2020. The day was January 31st, 2019. At a New Year’s Eve party highlighted by Greek people drunkenly dancing to Notis Sfakianakis “O Aetos”, I rang in the New Year, excited by all the new opportunities to come my way. Then the world was hit with a situation we had never been accustomed to; a global pandemic.
For many of us, sports serve as therapy to get us through our day-to-day lives. The excitement and passion they bring are the only medicine we need sometimes. Due to the pandemic, the sports world was especially affected, as all sports leagues shut down during the beginning of the pandemic; and with good reason. It seemed that something we cherished was now taken from us. Some of us resorted to other hobbies, such as reading, or watching “You” on Netflix, but there are only so many times you can watch Penn Badgley plot an “accidental” murder.
Still, we all waited in anguish for sports to make its way back, and it slowly did. The first to come back were hockey and baseball, both playing shortened seasons without fans in attendance. The NHL had even gone so far as to implement a “bubble” in the cities of Toronto and Edmonton. Soon to follow was the NFL, which also implemented the “no fans” policy in most of their stadiums.
In a sports year dominated by uncertainty, the Tampa Bay teams seemed to thrive in this uncertainty, as all three went to the finals of their respective sports. As we know, the Buccaneers and Tampa Bay Lightning ended up winning their respective championships, and the Rays fell one game short. Still, what an accomplishment for all teams, especially during a year that was dominated by something much more important than sports.
The Buccaneers started off slow, as they were still getting accustomed to the new roster they had assembled over the summer. Names such as Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, and Tom Brady, were all brought in to try and change the culture in Tampa Bay. Boy, did they ever. Through many up-and-down performances during the regular season, sports pundits everywhere counted this team out, saying it was time for Tom Brady to “hang up his cleats”.
Well, thank the Lord he didn’t because he and the Bucs staged one of the most impressive Super Bowl runs I had ever seen, and even knocked off the superpowered Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl. But we’re not done there…
Months earlier, the Tampa Bay Lighting were lending a new definition to the term “dominate”, as the team GM Julien Brisebois had assembled was trouncing opposing teams. Seriously, the lineup spoke for itself; Andrei Vasilevskiy, Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, Anthony Cirelli, Brayden Point, Mikhail Sergachev. All of them would end up showcasing their special talents to get this team to the Stanley Cup Finals and win.
Last but not least, who can forget the cinderella-story Tampa Bay Rays, who only a year earlier, had been one of the worst teams in baseball. Thanks to a burgeoning young core in their clubhouse, the Rays were able to make it into the playoffs, then build off of that momentum and book a date with the Dodgers in the World Series. Although they would eventually fall short, it was clear that a new day was rising in the Tampa Bay sports scene.
Tampa Bay is now becoming what Boston was in the late 2000s and early 2010s; a hub for winning. With names such as Brady, Stamkos, and Arozarena manning their respective teams, it’s never been a better time to be a Tampa Bay sports fan.