Life and politics from the Sunshine State's best city

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Gary Shelton

Gary Shelton has 1999 articles published.

Gary Shelton is one of the most recognized and honored sportswriters in the history of the state. He has won the APSE's national columnist of the year twice and finished in the top 10 eight times. He was named the Florida Sportswriter of the Year six times. Gary joined SaintPetersBlog in the spring, helping to bring a sports presence to the website. Over his time in sports writing, Gary has covered 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics, Final Fours, Masters, Wimbledons and college national championships. He was there when the Bucs won a Super Bowl, when the Lightning won a Stanley Cup and when the Rays went to a World Series. He has seen Florida, FSU and Miami all win national championships, and he covered Bear Bryant, Bobby Bowden and Don Shula along the way. He and his wife Janet have four children: Eric, Kevin, K.C. and Tori. To contact, visit [email protected]

Bucs have prime-time games against Patriots, Falcons in 2017

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They are coming up on their 10th year without a playoff game. Still, the Tampa Bay Bucs have to feel as if they’ll be playing with the big boys in 2017. The Bucs play a prime-time Thursday night game this year against the world-champion New England Patriots (Oct. 5), then later play a Monday night game against the Atlanta Falcons (Dec. 18). The Bucs also play two games against the Carolina Panthers, the Super Bowl runners-up of two seasons ago.…

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Erasmo Ramirez gives the Tampa Bay Rays a reason to keep smiling

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Most of the time, Erasmo Ramirez is smiling. Sometimes, he makes other people smile, too. Ramirez was terrific in his first start of the year Thursday, taming the Detroit Tigers in an 8-1 victory that completed a series sweep, their first since San Diego in mid-August of last season. Ramirez allowed only two hits – and one earned run – in the five innings he pitched. Chase Whitley went the three innings afterward and allowed only one hit, and Tommy…

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Rays capture strange victory over Tigers on misplayed grounder

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Sometimes, baseball makes no sense. None at all. Sometimes, it is a bizarre, unexplainable game filled with strange bounces. Take the Tampa Bay Rays’ 8-7 victory over the Detroit Tigers Wednesday. It was a confusing mess of a game in which everything you thought you knew was no longer true. For instance, the Tigers launched a comeback when gold glover Kevin Kiermaier missed a fly ball, leading to a three-run triple. For instance, the Rays came back from that when…

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Rowdies get a point with 1-1 draw against Cincinnati on the road

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It’s a hard sport in which to score. Still, one goal will win only so often in the United Soccer League. For the fourth time in five games, the Rowdies scored only one goal Wednesday night, and the team had to settle for a 1-1 draw with the home standing FC Cincinnati FC. This time, Marcel Schaffer scored in the seventh minute for the Rowdies. Harrison Delbridge evened the game on a header in the 36th minute. “We started off…

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In the end, Aaron Hernandez squandered his talent, his opportunity

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Waste. The short, violent life of Aaron Hernandez ended Wednesday when he turned his final act of aggression on himself. Hernandez, the former tight end of the New England Patriots and the Florida Gators, died of an apparent suicide Wednesday morning. And in the end, the final tragedy was the way he threw it all away. He was young, and he was rich, and he had a family and a big house. He was talented and on his way to…

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Five things to watch for at the Tampa Bay Rowdies-Cincinnati FC match tonight

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The Rowdies play a rare mid-week game tonight when they take on Cincinnati FC in the USL Match of the Week. Five things worth pondering: 1.  On the road again: The Rowdies are 3-0 at home, but they lost their only road match of the year last week when they fell 2-1 to Louisville. Cincinnati is 2-2, but it won its home opener last week in front of 23,144 fans. The Rowdies have never played before more than 13,000. 2.…

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Convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez commits suicide in prison

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Former New England Patriot and University of Florida tight end Aaron Hernandez, just days after a legal victory, killed himself in his cell early Wednesday morning. Hernandez, serving a life sentence without parole, was acquitted in a double-homicide last week. His attorney pledged to fight his prior conviction and expressed confidence that Hernandez, 27, would be free again. The attorney, Jose Diaz, said he did not believe Hernandez committed suicide. He would conduct his own investigation, Diaz said. Hernandez hanged…

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