Mike Edmisten Follower of Jesus. Husband of Nicki. Father of Ryan & Brock. Communicator of the Word.

No More Devil

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are no more. Tampa Bay's Major League Baseball team has officially changed its name to the Tampa Bay Rays.

(Thanks to one of my new favorite blogs, Prayers For Blowouts, for this news.)

I guess there's actually a little bit of chatter on certain message boards that Christian groups were pushing for the name change because they didn't like to see the word "Devil" included in the team's moniker.

Oh please, people.

First of all, I have a hard time believing that any significant number of Christians contacted the team to complain about the name. I would certainly like to think that we all have more important things to do.

Secondly, for any Christian who actually was offended by the name…it is a nickname of an animal! The manta ray is also known as the devil ray or (gasp!) the devilfish.

So for whatever it's worth, the name has officially been changed. And for the sake of all that is sane and reasonable, I hope that it was simply because the management wanted a new look and feel for their team. Being connected with this kind of goofy petition is the last thing in the world we need as God's church.