This is just to much.... Tampa 2nd best sports city in USA. LOL

[flsportsfan83]

http://blogs.tampabay.com/twocents/2008/07/best-and-worst.html?cid=121494636#comment-121494636

[beastiebull]

Atlanta is not THE worst sports city in the country.  We're bad, but we showed up to support the Hawks last season and made the Highlight Factory one of the toughest places to play for opposing teams.  Seattle completely LOST their freaking basketball team!  What's worse than that?

[RicanBull]

Wow. This guy is a moron.

The straw that broke the camels back: "Throw in the Bulls, Gators, the..."

NO! You dont throw in the Gators in our city. What an idiot.

O yea, New York should be #2.

[usfbullcpa]

I don't know.  I laughed at first, thinking of all the great city franchises.  The thought that NY has two of just about everything, LA has had champs, Chicago? Not on either side of the list?  But then I started to think of perspective here.  If your looking for a FAN base, Tampa isn't it.  We did not support the Bucs until the Superbowl win.  Yeah, I hear all the Buc Bruce fans now, I worked at the stadium, it was as empty as the the first 5 years of Bulls games.  The Rays have not been supported with butts in the seats, and the Lightning should charge to get off the Bandwagon, it would be more profitable.

Now, if you look at Tampa from a sports fans perspective you have a much brighter light.  We have teams mostly on the rise.  We have great ancillary sports opportunities, Superbowls, NCAA regionals, Special Events.. etc.  Saw all the comments about the Gators, and face it they are in easy driving distance.  Hell, you can probably get to G'ville as easy as the Meadowlands from NY.  We get spring training, a huge draw, plus rookie, and A league baseball.  So, I can see where Tampa is a great sports city for the fans.

This will have much more street cred once USF wins the BE.... in 08.

[Bulls On Parade]

.  We did not support the Bucs until the Superbowl win.  Yeah, I hear all the Buc Bruce fans now, I worked at the stadium, it was as empty as the the first 5 years of Bulls games.  The Rays have not been supported with butts in the seats, and the Lightning should charge to get off the Bandwagon, it would be more profitable.

Ray Jay was a sell out every game I am sure before the superbowl, to say people didn't support them till after the superbowl is not correct.

The rays have sucked for 10 years, no suprise they have little fan support. It will turn around for them if they can atleast be a .500 team in the future.

[flsportsfan83]

.  We did not support the Bucs until the Superbowl win.  Yeah, I hear all the Buc Bruce fans now, I worked at the stadium, it was as empty as the the first 5 years of Bulls games.  The Rays have not been supported with butts in the seats, and the Lightning should charge to get off the Bandwagon, it would be more profitable.

Ray Jay was a sell out every game I am sure before the superbowl, to say people didn't support them till after the superbowl is not correct.

The rays have sucked for 10 years, no suprise they have little fan support. It will turn around for them if they can atleast be a .500 team in the future.

Raj Jay did sell out most games, but pre Ray Jay the Bucs got about as many people as a rap concert at a red neck bar.

[D1DDY]

i think he's saying thats we're a very sports oriented town... esp with our Bulls on the rise!  we're not full of 100 years of history and a trophy case full of hardware so you can't compare Tampa to NY or Boston in that fashion, but the opportunity is there.

and you can't blame the fans for not showing up in the past when the owners weren't making the right moves.  I'm 25, from Bradenton and there wasn't much to cheer for in the Bay Area growing up but I still went to some bucs, devil rays, even spring training games.  Hell drove out to a few Magic Games in the Shaq Era.  

i think its funny how many times i've been told im a band wagon fan because of my new Rays Hat.  I've been to plenty... even the one where Wade Boggs pitched.  Anyone else remember that?  

[nobull.Bulls]

I remember being there when Boggs hit #3000. That was cool

[usfbullcpa]

.  We did not support the Bucs until the Superbowl win.  Yeah, I hear all the Buc Bruce fans now, I worked at the stadium, it was as empty as the the first 5 years of Bulls games.  The Rays have not been supported with butts in the seats, and the Lightning should charge to get off the Bandwagon, it would be more profitable.

Ray Jay was a sell out every game I am sure before the superbowl, to say people didn't support them till after the superbowl is not correct.

The rays have sucked for 10 years, no suprise they have little fan support. It will turn around for them if they can atleast be a .500 team in the future.

Yeah, and ummm, there used to be a stadium called TAMPA STADIUM, there was life before RayJay and the Gayzers.  During the Culverhouse era the only sell outs at the 76,000 seat stadium were the Bears, the Packers and the occassional NY team.  Believe me, there were 30,000 tops in the stadium through the 80's.  You had diehards, but not a stadium full. 

Chicago Cubs have sucked for 100 years and they still fill out Wrigley.  This city did not support the home team until 2 weeks ago.  Sorry, It is a fact.  The Rays sell out games? Yankees, Red Sox, Braves....

[usfbullcpa]

I was there the night Bogg's pitched the last two innings.  And the night Canseco told me to kiss his ass because I heckled him for lack of hustle. 

What I was conveying is that Tampa is a great town for sports opportunity, and did not even get into all the individual participation sports, etc.  But, look , you can get to a sporting event weekly here.  Two PGA events, LPGA event (Polk City), DUramed (Lkd), Boat races.... there is a lot of sports in our community.