- It bears repeating. Tampa’s a city of champions. Thank you, Bolts and Bucs.
Yeah, Trump’s a MAGA-Lago Floridian, DeSantis is a disgrace, the Delta variant is being enabled by the unvaccinated, serious Bay Area mass transit is still an oxymoron, and hurricane season, with all its apocalyptic cones, is back again. So, yes, we needed good news—the sort of news that diverts and rallies a populace and focuses on what we have in common, instead of in conflict.
- “They wanted to cement a legacy.”—Former Lightning General Manager Jay Feaster.
- For Lightning forward Pat Maroon, this is his third consecutive year on a Stanley Cup-winning team: one with St. Louis and two now with Tampa Bay. Is that a “Pat Trick”?
- The Bucs’ Tom Brady is now a brand ambassador for FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange.
- “Sho-Time”: The hitting and pitching of Japanese-born, L.A. Angels’ phenomenon Shohei Ohtani has wowed and mesmerized baseball fans this season. Not to be overlooked is the timing of awesome talent, engaging personality and a need for an uplifting Asian presence in an America beset with anti-Asian turbulence.
- The conversation around the Tokyo Olympics has mainly been about pandemic protocols, drug testing and the future possibility of multiple international sites—instead of just a home city burdened with Olympic infrastructure costs. And then there is this. The Games are the ultimate forum, for example, for track and field, swimming and gymnastics. It’s the pinnacle. It’s far from that for some sports, notably soccer, baseball, basketball and tennis. World Cups, World Series, NBA championships and Wimbledon matter more than the inferior Olympic versions.