I thought it was all too casual a mention when I looked at the cover of the St. Petersburg Times sports section and found a sidebar snippet mentioning the death of Bill Davidson.

William Davidson, owner of the Detroit Pistons, founder of Palace Sports and Entertainment and former owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise, passed away. And the amount of respect thrown his way by acknowledging his passing is a sidebar note?

I’m up in arms about that, but really — that’s a media kvetch and unimportant. This fan respects what Davidson’s empire achieved with the Lightning under it’s control and Davidson did indeed make a wise investment in the Lightning and the St.Pete Times Forum. Even if the Lightning were not financially solvent during the majority of his ownership tenure… The arena itself was one of the most active and highest rated in the world.

In other news: Everyone probably has noticed that next to nothing has been published here at Boltsmag down the stretch… We’re in transition to something else right now with the site and further details should be coming public in the immediate future. Stay tuned.

last updated March 14, 2009 at 2:29 pm