Last night’s dueling Tampa Bay sporting events took me back to the Lightning’s last Stanley Cup playoff run. Not because I am a big hockey fan (although, after last night’s win, you can officially count me among the bandwagon jumpers…go Bolts!) but because I remember how interested the then-Devil Rays were in the Lightning’s exploits.
That season, the Lightning games were always on in the clubhouse after wins and, I remember standing with Toby Hall in the hallway outside the clubhouse after a loss so he could watch the end of a Lightning game on the security television (no TV or music in the clubhouse after a loss during the Piniella era). The clubs got so close that the Lightning clubhouse attendants brought the Stanley Cup to the Trop (prompting Lou to hungover-ly — yes, that is an adjective [edit: As the astute and intelligent Amanda Greif pointed out on Facebook, adding "ly" to "hungover" makes it an adverb, not an adjective. I humbly bow down to your grammatical prowess Madame] — say ‘that thing is cool, we should win something like that, but if we can’t, we should just steal that one.’).
The camaraderie between the Rays and Bolts is back. The Rays had a Lightning t-shirt hanging in their dugout during Game 7 last week and, apparently BJ Upton has a #2 Bolts jersey — err sweater, sorry, I grew up here, cut me a break — hanging in his locker. In fact, it seemed like the Lightning’s late surge last night prompted Upton to follow suit.
This feels like the point marking a new era in Tampa Bay sports. For the first time, all three of the area’s major professional teams are contenders. That is especially sweet for the newest generation of local sports fans who, like my daughters, will grow up knowing this community only as a major sports epicenter (as opposed to our generation that grew up knowing it as an NFL city with expansion franchises).
So, as we turn into the third era of TB sports history (the first two eras being The Buccaneer era, and The Expansion era) it occurred to me to ask: who is the biggest star in this town in Generation 3.0?
I think there are only three contenders, and I rank them in this order:
1. Evan Longoria;
Yes, BJ Upton and David Price are stars. Yes, Sam Fuld is a legend and Ben Zobrist is the guy I want my daughters to root for. Yes, Johnny Damon has local connections and a history of stardom. But they all fade next to Longo. Of all the Rays top players, Longo is the only one I am certain cannot go grab a sandwich without signing an autograph. He has that IT. He has so much IT, he got my sister-in-law’s wedding band a recording contract just because he thought they were cool. That is superstar-dom.
2. Vinny Lecavelier;
Vinny has some superlative teammates as well. Marty St. Louis is certainly my favorite player for his speed and his propensity to lose teeth. Steven Stamkos is an up-and-comer according to people that know stuff about hockey. Dwayne Rolofson has been remarkable during this playoff run. (Come on, you got to give me a little credit for my hockey chops after I admitted to being a bandwagon fan…right? Right?) But Vinny has been the face of this franchise since the day he arrived. He is a Tampa resident and a kingpin of local charity. He is a superstar in every sense of the word. His only problem is, he plays a sport very few local residents have attempted or understand. That’s not his fault, but it is a factor that has to be considered. In fact, I heard a story that tourists have stopped Vinny while he was walking his dog just to ask him where Derek Jeter’s house was located. (Also, it doesn’t help that I had to google the proper spelling of his name…just saying).
3. Josh Freeman;
The quiet leader of last year’s resurrected Buccaneers had a lot of help from a lot of potential stars. Football is, of course, the sport least capable of being dominated by a single player. But, for reasons passing understanding, it has that peculiar habit of giving too much credit and too much blame to the guy under center. And that makes Josh Freeman the face of the franchise. I am not sure he has risen to the same celebrity level as Vinny or Longo (he doesn’t even have a good nickname yet), and he isn’t that visible in the community, but he is a quarterback and a star-in-the-making. I only put Freeman at the bottom of this three horse race because Vinny has the longevity advantage.
I think what is great about this town and the sports scene, is that each player mentioned here is the “Big Man On Campus” during that particular sport’s season. We have reached a point to where we don’t have to look (or talk) exclusively about one particular sport during the offseason because the other teams are suffering in the standings. It puts some excitement in the heart of the city to know that we have a “star” we can watch and follow, all year long.
That’s a perspective I had not considered. I spent less than 10 seconds reading about the Bucs potential draft picks because I was consumed by the Rays. In fact, I think I actually said to someone “wait, the NFL draft started last night?” That is a departure from years past to be sure.
