New name for the Devil Rays?

[hustle4alivin]

I saw this article in the St. Petersburg Times the other day, and some of those were choices submitted by subscribers and by the writer of the paper itself. Personally, I feel that just the "Rays" would be fine. It flows off the tongue so much better than the clunky name we have now. Also, removing "Devil" from the name would probably calm Ronda Storms & co. down.

Tarpons seems to be a pretty popular choice, and it seems that it would represent something more better known in this area than a Ray.

Some people say that they should be named after St. Pete instead of Tampa Bay, which I think would be a disservice to the other millions of people in the metro area, since this baseball team is supposed to represent the entire area, not just St. Pete. I understand St. Pete feels this way is because they are the more base ball oriented city in the area, and they did foot the bill to build Tropicana Field years before MLB decided to even look at this area. No offense to those of you in St. Pete, but lets face it, Tampa is the more well known of the Bay Area cities. Not to mention where the center of business and industry is. There is a reason why they're the Dallas Cowboys, not the Ft. Worth Cowboys. (also why they're the Miami Dolphins, not Ft. Lauderdale.) I understand that Oakland, the lesser known of the Bay Area cities has their own teams, but so does San Francisco, but that's a whole other debate.

I hope the "Floridians" won't be the team name if they decide to rename it, but if Houston got the lame "Texans" as the name of their football team, I wouldn't be surprised if "Floridians" would be picked.

What would you pick?

[bsutter2]

Tampa Bay Sharks!

Black and white unis!

Simple outline shark logo like the one from Any Given sunday. NO pro sports team has this name! It woud be so much better the the stupid ugly devil rays.

[TampaTKE]

The NHL has a hockey team called the sharks! If we had to go with a shark name I personally like

Tampa Bay Hammerheads

or....What about Tampa Bay Turtles or Tampa Bay Loggerheads?

Loggerheads are native to Florida, and they play in a stadium that they can nickanme "The Shell".

I voted for Tampa Bay Rays because I think we need to keep a little history no matter how bad, and it could mean a 'Sting Ray' or a 'Ray of Sunshine'. I am not offended about the "Devil", but I just think it is dumb b/c I don't think there is an animal named specifially that.

Raymond James should also take a name sponsorship...Rays and Raymond James. It is a natural fit!!

[TampaRE]

We should shorten the name to Tampa Bay Rays.

Go Rays!

Sharks sounds good, but isn't that San Jose in another sport? That's like naming it Tampa Bay Magic.

[bsutter2]

Even if san jose has it, there are a number of teams in different sports that share names. Sharks is ALOT cooler then Rays or Drays or whatever. Plus they are on a DIFFERENT coast and play in a sport that is even less popular baseball! (shocking)

[mgsports]

Sharks?

Buc's?

Hurricanes?

[BHCav]

There's a baseball team in Tampa Bay?

[cwat212]

Manatees

[BHCav]

How about the Tampa Bay Terror or Tampa Bay Tigersharks. Tampa Bay Thunder?

The Florida Flamingos. Since the Marlins are leaving, Tampa can take the Florida name.

[JimSawhill]

Hmmm...

Maybe if George could swap teams -- they could be named TAMPA BAY YANKEES. The AL Team could be called the devils because if they had the Rays.. it'd be HELL for the baseball writers in NY City. LOL

JimS

[tampasteve]

Hmmm...

Maybe if George could swap teams -- they could be named TAMPA BAY YANKEES. The AL Team could be called the devils because if they had the Rays.. it'd be HELL for the baseball writers in NY City. LOL

JimS

With the amount of Yankees fans in the area you would think they were the home team and not the Rays. It really is sad, but it is the truth....oh well, when the Rays start winning there will be a LOT of turn coat fans that will claim to "have been a Rays fan from the start;" yeah, the start of their winning more like! Oh, well, that is another story and raw point to talk about with REAL Rays fans!

Steve