Spectator Sports

Around the Tampa Bay area, we don’t have to turn on the TV to know when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are playing. Bucs flags fly from flagpoles in front of houses draped with reddish-orange and black bunting. Inflatable helmeted hulks face off against each other on front lawns, and local delis prepare platters for football-watching parties.

And that’s nothing compared to the show that goes on at Ray J stadium during a Bucs home game. We may not have the winningest team in the NFL—although don’t forget they’ve won one Super Bowl and come close on a couple of others—but they’re our team. We’ve sent a good number of players to the All-Star games. And we host the Outback Bowl each January.

We spit sparks over the Tampa Bay Lightning, our NHL team that won the Stanley Cup a few years back. And our MLB Rays beat out the competition to become the American League champs and came oh-so-close in the 2008 World Series against the Phillies.

That was a bit ironic. We may have almost as many Phillies fans in Tampa Bay as Rays fans. That’s because the Phillies have made Clearwater their spring training home since 1947.

In fact, this area was the birthplace of baseball’s spring training program, and St. Petersburg is home to Minor League Headquarters. Later in this chapter we’ll be taking a closer look at how the Grapefruit League developed and at who plays where today.

We’ve also fielded a professional soccer team, the Tampa Bay Rowdies, that played here from 1975 to 1993 in the now-defunct North American Soccer League. But the Rowdies are set to make a comeback in 2010 as part of the United Soccer League First Division. There’s even talk of them getting their own stadium.

No, we don’t have a NASCAR track. Why bother, when we can turn downtown St. Petersburg into an IndyCar series course each year for Grand Prix and LeMans series racing? And we have our share of short track racing—we’ll tell you where to find dirt racing.

Then there’s the PGA championship tournament at Innisbrook in northern Pinellas County, the World Championship Ironman Triathlon in Clearwater, and the NOOD Regatta sailing from St. Petersburg. Where’s basketball in all this, you ask? We’re getting there. No NBA team—yet. But we hosted the 2008 Women’s Final Four and the 2009 Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, and we’re on the NBA circuit as a venue.

Which brings us to alternate leagues and college sports.

Well, we’ve got the Arena Football League’s Tampa Bay Storm, and we’ve made a couple of stabs at American Basketball Association teams—the ThunderDawgs and the Tornadoes gave it a shot, but hit the rim and bounced out. And we cheer on the University of South Florida Bulls when they play various sports.

Then there are the other kind of sporting events that involve horses, dogs, and the luck of the draw. Thoroughbred horse racing and greyhound racing have been part of Tampa Bay since the 1920s. But in the last few years, they’ve had some competition from casino gambling. We’ll take a closer look at what has happened.

This chapter is organized alphabetically by sport Auto Racing, Baseball, Equestrian Events, Football, Golf, Hockey, Sailing, Soccer, Thoroughbred and Greyhound Racing and Gambling, and Triathlon. Within each sport, we’ll look at the major teams and venues.

So—got your team jersey on? Then let’s take in a game . . . or two or three.