The Miracle Mets revisited?

The emergence of the Tampa Bay Rays this baseball season reminds me of that 1969 New York team.

They also show me how the focus of the professional sports fan has changed.

We live in a different time in the sports world these days.

The 1969 New York Mets were in their eighth year of existence and had never finished higher than ninth in the 10-team National League. They used a talented, young and deep pitching staff, timely hitting and aggressive base running to come out of nowhere and win the World Series.

The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays never finished higher than fourth in a five-team division in their 10 years of existence. They managed to win 70 games in 2004 and had never won more before this year.

They also used a talented, young and deep pitching staff, timely hitting and aggressive base running to reach and advance in postseason play. The Rays led the American League in stolen bases and had 15 players steal at least one base.

Cleon Jones hit .340 for the 1969 Mets in a career year he never approached again. No other player on the team approached .300. No Tampa Bay player hit .300 this year.

The Mets overtook a Chicago Cubs team with Hall of Fame caliber players like Ferguson Jenkins, Ron Santo and Billy Williams on the Chicago roster. The Rays held off the defending world champion Boston Red Sox and free-spending New York Yankees to win the American League East.

Similarities between the 1969 Mets and 2008 Rays are certainly there.

Yet how they're viewed by the sporting public is completely different.

The baseball world fell in love with those Mets. The way they ousted the powerful Baltimore Orioles in five games in the 1969 World Series, using unlikely heroes like Ron Swoboda and Al Weis, and spectacular game-saving defensive plays, was storybook stuff.

Potentially, the Rays offer the same.

But nobody wants to open the storybook now.

Pro sports fans don't want to watch Cinderella anymore. Been there, done that.

They want to watch the Soap Opera Series:Boston vs. Los Angeles. The return of Manny Ramirez to Fenway Park. Joe Torre managing against his hated rival again.

Even FOXwants the Rays out. Five pitchers between 11 and 14 wins, a bullpen by committee, no star power in the lineup — who wants to watch that?

Fantasy baseball owners had little interest in the Rays this year. Fantasy baseball didn't exist in 1969. Maybe that was a more innocent time.

Controversy and chaos rule today. Give me Manny belting a game-winning homer in Fenway or getting knocked down with a high and tight fastball. Maybe even throw in a brawl for good measure.

That's what pro sports fans want to discuss around the water cooler these days.

A worst-to-first scenario, a bunch of young, scrappy players trying to polish off a storybook run to glory?

That's so yesterday.