ST. PETERSBURG -- Mayor Rick Baker proclaimed 2008 the Year of the Rays today during a City Council meeting full of pennant excitement.

The meeting began with council members, some with blue fauxhawks, others with RayHawk wigs and nearly all with Rays apparel, booing Baker for not changing his hair for the Rays.

"We expected a lot more out of the administration side," said council Chairman Jamie Bennett, who sported a blue fauxhawk.

"I'm wearing a hat," Baker protested, gesturing to his baseball cap.

Baker and the council members then gathered in a row at the center of the council chambers, threw their arms around one another and broke into a verse of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. They chanted, "let's go, Rays!"

"This is the first time I ever sang a song with my arm around a guy with blue hair before," said Baker.

Baker announced last week that city officials would began every council meeting for the rest of the season with the song.

The Rays spirit took hold of the council chambers even while the room stood silently in prayer.

State Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, ended his invocation at the start of the meeting with, "let us say amen and go, Rays!"

Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer

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