Last night, I went on a very fun date up to St. Pete to see the Yankees play against the Tampa Bay Rays. Yes, I was wearing my Yankees cap, and yes, my date was a Rays fan. But we still managed to have fun.
The Yankees may have been outmatched in last night’s particular game, but they by far outclass the Rays when it comes to one particular thing.
The Tampa Bay Rays, formerly known as the Devil Rays, changed their name in 2007 — and the brand changed from being about “manta rays” to being “a ray of sunlight” that radiates across all of Florida. They developed a new logo to match this change in sensibility.
Um, too bad, they didn’t develop a new conscience to go along with all the show-me-the-money new branding.
The Rays baseball team keeps a tank of live rays in a very small contained space, surrounded by thunderous vibrations and noises. 
What’s really shocking is that this tank is attended to by the Florida Aquarium.
Really? What can they be thinking? And what’s even worse, in an acknowledgment of the possibility of a Rays player’s hit sending a ball hurtling in excess of 100 miles per hour and slamming into the tank — very likely hitting a ray in the process — the Rays will donate $5,000 to charity. if that happens.
Really? What about just doing the most charitable, compassionate thing they could do and return those rays to the open waters where they belong?
I’m no marine scientist, but I’m just guessing these creatures can hear and feel and sense all the crazy noise and beating and thundering that goes on during these games. I imagine they have a fairly good sense of feeling when it comes to vibrations in their water — I know what the noise does to my senses, and can only imagine how it traumatizes them.
It made me feel kind of sick last night. Seeing those poor rays across the field, swimming back and forth in their little tank. Honestly, it’s just not a good commentary on who we are as human beings that we would do this to another species.
There’s no amount of public education or awareness or branding or whatever that is worth what we’re doing to the rays. So in my book, the Rays may have won last night … but they’re big, fat, selfish, cruel LOSERS.
They may have changed their brand to promote themselves as a “beacon of light” — but they need to shine some of that light on their own consciences and return the rays — no longer even their symbol — to the waters where they belong.