silas grunch

including, but not limited to: Gary Thorne, Barry Melrose, Tony Kornheiser,
Mike Lupica, Steve Levy, John Saunders, and anyone else who has used Tampa
and St.Petersburg for cannon fodder since 1991:

I hope you have a great week. Like it or not, Tampa Bay is now a legitimate
National Hockey League team, in a legitimate National Hockey League area.

For years, the above and others have traversed down here, making wise cracks
and in some cases very hurtful remarks about our cities. From Tony
Kornheiser whining about his hotel accommodations before a Super Bowl, to
John Saunders covering the Davis Cup Tennis tournament at the Trop (then the
Suncoast Dome) and actually referring to St Petersburg out loud as "Gods
Waiting Room"..

Enjoy yourselves. The Tampa Bay Lightning are in the Stanley Cup Finals, and
ABC/ESPN has to televise each and every game.

Oh, and Thanks to ESPN2 for the quick brush off after game 7. The announcers
at 10:48 asked us to come back at 1 AM Eastern for the full program, because
of course,ESPN had to have its SmarmCenter...excuse me, SportsCenter, which
just had to sweep aside Game 7 so they could get the latest in-depth
Coverage of the National ThugBall Association Championships.....

Barry Melrose literally...literally whined "Well, at least we know where
we're going now"

Yep. And you have no choice, you pomade coated, mullet wearing , two faced
geek.

By the way, I'm originally from the Northeast. Been here nearly 15 years.
I've heard
all the wise cracks...they got a little more vicious each year.

Yeah, you'll still have the Devil Rays to kick around ( even though they won
their third in a row today..and are a game back of making the Mariners the
worst team in baseball)
So you can keep trashing the Rays.

But not the Lightning..and not Tampa Bay..anymore.

Enjoy your week. Win or lose, this town is now Major League..whether you
like it, or whether you don;t.

And here's to Calgary. Good, solid sports town who has fought long and hard
to keep its team from joining Quebec and Winnipeg in losing their teams to
"greener" pastures.
Here's to a great series...and here's to the Northeastern media.

Eat that.

problem solved

Tampa Fan. I feel your pain. We get the same crap. Against Vancouver, one
of the announcers was nearly in tears after the Flames eliminated the
Canucks. Toronto has been gone since the second round and its as if they're
still taliking about what the Leafs have to do to win the cup THIS YEAR.

Then you have the NE media taliking about how no one will watch Tampa vs.
Calgary. This is going to be the best final in years. Both teams play all
out and neither team traps. There will lots of chances and great goal
tending.

Can't wait to see St. Louis play again in person (hopefully he doesn't do
too well). Tortorella has a lot of class unlike Ron Wilson and his supreme
arrogance.

St. Louis said it best, "It's going to be fun."

john f.

I just don't want the bullshit that Philly dished out.

Screw the clutch and grab

Screw the non-calls...

The Northeast media / mega corporate media can eat us.... TSN/CBC for you
guys.... ESPN/ABC for us...

It's going to be fun is what I agree with, Problem... Instead of a dull
drag-along like the last few Stanley Cup finals.

supreme

problem solved

I agree with everything except. "screw the non-calls" but believe me I know
where you're coming from. Unless it involves a great scoring chance or an
injury put the whistle away. The less we see the refs the better.

Tonight for example (i was across the room so I don't know which player) but
a Tampa Player was clearly hooked down and seconds later a phantom
interference call is made against Tampa. Neither call should be made.

After one of the games, one of our forwards was asked about a time when he
was hauled down, "Do you think there should have been a penalty?" It
clearly would have been in regular season, but he said, "No, not really as
long as they call it the same both ways."

Holy crap, now I'm rambling.

My buddy moved to Florida about 6 months ago. He's pretty pumped to go see
a game.

mudshark

Excellent post. I listen to a lot of sports radio and TV and I'm
freaking shocked (or not actually) to hear early season baseball and
thugball coverage before a game 7 conference final. On the way home
from the game I'm hearing callers talk about the Red Sox? Um, it's
like 100 games away from the end of regular season. WTF cares right
now? The end of regular season is months away and it's not like it's
going to be a shock who's in the series anyway. Nice sport. :-/

Oh, and when the NHL does get national coverage for hockey we get some
****ing dipshit ragging on our local announcer for his "bias" between
Lightning and Flyers goals? Um, has he ever listed to some of the
classic announcers who are homers? Hmmm... Ever wonder why you're in
a Friday night timeslot? You ****! I looked on 620's website to see
who this dipshit was and send him an Email but apparently he's not
important enough to warrant a profile.

Anyway... Go Bolts!!!!!!!!!!

Rob