About two weeks, I wrote that I wanted to cover my trip to Tampa Bay in long form. The story as to why I went is simple. I had two weeks off from work and I’m also a huge fan of the hockey team the Tampa Bay Lightning. The goal was to catch two games from the Lightning on a Tuesday and Thursday. Last year around this time, I started planning out the trip and lo and behold, this is what happened when I went to Tampa Bay Florida.
The day of the trip is usually the most anticipated because you have to everything in order. First, you have that damn itinerary ready just in case you forget which airline you’re flying and which terminal you’re going to. Second, you have to have all your necessary items that you’re going to carry with you. The day of the trip I had everything ready. The night of December 19th 2016 I left wheels up for Tampa. I remember the majority of the flight I slept because it was a red eye and I was listening to the now highly acclaimed Something to Wrestle with… Bruce Prichard. We landed early that morning and I also had a connecting flight from Atlanta. The connecting flight, (known little to my knowledge) was on final boarding and I now rushed over. I just missed the flight and I felt rather devastated. I had never been in this situation and I was lost as to what I should do. I asked around and someone pointed me to services from Delta. I was gladly handed a new boarding pass and there I was on my way to Tampa Bay. I landed about 1 hour later than my original time. Once again, when I’m in a new city I try to look for new things to do and see. I’ve found that planning out a trip detail by detail beforehand can end up backfiring on you. Built on spontaneity, a trip can have so much more adventures and elusive stories.
Nevertheless, I went over to my rental counter for my car and asked which kind of car I had reserved. Knowing me, I said yes to upgrade a sports car. I ended up driving a Ford Mustang and that thing at first was hard to navigate. I grabbed my car and eventually went exploring around the city. The first thing I did was grab some food and I went shopping for some groceries as well to have for the next few days. I did that and also explored a little around the city. The city had some nice harbors and the beaches were wonderful to look at from afar (more about this in a bit). I ended up checking in later that day to my hotel. Whenever, I go to hotels I make sure that they are a Days Inn because usually they are pretty reliable. After some relaxation, I ended up making my way towards my first game of the trip. The first game was against the Detroit Red Wings and the atmosphere from Amalie Arena was quite interesting. I had heard that perhaps Tampa wasn’t a hockey town but it was quite a fun experience. I saw the passion in the fans and the amazing amount of support for the team was awesome. I went by myself on this trip and I was practically up on the top of the rafters. I was able to observe the game more closely and able to appreciate how shifts are happening and how the defensemen are able to guide the game for their team. I had some Red Wings fans seated next to me and even there I said that hockey has the ability to bring fans from anywhere. This makes Hockey one of the premier sports for me because of the excitement, competiveness, and grit in the players. I had fun at my first hockey game in Tampa and we ended up winning 4-1 after some crazy plays happened involving the goalies going down for both teams. Afterwards, I came with the idea in my to head down to Miami. The Miami idea came about from the fact that I wouldn’t know when I would come back. I woke up the next day at 7AM ready to head out by 8AM. Once I headed out, I had little idea about the famous tolls in Florida.
As I went about on I-75, I had no cash and I saw the signs for the tolls. The drive itself was rather relaxing because I saw the swamps, could feel the humidity in the air, and was surprised that it was not raining as much as I thought. As I was going along paying my tolls, I wondered about what I would do on the way to Miami. I told myself I would probably catch a movie because the drive was quite long (about 4 hours to be exact). I ended up seeing Assassins Creed and the movie was great because I was curious as to how they would adapt a video game into a movie. The movies (if you have not seen it) had to do with Michael Fassbender’s retrieving the Apple of Eden which is being researched by a scientist because he wants to see wars and what not continue into the 21st century. It was panned by critics but I rather enjoyed it because it took the idea that revolutionaries can be created by going up against the system. After that was over, I decided to sit in traffic for a bit to head to Miami beach. Previously, I had been in South Miami but the trip to Miami Beach was worth it. I stopped by Miami Beach for a few hours and just sat on the beach taking in the time and effort I had put into making the trip happen. Everything that happened and everything that was to happen in the next few months had not come into my head. I think that’s what we forget sometimes is that we have to breath everything in. The ocean air and the sound of the ocean are enough to send me into a frenzy because that’s where I become one with the Earth. I sat on the beach for close to 20 minutes and afterwards headed back to where I was parked. Little did I know, it started raining and I said what the heck I’ll walk around in the rain. I just stopped by and saw all the little shops that were around. These shops give me the idea that someone will shill out enough money for a Miami Beach towel or a Miami Beach surfboard. The destination cities do a remarkable job at marketing these products and you can say they do well deserve it.
