Don’t you forget about me. Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t. Don’t you forget about me. -Simple Minds
Public Service Announcement: OK, here we go! The Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The toasts of the town. See me walking around, I’m the boy about town that you heard of. Just so many good stories to choose from. So many good stories you can’t lose from.
- Stories like the first team other than New York or Boston to lead the AL Beast this late in a season since 2000. All with the second lowest payroll in the game.
- Like rookie phenom Evan Longoria. Tower of power. I’ll devour. Hitting the ball a country mile. Like a pitching staff with four starters who all throw in the nineties. Who all throw with consistency.
- Like a thirty-nine year-old reclamation project of a closer. Reclaiming his career in one final triumphant stand.
And then there’s Carl Crawford. That old compromisin’, enterprisin’, anything but tranquilizing, right on Carl!
The Rays have been the dictionary definition of the word futility. Just one of only four active teams never to have played in a World Series. The only team to have never made it to the playoffs. Finished in last place in every season of their existence. Except one. Except in 2004 when they finished fourth. And through it all, there has been Crawford. At least most of it.
Six of the ten years of it. CC is the heart and soul of these new look Rays. CC is the best baseball player on these new look Rays. Like my main man Yaz always says, “I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning. I think about it all day and I dream about it at night.” Carl Crawford thinks about it when he wakes up in the morning. Carl Crawford thinks about it all day and dreams about it at night.
Crawford rejected a scholarship at UCLA to play point guard so he could play baseball. Crawford rejected a scholarship at Nebraska to play quarterback so he could play baseball. And he plays it as well as anyone. What he’s done did in a still-young career is nothing short of amazing. Mesmerizing. Tantalizing. Captivating, he’s devastating. He’s an energizing, stolen-base-and-triple machine. If he had the exposure of a player in a New York, in a Boston, in a Chicago, in places like that there, Crawford would be a perennial All-Star and multiple Gold Glove-winner. With the Rays new found fame, that still may happen.
He’s improved his stats every year and should garnish himself an MVP Award before all is said and done. But what I like most about Crawford is his approach to the game. He’s a leader by example and rarely makes off-base comments. He plays hard. He plays smart. He plays hurt. He plays right. He is the straw that stirs the Rays drink.
Public Acknowledgements: The Jam, LL Cool J, Maude, Beastie Boys, Jayson Stark and Jake Larsen
Public Spectacle:
Peace out homies. Six two and Even!
Need More? Carl Crawford,MLB,Tampa Bay Rays
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