* The Tampa Sports Authority is drafting a 10-year strategic plan that includes a scenario for a Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium. The TSA, which operates Raymond James Stadium and several public golf courses, doesn’t have tax-levying power. But it does have an obligation to include contingency planning about a future Rays’ facility.
Would that comparable bodies in Pinellas were as open to regional reality. The Rays won’t stay hostage to stubborn, counterproductive, St. Petersburg parochialism forever. Actually, “forever” comes due a lot sooner than that 2027 lease date for Tropicana Field.
* Alas, it was no surprise to see some moron run onto the Trop field the other day during a Rays’-Mariners game. Idiocy runs in cycles. We appear to be in one.
What was surprising was that Fox, which was televising Tampa Bay-Seattle nationally, chose to show the incident, including the security gang tackle. Wrong choice. Getting attention is why such “fans” do such things. It’s a trade-off for an arrest and a take-down.
The only exception should be if a taser is used to subdue the subject. That’s a tougher trade-off for fleeting fame — and a likely disincentive.
* Good bye, finally, to budget-busting bust Pat Burrell, the Rays’ designated out. I still miss Jonny Gomes.
* Why bother having a world hockey championship during an Olympic year? Just a couple of months after Canada dramatically defeated the U.S. for gold in Vancouver, Germany is hosting the world championships. Many NHL players couldn’t participate, because their teams were still in the playoffs. The result: a tournament that is necessarily second rate and anti-climactic.