* Whatever else the Rays do this season, nothing will top its recent Pride Night tribute and fundraiser for the Orlando shooting victims. That it was the largest crowd (40,135) in a decade seemed only fitting.
It’s hardly happenstance that the Rays President, Brian Auld, sets an enlightened agenda at the top. “This is the civil rights issue of our generation,” says Auld, in underscoring the Rays’ LGBT commitment.
* University of Florida fans, understandably, have football and basketball at the top of their priority list for national championships. That’s not changing. But even though the softball and baseball teams fell shy this season, let’s not forget that the Gators did win a 2016 national championship: the men’s outdoor track and field team did it. Its third national title in five years.
* With all the attention surrounding Steven Stamkos and LeBron James and where they might sign, there has been an inevitable, accompanying discussion–or debate–about whether it comes down to business or loyalty. It’s both.
It’s about contracts and dotted lines, states and income taxes, agents and lawyers, payrolls and salary caps, profit and loss. It’s a business, professional sports. Of course, it is.
But there’s a difference between Stamkos and, say, Tod Leiweke, the Lightning’s former CEO, who was wooed by the NFL last year and finally signing on as its chief operating officer. It was a “bittersweet day,” according to Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, who knew what he was losing: an invaluable executive and key conduit to the community.
But that’s business. More responsibility, better compensation, higher profile. A career move for a talented exec. Next rung up. We all get it.
But the Lightning never marketed Tod Leiweke. His likeness never graced the outside of Amalie Arena. He was never the face of the franchise. He never grew up in front of fans who cheered him on like an adoptee who had embraced his new family.
Sure, sports is a business–unlike any other. You go, Tod. You stay, Stammer.