As part of the SB Nation Tampa Bay Fan of the Week series, we are learning more about the bloggers who cover your Tampa Bay area sports teams.
Today we’re chatting with an anonymous fan of your Tampa Bay Lightning hockey club. And though he prefers not to use a real name, he is known across the internets as someone with a passion for those bolts.
Here is a quick Q&A with the man known as Don’t Trade Vinny:
How did you come to be a fan of the Lightning?
The first year I really discovered hockey was the Lightning’s expansion year. Little kid logic therefore dictated that they become my favorite team. It’s been a wild ride to say the least.
Why did you start blogging about the Lightning?
Well, the ‘Cowboys’ and Rick Tocchet were running the team into the ground, and I grew sick of it.So, I took my angry disposition to the web, and people seemed to enjoy it.
How did you get involved with SB Nation?
Because of John and Cassie over at Raw Charge, I post a ‘real’ article about the team every so often, and frequent the game and open threads.
What’s your favorite Lightning story ever?
My favorite story is of Dave Andreychuk’s retirement.
After the lockout, and due to the rule changes, Andreychuk was having a hard time adapting and decided to retire. Through a careful process of handling waivers and what not, the Lightning handled Andreychuk in a way that he could retire midway through the season, but remain on the books and get paid to be with his family as a thanks to his captaincy, and leadership to the team.
The management realize his value, and put principle ahead of the ‘bottom line.’ The definition of class.
What’s the weirdest thing to ever happen with the Lightning?
This is hard to put in perspective, but the freshest thing that the Lightning have done that really made me scratch my head is the whole “Seen Stamkos?” ordeal. Creating an ad promotion for a player that not only was not on our team yet, but at the very start of it all was not guaranteed to be on our team was not only risky, but quite awkward in my opinion. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that rather frequently first round draft picks are complete flops. Thankfully he hasn’t been, but there was a lot of money put into those ads.
What do you hate hearing from opposing fans?
Critical comments about wasting expansion in the South. “No one cares about the Lightning.” So on. I am just as passionate about our team than anyone in Toronto or Montreal.
If you’d like to learn more about Don’t Trade Vinny, catch him hanging around Raw Charge and other SB Nation haunts, on Twitter, and on his own blog, tastefully entitled Don’t Trade Vinny.
We're always looking for Tampa Bay's most outrageous, outspoken, excitable, enthusiastic fans. If you see anyone who fits the description, snap a photo, tell us what makes them such a great fan of our local teams, and send it to us at TampaBay@sbnation.com.