How long has "fever" been a term for a group of rays, though? I scanned through several online encyclopedia entries for rays and "fever" wasn't found in any of them. And the earliest "fever of rays" reference in a news article I found was from 2016.
13 year old me had a "Dodgers Fever....Catch it!" shirt in the 80s. Pretty sure they were available in stadium shops everywhere with each team represented, and ads for memorabilia with this slogan appeared in Baseball Digest. May have been a marketing slogan pushed by MLB at the time but obviously no connection to the not-even-hatched-yet Rays
I love this revelation and it's a very fun idea, but being surprised that an MLB franchise didn't already think of it feels like giving them entirely too much credit. This is a league after all that put an image of the wrong document on their Independence Day caps...
I think the issue is that 99% of Rays fans wouldn't get the reference. Hell, I bet no one in the FO even got the reference until you emailed them. That said, the Rays have so many issues. The baseball operations have done everything right (and that's what counts!), but everything else? Meh. They can't draw fans. The Trop is terrible, both in location and ambiance. It's like watching a game from inside a trash can. No strong identity: are they rays of light? Aquatic animals? A TV show character that everybody loves? Pick one. Boring ass uniforms that are more fit for a traditional 100 year old team, not a relatively new team in the sunshine state.
The stadium concepts and branding for the Orlando expansion group are outstanding. They should focus on bringing the Rays to Orlando...they'll do much better there.
"I think the issue is that 99% of Rays fans wouldn't get the reference." --> So you teach them! You explain it on social media, etc. Fans will embrace it, just like they embrace, uh, almost all the other stupid marketing concepts that teams push on them.
I'm trying to think of a way to say my comment that won't potentially set off a string of replies that won't go anywhere useful, but I don't know if that's possible. I'll try to say it in a roundabout way such that by not using a few keywords, it might avoid some issues:
Tampa Bay Rays marketing meeting, November 2019:
"Hey, a group of Rays is called a fever! Let's make our marketing campaign for 2020 'Catch the Fever!'"
"Yeah, 'Catch the Fever in 2020'! That'll be great! I can see everyone getting real excited about catching the fever around mid-March."
Luckily, at this point we don't have to go back in time. I also think that, knowing Florida, enough people would WANT to catch "Rays Fever" just to show it wasn't that bad, barely more than a cold, honestly, and anyone that says otherwise is clearly a Yankees fan. 🤣
Bc of the Jimmy Fallon movie, I only think about the Red Sox when I hear the phrase "fever pitch"
How long has "fever" been a term for a group of rays, though? I scanned through several online encyclopedia entries for rays and "fever" wasn't found in any of them. And the earliest "fever of rays" reference in a news article I found was from 2016.
Oh, interesting -- I hadn't considered the possibility that it might be a new-ish term. Will investigate further!
But hey, if it's new-ish, then that's even more reason for the Rays to adopt it -- new, hot, modern, contemporary, etc.!
I was thinking about how since a group of crows is a murder, maybe a minor league might want to rename themselves "The Murdererous Crows"
13 year old me had a "Dodgers Fever....Catch it!" shirt in the 80s. Pretty sure they were available in stadium shops everywhere with each team represented, and ads for memorabilia with this slogan appeared in Baseball Digest. May have been a marketing slogan pushed by MLB at the time but obviously no connection to the not-even-hatched-yet Rays
I may be incorrect but the rays game program magazine is called Fever Pitch.
I believe it's actually called 'Inside Pitch.'
I think "Fever Pitch" might be too inextricably linked to the Red Sox, thanks to the movie, at least for a certain generation.
But an underrated joy of reading Uni Watch (and IC, for that matter) is unexpectedly learning new words. Piscine was a new one for me!
I love this revelation and it's a very fun idea, but being surprised that an MLB franchise didn't already think of it feels like giving them entirely too much credit. This is a league after all that put an image of the wrong document on their Independence Day caps...
Absolute no-brainer!
The crowd-noise gauge would be a thermometer and would go until there was a fevered crowd!
Paul, this is great content and really love the idea.
And to the commentariot (H/T Deadspin), keep those jokes coming like a Rays reclamation project becoming an All-Star.
You know how certain words look really weird after you read them over and over again? "FEVER" is taking on that quality for me now.
I think the issue is that 99% of Rays fans wouldn't get the reference. Hell, I bet no one in the FO even got the reference until you emailed them. That said, the Rays have so many issues. The baseball operations have done everything right (and that's what counts!), but everything else? Meh. They can't draw fans. The Trop is terrible, both in location and ambiance. It's like watching a game from inside a trash can. No strong identity: are they rays of light? Aquatic animals? A TV show character that everybody loves? Pick one. Boring ass uniforms that are more fit for a traditional 100 year old team, not a relatively new team in the sunshine state.
The stadium concepts and branding for the Orlando expansion group are outstanding. They should focus on bringing the Rays to Orlando...they'll do much better there.
"I think the issue is that 99% of Rays fans wouldn't get the reference." --> So you teach them! You explain it on social media, etc. Fans will embrace it, just like they embrace, uh, almost all the other stupid marketing concepts that teams push on them.
Did Paul de-manta speak to the manager of the department?
I'm trying to think of a way to say my comment that won't potentially set off a string of replies that won't go anywhere useful, but I don't know if that's possible. I'll try to say it in a roundabout way such that by not using a few keywords, it might avoid some issues:
Tampa Bay Rays marketing meeting, November 2019:
"Hey, a group of Rays is called a fever! Let's make our marketing campaign for 2020 'Catch the Fever!'"
"Yeah, 'Catch the Fever in 2020'! That'll be great! I can see everyone getting real excited about catching the fever around mid-March."
Luckily, at this point we don't have to go back in time. I also think that, knowing Florida, enough people would WANT to catch "Rays Fever" just to show it wasn't that bad, barely more than a cold, honestly, and anyone that says otherwise is clearly a Yankees fan. 🤣
"We can't go to the concert because of Ray's fever."
You're absolutely right. How can they overlook this opportunity? Not gonna lie - it's really piscine me off!