The Rays Don’t Shine as Bright Indoors

When the Tampa Bay Rays took the field against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night with a chance to clinch their second playoff birth in franchise history, the stadium was filled with an embarrassing crowd of 12,466 people. With exception to the Rays, every team in contention, or who have already clinched a playoff birth have fans scalping tickets outside of their team’s stadium because extra tickets are rare to come by. In St. Petersburg, fans can walk up to ticket gates and purchase tickets on the night of any game. Throughout the season, the only games at Tropicana Field that sold out were games against the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, and Saturday night games which featured a celebrity concert following the game. The Rays have the best record in the American League at 94-63 and deserve a better fan support. When the Rays clinched their first playoff birth in 2008 against the Minnesota Twins, Tropicana Field was packed with 34,048 fans and sold out the balance of their post-season game. Buck Showalter, Baltimore Orioles manager, said that the Rays deserve more than 12,000 fans in attendance during their games because they are a great ball club. The Rays will finish their season playing four games versus the Kansas City Royals as they look to clinch their second American League East title in three years. Although Tampa has not received the support they deserved throughout the season, the organization believes that the fans will come out and support their team as they pursue their first World Series title. 

Rock Slide

When the American Collegiate Hockey Association released its pre-season rankings for the upcoming 2010-2011 division one season, Slippery Rock University was left off of this list. Last season, SRU went a Continental Hockey Mid-Atlantic division best 20-7-0-0-1 capturing its first regular season championship along with an automatic berth to the National Championship playoffs. Unfortunately, due to injuries, Slippery Rock University was forced to pull its spot in Nationals giving Kent State a shot at winning it all. Even with their impressive 2009-2010 season, the ACHA voters decided to keep SRU off of this list. Rounding out the top twenty-five includes West Chester University at number twenty-three, West Virginia University at number twenty-four, and Rutgers University at number twenty-five. SRU only lost three seniors this season and picked up an impressive twelve player recruiting class. The success from last year should have put the pride into ACHA’s top twenty-five ranking, but for some odd reason they were kept off the list. The pride started out their season by defeating Washington & Jefferson College 8-7, United States Naval Academy 3-1 and Towson University 9-0. The upcoming season will be a test of wills for the pride, as they will face four top twenty-five ranked teams in the next three weeks as they battle for a trip to the National Championship playoffs. 

The Vick Era in Philadelphia

When the Philadelphia Eagles took the field in Detroit on Sunday, they relied on quarterback Michael Vick to help lead them to their first win of the 2010 season. Sunday was Vick’s first start in the National Football League since he played for the Atlanta Falcons in 2006. After the 2006 season, Vick served eighteen-months in jail for his alleged role in a dog fighting operation. Although Vick had not started as quarterback since 2006, when he took the first snap versus the Lions it seemed as if he never skipped a beat. Vick went twenty-one of thirty-four, throwing for two-hundred and eighty-four yards along with two touchdown passes and thirty-seven rushing yards. Although Vick led the Eagles to a thirty-five to thirty-two victory over the Lions, Andy Reid announced Monday that Kevin Kolb, injured for Sunday’s game versus the Lions, would start versus the Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday. Despite Vick’s comments saying that he was okay with Kolb being the starter in Philadelphia, most Eagles fans believe that Vick should start in Jacksonville. During the Reid/McNabb era in Philadelphia, Andy Reid stuck by Donavan even when he was in a slump and the team was losing. With Andy Reid’s commitment to his starting quarterback, even if Vick won consecutive games for the Eagles, Reid would still start Kevin Kolb when he was healthy. Kevin Kolb’s debut as starter for the Eagles started out on the wrong note as he went five for ten for twenty-four passing yards before leaving the game with a concussion. In the second half, Michael Vick led the Eagles to a late comeback throwing for one-hundred and seventy-five yards, but it wasn’t enough as the Green Bay Packers held on for the win. Vick’s recent success should have earned him the starting quarterback position, but when Sunday comes around he will find himself back on the bench. It’s wrong that Andy Reid will not start Vick this Sunday or most likely any other Sunday this season if Kevin Kolb remains healthy. Most teams want to ride the winning quarterback or the player in any position that is leading their team to victory, but during the Reid era the Eagles have never done this. The Eagles still haven’t won a Super Bowl championship and will not under Andy Reid if he doesn’t change his coaching style. 

Introduction

My name is Zach Cunningham and I am a Sophomore Sport Management major at Slippery Rock University. I reside in Malvern, Pennsylvania, which is forty minutes west of Philadelphia.  When I am not studying, I enjoy playing ice hockey and working out. I play ice hockey for our school’s ACHA Division One ice hockey team, and spend most of my time outside of the classroom at the rink.  I am a devoted fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Tampa Bay Rays. During each team’s individual season I watch or listen to every game to see how my teams are performing. When I graduate from Slippery Rock University with a Sport Management degree, I hope to become an Athletic Director at an inter-scholastic school or work at a sporting facility in Florida.