One of the benefits of moving north of Tampa, is that while it is only about 40 miles north of Tarpon, it always seems to be about 6-8 degrees cooler. Now that may not sound like much, but the difference between 74 and 66 degrees is being able to comfortably sit on your lanai without sweating…and watching the Lightning on the TV on the lanai! Preferrably with a cigar….

Now that’s what I’m talking about….a little winning streak by the home town teams. Both my Tampa Bay Lightning and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won two games in a row! The Lightning beat the Washington Capitals 6-4, with Vincent Lecavalier opening the scoring with a sweet short handed goal. A couple of deeks and he beat Olaf Kolzig with a forehand shot. SWEET. The Lightning’s next game is against defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, who crushed my Lightning last week. Time for the Bolts to return the favor. I have tickets to the game, but will have to miss it due to work.

Now, my Bucs. Pulled one out they probably shouldn’t have won. But they beat the Philadelphia Eagles 23-21 on a last second 62 yard field goal by kicker Matt Bryant. 62 yards, third longest in NFL history. Thanks Philly, did I mention we love Philly!

Well, after that dismal performance on Monday night by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Coach John Tortorella ripped his team in an effort to shake this early season slump. Early on this season, we’ve seen some lackadaisical play and poor effort by the top two lines. Monday’s game was disgusting. Brad Richards and Vincent Lecavalier line has got to set the tone for the team, those lines have got to skate hard every shift. So Torts put his team through a hellacious practice on Tuesday in hopes of sending a message to his team. Snap out of it early, or it will be a long season. I’m still optimistic, this team still has the talent to win another Stanley Cup, the question is does it have the will? Here’s to hoping Stanley gets another tan in June 2007.

This weekend the Philadelphia Eagles come to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers. Let me just say, the Bay area loves the Philly Teams. After all the Bucs beat the Eagles in the conference finals the year they won the Super Bowl. And the Lightning beat the Flyers in the conference finals the year they won the Stanley Cup. Thanks Philly, we couldn’t have done it without you

Please get a new rag, there’s Booger in this one. As in McFarland, Booger McFarland. The big news around here for Bucs fans is that the Bucs traded their starting undertackle, Anthony “Booger” McFarland to the Indianapolis Colts for a 2007 second round pick. Booger has had a solid career as a Buc, but never quite met the expectations the team had for him. He was moved to the undertackle position left open when future Hall of Famer Warren Sapp left Tampa Bay for the Oakland Raiders. Sapps shoes proved to be a little to big to be filled. The Bucs will go with back up Ellis Wyms to start the rest of the season. Wyms has posted better numbers than Booger in limited playing time, so the move should work out. McFarland will be reunited with former Buc coach Tony Dungy, who is still popular with Bucs fans. Go Bucs!!!

Wife talked me into watching a show she DVR’ed a few nights ago. I think it was the series premier of 30 Rock starring Tina Fey from SNL. She said I’d love the show, she thought it was hilarious. Here’s my take. Begrudgingly, the show was funny. Even worse, one of the funniest parts was that pablum puking liberal, Alec Baldwin. But make no mistakes, this show sucks without Tracy Morgan. There in lies the problem. Television does not need another show about nothing, Seinfeld already went there and proved it sucks. Unless this show intends to just let Morgan run amuck all season, it will prove unwatchable. Tina Fey definitely pulls off the hot in the Lisa Loeb, man hating, but wants to get hammered like a nail sort of way, but unless she plans on going to gentleman’s clubs with Morgan every episode, she will flounder. They might be able to mix in her watching an “art film” with Morgan and his crew. Bon Chance!

Here’s my first of what I’m sure will be many updates on the state of the Tampa Bay Lightning as I see it. Three games into the season and they are 1-2. Not so great, but still a lot of reason for optimism. First, Torts (head coach John Torterella) seems to have his edge back when dealing with his team. Second, the play on the blue line appears to have more speed and discipline. Still, some costly mistakes will happen with having a second year pro as your number 2, and a barely second year pro as your number 6 defensemen. Third and most important reason for optimism is Number 4, Vincent Lecavalier.

First, Vinny came into camp in the best shape of his career. Looks like he added a good 10-15 lbs of muscle. Has been vocal about what the players, himself especially, need to do, which demonstrates his growing into a leader. Third, he played hard his first two games. As Vinny grows, so will this team. At 25 years old, and eight years in the league, it is time for him to have the season he’s capable of. Vinny has 50+ goals in him. He is player that can take over a game and dominate. Which this is my early season prediction, with a caveat. Vincent will have 54 goals and 48 assists for 102 points for a career best. Now the caveat, if Vinny is not on pace to score 40 for the season, the Lightning will trade him before the trade deadline. Of their big three, Vinny, Brad and Marty, Vinny is the only one who would draw value.

Now, onto Game 3. Vincent Lecavalier. Games 1 and 2 saw Vinny lay some big hits, making use of his size (but please don’t try to mix it up with Zdeno Chara), add some assists, and score the game winning shootout goal in game one. Game 3 saw Vinny open with a big hit on one of his first shifts, and then spend the rest of the game skating in the neutral zone waiting for the puck to bounce his way!!! WTF??? This is the conundrum that is Vinny. If I have to watch another season of that, a guy who is capable of totally DOMINATING, but choosing not to, I will go Elvis on my television.

I only hope to see more of the Vinny from games one and two.

Sorry to keep you all waiting for the next update. It’s been very busy around here the past week or so. First things first, congratulations to my wife Colleen who just completed the 3Day 60 mile walk for breast cancer. That’s right, 20 miles a day for 3 days. 60 miles. Without a single beer along the way. She participated in the walk in Philadelphia with some friends, and the Philly walk alone raised $6.6 million. Not bad for a town that booed Santa Claus!

Well, with Colleen out of town, and my mother in law taking my girls to Disney for the weekend, it was time for a real MAN weekend. Me and my little guy, 7 year old Matthew, and all hockey all the time! We started with watching the Lightning season opener Thursday night, they won 3-2! Then he had hockey practice friday night. We went ice skating Saturday afternoon. Saturday night I took him to the Lightning home opener, they lost 3-2, boooo! And tonight I’m off to the Lightning game. Go Bolts!