.write( "Tick tock, tick tock..... \n" ); document.write( "1:35 pm and the big old clock in center \n" ); document.write( "remains. The info boards sparkle with the logo "Rays" while the bigger one has \n" ); document.write( "players doing their thing in uniform. The lineup? \n" ); document.write( "The Rays take the field. The National \n" ); document.write( "Anthem. Tick tock, tick tock..... \n" ); document.write( "At last. 1:39 and the centerfield board \n" ); document.write( "appears with a sight unseen for one-hour and 59-minutes ---- the lineup. \n" ); document.write( "In a world gone mad by one crazy \n" ); document.write( "innovation after another that has taken away from what this sports is all about, \n" ); document.write( "another tradition has apparently fallen by the wayside. \n" ); document.write( "Just because a company is good at what it \n" ); document.write( "does, doesn't mean they understand the task at hand. \n" ); document.write( "Anyone know Franzone's phone number? \n" ); document.write( "************* \n" ); document.write( "TIME TO BEAT \n" ); document.write( "THE PRESS: \n" ); document.write( "THE PUPPY POOPS ON TAMPA BAY: Maybe he \n" ); document.write( "uses the theory of on P.T. Barnum that there is a sucker born every day but \n" ); document.write( "don't you think that if you are on the radio and make claims, shouldn't you be \n" ); document.write( "able to back it up? \n" ); document.write( "It was not too long ago where a gentleman, \n" ); document.write( "and that word is used very loosely in this case, who calls himself the Big Dog \n" ); document.write( "bragged about how he has his finger on the pulse of Tampa Bay Sports. \n" ); document.write( "To be perfectly honest, he either has no \n" ); document.write( "fingers or has been hanging around a funeral home because the only pulse could \n" ); document.write( "be his own, and that could be stretching things just a tad. \n" ); document.write( "Since landing in Tampa Bay I have covered \n" ); document.write( "virtually everything including soccer at Raymond James Stadium, the Stanley Cup \n" ); document.write( "Finals at the Forum, all the top boxing matches, the Honda Grand Prix of St. \n" ); document.write( "Petersburg right on down to the fly-by-night minor league teams that pass \n" ); document.write( "through the area from time to time. \n" ); document.write( "That is not a bragging statement but a \n" ); document.write( "point of fact that in my entire media life here, I have seen Steve Duemig just \n" ); document.write( "once - at the USA-Ecuador match in Tampa. \n" ); document.write( "Once. \n" ); document.write( "The "Dog" has season tickets for the \n" ); document.write( "Lightning and has tried to cut the front office off at the knees every chance he \n" ); document.write( "gets. He rails against players and the coach but since the first game I sat in \n" ); document.write( "their press box back in 2002, I have yet to see his face. \n" ); document.write( "He doesn't go to Rays games, unless he is \n" ); document.write( "in the stands, but speaks as if he has inside knowledge. Maybe that's his alter \n" ); document.write( "ego talking, Whitney Johnson, who IS at most sporting \n" ); document.write( "events while he stays in the air conditioned luxury of his studio. \n" ); document.write( "What had me and a near full Rays' press \n" ); document.write( "box on the floor hysterical the other day was The Mouth of the South commenting \n" ); document.write( "on the report of a new coach for the Lightning. Here was a complete \n" ); document.write( "misrepresentation of his status and maybe his state of mind. \n" ); document.write( "In short, he proclaimed that he has had \n" ); document.write( ""numerous" confrontations with John Tortorella in the "locker-room" when in fact \n" ); document.write( "the only contact he has had was on-air and he treated them with kid's gloves. \n" ); document.write( "Confrontations my butt. Torts NEVER does interviews in the locker-room. \n" ); document.write( "THAT IS A FLAT OUT LIE. \n" ); document.write( "Unless he is hanging some gin mill where \n" ); document.write( "these executives hang out, which is not very likely, his confrontations exist \n" ); document.write( "only in his rather swelled head. \n" ); document.write( "For a major market, Tampa Bay sports radio \n" ); document.write( "is short on personalities and the ones that are on the air lack the in-depth \n" ); document.write( "insight it takes to make claims about their knowledge. Reading a newspaper or \n" ); document.write( "watching SportsCenter should be a point of reference, not a point of \n" ); document.write( "view. \n" ); document.write( "Duemig has been pulling the wool over the \n" ); document.write( "eyes of the Tampa Bay area and maybe even ClearChannel, his boss, for years and \n" ); document.write( "it is time for people to start calling him on his alleged knowledge. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "
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