So this is what it feels like to start a baseball season after finishing the previous year with a winning record. Nearly six months after the Rays' first World Series appearance, TVs at Bay-area sports bars, homes and businesses were tuned Tuesday to the team's season-opening game against division rival Boston Red Sox. The Rays lost the game 5-3 but have a chance today to even the series. The first time fans can clang their cowbells at Tropicana Field will be Monday, when the Rays play their home opener against the Yankees. In preparation for that, the team held "Rays University" classes for all employees at Tropicana Field on Tuesday. The theme: excellent customer service. ...more

April 8, 2009

Like New Year's Eve, a church wedding or a young woman's quinceanera, the inauguration of Barack Obama was an event that begged to be shared. ...more

January 21, 2009

With the World Series opening today at Tropicana Field, restaurants, hotels and bars in the area are hoping to hit a home run when it comes to attracting extra business off baseball's big event. ...more

October 22, 2008

The "last" button on the TV remote is going to get a workout Sunday. In a scheduling situation that will have sports fans scrambling, the game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Denver Broncos will kick off at 4:05 p.m. Sunday on WTVT, Channel 13. Two minutes later, they'll throw the first pitch in Game 3 of the American League Division Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox on TBS. ...more

October 4, 2008

There's almost no way to write about The Hold Steady without mentioning Bruce Springsteen, and probably no reason to try, either. Lead signer Craig Finn's phrasing is straight out of E Street, and his knack for creating beautiful losers to populate his lyrics smacks of Springsteen's earlier, wordier work. ...more

July 17, 2008