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Peyton Manning to Miami, Peyton Manning to Arizona, Peyton Manning to anywhere except for the most logical and perhaps the best match that could possibly be made.  It is unreal to imagine that Peyton would go to the Jets when Captain Hot Air, aka Sexy Rexy Ryan, is in charge up there and the circus is in town on a daily basis.  Miami, like New York, is a big city and Peyton has never been a real big city guy despite owning a condo on South Beach.  The logical choice for Peyton to choose from all of the potential NFL teams is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and likewise, Peyton Manning is the logical choice for the Bucs as well.  

First, lets address the elephant in the room...Josh Freeman is a talented young quarterback that would be a coveted prize for many of the teams in the NFL.  He is a relatively proven talent and a team pursuing him could expect to start him immediately and compete.  Josh Freeman is not a draft pick of Greg Schiano though, and he is arguably not a draft pick of Mark Dominik either.  Raheem Morris lobbied incredibly hard to draft Freeman because he coached at Kansas State while Freeman was the quarterback there.  At the time, the pick was considered a reach because of concerns about Freemans decision making, which we saw a great deal of this past year.  Freeman had a rough rookie year, a great sophomore season, and a rough third year.  While he still has a great deal of potential, and I think he will be a successful NFL quarterback, he was not a Schiano project.  It is not unreasonable that Schiano would want to bring in his own guy and develop him under one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game.

As trade bait Josh Freeman would bring at least a 1st round and a 2nd round pick, perhaps next year, but possibly even more.  Potential trade partners are the same teams that would draft a QB or go after Manning.  So they could ideally trade with Cleveland, get the 4th overall pick in this draft and a 2nd in next years draft.  This would allow the Bucs to draft Justin Blackmon and Morris Claiborne in addition to signing free agents Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne.  The Bucs have some of the most cap room available in the NFL so they can also pursue Saints free agent guard Carl Nicks to join Jeff Faine, Davin Joseph, Donald Penn, and the versatile Jeremy Zuttah.

Cleveland is not the only potential trade partner though, there is always Miami, Seattle, Kansas City, Oakland, San Francisco, Arizona, and potentially some of the other "dark horses" that are in the Manning sweepstakes as well.  There is simply far too much potential in Freeman for teams to ignore the possiblity and this potential creates an opportunity to turn their first round pick from 3 years ago into a source of talent in the future. 

Tampa has a young defense that is a free-agent linebacker away from becoming solid again which can also be addressed through free agency.  I will get arguments against this point but the fact is that Mason Foster was thrust into the middle linebacker spot in his rookie season and that created chaos within this talented young group. Adding a vetern free-agent  linebacker will allow Mason Foster to move  back to the outside linebacker position where he thrived in college.  These free agent acquisitions along with the existing young receivers of Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn will be perfect for Manning to pursue another Super Bowl ring.  Add in the talented running back Blount and a great tight end in Kellen Winslow Jr. and Tampa becomes the perfect fit for Manning.          

Additionally, a fact that may be overlooked is that Eli Manning's former quarterback coach is now the offensive coordinator in Tampa.  Everyone talks about the Manning family and how tight they are so it is reasonable to assume that if a coach can work with Eli then he will be able to be familiar with the other brother as well, perhaps more quickly than in other situations.  Greg Schiano is not a flashy coach which is consistent with what Peyton Manning has thrived with his entire career.  Despite coaching in the NFC, Schiano appears to be the type of coach which would facilitate Manning's demeanor and lifestyle. 

The final, and possibly most convincing point in this is the Glazer family.  This ownership group is about business and Peyton Manning means good business.  The Bucs have struggled for years to tickets and the free agent acquisition of Peyton Manning would instantly solve that problem.  In recent years the Bucs have failed to spend money in free agency but it was just a couple of years ago that this ownership group offered a 100 million dollar contract to Albert Haynesworth so the ability to spend seems to be there.  If they are serious about competing for a super bowl then the Bucs have to pursue Manning because it is the right move for the present and for the future. 

Attention national media, 4 letter network, Stu Sternberg, and anyone else who may be listening...please stop blaming the baseball fans in the Tampa Bay area for baseball not thriving in the area.  If you tune into any local am sports radio station you can hear every possible excuse for why the fans in this area do not come out to see this team play but the reasoning is far simpler than the "experts" have defined it to be.  This thing takes time!!!  The fanbases of the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Cardinals, and numerous other teams are vast.  Those fanbases were not built overnight!  GENERATIONS of fans are supporting those teams and that is something that the Rays do not have and will not have for many years to come. 

The Tampa market is obviously a smaller market than many of the cities that major league baseball resides.  It is for this blatant reason that the current direction of the Rays will only end in disaster for the Tampa area.  As a fan, I love the fact that Stu Sternberg is pumping money into this franchise but as a realist I believe it was also a Major League mistake to throw that kind of money into the team at this point. 

The Rays are going to be a young team for many years to come.  The Tampa Bay area will support a major league franchise but we cannot be held hostage by ownership that demands attendance immediately.  Although there was a high level of young talent within the Rays organization, no one expected this team to make a run to the World Series last year. 

I am afraid that the ownership of this team has gotten swept up in the excitement of a world series appearance and is straying from the greater good.  The signing of Pat Burrell, while ambitious, was a deviation from the overall direction of the team and will ultimately take away from the youthful future of the Rays. 

The Rays need to focus on youth for the coming years and accept our place within Major League baseball.  If we attempt to do more than what we are capable of then the experiment will ultimately fail.

As that "always" reliable four-letter network reported this morning, Barry Bonds could be a Tampa Bay Ray next season?  Reportedly his agent and Rays management are both in town today and could be talking about what it will take to put Barry in a Rays uniform for the 2008 season. 

