2008-10-20

What's wrong with the Florida sports scene?

No, seriously. First the Tampa Bay Lightning win the Stanley Cup and nobody other than Hulk Hogan cared.

Now last week came the revelation (h/t Tom Benjamin) that the Florida Panthers are giving away free tickets to everyone in the entire state.

Now this:

The second overall pick in the 2002 draft, Upton solidified his status as one of baseball's bright young stars last year. The converted shortstop hit .300 with 24 homers and 82 RBIs but Tampa Bay went 66-96 and finished last in the division.

Before this season, Tampa Bay dropped the word 'Devil' from its nickname.

"I used to tell people I played for the Devil Rays and they'd ask, 'Who are the Devil Rays?' Now I think they know who we are," Upton said.
What? How can Florida fans either not know the name of the baseball team in Tampa Bay or else not remember what they were called just last year? Yikes.

Anyways, Tampa v. Philadelphia... should be amazin'. And by amazin', I mean "any minute now we'll get 400 articles from the MSM about how it is a shame that "small market teams" [doesn't Philadelphia have 6 million people or something? -ed] are facing off instead of another Yankees-Mets series, or Chicago-Angels.