Tampa Bay Rays Employee Openly Roots For Yankees
Things that make us hurt inanimate objects July 31st. 2009, 8:30amUsually on the final strike of a loss to the Yankees, our face is buried in our hands. But thankfully one reader had his eye still fixed on their TV set. Otherwise, we might have never noticed this craptastic moment…
The gentleman in the blue polo is part of the Tampa Bay Rays security staff. He is responsible for the gate that opens immediately behind homeplate.
It is difficult to tell from this still-frame, but immediately after Michel Hernandez swung and missed at strike three to end the game, this member of security threw up both of his fists in an obvious bout of celebration (for those of you that have the MLB.tv package, we encourage you to go back and watch for yourselves to get the full effect).
To repeat: That is a Rays employee, openly rooting for the Yankees, at Tropicana Field.
Luckily we are never at a loss for words, or we would be at a loss for words.
Are you &#@%ing kidding us?
It is bad enough Raysheads have to put up with 15,000 obnoxious Yankees fans at the Trop. At least they are putting money in the Rays pockets and helping to improve the product on the field. But now we have to deal with Rays employees openly rooting for the Rays’ hated rival?
Listen, we are not saying that all employees have to be fans of the Rays. But if you are indeed a Yankees fan and the Rays are putting money in your pocket, SHUT. THE BLEEP. UP.
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Well, in Greece and other parts of Eastern Europe nodding your head means “no” while shaking your head means “yes” – maybe this guy throws his fists in the air when he’s angry.
Nevermind – I tried to give this guy the benefit of the doubt and make something up, but I can’t. That’s a seriously douchey move. Beyond the douchiness of rooting against your employer, he did it in a spot where he KNOWS he’s on TV. And to add just one more level of douchedom, this was the ESPN game, right? Classy.
at least you were kind enough to cut out the score of that game in the pic. it’s like i can sorta pretend it never happened =\
See, I blame the Rays for not knowing this guy was a Yankees fan. First, the dude is bald. I mean, shinny bald. Next, he’s fat. Not big-boned fat but the kind of fat that comes from routinely drinking cases of PBR or 40s of Steel Reserve. And finally, (and I’m guessing here), he still lives at home with Star Wars posters all over his walls. Put all three of those things together and he is OBVISOULY a Yankee fan.
Cork, bro … you know I totally dig you in a fellow-baseball-and-Rays-lover, fellow-writer sort of way, but c’mon! Don’t you remember the Vince Namoli days when it it was status quo to tell the D-Rays fans to be quiet because they’re bothering the Yankees fans? Or the time when Whitney Johnson from 620-AM was doing a remote at the Trop, and he was physicially acosted by Yankees fans? (Dude is so laid back, that there’s no way he instigated anything.)
Or MLB violating their own blackout rules to let a Tampa radio station broadcast the Yankees games in another team’s market? (That one REALLY pisses me off because I was blacked out from watching the Rays broadcast when they played Nationals. Baltimore I can almost understand, but the Nationals?!?!? COME ON!)
Belieeeeeeeeve me … I’m not disagreeing with you. But it just doesn’t surprise me. I guess it’s just lost its shock value to me.
This is the way MLB wants it.
ugh. I guess I was hoping things had changed.
Things HAVE changed. At least I think they’ve changed. Are the Rays fans at the stadium rolling over for Yankees fans? If that’s the case, then things need to change. Still it looks to me like there are a lot more Rays fans than their used to be in the stands.
On the other side of it…
I was at a game a few years ago when the Dodgers were in town. There was an obnoxious LA fan in the seats a few rows behind us. You know, the kind that come in and run their mouth about how great their team is and how the Rays suck. It got worse as the Dodgers took an early lead. Through the course of the game, however, the Devil Rays took the lead and after awhile I looked around for the guy and he had left. The point being: the most effective way to keep the Yankee fans quiet at Tropicana Field is for the Rays to win those games.
This should be brought to the attention of the front office and this guy should be fired TODAY!It’s one thing to be a fan of a rival of your employer but to show it in public in unacceptable! What do the fans paying $200 to have to look around this douchbag think about it? This certainly would not be tolerated in New York. I will look for this jerk every game I attend.
Go look for him, he is one of the heads of security so what are you going to say!
A couple of things I did not point out in the post for the sake of brevity…Before the final pitch, this guy is pacing back and forth in what can only be described as “nervous anticipation.” And I couldn’t quite get the frame to freeze at the mazimum height of his fist-pumpage. I would say his right hand was actually as high as the side of his head. This was a very emphatic fist-pump. not something that was done “under his breath”.
I don’t want the guy fired for being a d-bag Yankee fan, but the FO should hear about it and reprimand the guy.
I would agree with that. maybe just have him guard the urinals for a week.
Exactly!! You can’t control the man’s thoughts, but if he can’t control his behavior he needs to be WAYYY up on the 300 level.
Make him clean the bathrooms after a Yankees series………..Nah, that would be cruel and unusual.
Excellent! I love that idea.
Cork how about a new shirt on the order of:
Roid
Sox
;o)
I’m convinced that this is a trait unique to some people who live in Tampa Bay, most of whom moved here, presumably by choice, yet go out of their way to refuse to adapt the local teams for some reason. There are hundreds (thousands?) of people here who claim to be fans of a sport yet only come out when “their team” is in town. In the case of Yankees fans I’ve encountered, more than half of them don’t even have a direct connection to the team; “They were my grandfather’s favorite” or “My family used to live in New York” or “I liked Mickey Mantle”. It’s become one of those things that I’ve given up trying to understand.
heard on the radio that the guy’s name is John Rankin. He is an assistant Principal at Madeira Beach Middle School as well as the Home Plate security supervisor at the Trop.
Douche
were they talking about this incident or was it a different reason he was brought up?
Big Dog was talking about it on 620am this afternoon. Had a few choice words too.
For those that were curious, the front office is aware of this situation. I do not know how high this awareness goes, but there ARE people in the front office that know this happened. I think we can assume (hope?) that this will indeed get back to the individual involved and hopefully it will not happen again.
From the inserts above it shows that the IQ level is very low in here. You’re allowing the media to guide you where ever they want to. The man is a “True Blue Ray Fan”. The fist pump was in anger just as the man behind him was because of the bad call. Wise up people do not be lead like sheep.
Did you actually watch the video? There is zero chance he was pumping his fists in disgust. ZERO chance.
Don’t need the video when I know the man!!! Know the facts!!!
Well, when you have seen the video, come back. Because I have seen the video about 12 times. And I have talked to at least a dozen other people that HAVE seen the video. And there is absolutely no question, he was happy on that final strike.
Which brings me to my second point. If you had watched the video and if you really do know this person, you would know that he was not “angry” because of the “bad call.” It was a SWINGING STRIKE. There was no call to be angry about.
I’m not so sure security people work directly for the Rays???
Might be sub-contracted out to a security co. to hire their own people?
In that case he could show a little more discretion..but should root for any team he wants..much like a truck driver who delivers food items to the Trop!
[...] One year ago on Rays Index we caught a Rays security guard openly rooting for the Yankees at The Trop. [...]