Yesterday, Tampa’s beloved mayor, Jane Castor, revealed a level of stupidity and naivety unmatched in the world of sports.  On so many levels, this episode reveals why some people need to simply keep their mouths shut, or on social media, keep themselves from hitting the SEND button.

The Tampa Bay Lightning professional hockey team has been cruising through the NHL final series with the Montreal Canadiens, taking a 3-0 lead in games, with the final and possibly decisive game scheduled for tonight.  The first two games were played in Tampa at our Amalie Arena to a full house of screaming fans, while the team’s third victory was achieved in Montreal.   Of course, other than the players, coaches, and support personnel, no other Americans (friends, families, wives) were permitted to join the party in Canada. Thus the Lightning are faced with the possibility, assuming a fourth and decisive fourth win tonight, of lifting the Stanley Cup alone,  in a foreign, seemingly now unfriendly country.  Poor guys !

But then yesterday, our fine mayor attempted to solve the problem with the following words to a Tampa television station, “what we would like is for the Lightning to take it a little bit easy, to give the Canadiens just the smallest break, allow them to win one at home, and then bring it back to the Amalie Arena for the final and  the winning of the Stanley Cup.”  Follow -up questions revealed that no, it is not April Fool’s Day, and yes, she is dead serious.                            WHAT THE HECK !