A review of what took place in Tampa Bay area sports over the weekend:
Tampa Bay Rays
- The Rays hosted their annual Fan Fest over the weekend, drawing over 20,000 fans.
- Marc Topkin has a great write-up on Kevin Kiermaier’s journey to the big leagues and the one pitch that changed his fate.
- Joe Maddon weighs in on the new replay and home-plate collision rules for this season.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- There have been mixed reviews regarding the Bucs new logo & helmet. Personally, I feel like the change was negligible and there was much ado about nothing. We’ll see what the new uniforms entail (released March 5th).
- Blake Bortles impressed at the NFL Combine over the weekend, as the other top QB prospects chose not to throw.
Tampa Bay Lightning
- Marty St. Louis, Steve Yzerman, and Team Canada won the gold medal on Sunday at the Sochi Olympics with a 3-0 win over Sweden.
- The Bolts resume play on Thursday night in Nashville, kicking off an exciting few weeks that should include Steven Stamkos’ return to the lineup, as well as the trade deadline.
NCAA Men’s Basketball
- The second ranked Florida Gators made their case for the #1 spot in this week’s rankings with a win over Ole Miss. Our friend Jack Jorgensen has a nice article about who should be in the top spot: Florida or Wichita State.
- Florida State traveled to Pitt and pulled off an upset of the Panthers, winning 71-66. The Seminoles will need to keep up the momentum in order to position themselves for an outside bid to the NCAA tournament.
- UCF fell to 10-15 on the season with their 9th loss in their last 10 games at Houston on Saturday.
NCAA Men’s Baseball
- UCF improved to 5-2 on the season after taking 2 of 3 games in the UCF Baseball Tournament over the weekend.
- The Florida Gators (5-3) avoided a sweep at the hands of in-state rival Miami Hurricanes with a 6-4 win on Sunday in Coral Gables.
- USF remained undefeated on the season (7-0) with a come from behind win against Penn State in Tampa on Saturday. The Bulls completed the sweep of the Nittany Lions with a 6-5 win on Sunday.
- The Seminoles remained undefeated with two wins over the Georgia Bulldogs in Tallahassee this weekend (the third game in the series was cancelled due to weather). FSU will take on the New York Yankees in an exhibition game later this week.