While it would be interesting to have his home-runs on this team I am not sure how bringing a distraction like that into the locker room would effect what the Rays are building.  I must admit that I am torn on the subject because there is a large part of me that wonders what this team would do if you added another 40 homeruns to the lineup and if Pena was able to produce another 40 home run season like he did last year.  That kicks-off another long line of "if's" and that is about the point that logic kicks in.  If the Rays were a serious contender for the World Series then I would probably say why not, but we would be going after this guy so that we could get over the .500 mark and for that reason I say no way.  I would rather see the Rays grab another player that would be here for a few years and pay them the millions that it would cost to get Bonds for one year.  Yes, Barry will still put up numbers, but no, we are not seriously thinking that the Rays will be representing the American League in the World Series this year.  I am not so cynical as to say we won't be getting there ever, but I do believe that we are still a bit away. 

Now that we have visited fantasyland by playing the "what if" game, let's be realistic "four letter" network.  IT IS SPRING TRAINING!!!  Oh, and spring training happens to be in the area that, believe it or not, the Rays play.  Could it possibly be that Barry's agent is in town to shop his client to maybe the Yankee's, Red Sox, or any of the other teams that call the area home for the spring???

Neither myself nor anyone else is a mind reader.  None of us have a time machine to go back and sort through the so-called steroid era and its not like we really want one anyways.  The simple fact is that the game is not tainted, the records do mean a lot, and RoidGate is mostly fueled by the media looking for the next big story.  We are relying on ancient newspaper writers and the talking heads on that four letter network which we all love to define what America's Pasttime has now become.  Congress has decided to "take a stand" against this injustice to the world in which the fan is the victim.  If you ask me the taxpayer is actually the victim because these overpaid, interest group driven grandstanders are attempting to get more face time to promote their next election.  Word of advice congress, if you are going to have a panel to question baseball players, at least get politicians who could identify a baseball in a lineup. 

I am not here to defend Roger Clemens or anyone else accused of using performance enhancers, but I would rather ask why we are not going after the people who were encouraging these players to "get an edge"?  The players made bad choices but that does not make them dangerous criminals that are going endanger our society.  The truth of the matter is that Bud Selig needs to be in front of congress facing criminal charges not only for the lies he has continued to tell but for encouraging steroid use to build the popularity of the game.  Those of you who want to say you don't believe the likes of Jose Canseco or John Rocker, I would ask why not?  These guys were there, and I don't think there is any doubt that they were both doing steroids.  They did not have to name names to get us interested in their story so when they do name names I for one believe them. 

Both of these players have stated that major league baseball not only knew about the steroids but educated players on how to use them effectively.  We talk about the effect that steroids in baseball will have on the youth yet we are not doing anything about the problem.  Who cares if baseball players took HGH in the past, it wasn't banned from the game therefore it was an accepted part of the game.  We can't go back and prosecute a person for an act that was not a crime at the time.  I agree that steroids should be banned but that means that we need a tougher policy on steroid use.  This 3 strikes and your out is a joke and simply lets the borderline athlete know to do what he has to do and get that big payday.  The first time you are caught you should be suspended without pay for a full season and the second time you are finished for life.  Oh, and if you are caught in college then that is strike one so don't try to get away with it there. 

What is in the past is history.  We can't change the way the game was played 5, 50, or 100 years ago.  Some guys played in tougher conditions or bigger parks many years ago but we accept those records for what they are.  Let's go after the promoters of this era and make it known to the players that if you continue this behavior then you will have to find another line of work.  Ultimately, Bud Selig needs to go and we can all go back to building the game back up. 

Why is it that as soon as a professional franchise mentions the words "new stadium", there are opposition groups banging down the doors of city hall?  Anyone who has been to a game at Tropicana Field can attest to the fact that the Rays are like a novelty baseball franchise.  We have an ownership group that is committed to building a winning team both on the field as well as off, but we have a population of complainers in this area that think the Rays should just play in the stadium that they have.  I can give you countless reasons why this new stadium should be built, but somehow I believe that no matter how good the reasons, citizens who are opposed to this development will never change their mind. 

The ownership group is investing in this team, even though you would not think this was the case if you listened to sports talk radio in this town the past few years.  Stu Sternberg is a smart businessman and he does not just spend money for the sake of spending money.  He has taken his time with this team, made prudent decisions on a personnel basis, and also made many improvements to the facilities. The renovations to the Trop in the past few years have made it a much more enjoyable experience to attend a ball game.  Unfortunately, no matter how many improvements are made to the Trop, it will remain an outdated baseball stadium that was in need of replacement before the Rays ever took the field there. 

Our new ownership group recognizes this situation, and instead of simply living with it they are trying to work out a suitable alternative to continuing to play there.  Recently the plans for a new stadium on the downtown waterfront were unveiled and with that came the opposition groups.  Citizens of St. Petersburg who think that they do not need the Rays and would be just fine without them.  I hate to tell you St. Pete, YOU ARE WRONG!!! 

This new stadium will bring increased tourism to the downtown area, which helps the restaurants, shops, hotels, and bars that we all love in the downtown area.  The stadium is not an eyesore, it is more of an attraction to hold not only the Rays but also concerts, fireworks, college games, highschool tournaments, and who knows what else.  The people against this project look at it as another pro team getting whatever they want at the cost of the taxpayers which usually is the case, but not in this situation. 

The development of the new stadium is going to be largely funded by the redevelopment of the old stadium, which is definately an area that needs to be redeveloped.  They are planning on putting up residential housing, hotels, retail stores, a movie theater, as well as many other components to the existing stadium grounds.  Although all of this is in the planning stages, we as a community need to get behind the Rays and support their efforts in making not only their operations better, but making the city better at the same time.