STACK’EM!!

PACK’EM!!!

SHIP’EM AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!

The Tampa Bay Lightning have defeated the Philadelphia Flyers to win their first ever conference title and have earned them their first ever berth to the Stanley Cup Finals!!!!

And you know what this means kiddies?! It’s time for the grand finale!!!!

As minutes tick away and fans flock to the St. Petersburg Times Forum (or Times Palace, as I like to call it) I can’t help but realize this is the biggest game ever played in Tampa Bay. One can point out the Bucs and the 2002 Super Bowl appearance, but the NFC Championship and Super Bowl were played in Philadelphia and San Diego respectively. One could mention that Tampa Bay has hosted 4 Super Bowls and I can only say those were other teams, representing other cities.

This game is the biggest in the the history of the Lightning, that is for sure. This playoff series has been a lot more eventful than the entire history of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and most playoff appearances by the Bucs….

For the Lightning, a win would push the team into a final confrontation — the grand finale of the Pass the Friggin’ Torch Tour — for the right to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup. It will deliver a 40 year old dreamer to his dreams, and give a taste of legendary status to the rest of the players on the roster: The cocky 24 year old from Ile Bizzard, the consistent and resilient young man from Prince Edward Island, the 5-nothing, 100-nothing pound forward who has taken nay-sayers opinions and shoved them up their collective asses this year. There’s the balls-to-the-wall Swede, the “potential realized” Czech, etc, etc…. All rounded out by the man known to his enemies and allies alike as the Bulin Wall…

Potentially, sixty minutes of hockey is all that is left for one of these teams. A bitter resentment of how close they came will be all that lingers for the next three months (or more pending work stoppage) as they prepare themselves both mentally and physically to try, try again…

And the winner? The winner gets the chance at glory — to realize boyhood dreams or to re-live them that they once experienced in a different town, among different people. Nothing is certain as any sports fan can tell you.

Throw out your clichés, for there truly is no tomorrow for the loser… The quest for Lord Stanley’s cup ends for all but one in the Eastern Conference tonight…

And my final question to you is this: Are you ready for some hockey?

To further talk about the imitation of the “C of Red” in Calgary….

I found it pathetic and sad that Philadelphia fans had to be given out free T-shirts by the team to go along with the “Orange Crush” concept for the playoffs.

Photo ? St. Petersburg Times - Photo by Dan McDuffie

The above picture was taken during game 4 of the series. The “Orange Crush” call had come out before Game 3 had been played. How many people had responded to the “Orange Crush” calling for game 3??? The following image doesn’t give you a look at the whole arena but it gives you a general idea of how much fans supported this idea on their own:

Photo ? St. Petersburg Times - Photo by Dan McDuffie

In Calgary, the fans did it on their own… I guess this either proves Philadelphia has horrid colors (like we didn’t already know this?), no fan in their right mind wants to wear Orange (as a Tampa Bay Bucs fan — like we didn’t already know this?), or that Philadelphia fans are fickle except when it comes to booing.