Tampa Bay officially drops "Devil" from name

[Orange Nation]

They will now be known as the Tampa Bay Rays. They also have plays for a new stadium. The water front stadium would cost $450 million, seat 30,000, and be similar to Pittsburgh and San Francisco's

This has been a very long time coming... they've talked about it for at least a year, probably two. They went from having one of the worst visual identities in the league to having... one of the worst visual identities in the League. It looks like the sun in the logo was just an after thought.

[Carl J. Ironsides]

A new stadium? HAHAHAHAHHAHA.

[Orange Nation]

http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/images/2007/11/07/I4b9d3XF.jpg

[Meridius]

....why....?

[BF_in_Indiana]

Man is that an ugly logo.

[Jro]

Tampa Bay Rays just sounds horrible. I dont like it.

[JLB]

Tampa Bay Rays just sounds horrible. I dont like it.

The Bay Rays does sound goofy.

[ricogarion]

That team will look really good when its known as the Bisons and is playing here in downtown Buffalo.

[24Impala]

well now they can lose 100 games in different colors and perhaps a new stadium, at least.

[Snarf]

I knew they were going to drop the "Devil" because they said when people talked bad about the team they said Devil Rays, and when they said something good (which is not often) they said Rays. But I thought they were going to stick with the fish theme, not this lame rays from the sun. Maybe this is not the most PC thing to say, but that logo looks like it should be the logo of some all gay baseball team.

And does this mean they will be taking the fish tank with the Devil Rays swimming in it out of the Trop? That is a highlight of going to most games in St. Pete.

[Orange Nation]

from boston.com

Among the other finalists for a new name were the Cannons, Renegades, Tropics, Wave, and Dukes. The Tampa Elijah Dukes we assume was not in the running.

Ah, it was the Devil that kept people away, not the perennial last-place finishes. Good to know.

What’s most baffling about the name change is how they got there. Lancaster writes that the team started with more than a million computer-generated possibilities. A million. And they end up with “Rays.” The team hired a New York corporate image maker for this, and they got “Rays.” Obviously this is the easiest company in the entire world to work for.

[shotgun]

colors look like the blue jays

[SabresFan220]

Wow, thats just awful. I used to play for the Devil Rays team in my baseball league until I was asked to be a player/coach for the new Dodgers team last season. Now my former teammates are going to have to wear that? Poor bastards, I'm really glad to be wearing Dodger blue now.

[ckg68]

Makes no difference what they're called: They will still ABSOLUTELY SUCK!

The Tampa Bay Rays....AKA Carl Crawford and 24 jabronis alleged to be baseball players.