From apathy to over the top?
For a decade, you couldn’t blame people for staying away from Tropicana Field. The Rays finished in last place in the American League East nine times in the first 10 years of existence, and never won more than 70 games in a season.

But somewhere along the way this year, the excuses disappeared under an avalanche of nearly unprecedented developments. Only the Rays have won a pennant with the lowest payroll in their league. Only one other team won a pennant after having the worst record in the majors in the previous season. Only two other teams won a pennant after 10 consecutive losing seasons.

Yet as late as Aug. 27th, the Rays drew a home crowd of less than 13,000. Their season average was around 22,000. It took Red Sox fans to help them pack Tropicana Field for a key September series.

The first four home playoff games attracted crowds of right around 35,000, and those totals jumped to just more than 40,000 when coverings were removed from distant sections of the dome.

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And suddenly, famed hoops voice Dick Vitale — a longtime season-ticket holder and one of the few who can’t be accused of jumping on a runaway Rays bandwagon — has plenty of crazed company.

No, these new Rays fans don’t just show up. They don ‘Rayhawk’ wigs to join the team’s fad started by outfielder Jonny Gomes. Or they go a step further, and actually cut their hair that way.

They start fights with Red Sox loyalists. And they clang those incessant cowbells — a trick out of the Sacramento Kings fans’ book, promoted by Rays management through giveaways, and video clips and ringing instructions on the stadium scoreboard.

"We've been losers for 10 years, and now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon," 51-year-old Mark Ferguson, a sports pub owner and former teacher, told the Associated Press.

"It's been indescribable," 52-year Dave Rosenberger told the AP as he attended a rambunctious Rays pep rally Monday. "The spirit is almost like going back to high school, before homecoming," Rosenberger said. "It's just incredible how it's brought this community together."

All of which has sparked a barrage of criticism on blog sites, message boards and chat rooms across the internet. Going from one extreme to the other apparently is too dramatic of a transformation for many to tolerate.

But it’s not as a dramatic a change as their new favorite team has undergone.

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