Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
There was a time not so long ago, Bobby Taylor recalls, where the first two minutes of a Lightning broadcast were the absolute worst, where finding something to talk about, an angle to hype, a storyline to forward was the most excruciating 120 seconds of his day.
There was the franchise opener hardly befitting an NHL team at the Lakeland Civic Center, the team's messy financial situation, the mysterious Japanese owners, Bill Veeck-inspired attention-getters like Manon Rheaume, the losing seasons ...
Now, the Stanley Cup final.
For Taylor, the team's longtime analyst for Sunshine, it's like watching your baby grow up and finish school.
"It is almost like watching your kid walk across the stage to get that diploma," Taylor said. "When you look at all the good things happening, it's a reminder of the bad from a few years back, all those insecurities. I mean, we would be like, what could we talk about in the first two minutes to get people to keep watching us. Now, this is such a treat. It's just great."
It would be greater if Taylor could actually call the Lightning games right now, whipping out his famous telestrator and breaking down a Martin St. Louis goal. He does a pre- and postgame show for Sunshine with play-by-play partner Rick Peckham and sideline reporter Paul Kennedy, and joins WDAE 620-AM's radio broadcast at intermissions.
But the chance to call a Stanley Cup final, now that would be a dream.
There's no living that dream vicariously through the ABC and ESPN crews either, he says. In fact, if you want to get Taylor riled up, ask him how the national media is doing while baby-sitting during the playoffs.
"I get so angry sometimes at the way the so-called national media is covering my team," he says. It may not be media protocol to call the Lightning "my" team, but Taylor's emotions and the way he expresses them are what make him a fan favorite.
"These guys, they've been paying lip service, but they haven't really, down deep, haven't really thought the Lightning had a shot," Taylor said.
Most likely, hockey's provincial mindset never will allow for a team from Florida to be accepted as legitimate. Taylor and Peckham can see that after trips to hockey towns such as New York, Montreal and Philadelphia this postseason, where the media has cracked hard on the Lightning.
But while the Lightning may not be able to save hockey, its style of play, and that of Calgary, could provide a huge boost in a league that sometimes appears on the verge of going stale.
"I really think the style of play (will make this a great series)," Taylor said. "I've had so many media people come up to me and say, "Man, this is an exciting team to watch.' They want to see a team that can break out in some 3-on-2s, or even have the other team do it to them. Everyone is tired of the trapping, defensive c---."
Whether the networks see things as rosy as Taylor does remains to be seen. There is a perception that Tampa Bay is a miniscule market, and that the Stanley Cup doesn't belong in a state that never even sees ice.
Such thinking lends itself to theories that ABC and ESPN television executives are despondent about the Lightning being in the final instead of Philadelphia, thereby turning off a large segment of the hockey viewing public.
Give the Lightning a chance, though, and Taylor and Peckham say fans - and those TV execs - will come around. The Stanley Cup will provide the Lightning its biggest stage, and Peckham thinks those willing to look will see just how good this final can be for hockey.
After all, would you rather have two name teams - Philly and Detroit, say - who play plodding trap-crazy hockey, or two upstarts who have goals to score and new stories to tell?
"I think absolutely, if people are willing to take an open mind into the rink, they'll see this (as a potentially great series)," he said. "You have to look at it as having a group of fresh stars. There's fresh stories out there, great stories and positive stories.
"It's incumbent on the networks to roll up their sleeves and uncover those stories."
If not, they might just get an angry Taylor knocking at their door, telestrator in hand.
TV SCHEDULE: Sunshine will continue to do its pre- and postgame shows during the final, and so far the response and the ratings have been impressive.
It'll have some competition beginning Tuesday, however, from ESPN, which will do SportsCenter At The Cup every night before games at 7:30 p.m., the same time Peckham, Taylor and Kennedy go on for Sunshine.
ESPN and ABC are doing the Stanley Cup for the fifth consecutive year, with ESPN televising the first two games and ABC taking over those remaining.
Gary Thorne, Bill Clement (working his 19th consecutive final) and John Davidson will call the games, with Darren Pang reporting on the goaltenders and Sam Ryan providing ice-level reports.