Afterwards, I headed back to Tampa around 6:30 in the evening. I found this drive to be much more adventurous than the first one. When I was driving back, I drove with the top down for a part of the drive. I just let the breeze blow through what hair I had left. I remember from some of the drive I had a semi-truck in front of me and I could feel the breeze getting colder. I wanted to drive with the top up again but the breeze was just too tempting to resist. I also remember when I was driving earlier in the drive that I was just zooming in and out of the lanes just trying to stay awake from all the driving that was happening. Once I got close to Tampa, I got a little bit more relaxed because I had done my driving and was ready for the next day’s adventure. The next day, I asked myself what else I could do? On this day, I decided to head up to St. Pete beach. Of course, the drive once again was wonderful and once I arrived I just laid on the beach for a few hours reading a book called ‘The Arm’. The book deals with Tommy John Surgery and what pitchers go through during the process. One pitcher in particular I remember they talked about in the book was Jon Lester. Lester himself talked about the mechanics of having to recover from Tommy John and what kinds of recovery that pitchers have to go through. I also found Todd Coffey’s comeback from Tommy John to be one of the most compelling pieces because of how he tried to come back and got hurt right away when he threw and he felt pain up his elbow. The author himself details how much money and how much stock into how these pitchers are developed from a young age into sensations at 19-20 and it all depends whether or not they can throw a 90 mile per hour fastball. I also found it fascinating while reading this that pitchers go out there every 5th day and are depended on for a 1 win or one quality start. It kind of reminds me of when a horse may just be gearing up for some races but he comes back on that day to run and he wins the big one. If you’re not familiar with a quality start it’s usually 6 innings pitched, 3 earned runs, and maybe 5 or 6 strikeouts. I remember in particular on how kids in high school or in high school are scouted at a young age and eventually they are drafted into an organization. The development from these pitchers is worth looking into and I would be interested to see if another book such as this one dealing with maybe infielders or outfielders. The position players I feel can have just as a compelling story with pitchers because they understand what it takes to succeed. What I mean by this is that they have to have a good arm to throw out a runner or maybe even be willing to hit for power.
Anyway back to Florida. After I finished reading a good chunk of this book, I headed to look for some pizza and chicken. I settled on something and headed once more over to the hotel. I waited for a bit until the next game was to start. I headed out a bit early to check out the awesome downtown and see the arena and see a bit more. Once I was finished with that, I headed to the game ready for another showdown. This time we were playing the St. Louis Blues. This game I felt was a bigger challenge than the first one. The team of the Blues was much more talented and I was ready to see this one go down. After going down two goals, I said to myself ok we gotta find a way to come back. I also said once again I did not come all this way to see my boys lose. I had also that night bought a Lightning jacket which I really enjoy wearing these days as well. After that, we never looked back and ended scoring up 5 unanswered goals (something about me and 5 unanswered goals really goes a long way). After the game was over, there is no doubt I felt there was definitely a sense that I would be back. I was planning to go back this year for my Christmas break but at this juncture it doesn’t look like it is going to happen because I have some surgery going on. I’m telling myself at this point that life is extensive and I do want to go back soon enough. I got back on the plan one day later and I sat there watching Jason Bourne and Dogs of War. I told myself there, ‘Life is Good’. I landed just in time for Christmas Day and had a very nice and relaxing rest of my break.
Now that I’ve written about my experience about traveling, I want to go back to something I haven’t written about in a while and that is wrestling. Recently, I listened to the Bret Hart 96/97 podcast with Bruce Prichard of Something to wrestle with fame. I am going to go ahead and write down some of my thoughts on one of my heroes and what he meant to me during that time almost 20 years ago. I’ll also take some snippets from the podcast and what I remember during that time. Hasta luego! (A little thing to remember this trip down below). 
Just Another Day... 