A Starburst Is Born

To one Tampa Bay Rays fan, these stars are not similar. To a Florida prosecutor, the blue star is a shameless rip of the yellow star. Which might put the fan in the clink for a year.

Brian Castro, aforementioned Rays fan, is up against a criminal charge of selling counterfeit gear during Tampa Bay's run to the World Series last fall, and his future hinges on a jury's determination of whether these two starfish glints are too similar to be coincidental. What's the connection? The yellow starfish, if you weren't aware, is the Rays' official logo. The blue one is the irregularly shaped figure Castro allegedly peddled on T-shirts near Tropicana Field last October.

Castro denies selling the T-shirts. An officer claims he was offing them for $5 from a duffel bag. The officer had an MLB official with him, and he said it was an "exact replica" of the Rays' logo. Also, he's a police offer, and Castro is just a T-shirt designer. Now, in this great country of ours, Castro is facing up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

You would think the Tampa Bay local fuzz would have something better to do, like try to police more violent crime. Here's an example: a man with a "really bad fake beard who they say robbed a bank Monday." Or a burglar who fled a crime scene and "was caught hiding in a nearby river." Or a man who "takes dog, returns dog, goes to jail."

Actually, maybe this case does make sense.

Man fights charge he sold counterfeit Tampa Bay shirts [St. Petersburg Times]