Ever Heard of the Rays?

No, not the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Tampa Rays. See how long this sticks...kind of like the Toronto Jays. I think that concept flopping can be directly blamed on Eric Hinske.

Why today are we talking about the Rays? Remember the first No Owens post about fantasy sports and its effect on the sporting world? Remember who the focal point was? Yeah, that Carl Crawford...needless to say we haven't referenced a Tampa Bay area baseball team since.

Today, people are trying to stay "hush hush" about talks going on between the Rays and your favorite Home Run King himself, Barry Bonds. I'm not lying to you.

This is the perfect situation for baseball all together...and the worst for the government.

If Bonds goes to Tampa, he goes into the biggest media death trap in baseball. None of us, or you, have to listen to anything about Bonds until legal issues come around. Also, if I'm not mistaken, that Tropicana Field or whatever it goes by these days is a pretty big place, limiting power numbers and making A-Rod's mission a little easier for you A-Rod fans. In return we get Barry Bonds not complaining about really anything, that we know about, getting to DH and again, he falls into a hole that no one cares about.

Except Ray ownership. Like it or not, people want to see Barry Bonds and chances are, given the chance, so do you. Is there a team that needs people in the seats more than the Rays? I mean, there are a solid number of teams that really need fans, but the Rays are really close to being a good team, they are just in the wrong division. Either way, they can get Bonds at a discount, get a solid bat, and put a few more thousand in the seats every day. And that doesn't count the days Scott Kazmir is on the bump.

But, what does Barry Bonds get out of all this? The guy who could some day go to jail for perjury, though he probably never will, will live in Florida. You know that state where OJ lives in a giant compound? Yeah, Bonds conveniently gets to throw a whole bunch of cash into the Florida Homestead Protection that can't be seized should enough legal action occur that puts him into a financial crisis. Barry Bonds couldn't be a happier dude with a big head.

The Rays may very well get the greatest hitter in Major League history. They get what they want, Bonds gets what Bonds wants. Everyone wins right? Everyone except all of us.