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 Spedito - 28/02/2023 : 14:11:44
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| You can hear the Jersey in his voice, the voice that has made Dick Vitale millions, but it has not been his home https://www.marinersfanshere.com/seattle-mariners-jersey/kyle-seager-jersey for more than three decades. He is a Floridian now, a resident of the Tampa Bay area, loving the weather that allows him to play tennis regularly and bonkers about the areas pro sports teams.The guy who used to (occasionally) cut school to head to Yankee Stadium and once wound up on the field with a buddy because they were looking for the ticket window and found an open door to paradise instead that guy now is in love with the Rays, Lightning and Bucs, and not just because each of them advanced to the championship game or series of their leagues in the past year.MORE: He is, in many ways, the reigning SuperFan of Tampa sports. So of course he is a transplant.Im a sports freak, Vitale told Sporting News.And this has been a year that has Tampa Bay sports fans freaking out.The Lightning won the Stanley Cup in late September. The Rays won the AL pennant and played in the World Series a month later. And now the Bucs will battle the Chiefs in the 55th Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, where the Bucs have played their home games since 1998. No team before has played the Super Bowl in its own stadium.I want to go in the worst way, Vitale said. The Bucs told me they could get me two tickets if I want to sit in the crowd. I dont want to take a chance in the crowd. With COVID-19, at 81 years old, I just cant take that chance.He will revel in the Bucs succe s, though. He has been a season-ticket holder for years, even attended a couple of games this season and sat in a box with his wife, Lorraine.Not all that long ago, with https://www.marinersfanshere.com/seattle-mariners-jersey/matt-festa-jersey so many years pa sed since the Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season or even got into a playoff game, Vitale literally could not give away his Bucs tickets when he was unable to use them. Had it been a non-pandemic year in 2020, he suspects acquaintances would have been lining up for the chance to see Tom Brady and friends execute a turnaround season.Im truly wrapped up. I believe in supporting the local clubs, Vitale said. Its where I live, and I get to know a lot of the key people who work in these organizations, and theyre good people, and I love supporting them. And I think getting Tom Brady https://www.marinersfanshere.com/seattle-mariners-jersey/edgar-martinez-jersey was the greatest move ever. Ever. Its the greatest move in the history of the Bucs.As a fan, Vitale has been most closely a sociated with the Rays, partly because its even easier for him to stand out among their smallish fan base, mostly because he was all-in from the day in 1995 that the region was granted an expansion franchise.He described himself as addicted to Rays baseball, enough that he knows the minor league system and is aching to see how shortstop prospect WanderFranco eventually will develop. Scouts have told him to expect instant stardom.MORE: He laments the analytics-driven decision to remove lefty pitcher Blake Snell from World Series Game 6 against the Dodgers with the Rays ahead 1-0 and Snell working on a two-hitter.You should have been with me you wouldnt have wanted to be with me watching the World Series, Vitale said. After one or two innings, I said, That is the Blake Snell of 2-3 years ago, the Cy Young guy. They took him out of the game, and it went South.I felt the only chance we had to beat the Dodgers was we needed a shutout, because our bats could not touch their guys.After Snell left, the Dodgers scored three times and soon celebrated their first championship since 1988.As someone who has been deeply into basketball his entire life -- and the seasons run concurrently --Vitale acknowledgeshe is not as much a hockey guy. But he cheers for the team and has a great friendship with Lightning coach John Cooper, who has done extensive work with Vitale https://www.marinersfanshere.com/seattle-mariners-jersey/guillermo-heredia-jersey s annual gala to raise funds to fight childhood cancer through the Jimmy V Foundation.In the 2018-19 regular season, which ended just after Virginia won the NCAA Tournament, the Lightning accumulated a staggering 128 points. No team in the NHL was close to that figure. And then the Lightning went out and were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Columbus Blue Jackets.Vitale may not know hockey as well, but he totally gets sports. So he told Cooper then that he was about to become the Tony Bennett of hockey. He did not mean Cooper would be hitting the karaoke bar to singRags to Riches. He meant the Lightning would return the next season and pull off exactly what UVa and its brilliant young coach had: bounce back from the first-round humiliation of a lo s to 16th seed UMBC to win it all the following year.In that analogy, the Blue Jackets become a tiny mid-major pulling off a once-in-a-lifetime upset.But, hey, it worked because the Lightning did exactly as Virginia had.I pounded it in him I dont know how many times during the course of the year: This is the year, man, youre going to do it, Vitale said. In fact, we did an event together, had the whole hockey team there and I spoke, and I told them that story, too, about Virginia. And, sure enough, when they won hes on Scott Van Pelts show on ESPN, and what does he do? He wears a Virginia hat. A lot of people didnt understand why he was wearing a Virginia basketball hat. He called me up and said, I hope you saw that!Vitale expects to watch the Super Bowl from home. He aches for the region, because as wonderful as all of this has been for the people who love sports in the community, he understands what a bonanza it would have been for https://www.marinersfanshere.com/seattle-mariners-jersey/justin-dunn-jersey the areas busine ses if the pandemic were not limiting tourism, game attendance andcelebrations.You realize, financially, what having the Super Bowl would have meant to the people of this area? I feel bad for those people, Vitale said. But it has been phenomenal. Brady coming here was just the greatest news. To this day, I cannot logically comprehend how New England no matter what it took could not sign that guy and keep him to finish his career.When initially it was reported that he was looking po sibly at Tampa Bay, I kept telling people: There is no way in the world theyre going to let him get away. Just certain guys, like him and Derek Jeter, theyre lifetime guys. I just felt that way. What a break that was, getting him. He brought a special culture to the locker room. He has such leadership qualities.MORE: Brady will oppose the Chiefs great young reigning Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, someone Vitale met at the 2019 Final Four, when Mahomes alma mater, Texas Tech, opposed Virginia in that years NCAA championship game.One catch: Vitale didnt recognize Mahomes without his KC helmet.I didnt even know he went https://www.marinersfanshere.com/seattle-mariners-jersey/austin-adams-jersey to Texas Tech, to be honest with you, Vitale said. |
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With Bucs in Super Bowl Tampa Bay superf