Hell yeah. The only thing that saddens me is that we are reaching thie pinnacle of sports team heaven during the worst economic situation this region has ever faced. It’s MADDENING that last night, Pat Yasinskas (NFC South blogger) gave a shout out to the Lightning but had to throw a line in there about observing the crowd to see if he can “figure out” why the region’s attendance suffers for the other venues. You gotta recognize that A) It’s the playoffs and the team is playing out of their minds. B) It’s in PERFECT location with lots of activities around the forum.
I hate that our area is labeled as “bad fans”. I travel around the country and host folks at my workplace from around the country/world, and it sucks that there’s always the “what’s up with you Tampa Bay fans” regardless of the sport.
I am not sure we are ever going to outgrow that question about “Tampa Bay fans.” But I don’t think that is unique. People ask questions about every fan base because, to sports fans, everyone is flawed outside of their own fan base. I wouldn’t sweat it. To me, it is good news that they are asking!
I hate to say it, because i’m a huge fan of all things Tampa(the Bucs, The Rays, The Lightning-ish, cuban food, bayshore, etc…) but i think the Tampa fans in general are very bandwagon. I’m not a hockey fan, but if i see a lightning game on i root for them and want them to win. When the bolts won the stanley cup, i cheered and actually watched games, but i turned down a ticket to go to 2 of the stanley cup games, because i didn’t feel i deserved it.
with the Bucs, i used to go all the time to the old sombrero and ray-jay. then the Bucs started getting good, and i could no longer go because games were sold out. there was a waiting list 80,000 people long to get season tickets. tickets that 5 years prior could be bought around the stadium for 10 bucks, were going for over 100…if you already had them. a lot of true fans had to take a backseat and watch from home.
The rays are in a worse situation around tampa because of expansion. people in the area grew up rooting for another team their whole life(mostly the yankees) and it’s tough to make a switch. So even when the Rays were making a world series run, attendance wasn’t great unless LL Cool J or Dierks Bentley were performing at the Trop after the game.
It is a great time to be a fan of all things Tampa though. If we had an NBA team, we would be up on someone in the playoffs right now. And i would have a team to root for.
Love this post, love hearing about a city’s teams interacting. Didn’t Gruden invite John Tortorella (now head coach of the New York Rangers; formerly lead my hometown minor league Rochester Americans to a Calder Cup trophy) into the Bucs’ locker room after the Bolts won too? Also, the Bolts’ win ushered in the lockout, which, though totally sucky for a non-bandwagon hockey fan like myself in 2004-05, did make the game better.
Couple quibbles on the hockey stuff: 1) Stamkos is no longer an up-and-comer, he is a legit star and next season should be huge for him, 2) while you were googling “Lecavalier” you should also have googled “Roloson,” although I like “Rolofson,” maybe it should be adopted as a nickname.
Funny story about Lou and Lord Stanley’s Cup. Makes me think that the World Series trophy (ok, looked it up, the “commissioner’s trophy”…. yuck) is by far the least recognizable championship trophy of the four majors. Now, that doesn’t say anything about the game… I might go so far as to say that the Stanley Cup is the most recognizable. But I do know that there is only one Stanley Cup that gets rotated from Champion to Champion, and there is a new Commissioner’s Trophy made every year, and it is often redesigned. I obviously prefer the “holy grail” version, not the “gift shop in the cathedral version”, but maybe that’s just me…. not sure how I got off on this tangent.
Wow, I did Google Rolofson and found this link: http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/hockey/tag/_/name/dwayne-rolofson. Now that I read the story closely, his name is spelled properly in the body of the story (which I am obviously not going to read). I guess misspelled on Google certainly rules him out of the conversation. Right?
I also totally agree about the Commissioner’s Trophy. In order my favorite sports trophies are 1) Stanley Cup; 2) Lombardi trophy (because guys can hold it in one hand while celebrating; 3) Daytona 500 trophy (because it has that cool jet car thing on there); 4) Masters green jacket; 5) NBA trophy; 6) Indianapolis 500 trophy; 7) the roses after the Kentucky Derby;
Broken bats players sometimes hand into the stands; 9) One of the things you can get after you win a lot of tickets playing skee ball; and 10) Commissioner’s trophy.
I have a 3rd grade science fiar participation ribbon that’s just as cool, if not cooler, than the commissioner’s trophy.
Freeman may not be the unquestioned face of Tampa yet, but give him a minute. I’ve been calling him “Fourth Quarter Freeman” since his first start against Green Bay in ’09. He has everything that a superstar needs, that is except time. Give him another year or two, and he will team with Longo to own this town.
Both Freeman and Vinny have serious headwinds in this debate. Freeman, as you pointed out, is new. Vinny, plays a sport most of us don’t understand. I can see Josh becoming a mega-superstar. Actually, I really hope he does. That can only mean great things for the Buccos.