Category: Sports

* We get it, but it was still a wince-able moment: Seeing Joe Maddon holding aloft the Stanley Cup at Wrigley Field. Good guy, great city, classy organization–but it still hurts. We were that close to Kevin Cash lifting the Cup and Mayor Bob hoisting it while doing an Irish jig.

* The Rays have the best road record (21-12) in all of Major League Baseball. But it’s much less impressive at home. A noticeable–and notable–MLB anomaly. A reason? Maybe playing in front of MLB’s smallest crowds, often barely breaking into five figures, doesn’t feel like, well, “home.”  Could be more psychological letdown than home field upside.

* Ever notice how much “you can’t make this up” stuff there is in the news? Most recent Exhibit A: A minor league baseball team in Utah, an affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels, recently scheduled a “Caucasian Heritage Night.” It has since been canceled, said the team in a statement, “in light of recent tragic events.”

* No, they didn’t bring back the Stanley Cup for a Tampa tanning. But it was a helluva ride that the Tampa Bay Lightning gave this community for 26 games over the last two months. A gritty, talented team and a classy organization.

Sports at its best can be a rallying point for a region. A group psychology archetype. And, in our case, a national branding upgrade. We’re a better community as a result of the last eight weeks. Go, Bolts. Only three months until training camp opens.

* The NHL was more than pleased that the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals were seen by an average of 5.5 million and 6.6 million viewers nationwide. The numbers continue to trend favorably.

For context, however, there’s the NBA Finals. Last Sunday’s Game 2 delivered 18.8 million viewers. Humbling.

* Odds are good that Tampa Bay will be represented in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. Not necessarily in track and field, swimming, soccer or wrestling–but in golf. That would be Seminole’s Brittany Lincicome, who is currently ranked No. 10 in the world. The top 15 men and women automatically qualify.

BTW, golf is being reintroduced at the Rio Games. It was last included in the 1904 Games in St. Louis.

* Congrats to Tampa Catholic’s rising junior Kevin Knox, a member of the U.S. under-16 national basketball team. It won the gold medal last Sunday in the FIBA Americas Championship in Bahia Blanca, Argentina by defeating Canada 77-60. Knox had four points and eight rebounds.

He might not be the next Wade Boggs,but recent Plant High graduateKyle Tucker already has an early edge over the Tampa Hall of Famer and 1976 Plant grad. Boggs, an infielder, was a seventh round pick of the Boston Red Sox out of high school. Tucker, an outfielder, was a first round pick–and fifth overall–by the Houston Astros.

In fact, Tucker matched Dwight Gooden (Hillsborough High, 1982) as the highest-ever selection for a Tampa Bay area high school player–and that includes the likes of Gary Sheffield (Hillsborough), Tino Martinez (Jefferson) and Lou Piniella (Jesuit).

Moreover, Tucker wasn’t the only Panther taken in the first round–and that’s never happened before to a Tampa Bay area school. Pitcher Jake Woodford was taken 39th overall in the supplemental first round by the St. Louis Cardinals.

And by signing with Houston, Kyle Tucker will join the same franchise that signed his brother Preston, a Plant and University of Florida grad, in 2012. Preston Tucker is now a key contributor with the American League West-leading Astros.

And one final Tampa-Houston connection. That lights-out rookie Astros pitcher, Lance McCullers Jr., is a Jesuit High product.

Al Lopez would be proud.

* Money Magazine recently calculated the cost of a day at the ballpark for a family of four. The most expensive: Boston Red Sox ($351), New York Yankees ($337) and Chicago Cubs ($301). The least expensive: Arizona Diamondbacks ($127), San Diego Padres ($153) and Tampa Bay Rays ($157).

* While a lot of Gator fans wished we were talking about football and basketball, this has been a banner, two-national-championship year for the University of Florida: gymnastics and softball.

* Speaking of (women’s) softball, I caught parts of several Gators’ wins in the recent College World Series. A quick take: Players look like they’re having more fun than their baseball counterparts. There are smiles and grins and high fives between outs and between innings–not just reserved for a post-game celebration. The pitchers don’t wear caps. Typically, they’re sporting a pony-tail and bow. There’s periodic choreography in the dugout. And no spitting.

