It is Hard to be a Sports Fan in Tampa

I love sports.  I live in the Tampa Bay area and I always have and will support the home team.  We have some pretty great teams here in the Tampa area after all.  The Bucs took home a Superbowl trophy in 2003. The MLB Tampa Rays played in the World Series, and the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team won the Stanley Cup in 2004.  I have my season tickets for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  I go to as many Tampa Rays games as I can and really want to like hockey..  maybe this year I will try harder.

So why is it so hard to be a Tampa sports fan?  Well, because we are in Tampa!  The Tampa/St. Pete area has more than its fair share of transplants, most from the Northeast.  I can’t blame anyone for wanting to live here.  We have great weather, great beaches, amazing sunshine, and of course some great sports teams.

Last home game at the Raymond James Stadium we were surrounded by Pittsburg Steelers black and gold with the “terrible towels” swirling around our heads.  It is almost impossible to go to a Rays game when they play Boston or the Yankees.  There are as many Rays fans as the opponents so when we jump up and scream for the grand slam that the Rays just hit, there are as many people booing as cheering.  Something is wrong with that.  It is hard to be a sports fan in Tampa…

The one saving grace is that most of these other fans are usually nice and we can all cheer together for our respective teams.  There will always be a handful of fans that will border obnoxious, but what can you do?  Go BUCS!  Go Tampa!