Reflecting on the fan experience at Game 4

It's 2 a.m. and I just got back from what will probably be the best sporting experience I've ever had as a fan in my entire life. 12th inning World Series win, walk off at the Trop, just absolutely electric with my kids cheering till 1:30 in the morning, just core memories and there was so much chatter going on today about how it's okay if you sell your tickets because of what happened in game three and I was getting so annoyed. This is the World Series. no matter what your team is up against you show up as a fan to cheer on your team in the World Series if you have the opportunity to do that because you never know what type of moment is going to be created from that but also you show up for your team no matter what they're up against if the Rays win it in seven that'd be the best thing ever best thing imaginable and I couldn't I can't even wrap my head around what that would feel like but the experience that I just had I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world and that only happens if you show up to the game that only happens if you show up for your team when their backs are against the wall and as Tampa sports fans or as people with you know some presence in Tampa sports show up for the teams don't sell your tickets to the other fan bases they haven't seen a World Series since 1983 this is our third World Series and we started our team in 1998 don't take this stuff for granted Show up to the game, support the team. You never know when you're going to have a core memory unlocked. Go Rays. And boy, did they have a time. Jeff was kind enough to share this photo of his son taking what we on Good Day Tampa Bay, especially during the morning shift, this is called a cute nap in Regina Gonzalez terms. You know, you just take it, you shut your eyes, get a little energy going, and then just wake back up and start from where you were in the beginning. Jeff Adanella joining us live right now here on this special World Series stream. Jeff, first of all, that was an incredible photo, incredible night for your family, and what an incredible message for fans of this team that were feeling a little down in the dumps. How are you doing today, my friend? Are we tired? Yeah, I am tired. I had another hit I had to do at 8.30 in the morning, so getting out of bed was a little bit difficult, but you watch a couple highlights of the game last night and you pop right up and you get excited about starting the day again. So all good on my end. I love it. I love it. We actually decided not to bother our sports team because they got out of the Trop at like 1.30. We're like, we'll let them sleep a little bit. We may do on our 11 a.m. show. But you have to tell me, I mean, the World Series in the Trop, first of all, before we even talk about being there last night, I mean, you work for another team, the Rowdy Tour, first of all, doing incredible themselves. You saw what happened to the Trop during Hurricane Milton. You saw this team get to this point. Did you ever think you'd be seeing a World Series in the first season back under this roof? I mean, I think you never really know what to expect. And that's why I think that one of the things that I've been trying to really preach and get out there is that we're very fortunate to be Tampa sports fans. I mean, you talked about it. The Rays are doing well. The Rays are doing well. The Lightning have won Stanley Cups. The Bucs have won Super Bowls. and there's so there we've had so many opportunities to see once in a lifetime things that other fan bases would just do anything to witness once in their lives and i think that that's something that i want to just make sure that everybody in tampa that's a tampa sports fan that's in this city realizes that we shouldn't take it for granted and for the turnaround that they've had for the success that they've had and and just the excitement that they provided for fans this season it's i don't know that anybody expected it but with the Rays you always kind of expect the unexpected and this one's been a good one i mean and that's what we were literally talking about in our news morning meeting this morning is the fact that they have gone their whole season defying the odds i mean talk to you talk to you and i a couple months ago we didn't even know if this was a World Series team and now here we are um talk to me about your experience last night getting those tickets being able to share that with your family walk me through the whole night yeah i mean it was it was honestly perfect i couldn't have drawn it all up any better you know fortunately i know that not everybody has the opportunity to go to the World Series so i want to make sure that i understand that people understand that i'm well aware of that as well but um for us you know it was just one of those things where i grew up going to the Trop you know i went to my first game when i was 10 years old my daughter's 10 years old now my son is six and it was just one of those things with the World Series in town i wanted to be able to bring my kids to that to say that you know you never know if you're going to see another one so for me to have the opportunity to bring the family to that so that we could say that we went to see a World Series game together whether you know they remember it for what it all was or not i think my daughter will more so than my son my son slept off a few innings but just for them