As the World Series starts, many people are left without a team to root for. This is mostly because not many people like the Phillies outside of Philadelphia, and... well, until a couple weeks ago, you could count the total number of Rays fans on one hand.

For those of you still riding the fence, there's really only one answer. Forget the Cinderella story. Don't buy into the new math, where 9 = 8. Don't be swayed by the media, who wants to pretend that the Rays are the only hard-luck team in this World Series. Disregard all of that, and throw your support behind the Philadelphia Phillies. Here's why:


Reason #1: The myth of the Tampa Bay Rays fan. Despite finishing atop the AL East with the 3rd-best record in all of baseball, the Rays had the 5th-worst attendance in the entire MLB. While there are quite a few "fans" who would love to claim that they've been there all along, it's simply not mathematically possible. Even when they were battling for the AL East lead in mid-September, there were thousands of empty seats. People can say what they want about how obnoxious the fans are in Boston, but the average attendance at Fenway Park is MORE than a sellout. The capacity is 37,400 for night games (36,984 during the day), but the Sox managed to average 37,632 butts in the seats for each game. That's 15,000 more than the Rays, whose stadium has an almost identical capacity of 36,048.

Reason #2: If the Rays win, it means more teams will think that it's possible to win with a tiny payroll, resulting in more lousy teams. While it's true that it's possible to win without breaking the bank, history has shown that more often than not, the quality of play is directly proportionate to the size of a team's payroll. It's a bit unfortunate, but simple economics dictates that the better players will get the bigger contracts. Therefore, GENERALLY speaking (not always), the teams with higher payrolls are going to do better, and teams who refuse to spend more money are going to continue to suck. They may have a good year once a decade or so, but for the most part, they won't go anywhere. Isn't that right, Kansas City? For every team like the Rays who succeed with a small payroll, there are a handful of other teams like the Pirates, Reds, Padres, Nationals, Rangers, Athletics and Orioles, who are hampered by their unwillingness and/or inability to compete financially. Even the "good" teams with low payrolls, like the Twins, have seen their chances at success diminish with the forced departure of guys like Torii Hunter and Johan Santana, due to salary concerns.


Reason #3: The Backstreet Boys. Of all the possible choices to sing the National Anthem before Game 1 of the World Series, the Rays seemingly went out of their way to find the worst possible group that they could find. I don't even know what to say about this, other than I am not looking forward to this at all. I'd rather hear Roseanne.


Reason #4: Tropicana Field. The catwalks, the artificial turf, the ridiculously low roof and the plethora of empty seats make this place one of the worst places in America to watch a baseball game. And did I mention the empty seats?

Reason #5: The bottom-feeders who now proclaim themselves as diehard fans are simply ridiculous. Don't get me wrong. The Rays have a few fans who are generally classy, knowledgeable and loyal to the team. I mean no disrespect for the few of you who are out there. However, for every good fan, there seem to be dozens of others who simply don't get it, for whatever reason. I'd love to post a picture of some of these fans, but when I googled "Rays fans", nothing came up.


Reason #6: The Cowbell Kidd. I know I just called out basically the entire fan base, but here's one clown (literally) who will someday have a special spot reserved for him in baseball hell. Not only is he possibly the most ignorant baseball fan in the history of YouTube, he also shamelessly ripped off his name from a legendary Penn State tailgater.


Reason #7: The Phillies Ball Girls. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll shut up and let the above picture do the talking.


Reason #8: Dick Vitale. As if we weren't assaulted by Dickie V enough during March Madness, now he's all over our TV's again, after trading in his Duke jersey for a Rays one.

Hopefully this was helpful to any of you out there who were still undecided. If you need any more reasons, let me know, and I'm sure I can come up with some. If you have any more reasons to root for the Phillies (or against the Rays) feel free to post those, as well.