REPORTING FROM ... BANDWAGON NATION

David Higdon

"They're sharing a drink they call loneliness, but it's better than drinkin' alone."

"You want a real taste of Tampa Bay baseball?" Rays fan Gary Foster asks me over his breakfast at The Dome Grill, a diner within spitting distance of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL. "Come back here next summer when they're playing Kansas City."

Just last night, more than 30,000 fans cheered on the former Devil Rays to a 6-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox. But you'd never know it this morning at The Dome Grill. "Baseball people," sniffs owner Michael Karamalakos, "they come in for the games and they go. No business."

In fact, Foster, an Orlando native who occasionally cruises across I-4 West to catch a game, seems to be the lone Rays fan in the place. Chef Cliff Loomis, a Vermont transplant and the diner's resident MLB expert, claims to root for the Rays, but admits he's yet to completely shed his allegiance to Red Sox Nation.

After complaining about the Rays' "cheap" owner, Loomis shares some compelling stats from this season: The Rays are 31-2 this year when they've drawn more than 30,000 fans, and they're 6-0 when a game's sold out, as it was last night, much to Foster's chagrin. He had to rely on luck in the lottery and reach deep into his pockets for ALDS tickets.

During the regular season, unless a popular team like the Yankees or Red Sox was in town, you could have bungee jumped from one of the catwalks at the Trop and no one would have noticed. But it's October, and now there's room enough for everyone on the Rays' bandwagon.

Gulping coffee with Foster this morning is Sam Cook, a Yankees diehard who drove in from Fort Myers. He's attended 11 Rays games this season, but couldn't muster much enthusiasm for the home team last night. "I thought I'd be cheering for them," he says. "But when I got in there, I just didn't feel any allegiance."

Clearly, this isn't your typical sports team/town love affair. Just to drive the point home, the first person I encounter in The Dome this morning is wearing an ugly Buccaneers shirt and proclaims himself a hockey fan.

Go figure.

Go Rays.

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