My good friend Gerard hates when people call the Red Sox, the Sawks. I think its an insult to the Chicago White Sox to call Boston the Sox at all, let alone with the faux Boston accent. So Red Sox it is. And White Sox. No Sox. And no Rays.

Let's assume, by fact that they put a bright little sun ray on the logo, that the Tampa team wants to promote a "Fun in the Sun" squad, as opposed to the "Beach Creature (with a touch of Satan)" route. Well that's not only dumbed-down marketing - who doesn't know that Florida has sun? - it's also contrary to the integrity of sports names. They aren't supposed to be arbitrary. They're supposed to say something about your city - Rangers, Mariners, although Phillies doesn't add much to one's sense of what Philadelphia is - or say something about the history of baseball, like the Soxes.

And, I guess because they thought they were so new to baseball (1998), that they could get away with the old switcheroo. Well that doesn't fly here. Tampa, you sold out. And you may be experiencing the false-hope upswing before a major karmatic crash. Pity, I usually like to root for the underdog - which you were - or just against the Red Sox and Yankees, in general. But for the Rays, I must make an exception. I can't root for someone who changes their stripes.

Here's a scenario: what if Toronto - enviously eying up the Buffalo Bills as we speak - becomes a burgeoning destination area. They spruce up the town, add some sports franchises, and adopt Vancouver's leniency toward marijuana. They need a new marketing scheme to bring in tourists, so in honor of all the joints being smoked they decide to drop the "Blue" and become the Jays. The J's? They could do that. No one can stop them. The league should be in on this decision, anytime a nicknames changes. They might need to be preserved some day from selling team naming rights. It's not sooo far off.

It's not fair to the fans with jerseys or the sporting public. It's not fair to the other teams. It reminds me of the West Wing episode where a group of people from North Dakota petition the federal government to drop the "North" from their name (to be just Dakota) because it was adversely affecting tourism. They said that South Dakota sounded much more appealing to travelers, and what with Mount Rushmore and all, they didn't even stand a chance. And you know what Donna Moss said? Too bad, deal with. Become attractive, make people want to be in North Dakota. Not Dakota. North Dakota. Make people want to watch the Devil Rays. Not Rays. Devil Rays.

By winning the AL East this year, the Rays overcame the mighty Yankees and the potent Red Sox and that in and of itself could have brought the Devil Rays out of last-place and scary-named hell. But they sold out. I wonder for how much? Because the baseball gods may enact revenge when this series starts tonight. We'll see. If they do, we'll know why. And any team from that point forward that wants to change its name better think twice.

And don't even get me started on the Lakers, Jazz, and Heat. That's for another season. October - as much as I love football - was made for baseball. And maybe it took a serious run from the Phightins for me to be reminded of that. Go Phils!

Side note on words and sports: "Words" by Doves is an good song from a great "low lying" band that I love and last year the NFL Network stole it for their intro song. They have since stopped using it and I think I have it back now. If I keep my mouth shut, I don' think anyone will even notice it was gone. Sshh.