It's official! Tampa is . . .

[SuperElf]

the WORST hockey city ever.

I was born in Boston, but then moved around a lot as a kid, so I was raised on Bruins hockey. However, the first city I ever moved to where there was an NHL team and I could actually go to games was Philadelphia. I love the Flyers. They have broken my heart so many times, but I follow them through thick and thin. I had tickets to game five of the Stanley Cup Finals the year they lost to Detroit . . . in four. I could give you more background, but I'd be wasting your time.

We just moved to Tampa this year. I used to go to 10 regular season Flyers games a year. Great time. Always a packed house. Noisy, knowledgable fans.

I went to my first game at the Ice Palace this December. I called the day of the game, and got tickets in the seventh row. There were MAYBE 8,000 people there. The couple next to me were both wearing jerseys. They were two of the loudest people in the place. Early in the first, after the ref blew the whistle for a two line pass, she asked him what had just happened. He had no clue. I just about flew out of the building. In the second, after a goal had been reviewed, the ref pointed towards the center circle. She asked what that meant. (Despite the fact that everybody started clapping. It was like a golf clap though.) He didn't know.

I was watching on TV after Game 5, and they interviewed 5 Bolts fans. Each one agreed that they hoped their team lost Game 6, because a Game 7 would be "more dramatic". WTF is that? Are you retarded? You want your team to close it out, damn it.

I didn't even try to get tickets to the first couple games here in Tampa when Philly came to town. I knew how tough it was to get Flyers playoff tickets, and didn't want to pay a scalper or anything. My friend from Minnesota emailed me this morning, and told me "If you don't literally call Jeb Bush and beg for Flyers-Lightning game 7 tickets, you are a huge, huge [rhymes with maggot]." I called the Ice Palace in the off chance that they might have a single. They told me they had 40 singles left, some in THE SECOND ROW, but those were upwards of 200 bucks. There were almost 100 tickets left in the second level, so I got two tickets in the 8th row. This is at lunchtime THE DAY BEFORE GAME 7 OF THE CONFERENCE FINALS. Everybody in the city has had several hours to buy tickets even after having 100% proof that there will be a game 7. (Despite the fact that any true sports fan knows that if game 7 tickets are available when the series goes on sale, you buy them. No questions asked. That's why they make refunds.)

I'll be shocked if anyone in the upper deck knows what offsides is. This is, bar none, the worst hockey town in history.

Regardless of the fact that my beloved Flyers are in the game, I would NEVER cheer for such a crappy bunch of fans to get a Stanley Cup, despite the fact that I could CLEARLY get tickets with little or no effort to all three games. What a god damn joke. If you find yourself cheering for these whack offs for one second, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Rant over.

[dfb547490]

On top of which, you know you're a second-rate city when your arena is named after another city's newspaper. :D

In fairness to the couple you were sitting next to, if they were that close to the ice, depending on where the puck was it may've been difficult to see that it was a 2-line pass. Then again, if you could they probably could too.

Am I crazy, or did I hear chants of "Let's go Flyers" throughout the 3rd period of Game 2 (the 6-2 blowout in TB)?? Didn't really surprise me, especially after the Eagles-Dolphins game in Miami last fall that had a pro-Eagles crowd (in noise, if not in numbers). But yeah, Tampa fans are horrible...too many yuppies, not enough real fans.

Actually, I would bet there are a good number of very knowledgeable hockey fans in the Tampa area--it's just that they're not Lightning fans, they're fans of the Flyers or Bruins or Maple Leafs or Rangers or whatever town they lived in before they moved to Tampa!

[SuperElf]

God, I hope what you're saying is true. If I can actually cheer for the Flyers (again, I'm going with my Philly experience, and if ANYONE piped up for the other team in the playoffs, especially in the upper deck, that person would be likely to have a beer "accidentally" spilled on them, at the very least), that would be the greatest thing ever.

I wouldn't be surprised that real hockey fans in Tampa wouldn't go to the games. I was so put off by the first one this year that I never went back . . .

Let everyone in Philly know that it's not to late to buy tickets if they want to come down. Disgusting.

[Daniel from Montréal]

Don't care about the fans, but the team is a beaut' to watch.