to be able to say that we've been to a World Series game and now especially to see the game that we saw to see our team win a game in the World Series it's it's a it's just a core memory that somebody that's loved this team and love this city and love the sports teams and want wants my kids to be a fan just the way that i am those are just the types of things that a person like me and a dad will just treasure forever and and you know that only happens if you that only happens if you show up and support the team uh the best that you can even when your backs are against the wall or there's some other fan bases that you know when it come into town it will and will probably overpay some some ticket prices to take them off your hands um before we get into that part of the video you posted Jeff i want to talk about this incredible but you're a really cool dad and shout out to your wife as well because i feel like a lot of parents would have been like we got school tomorrow it's time to go but did you you guys stayed for all the extra innings huh yeah my kids my kids have a rock star mom and um she she took over she took over when Connor started to get a little bit tired and a little bit grumpy and you know the other tricks weren't really working anymore so she did a fantastic job of giving him a place to nap and then kind of bringing them back to the spirit of things so it was a very good it was a very good moment for everybody and um yeah they didn't they they missed school today we were kind of debating it on the way home but once it got around 2 a.m it was just like i don't think it's gonna matter what they do at school and i think that a lot of people understand the reason to skip school that day i will say as someone who got to go to a lot of cool sporting events as a kid i will never remember what was supposed to be going on in a classroom that day but i will remember those moments so kudos to you because that was totally the right move um jeff you started off that social media post saying that you heard some people were selling their tickets or deciding not to go to game four because of what we saw in game three walk me through what was the chatter that you were hearing ahead of last night yeah i mean i think that you know of course it's uh you hear you hear from a lot of different sports fans on a lot of different platforms and and you know i think that for me it was just something where you keep hearing people calling in and just being so frustrated with what happened in game three and you know the different things and and talking pretty negatively about the team which i understand i'm a sports fan too like and i understand that there's negative there's negative fan behavior and there's negative influence that goes on with those things too and you're frustrated so i get it but for me the thing that started to get frustrating was just hearing the conversations about you know milwaukee fans will pay x amount of dollars or more money for for your tickets and you know with the frustration that you had from game three like selling the tickets and and getting the money and not seeing what the game is and not going to this world series game if you'd already bought tickets and now you're on the fence about going for me that conversation as somebody that's always loved to try to champion Tampa sports and really try to build this fan culture around this city for me that conversation was just getting under my skin throughout the course of the day because to have the idea of not going to support your team when they're playing in the World Series despite what's going on I mean the team deserves you to be there and cheer cheer on what they've been able to accomplish this season and at the same time like I said earlier it's just a core memory and it's something that I think we've had a lot of success in this area and we take that a little bit for granted but you never know when you're going to get the opportunity to do that again and for us to be able to fill up the stadium with Tampa fans and and fully get behind the team's back I think that that's a goal that every Tampa fan should have so I was just trying to echo that sentiment no and you know what you showed up last night as a fan but you Jeff have been on the other side of this as an athlete on the field who might be in a tough position not winning many games and you feel the the vibe so to speak from your fans can you talk about why after a tough loss especially that it is so important and what it means to come back out to see fans in Rays uniforms because there were a lot of Brewers fans there as well yeah I think that you know it was actually really cool last night I think that there were a lot of Brewers fans for sure but I've been a fan of the Tampa Bay Rays since 98 so I've been in the trenches of the stadium against the Yankees fans and the Red Sox fans my entire life. So I've been fighting this battle for a really long time And it's cool to see the Tampa fans show up even when there are other fan bases there, and really make noise and support the team because that's what everybody wants But from a player perspective, when you deal with a tough loss and then you show up the next day and there's an entire stadium of people that have your back and they're still chanting your team's name, and even if you make a mistake or something the night before and then when it's your moment to have a moment in the game then to know that the