(Not an actual portrait)

I was laying around watching Sportscenter this morning, as I can often be found doing most mornings, and found myself feeling nauseous.

No, it wasn’t because of the ubiquitous coverage of White Sox Mark Buehrle’s perfect game yesterday that happened to occur against my beloved Rays. (The coverage was, of course, warranted, by the way…I just am sick of seeing my guys as the team that was no-hit)

No, it wasn’t because of Brett Favre’s constant whining about whether he should come back to play for the Vikings or not (Who isn’t getting sick of that?  Geez!  I used to like the guy!  Now I just want him to go away!)

It was because of a simple poll question the geniuses at the sports network formulated for the fans to vote upon.

In light of the amazing catch that Dewayne Wise made in the top of the 9th inning of Buehrle’s perfect game yesterday (it was quite a catch–dammit!) ESPN decided to give a list of the greatest catches in major league history and ask, “Which of these catches was the best catch?”

Of course I was giddy because I was going to see my guy Carl Crawford honored with a spot on the list because of his exceptional catch in this year’s All-Star Game that helped to preserve the AL’s victory and secure home field advantage of the American League team in the World Series.

It was going to be there and I was going to hear the ESPN (I’m pronouncing it “ess-pin”) anchors gush about how amazing it was.

Catch #1 was Dewayne Wise’s amazing catch.

I threw up a little in my mouth, but was otherwise ok.

Catch #2 was Kirby Puckett’s catch against the wall in the 1991 World Series that they say helped the Twins to win it all that year.

Yawn.

Catch #3 was the black and white filmed Willie Mays World Series catch that we all know and love (and have imitated) way back before anybody can remember.

That’s a good one.  I think that is THE best catch ever.  I’m ok.

Catch #4 was Torii Hunter’s catch to rob Barry Bonds of a home run in the 2002 All-Star Game.

The game was an exhibition back then, so who cares, but whatever.  It was good, I guess.

Catch #5 was Endy Chavez’s catch in the 2006 NLCS against the Cardinals to rob a home run. 

A catch that did not save the game because the Mets still lost.  So who gives a crap?

And that was it.

I was waiting for Catch #6, Carl Crawford’s game-preserving catch against the NL in the 2009 All-Star game that allowed the AL to clinch home field advantage in the World Series.

Where was Catch #6!?  Where was it!?

Not there.

Apparently, the masterminds who create the extremely varied and always fresh shows such as blabfest “First Take,” blabfest “Around the Horn,” blabfest “Pardon the Interruption,” and the blabfest “SportsNation” (what other blabfests have I left out?) forgot that one of the best catches just occurred a few weeks ago!

I was livid! 

As a Rays fan you have had to accept certain things over the years.

#1–Your team will be ridiculed as being one of the worst ever.

#2–Your dad will call your team the best AAA team in the majors.

#3–People will not go to the games during the week.

#4–Fans of the opposing team will make up more of the audience at a game than your own team’s fans.

#5–The media will ignore you, except to mention thing #1.

But all that changed with last year’s Rays team.  The World Series Rays team.  The AL Champion Rays team.

All that changed, right?

Well, all but thing #5.

ESPN has been notorious for allowing the baseball team in Tampa Bay to go without notice.  If they play a team in Los Angeles (Dodgers only), New York, Boston, Chicago, or Philadelphia, then they will get plenty of press, but only because of their association with aforementioned team.

But on their own, the Rays are typically pushed to the end of the Sportscenter program.  I can remember many a time where the Rays were actually not even mentioned in the show because they ran out of time.  I can remember many a time on “Baseball Tonight” the Rays receiving barely a sentence of acknowledgement from the mouth of Karl Ravich before moving on to the more marketable teams.

I was able to overlook much of this over the years because I guess I figured the Rays deserved it a little bit.  They were bad for a long time.  That’s hard to forget right away.

But boy oh boy ESPN doesn’t care about the success in Tampa Bay, they care about making sure they pander to the fans of the “big five” baseball markets mentioned above.  Because God forbid they don’t smooch the backsides of those teams. 

So I walked away from the tv.  Angry and incredulous, I made a bowl of Cap’n Crunch.  The Cap’n makes all the world’s ills disappear.

 

Then I accidentally turned on Sportscenter exactly 1 hour later than when I saw it the first time and SAW THE SAME STORY AGAIN!!!

So I stormed like a pouting child to my keyboard and punished it by pounding out my feelings into “words.” 

The nausea returned and the frustration boiled over.  Almost lost the Cap’n! 

Carl, I think that many fans in the country know that your catch belonged on a list of best catches well ahead of a catch a guy made in an All-Star Game when nothing counted and a catch a guy made in a playoff game his team lost and nobody remembers.

Who cares that it wasn’t against the biggest steroid user or for the second team in New York?

We in the oft forgotten Tampa Bay area know your catch garnered you the All-Star Game MVP this year and will help the AL team (the Rays) beat the NL team in the World Series.

We remember.

Too bad we aren’t one of the “big 5” markets ESPN loves so much.

They probably would have pushed Willie off the list if we were–who cares about catches that really matter, right?

Da-da-duh, da-da-BLECH!