Speak of the Devil... Rays?

What could possibly motivate me to post a week before Thanksgiving, when I'm so busy trying to organize my portfolio for a run at a job at Hallmark? Uniforms, of course.

Maybe you've heard about this already, but when did the Tampa Bay Devil Rays drop the Devil? The Tampa Bay Rays? That's right. And along with the new name comes some sweet new textiles. Personally, I love the little sun burst. Funny how all of the teams that were established in the '90s are adopting more traditional team colors in place of what were the trendy teals and purples of that time. As for the name thing, I don't think the league should have allowed this change. The American League East is on a slippery slope here. There has to be some sort of obscure by-law that would prohibit a situation where the Rays and the Jays are in the same division. How long before the Toronto Blue Jays put out a press release that announcing they are no longer Blue? What about that team in Boston? Isn't their name too long too? Sox would suffice. Sure, you might get confused with the White Sox, but maybe they could convince them to change their team name to White. No logo, just white pants, jerseys, and hats, kind of like the Beatles White album.

Come to think of it, maybe the "Rays" are on to something (actually, Arizona's uniforms probably make them bigger culprits of team name truncation, but I like the "D-backs'" new look). There are a few teams that could shorten their names. I'd definitely like to see the Angels pick a city. Doing so would cut their name in half.

Bottom line: bush-league uniforms for a bush-league club. Tampa Bay's new look (especially the jersey) has a distinctly minor league feel. I hope they didn't pay too much for that logo. I would have done twice the job for half the dough.