fans still have your back to know that the fans are still supporting that they're with you every step of the way those things go such a long way and you know as players of course like you play like you play for wanting to win and chasing championships and that's a motivation but to be honest you know there's a lot of professional there's a lot of professional sports where you want to perform for the fans and you want to play for the fans and you want to represent them the best you possibly can because you know players may come and go from a franchise but the fans are the ones that stay there forever so whenever you have the chance to represent a franchise you're really really doing it for the fans and it's just a show of appreciation for the hard-earned money that's spent to come watch you do your thing and to know that the fans have your support that the fans are supporting you when you're tougher moments then those are the things that go a really long way and we need to talk about the moment the walk off win in a 12th inning of baseball even someone who was just sitting on their couch i was like oh here we go the 10th inning the 11th the really really hanging on almost like your son by the 12th inning um that moment what were you screaming what was that like yeah we were going nuts i mean everybody was going nuts and then once they loaded the bases i mean once junior got on of that on that air you know i think that everybody started sensing a little bit they're like oh we could try to get one back and then you know the thought also goes in your mind as i'm looking at my son who looks like you know he's crying and he's trying to figure out where his emotions are i'm like oh man if we get one run and this goes three more extras i don't know how long how long he's gonna hold up but once they got the bases loaded you could just feel like you could just feel the energy and the tide was turning and then i mean once he got that hit the place just absolutely erupted and you know kids are screaming it's it's 12 30 in the morning you got kids screaming You know, adults screaming. You're watching all these Brewer fans that they're getting earlier. You know, they're looking at each other and saying, three outs and it's ours. And then you see them put their head in their hands, and you're just like, oh, this is perfect. This is what a moment this is. And, you know, no matter, even though it was so late, there were tons of Rays fans that stuck around to watch the team celebrate. And, you know, just to be a part of that, it's a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience, and I'll remember it forever for sure. And as you said, do not take it for granted, no matter where you were watching from um i want to talk about you and and from an athlete perspective especially we gotta be honest here there's a lot of pressure on this team they literally need to take this back to Milwaukee and win the next three games in order to clinch their first World Series championship as a franchise what is your message to them i mean how do you take the momentum of last night and bring it back into game five tonight yeah i mean all the pressures on Milwaukee in my mind you know Milwaukee got themselves out to a big lead and it's up to Milwaukee now to try to close us out and you know i think that if i was to be able to say anything for the team it's just you know continue try to continue doing what you've been doing all season uh you know enjoy the moment have fun with the moment i've had the chance of playing a couple finals and and you know enjoying the moment was a big part of it just relax go out and have fun you know you work your entire career to get yourself in a moment like this and they're literally living a dream that i'm sure every single one of them had growing up as baseball players so now that there's really not that much pressure on you the pressure's on Milwaukee just play carefree have fun enjoy the moment and try to embrace it for what it is because you know the eyes of the world are on you and as an athlete that's that's really what you're trying to do with your entire career and now they have that opportunity so i think uh just letting them know that and letting them know that there's a lot of fans out there even though Milwaukee fans can get a little bit loud there's a lot of Tampa fans out there that are fighting in the trenches in the stadiums in terms of trying to win the noise battle and i know that there's watch parties and people are really rallying behind this team so we got their backs as much as they have ours i i love it a great way to end it jeff adanella a rowdy's uh content and development director you joined us through extensive world cups coverage and now we're talking world series so i mean maybe you're the good luck charm um thank you so much we'll talk to you soon go rays and uh let's keep the momentum going yeah i love it quick plug there's a rowdies playoff game on friday Yes. Oh, my God. No, it's all good. We're all we're all excited. No, tell me. Seven thirty at rowdies Would love to see you guys there, too, because we need support as well. Oh, my gosh. Hundred percent. It's all good. Just plug it in real quick. No, you have to. You have to. And I apologize for not even asking about the fact that you guys have games that fans need to show up to. So we appreciate you. Go Rowdies. And congratulations on the success. Take care. All the way. Let's go. Thank you.