If you’re a Tampa Bay Rays fan, i know im speaking to a very miniscule crowd here, but you heard they were shutting down the nose bleeds. Absolute tragic move by the front office to reduce the seating straight to 25,000. In all honesty though, those seats have only been filled during the two runs they’ve had in the playoffs and a few Jankee games here and there. Logically and if I’m not being sarcastic, it’s a smart move. But I’m being sarcastic and they ripped out some of my heart.

What put it back together was a deal to keep the Rays in St. Pete until 2027.

There had been a lot of talk for the past two seasons, even a stadium proposal, to put the Rays in Ybor City or basically anywhere besides St. Pete. Due to there December 31st deadline in 2018 they had to declare they would stay or go. They gave us dome loving fans, if you know what I mean, hope to move forward. That deal to stay in the Trop was the deal us die-hard fans needed to power on through the day. The sun started shining brighter than ever before.

However, not all people agree with me. Very surprising that I don’t answer for all the people in the world, but unfortunately it’s true. Not to name names, but one of my great friends has the complete opposite opinion than me. Yes, a new stadium will most likely be put next to the water and have a couple new face lifts, but let me give you some positives on the Trop.

• 72 degrees 24/7, 365
• Not sweating all the beer you drank out during 1000 degree weather during the summer.
• A lot of open seats
• Rays tank
• DJ Kitty
• Dom Zimmer
• Dick Vitale

You cannot argue against any of those. Except maybe Dickey V but I don’t care if you don’t understand the impact DJ Kitty has upon the Rays players and most importantly, the FANS. When the Rays are down late in the game, who comes out to play and hype everyone up? DJ Kit sauce. Who’s there when we need him on the Jumbo Tron spinning the fuck out of turntables? DJ Kit meister. He’s almost like out boy JC up top, shout out to JC, he’s there when you need him.

Don’t start with me on the Rays tank. You can go touch the stingrays. Where else can you do that in Major League Baseball? Nowhere. Where else can you swim with stingrays in a controlled environment? You can’t actually do that but I’m sure you can try to make it happen. Don’t tell em I sent you though. The power the Rays give off in that tank are almost unmatchable. You feel the vibe then the strong energy almost immediately when you enter the stadium. Almost hits you like the strong smell of shit right after you walk in the bathroom after some slob who’s been eating hot pockets for the past 4 days. Only the strong survive that type of force and the strong I’m referring too is the Ray fans themselves. It’s an electric feeling. One that you can only feel within the presence of the string rays.

Don’t be my friend and cry about the moving into a different stadium. There are so many things to love about the Trop, you just have to sit down and think about them. Massive impacts on people’s lives have happened at the Trop. Marriages, the birth of the Devil Rays franchise, and of course the birth of DJ Kitty. It’s the little things in life.

BTW, the Rays also just agreed to be the first Major League baseball team to go completely cashless for the upcoming season. Also, if you do not like the Trop, we can just start calling it the big D. Thanks for reading.