wall street x sports

i can't get down with the tampa bay rays. they're young and cool and whatnot and dude's name is almost eva longoria and that's good for a chuckle. but-and feel free to call me cynical if you like- i don't want a cinderella story. because that glow that they're basking in might just be nuclear radiation. sports is owned by wall street. (what ever happend to wall street sports?)and now that wall street is tanking, it's only a matter of time...

even now, on the cusp of an acheivement that surpasses the Celtics, Rays owner and former Bear Stearns analyst andrew friedman is already looking forward to next year's dissolution of the once bedeviled rays. says friedman, in these tough times, the fans should not have unrealistic expecatations for next season given that the rays are having a tough enough time holding down the $40 million dollar payroll. unrealistic expecations? you just stood at the helm of the greatest single season turnaround in mlb history. i think you can cool out and just enjoy this one shining thing in your life for a second. once an analyst, always an analyst i guess. whatever that means.

honestly though- and as i write this, bryant gumble is ironically spouting out a little monologue likening sports to the dot-com bubble and the housing market- i wonder how sports will be impacted by all of this. a petty inquiry perhaps, but the fact of the matter is that sports has always managed to keep its head above the fray, outside of the problems of the real world. that's why we love it and why it becomes the subject of great scorn and intrigue when our sports figures step outside the lines and live actual, flawed lives. manny ramirez is about to catch $100-something mill over the next 6 years and the Dow Jones just dropped to its lowest level in the last six. it's only a matter of time before those ticket licensing fees at the new yankee stadium will mean the difference between a new car or a used car, or your kid getting braces.

oh, and the winner of game 1 (the phillies) goes on to win the series 67% of the time. Congrats rays.