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Shanoff’s Wake-Up Call: Gotta Root For Rays

Oct 22, 2008, 12:02 PM UTC

Today’s Calls: Phillies vs. Rays, Brett Favre vs. Jay Glazer, Tony Romo vs. Kellen Winslow, Kobe vs. Derrick Rose, Tebow vs. McCoy and More.â†µâ†µThe Opening Pitch: If you care about sports, you will root for the Rays when the World Series opens tonight.â†µ

â†µâ†µMore accurately: How could you NOT root for the Rays? â†µ

â†µâ†µThey represent everything that fans stand for: Hope.â†µ

â†µâ†µHope that this is THE year for their team. Hope that their perennial loser will break through. Hope that payroll size shouldn’t matter. â†µ

â†µâ†µThere is no more thrilling success in sports than “Worst-to-First.” And the Rays are on the verge of the greatest Worst-to-First story ever.â†µ

â†µâ†µDo not mock the limited fan base; that base welcomes your fair-weather attention. (Compare that to, say, Red Sox fans.)â†µ

â†µâ†µDo not mock their cavernous arena (which is NOT a “ballpark”); maybe the new Yankee Stadium should adopt the Trop’s now-trendy “catwalks.”â†µ

â†µâ†µDo not mock their name change; can you remember the last time a brand — sports or otherwise — was positively re-invented so suddenly?â†µ

â†µâ†µDo not mock their conservative spending habits; there isn’t a team in baseball that wouldn’t swap entire rosters with the Rays right now.â†µ

â†µâ†µAs I said last week, I have a soft spot for Philly fans. (Hey: Losing this series will only make your next championship that much sweeter.) But, as it has been since April, this is the Rays’ year. The year when Cinderella ruled baseball. The year of hope.â†µ

â†µâ†µHow can you root against that?
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â†µâ†µMy prediction: Rays in 5. Check out SN’s staff picks.â†µâ†µ

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â†µFavre Scandal, Cont'd.: When Brett Favre sits down for his weekly press conference today, here is what reporters should ask:â†µ

â†µâ†µ— Did you talk with Matt Millen the week before the Lions played the Packers?â†µ

â†µâ†µ— Did you talk with any Lions coaches about the Packers?â†µ

â†µâ†µ(Presume he denies it.)â†µ

â†µâ†µ— Why would Lions coach Rod Marinelli have no comment, rather than back up your denial?â†µ

â†µâ†µ— Why would a reporter or his sources make up something like that?â†µ

â†µâ†µ— Do you still harbor any bitterness toward your old team?â†µ

â†µâ†µ— I have “a friend” who used to play for one team, left bitterly, then scouted that team for another team, one that he wasn’t even playing for. Is that appropriate?â†µ

â†µâ†µPrediction: Favre will deny everything, but there is no reason to believe him, as there is no reason not to believe Jay Glazer’s report.â†µ

â†µâ†µMore NFL: Tony Romo declared himself out for this Sunday’s game. At least there won’t be any “will-he-or-won’t-he” faux-drama heading into the back half of the week.â†µ

â†µâ†µBrowns suspend Kellen Winslow: Did he spit on a woman at a club? No: He got sick, then complained about how the team treated him. The team claims they told him in advance: “Be sure to take your Robitussin!*”â†µ

â†µâ†µ(* -- Not a quote.)â†µ

â†µâ†µNBA Preseason: Kobe injures his knee. Uh-oh. This is not good. (It is “only” hyperextended, but you never know with these things.)â†µ

â†µâ†µMeanwhile, Derrick Rose had a monster game — an arrival-announcing game — scoring 30 points on 13-for-18 FG in a Bulls’ win against the Mavs.â†µ

â†µâ†µ(More rookies: O.J. Mayo out-dueled Michael Beasley 28-19, but Beaz’s Heat won the game — their first preseason win in two years.)â†µ

â†µâ†µCFB: What’s the bigger Game of the Week — Oklahoma State at Texas or Penn State at Ohio State?â†µ

â†µâ†µGiven Texas’ position at No. 1 in the BCS, you could argue for the Big 12 showdown of unbeatens. However, given that this is Penn State’s signature game of the season — make-or-break for its BCS hopes, really — it’s hard to top PSU-OSU.â†µ

â†µâ†µHeisman Watch: Real McCoy Following the lead of Tim Tebow, the HeismanPundit.com straw poll voters unanimously picked Colt McCoy.â†µ

â†µâ†µRemember I mentioned SEC ref Wilbur Hackett yesterday? His hit on South Carolina QB Stephen Garcia hit the million mark on YouTube.â†µ

â†µâ†µCBB Must-Read: Mike DeCourcy on five developments for the season he wants to see, including a smart caveat to my claim this week that Blake Griffin is the national POY (my “Anyone But Hansbrough” movement).â†µ

â†µâ†µVick Watch: In a world where the cover-up is always worse than the crime, it’s refreshing to see Michael Vick ‘fess up — even if he is doing it with the intention of reducing his overall jail time.â†µ

â†µâ†µMore MLB Awards: Evan Longoria and Geovany Soto win Sporting News’ Rookies of the Year. I would argue Longoria is worthy of MVP consideration, too (consideration, if not the MVP itself).â†µ

â†µâ†µTour de Lance: Let me get this straight — Lance is one of the most iron-willed athletes in history, yet he demands the Tour de France organizers to be extra-super-duper nice to him to get him to race?â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Last Word: Matt Hayes has to know that putting Florida in his BCS title-game projection will always get him link-love from me.â†µ

â†µâ†µDan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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