* Congrats to Serena Williams, who recently won her third French Open and 20th Grand Slam with a three-set victory over Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic. Moreover, kudos on having learned enough French to speak it on a public stage. Nice touch. In the post-match ceremony at Roland Garros, Williams addressed the crowd in French after Safarova addressed them–with the aid of a public translator–in English.

Much has been made—well, at least in Chicago—of  the Lightning’sticket policy that makes it as challenging as possible for out-of-towners to come in here for playoff games to root against the Bolts at Amalie Arena. The policy, which blocks those with out-of-state credit cards from buying tickets through the team’s Ticketmaster portal, seeks to ensure that only Lightning fans get first dibs on home games. It has been met with outrage in the Windy City and labeled “bad sportsmanship.”

Too bad.

* What’s it going to take for the St. Petersburg–Let’s Hold a Workshop!–City Council to get real–as in enlightened self-interest real–about what to do with the Rays? Will Jeff Vinik have to make an offer on those 85 underutilized, underperforming Trop acres?

The Rays are a regional priority but a parochial, St. Pete diversion.

The issue is beyond fundamental: What’s the highest and best use of this real estate? We know what isn’t. Even a new St. Pete facility would still be in a poorly-sited, demographic- and transit-challenged location–and, thus, still wouldn’t work.

Catalytic, synergistic, full Trop development would be a game-changer. And everyone in the know knows that the Trop is plunked down on the hottest piece of commercial real estate in the area.

Put it this way. The Tampa Bay region ultimately risks losing the Rays because St. Petersburg doesn’t work. And the city of St. Petersburg continues to negligently defer proceeding with a responsible master-planned development of choice real estate.

* We’ll know that the Rays have taken a decidedly, hardball negotiation approach if it turns out that they’re one of the clubs that Montreal mayor Denis Coderre says has expressed interest in playing home games next season in Montreal. Former Expo (1969-2004) fans have packed 45,000-seat Olympic Stadium the past two years for spring training games. Officially, the Rays, who rank last in MLB attendance, say they know nothing about it.

* Congratulations–again–to the University of Tampa baseball team for winning the NCAA Division II national championship. It was the Spartans’ second in three years and fourth under head coach Joe Urso.

Sure, there was overlapin the Lightning’s playoff push and Rays’ home games. And, yes, Rays crowds are even more sparse than usual–no matter who the opposing team is. But enough of the “hockey craze” factor.

The Rays’ plight–facility, location, no mass transit, few corporate headquarters, out-of-market allegiances, summer lifestyle, etc.–hasn’t changed much. To the degree that it has changed, it’s for the worse, because the St. Petersburg City Council remains adamantly opposed to lease negotiation, common sense and regional partnership.

You keep sending a certain, nose-thumbing, parochial message and, eventually that message is received.

* No matter how this hockey season ultimately ends, this much we can say for sure: There was no bandwagon effect for the Lightning outside Tampa Bay. NBC network analysts picked against the Lightning, the highest-scoring team in the NHL, three straight times–Detroit, Montreal and New York, a trio the Lightning had dominated during the regular season. The studio analysts typically sounded like they were waiting for Ben Bishop to implode or “The Triplets” to be de-cubed. Maybe they were channeling their network bosses–who assuredly didn’t want a lesser-market team advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Go, Bolts.

* While Lightning fans still boo Marty St. Louis for the classless exit he orchestrated last year, the Lightning have obviously moved on. Perhaps the only thing Amalie regulars now miss is the periodic strains of “Louie, Louie” by the Kingsmen.

But this just in: Thanks to Tyler Johnson, the “Louie, Louie” void has now been filled by “Johnny B. Goode.” The Kingsmen have been superseded by Chuck Berry–another upgrade. Sorry, Marty.

* Within the last fortnight, two former Tampa high school standouts have made their Major League Baseball debut with the Houston Astros. Two weeks ago it was outfielder Preston Tucker, a Plant High grad. A week ago it was pitcher Lance McCullers, formerly of Jesuit High. McCullers also earned his first MLB victory.