The Tampa Bay Rays came a long way in one year, and now their fan base is everywhere.

The above image is a screen capture from next week's season premier of "Friday Night Lights" (here is a slightly larger version). That handsome fella on the right side of the screen is your local Tampa Bay Rays blogger, me (you can see a reverse angle below). I play a reporter during a preseason press conference. The episode will air next Friday (Jan. 16) at 9:00pm et on NBC.

This is not my first foray into television, although it is my most prominent. I once even appeared as a basketball referee (of all things) in an episode of "Ultimate Road Trip" on the Yankees' Yes Network.

I must admit that I did find some humor in appearing on a television show based on a book authored by Buzz Bissinger, considering his very public disdain for blogs. We wonder what his reaction would be if somebody were to mention this to him. We hope it would be laced with explicatives. But more likely he just wouldn't care.

So there it is...If I follow the same meteoric rise of the Rays, by this time next year I will be starring in a Hollywood blockbuster. Unfortunately I would have to die in the final scene.

We decided to mix things up a little bit today. We have been running our "Shower-Shoe Fungus" feature for a few weeks now, on the first day of every series. One problem with the series is we always have more content than we are willing to type out. You will notice on this site that we prefer to keep the posts short-and-to-the-point. And yet, we found ourselves wanting to make the "Shower-Shoe Fungus" feature longer.

So today, instead of our usual format, we asked David Chalk of Bugs and Cranks to join us in a 30-minute podcast to discuss the usual "Shower-Shoe Fungus" topics and then-some.

The first episode of the "Shower-Shoe Fungus Podcast" is below. At this point we are undecided on whether to continue this feature. Below the podcast is a poll. Let us know your thoughts (HERE is a recent edition of this feature in it's original incarnation for comparison)...

In this episode of "Shower-Shoe Fungus" we discuss the following topics...

1. A recap of the White Sox series and whether it is too early to get excited about the playoffs
2. Impact of recent roster moves
3. Gabe Gross versus Eric Hinske
4. Grant Balfour versus Gary Glover
5. Attendance grumbling in the mainstream media
6. Drafting need versus talent
7. Over/Unders

(if we do this feature again, there will be 9 "innings" in which the 8th inning will be a series preview and the 9th inning will be a very quick rundown of several minor points...the series will never be longer than 30 minutes...Also, being as this is the debut episode, and the fact we may or may not have been drunk, it is a little rough around the edges. bite me.)

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Last week we presented the "Second Annual Rays Index Opening Day Live Blog-A-Balloo". It was fun, raw, unadulterated, foul-mouthed, emotional, naked, drunken, bliss...No, really...we were naked the whole time...

Originally the plan called for Opening Day to be the only guaranteed Live Blog-A-Ballo, with the option for others later in the year if the Rays were playing any meaningful games. Well, during and after the event, the comments and emails were overwhelmingly positive. And by positive we mean some people threatened physical harm if we don't keep Live Bloggin'.

So as it goes...contracts are shredded, bribes are accepted and plans are changed. From here on out (or until we change our minds) we now present:

THE RAYS INDEX LIVE BLOG-A-BALOO OF THE WEEK

Each week we will pick one game that we feel will have more interest among RAYSHEADS. We will consider several factors including our own availability, pitching match-ups, weather, requests, and networks with cameramen with an eye for talent.

But there is a catch. The Live Blog-A-Baloo will have two homes.

Some of the Live Blog-A-Baloos will be conducted at the home of our new RAYSHEADS Facebook Group. This will be done for a few reasons:

1. It will allow for a slightly less formal gathering and more crowd participation, if you are so inclined.
2. It allows us to bring more elements to the RAYSHEAD Facebook group without comprising the integrity of this site...if there is any.
3. Live Blog's might be illegal. Not that it would ever stop us.
   

So be sure to join the RAYSHEADS FACEBOOK GROUP. And remember, Facebook is open to everybody these days.

But, never fear...We will limit the Facebook Live Blog-A-Baloos to night games, as we are aware that many people can't access their Facebook accounts while at work. Live Blog-A-Balloos for day contests will be conducted exclusively here at Rays Index.

So be sure to join us each week for THE RAYS INDEX LIVE BLOG-A-BALOO OF THE WEEK, coming soon to a computer near you. We will announce the game of the week every Monday.

