Unless you've been in a cave the past few weeks or so, you've heard all the talk about a new stadium for the Rays; the plans being for a open air/retractable roof of sorts field on the site of Al Lang Field on the waterfront in St. Pete.

And about those plans, as far as I'm concerned they stink.

What is wrong with staying at Tropicana Field???? The Trop is no Fenway Park or Wrigley Field but sane logic says you stay put. You can save money by improving The Trop as needed. A new park isn't going to improve attendance; it's what's ON the field that will.

First of all, preliminary designs have the new park as having a retractable roof or no roof at all with a possible Tampa Bay version of McCovey's Cove in San Francisco. One problem: Florida summers.

Even with a retractable roof, the open end design is still going to make it humid, and if it's windy and rainy out, the wind will still blow precipitation inside through the open-ended spaces. There'll still be rainouts with the designs I've seen.

Domed stadiums ARE a necessity at the major-league level here. Just take a look at the Marlins. A combination of a piss-poor product on the field and that lovely South Florida summer humidity is why mosquitoes outdraw the fans at The Stadium formerly known as Joe Robbie (or whatever Huizenga is calling it this week).

IF they ever get the new stadium built down there, it will HAVE to be a dome or people will not come (not that it matters, the whole Marlins organization is a joke, anyway).

Plus history will be spit on as Al Lang Field will be destroyed to make room for the new park. If anything, Al Lang should stay. It is history and it would be great if a minor-league team could be persuaded to play there.

It doesn't have to be a Class-A Florida State League team; a Class AA Southern League team could fit there as well. Al Lang is a great place to watch a minor league game and it is still a shame that Bud Light Selig decreed that the St. Pete Rays and the Kissimmee Cobras had to essentially fold after the 2000 season.

And of course, where do fans park? Granted, Fenway Park in Boston has no parking, but…there's a system in Boston called The T. Subway trains that have two stops in close proximity to Fenway. And since a majority of the Sox fans are in the suburbs, it's relatively easy to hop a T from the northern, western and eastern suburbs, at the most changing trains at least once in downtown Boston and get to Fenway.

Fans in NY have no problem getting to Yankee and Shea Stadiums either, thanks to the subways and trains there. They also have parking lots there as well. No such thing here in St. Pete. Bus service isn't as good as the T and parking is at a premium in the area of the proposed park.

There is plenty of parking at The Trop and surrounding lots. Has anybody taken into consideration that a lot of events go on in the downtown St. Pete area and at places like Straub Park and Vinoy Park during the same time as baseball season?

Bottom line, there is NOTHING wrong with The Trop. Detractors call it a "warehouse." You can bet that if the Rays would improve the product on the field, the warehouse perception would disappear. Plus, I'd rather sit inside that comfy AIR-CONDITIONED warehouse instead of sweating outside.

The Trop is a necessity, a new stadium isn't. The Rays could spend their portion of what the new stadium would cost on developing the team. Sternberg and Friedman should take that into consideration.

And if the potential stadium fiasco isn't enough, we now have the new Rays uniforms. The team isn't even called the Devil Rays anymore, just the plain Rays - and the design?

I call it Mariners South right down to the color scheme, the font of the new logo to the starburst that looks a bit like the compass on the Mariners uniforms. The original color scheme that had green, yellow and purple was unique and even when they changed the logo and main color scheme in 2001, it was still a design that stood out by itself.

The Rays, along with Oakland were the only two teams that used green as a major color component. Now they have a uniform that I call, at best, bland. No "TAMPA BAY" on the road jerseys. Even the Yankees' road uniforms, no doubt the most colorless and blandest uniforms around, at least say "NEW YORK on them so at least they LOOK like a proper road uniform.

What about new hat design? I've seen high-school/junior-college team caps that look better.

No doubt the new merchandise will sell well. But compare it to the old logo and it's a poor replacement. I certainly hope for the true Ray fans who have been there from Day One that they will not be belittled for wearing the pre-2008 gear as Buc fans who wear the tangerine/Buccaneer Bruce colors are.

Some teams do recognize that there are "old school" fans and will cater to them. For example, the Red Sox will sell the red mid-70s caps and the caps from the 40s; the Patriots sell a lot of "throwback" (pre 1993) items as well. Again, new uniforms are NOT going to improve the on-field product and in this case, it's a turn to the boring.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It looks like some unnecessary fixing has been done here.