[hangthadj]

That is why I worry. Philly is a better football city than St Louis, Tampa, and Carolina and we fans got killed while fans who don't know dick about the game happened to get to celebrate. It's a cruel joke that Philly teams always lose to teams with terrible, unknowledgable, fans.

[Looper121]

I have to believe everything you said in that thread SuperElf...I could not agree more. There will probably be a slight 60-40 ratio of flyers fans to Bolts fans tonight. The whole of Florida is awful IMO.

[JMU Soccer!]

Granted, I'm not going to rank Tampa in the realm of Detroit or Philly in Hockey cities, but I think you're being a bit unfair SuperElf. I was there during their playoff run last year against the Capitals and Devils, that place was sold out each time with very few fans of opposing teams and that place was loud loud loud.

I'm a Caps fan, believe me, I know.

[SuperElf]

Granted, I'm not going to rank Tampa in the realm of Detroit or Philly in Hockey cities, but I think you're being a bit unfair SuperElf. I was there during their playoff run last year against the Capitals and Devils, that place was sold out each time with very few fans of opposing teams and that place was loud loud loud.

I'm a Caps fan, believe me, I know.
Eh, maybe they are better during the playoffs. I'll give them another fair shake tonight. HOWEVER, the fact that there were a couple hundred seats left 24 hours before a Game 7 for the Prince of Wales trophy is a little sick.

I thought Beau Dure was questioning my observations for a second, there . . . :)

[MetroAndAGuinessPlz]

Hockey and the South just don't mix. No offense to the true southern hockey fans but Gary Bettman's pet projects in Florida, Georgia and other places will not last - which is a good thing because the NHL needs contraction anyway.

[Beau Dure]

I thought Beau Dure was questioning my observations for a second, there . . . :)

Washington Capitals ... Stanley Cup champions 2007!

[JMU Soccer!]

Hockey and the South just don't mix. No offense to the true southern hockey fans but Gary Bettman's pet projects in Florida, Georgia and other places will not last - which is a good thing because the NHL needs contraction anyway.

It's nice to see a proponent of contraction actually say that they're are true hockey fans in the South. Most assume they're are none. Personally, I think the idea that contraction is needed is overblown, but that is a whole another arguement.

I will say this though, how come everyone that wants contraction automatically assumes that it's the Southern teams that will be folding? The last three teams to go into bankruptcy protection have all been in "traditional" markets. Ottawa, Buffalo and Pittsburg.

Eh, maybe they are better during the playoffs. I'll give them another fair shake tonight. HOWEVER, the fact that there were a couple hundred seats left 24 hours before a Game 7 for the Prince of Wales trophy is a little sick.

I thought Beau Dure was questioning my observations for a second, there . . .

Nah, I just worship the ground Beau Dure walks on. But I'll disagree with him here, and have my money on the Capitals winning the Stanley Cup around the year 2024. I can dream, with a sliver of hope.

You mentioned that they had only 200 seats left by lunchtime (that's more than 24 hours before game time) the day before game 7. So that means they sold over 19,000 seats in about 14 hours, I don't think that's all that bad.

[SuperElf]

You mentioned that they had only 200 seats left by lunchtime (that's more than 24 hours before game time) the day before game 7. So that means they sold over 19,000 seats in about 14 hours, I don't think that's all that bad.They've been on sale for over two weeks. Humph. Go Flyers.

[SuperElf]

OK, I have to fess up. The crowd was pretty good tonight. I mean, I had really low expectations, but the noise and passion were definately there. Handful of things I noticed:

- WAY more women and families than I've ever seen at a playoff game before, for any sport. Not saying that's good or bad, just different.
- Almost everyone I talked to had only bought tickets after Game 6, and hadn't been to a game all year.
- There were about 2500 Flyers fans there. The two guys in front of me had driven down that morning (about 15 hours, if you really motor.) THAT'S dedication.
- Long line for tickets outside after the game. It looked like they were going to sell them out by the end of the night though. A LOT of them were scalpers though, FWIW.

A minimum of stupid comments, too. One guy asked me what the Zamboni was called. Another one asked me if hooking was a penalty. Other than that, it was par for the course. But the crowd was loud, and into it. Can't really blame them, hell of a game.

