PHOTOS COURTESY OF IMAGN
Team Tampa Bay’s take By: Tyler Graddy Senior Writer and Editor The Identity Tampa Bay @TylerGraddy
Tampa’s time! Tampa Bay is at the center of the sports universe. The Tampa Bay Lightning win the 2020 Stanley Cup, the Tampa Bay Rays are making waves in the MLB Playoffs, the Rowdies are advancing in the USL Championships and the Buccaneers have a chance to make history by being the first team to play in it’s host community’s Super Bowl.
For a long time, Tampa Bay felt like a transient sports town. People once moved here from far and wide, bringing their allegiances and traditions along with them. Sure, we’ve had teams in the bay area for decades—only it often felt like Tampa Bay’s sports were relegated to second-favorite fandom. But not now, no way. Now, things feel different. This is Tampa Bay’s time. Our rising bay area has become a place where championships can be born, a region that doesn’t ask for your respect and loyalty: it demands it. The Lightning are Stanley Cup Champions for the second time since 2004, fresh off a six-season run that includes two Stanley Cup Final appearances, three trips to the Eastern Conference Final and five playoff berths. Not even one of 2020’s most taxing sports quarantines could slow down the Lightning. Forget about surviving the Stanley Cup playoff bubble in Canada; the Bolts busted it open with the loveable talent it nourished from day one. Nikita Kucherov finally evolved from unmatched regular-season greatness to playoff savant. Victor Hedman, regarded as the best offensive defenseman in the league, elevated his leadership chops to levels that would have made General George S. Patton look like a middle-school coach. The entire team came together for the greatest celebratory boat parade that this country has ever seen—a regard normally reserved for Tampa Bay’s own Gasparilla Invasion. These personalities, often blanketed in the humble temperature of hockey culture, couldn’t be contained in the wake of their historic Cup run. 11 TAMPABAYLV.COM