And while we are at it, here are some pics of a RAYSHEAD that was brave enough to wear RAYSHEAD gear at Yankee Stadium. That is our good pal David Chalk of Bugs & Cranks (click on thumbnails for larger versions). If you ask us, that dude totally looks like he blogs from his mom's basement.

Ricky Henderson would be so proud...

Just wanted to take a moment and let you guys know that I have accepted an invitation to write a regular feature at MLB Trade Rumors. We have long been fans of Tim Dierkes' site and have watched it grow into one of the biggest sports blogs in the world.

While my exact role has yet to be determined, I am excited to be joining the staff, and look forward to bringing the Raysiverse to a larger audience. I might even wear pants when I am writing over there.

Introducing Cork Gaines and Matt Birt [MLB Trade Rumors]

Tampa Bay Rays (20 days until pitchers and catchers report)
As you may have noticed, we are in the process of playing with the layout and design of this website. Most of the changes will be subtle, so don't expect any grand redevelopment. Most of the changes will be to the sidebar. For the most part, the site should remain operational during the tune-up but certain features may be hit-or-miss for the next day or two as we try to decide what we like best.

Best,
The Professor
Rays Index

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA...

• This list has not been released yet, and it comes as no surprise, but the Tampa Bay Rays are ranked as the #1 organization by Baseball America. After all, what other organization can boast Brett Grandstrand? [Nationals Farm Authority]
• Baseball America takes a look at the hardest throwing pitchers in the minors, including Jake McGee. [Baseball America]
  
• Rays Anatomy offers two points of view on Akinori Iwamura and what we can expect from him in 2008. You can read my full comments at the end of the post, but in short, this is a classic example of people depending too much on statistics to evaluate a player. [Rays Anatomy]
• Pinellas County has green-lighted a project to be built similar to the redevelopment proposed for Tropicana Field on a tract of land less than ten miles north of Tropicana Field. The Pinellas County Commissioner is not sure that the county can support the building of both projects. [TBO]
• Carlos Pena returned from the Dominican Republic and passed his physical, which was the only thing holding up his new 3-year $24.125 million contract. [TampaBay.com]
  

We have been driving without a license now for two full seasons and for the most part, the car is still in one piece. Somehow we have managed to avoid any text messages from Elijah Dukes or tossed bats from Delmon Young and the two Marcs (Topkin and Lancaster) have yet to find us in a bar at 2 am and challenge us to a fight.

As our readership has grown (90,000 unique visitors in 2007), we decided it is time to grow up a little. That's right! We have our very own, brand-spankin' new URL. No longer burdened by the "blogspot" taint, we can now be found at RaysIndex.com.

So what does this mean for you? Well. Now that we are a real website, that means only one thing...PORN! Ok...Ok...No naked pictures of Evan Longoria or bikini pictures of Don Zimmer. In fact, not much will change around here. The old address still works for the time being, but you may want to update your bookmarks as we may decide to dump the Blogspot all-together sometime down the road.

Other changes will be cosmetic in nature. The "Cork Board" in the side panel now has a more professional look to it...and of course by "professional" we really mean, "less amateurish".

We have a few other ideas, that we may introduce this off-season or sometime during the 2008 regular season, but we may be too busy because we actually have a pretty nice little off-season planned, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.

We have no idea what he have gotten ourselves into today. We have always enjoyed a bit of anonymity here at RI and on these here internets. But this morning, we stepped out a bit from behind the mask of "The Professor" and reveal that indeed most of the time that we are banging away on the keyboard, we in fact are not wearing pants. The fine folks over at My Baseball Bias, have started a weekly Radio show, "Beasts of the East - An AL EAST Radio Show", and invited us to come on board and represent the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The show is an hour long and will air every Saturday morning at 11:00 am over at BlogTalkRadio. If you are like us and not usually awake by 11:00 AM on a Saturday (stupid after-hours), the show will be archived and can be downloaded as a podcast. If you are up and care to join me in my typical Saturday morning hangover, the show does take call-ins and instant message questions/comments.

The first episode debuted this morning and you can listen to it above.

Beasts of the East - An AL EAST Radio Show - Debut Tomorrow Morning [MyBaseballBias] The Hits Keep Coming...[BlogTalkRadio]