Before our last trip to Tampa, the only time I waited around for an autograph was when I was 16ish.  Encouraged by my own mother Lisa, Amanda and I waited outside the Ritz Carlton in Dearborn for the Backstreet Boys’ tour bus to pull up.  I wish I could say that we waited around freezing for something cooler than a boy band, but alas no, and I only got one autograph of the band member I didn’t really care about.

I also had one other autograph.  At the Detroit airport while waiting for our suitcases from a trip to Arizona, my mom (again!) spotted Sparky Anderson, and most likely the rest of the team, arriving back from spring training.  She handed me a pen and a napkin and told me to go ask him for his autograph.  I stared at her terrified and refused to move so she dragged me over there and asked him herself.  I’ll be honest I don’t think I even knew who Sparky Anderson was, but every time the Tigers were on after that he was like my new best friend.

As I mentioned in my previous post when Chuck and I moved to Tampa we couldn’t afford Center Ice so we cheered on the Tampa Bay Lightning.  They became my second favorite hockey team even though they weren’t all that great, I got to know the players  like a good hockey fan.  Vinny Lecavalier quickly became my favorite player followed by Marty St. Louis, Kubina and Richards (who now plays for Dallas).

After we moved back to Michigan we followed the Lightning and watched whatever games we could on Versus.  Chuck and I have seen the Red Wings play the Lightning every year since our mini-season tickets in 2005. So it’s not surprising that we made the traditional trip to Tampa for the game on February 17.  Since we were staying in Tampa, within walking distance to the St. Pete Times Forum, the morning of the game we walked over there with our coffees.  The security office door was open and we stepped in to have a chat.    The morning skates were closed to the public so Chuck and I found a stairway to sit and watch the players roll in.

We saw Guy Boucher and Roloson walk in for practice.

Chuck scoping out the parking lot; Guy Boucher; Dwayne Roloson

Shortly after that the guy we had befriended in the security office politely, if not a little sheepishly,  told us we couldn’t sit there but we could stand behind the gate at the parking lot entrance.  He also tipped us off on what time the players would be done with practice and sign autographs.

We were walking back to the hotel to change because even though it was only 8:30am I needed a tank top (this fact alone makes me miss living in Florida, if only a little bit) when this red Ferrari stopped to pull in the lot.  It was Vinny Lecavalier and he turned and looked at us confused when Chuck yelled his name.

When we returned to the designated spot there were a few people waiting already and most of them were Wings fans with their jerseys, hoping to get a signature.  The players slowly started to trickle out and we ended up with 10 autographs,  better than when I waited around for the Backstreet Boys and definitely less embarrassing.

After Lecavalier signed my book I had the afterthought to ask for a picture.  He was still signing away so I did ask, but like everyone else, he didn’t hear me.  Chuck is used to this so he called him over giving me the opportunity. (Thank you!)

not pictured who also signed my TB Yearbook; Kubina, Gagne, Purcell

Bergenheim was a trip, he walked over and asked, “Anyone have anything for me to sign?”.  I was closest and he helped me find his page.  Stamkos blew out of the parking lot with his dad in the passenger’s seat, promising to sign after the game.  I wonder if he kept his promise.  I should have taken Chuck’s picture with St. Louis but I was not thinking. I think we are even now since he didn’t take a picture of me surfing when we were in Hawaii. Don’t you?

That being said, the Lightning are really good at signing autographs.  It makes sense, they are trying to build a fanbase but what about the Wings fans that actually drove 1200 miles to see the game hoping to get an autograph?

No such luck, the Wings are too busy standing around for a half an hour pretending they don’t hear the call of their fans. They couldn’t even wave!* To be honest this is disheartening. I get it, they aren’t trying to build fans, they clearly already have them. I’m told by numerous sources that you can’t stand around the Joe before or after a game and get an autograph anymore. I haven’t tried it personally, but I’m not going to stand around freezing when the odds are slim to none.

Detroit is Hockey Town and as of this year, Tampa Bay is Hockey Paradise.

*There is one exception. I ran into the girl with the Osgood jersey at the game, she went back before game time and when the Wings bus arrived Osgood walked across the parking lot to sign her jersey.  She said  he probably wouldn’t have  if he had been playing, so she got really lucky.*