From a Philly paper Phil Sheridan | Flyers' dream dies By Phil Sheridan Inquirer Columnist TAMPA, Fla. - The hurts just keep on coming. Philadelphia's 21-years-old-and-counting thirst for a sports championship will not be quenched by a sip from the Stanley Cup. Not this year. "This is the worst feeling," defenseman Kim Johnsson said after the final horn of the Flyers' season. "You just feel... empty. Just empty." The Flyers' wild ride through the playoffs ended last night with a 2-1 loss to the Lightning in Game 7 of the the Eastern Conference finals. There's the wound. They were eliminated by a team from Tampa Bay. There's the salt. This sort-of-a-city on the Gulf of Mexico has become a kind of evil tormentor for Philadelphia sports teams. Not even 18 months ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers turned the last Eagles game at Veterans Stadium from a Super Bowl send-off party into a civic stomach punch. Now this. Just to drive the point home, Buccaneers coach (and former Eagles assistant) Jon Gruden was in the St. Pete Times Forum last night. So was Bucs fullback Mike Alstott, who took a microphone and rallied the crowd during the second period. The younger, faster Lightning will play the Calgary Flames for the Stanley Cup. The guess here is that the Bolts will win it, becoming yet another McFranchise to win another major sports championship. The Buccaneers. The Arizona Diamondbacks. The Florida Marlins. Build a city, get an expansion team, host a parade. Sounds simple, doesn't it? A lot simpler than the last two decades-plus of Philadelphia futility would suggest I love his attempt of a dig calling us "sort-of-a-city". They should change the signs up there, "You are now entering Philadelphia, AKA, "Tampa's beeatch!"