Sorry I whaled on you, Tampa. You guys put together a hearty effort for the playoffs. If you can muster even half that atmosphere for regular season games, I'll stop arguing that you should be contracted. :)

[SABuffalo786]

Ottawa, Buffalo and Pittsburg.



I don't know the reason for Pitt and Ottawa, but don't blame the fans in Buffalo, blame Jon Rigas.


And look, if natural ice doesn't form in the city at least once a year, you don't deserve a hockey team. Yeah, that's right, contract Dallass.

[JMU Soccer!]

And look, if natural ice doesn't form in the city at least once a year, you don't deserve a hockey team. Yeah, that's right, contract Dallass.

I guess that means bye bye LA, San Jose and also Vancouver. It gets cold and wet up there, but like London, never really freezes. This also means that Carolina and Nashville get to stay around. It gets a mighty-bit chilly in 'dem parts. Of course, if no city truely deserves a hockey team where natural ice doesn't form, that means that global warming will wipe ice hockey off the face of the earth eventually.

[SABuffalo786]

You know what I mean.



******** the sunbelt.

[JMU Soccer!]

You know what I mean.



******** the sunbelt.

Awww...the big bad sunbelt has hurt your precious hockey purist heart? Poor baby. Cry me a river.

[JMU Soccer!]

OK, I have to fess up. The crowd was pretty good tonight. I mean, I had really low expectations, but the noise and passion were definately there. Handful of things I noticed:

- WAY more women and families than I've ever seen at a playoff game before, for any sport. Not saying that's good or bad, just different.
- Almost everyone I talked to had only bought tickets after Game 6, and hadn't been to a game all year.
- There were about 2500 Flyers fans there. The two guys in front of me had driven down that morning (about 15 hours, if you really motor.) THAT'S dedication.
- Long line for tickets outside after the game. It looked like they were going to sell them out by the end of the night though. A LOT of them were scalpers though, FWIW.

A minimum of stupid comments, too. One guy asked me what the Zamboni was called. Another one asked me if hooking was a penalty. Other than that, it was par for the course. But the crowd was loud, and into it. Can't really blame them, hell of a game.

Sorry I whaled on you, Tampa. You guys put together a hearty effort for the playoffs. If you can muster even half that atmosphere for regular season games, I'll stop arguing that you should be contracted. :)

Glad you see the light? ;) Anyways, I do sympathise with you regarding watching your team lose in that building, I know what it feels like.

When I was there, I talked to plenty of people during intermission, and they were a lot of knowledgable hockey fans. One guy I talked to said he hadn't even played hockey until his 20's and now was coaching a local high school team, even sending a couple of kids to the National Team Development program. He stated that it was amazing how much Youth Hockey has grown in the area over the last 10-15 years.

[SABuffalo786]

Awww...the big bad sunbelt has hurt your precious hockey purist heart? Poor baby. Cry me a river.



Forgive me. I know wanting the NHL to not go bust must sound like an extreme, purist idea to you, but we're crazy for our hockey up here.

[Beau Dure]

OK, I have to fess up. The crowd was pretty good tonight. I mean, I had really low expectations, but the noise and passion were definately there. Handful of things I noticed:

- WAY more women and families than I've ever seen at a playoff game before, for any sport. Not saying that's good or bad, just different.
- Almost everyone I talked to had only bought tickets after Game 6, and hadn't been to a game all year.
- There were about 2500 Flyers fans there. The two guys in front of me had driven down that morning (about 15 hours, if you really motor.) THAT'S dedication.
- Long line for tickets outside after the game. It looked like they were going to sell them out by the end of the night though. A LOT of them were scalpers though, FWIW.

A minimum of stupid comments, too. One guy asked me what the Zamboni was called. Another one asked me if hooking was a penalty. Other than that, it was par for the course. But the crowd was loud, and into it. Can't really blame them, hell of a game.

Sorry I whaled on you, Tampa. You guys put together a hearty effort for the playoffs. If you can muster even half that atmosphere for regular season games, I'll stop arguing that you should be contracted. :)

1. Cool. Glad you enjoyed it.

2. 15 hours from Philly to Tampa? That's pretty good time.