* My wife and I took a chance (more on that in a bit) and celebrated my birthday by going to the Tampa Bay Lightning-New York Rangers-Marty St. Louis-returns game last week. I say chance because–as opposed to dinner out or a show–a game has a home team that I care about that could lose. With a resultant impact on my mood. But we rolled the dice and came up winners, along with the Bolts.
As to that other subplot, I’d say Marty got what he deserved.
He received a standing ovation at the end of a classy, first-period video–set to Bastille’s “Pompeii”–in his honor. That was appropriate. This was about what he did here–and he did a lot here. He was also the face and the spirit of the franchise.
But as the game wore on, the sentiment changed. Every time St. Louis touched the puck on Ranger power plays, there was a chorus of boos. Forget sentiment, this was the opponent.
On balance, St. Louis got off easy for a guy who quit on his team and demanded a morale-threatening trade during the playoff homestretch last year. That was selfish and classless. Still is.
* Here’s another reminder that the Joe Maddon saga is more than a big Tampa Bay-Chicago deal. Maddon’s debut as Chicago Cubs manager–Sunday, April 5, 8 p.m. against the St. Louis Cardinals–will be televised nationally by ESPN.
BTW, a sneak peak at Ava, the South Tampa restaurant that is partly owned by Maddon, was worth it, even though that signature, Italian pizza oven wasn’t quite ready for test-kitchen diners. As for ambience, “casual sophistication” has been bandied about and seems appropriate. It’s cool black brick on the South Howard outside–and a welcoming mix of brick, wood, tile and plaster inside, featuring variations on a tan-green-blue theme. It seats approximately 200, including a private dining room.
While pizza will anchor the menu, you can’t go wrong with the snapper–unless, that is, you prefer your fish sans head and tail.
* Willie Taggert has now gone 6-18 in his first two seasons at USF. Skip Holtz’s last two were 8-16. Jim Leavitt never got the Bulls to the next level, to be sure, but he never regressed to this.
*UCF has won 30 games the last three years; USF has won nine. Remember when USF didn’t deign to play UCF because it was a step down in stature?