I'm psyched about the anticipated signings of Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez. It's been a hard, hard winter in St. Pete as the Rays' do Extreme Makeover: the Payroll Reduction Edition. Now, hope springs eternal!
Check out the full story in the St. Pete Times, click here.
My favorite quote from the weekend chatter...
Eric Ortiz, NESN: Putting Damon and Manny in Rays uniforms adds a whole new level of intrigue to the East. Maybe that’s part of Scott Boras' master plan to conquer the world. Maybe Tampa Bay was the only team willing to pay each veteran more than the league minimum. Whatever the reason, Damon and Manny are back in the Beast. They will be coming to Fenway Park nine times in 2011 and playing the Red Sox 18 games. They will be stopping by Yankee Stadium nine times and facing the Yankees 18 games. They will be making trips to Baltimore and Toronto. Joe Maddon isn’t complaining. Neither is Bud Selig. The former Red Sox stars are smart pickups for the Rays. They might be past their "Cowboy Up" days, but at the very least, Damon and Manny will put fans in the seats at Tropicana Field. (from The Heater blog)
Other weekend highlights:
The Bulls held a job fair Saturday for seasonal positions at the DBAP. I'm very much aware of the unemployment stats, but still, we were surprised at the interest in these part-time jobs. 250 people attended...got pretty crowded. It was an older-than-usual group, too. We have about 100 seasonal jobs on our Hospitality Team, however, most of them are filled by returning employees.
A neighbor had taken her kids to The Lion King at the Durham Performing Arts Center. It's a fantastic show, but as they passed the ballpark and the famous snorting bull, the young uns wanted to know when they could go to a Bulls game. That warms my heart! (The answer, of course: Opening Day is April 14th.)
