Janice and Ron Strand of Land O'Lakes, outside the St. Pete Times Forum this morning, took a vacation day to attend.
Illinois resident Jeff Johnson, 42, camped out in Tampa for two weeks during the Stanley Cup Finals. The goalie mask was a little much for him during Wednesday's celebration. "I'm starting to drip," he said.
TAMPA -- A man in dark sunglasses and clad in a crisp white shirt, black slacks and a tie looked around at the thousands of hockey fans on Channelside Drive on Wednesday.
Asked if he was supposed to be at work, the man looked up and said, "Possibly."
But, hey, this was a moment to savor and to celebrate. The Stanley Cup, symbol of the best of the National Hockey League, had come to Tampa Bay.
The man, who chose to be unidentified, wasn't alone. He was among
the crowd of about 20,000 fans who lined the streets of downtown Tampa, waiting for Lightning to parade the streets under cloudy skies in what felt like 98-degree weather.
This was the day to play hooky for hockey, and few, if any, were admitting any shame.
Katt McLean didn't even bother to call in sick.
"I just told them I had to go to the parade," said the 46-year-old from Clearwater. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm playing hooky for the day."
McLean said she first was struck by Lightning last December when she went to a game with friends. Since then, she's been to 23 regular-season games, all of the home semifinals, three out of four of the finals -- including Game 7 -- and she has season tickets for next year.
"I've got the (vacation) time, so I said I'm just going to take it," she said. "I would've felt nervous if I said I was sick."
Meanwhile, the folks over where Ron Strand works in Land O'Lakes were wondering why he didn't take off sooner -- like the day after the Game 7 clincher.
Instead, Strand and his wife Janice took a vacation day for the parade. They've been fans since Phil Esposito became the team's first general manager in the early 1990s. And they don't blame bay area fans for jumping on the Bolts' bandwagon.
"Once you get a taste for hockey, you don't lose it," Strand said as he watched the crowds pour in around the St. Pete Times Forum two hours before the parade's start.
The Bolts hit self-admitted bandwagoner Jeff Johnson hard. He'd been camped out in Tampa for the past two weeks.
"I got laid off,"' the Illinois native said through his self-decorated goalie mask as he pulled out Lightning ticket stubs, "but I went to every game this season."
City of Tampa employee Sam Hicks, 34, said attending the day's celebration converted him into a fan, though he's no expert on the sport just yet.
"I'll get out there and say, "Go Bucs! ... I mean, Bolts!"'
