The Tampa Bay Bucs feel a lot of things for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
They feel excitement, and they feel passion, and they feel kinship.
Also, they feel, well, jealous.
The Lightning is in its third straight playoffs, and its eighth in the past 13 seasons. The Bucs, meanwhile, have been to the post-season twice in that span, and they have’t won a game. What the Lightning is feeling, the Bucs would like some of, thank you very much.
“I’m jealous as hell,” said Bucs’ coach Dirk Koetter. “Are you kidding me? I’m extremely jealous of what they have going and that certainly gives us something to work for.
“This town’s on fire for the Lightning right now. [They] have the whole town excited. You can’t go anywhere without seeing those blue shirts, blue hats, blue banners – we’re rooting for them 100 percent. Go Lightning.”
Tackle Gerald McCoy, a follower of the Lightning, agreed that it would be nice to see the town in a frenzy over his team.
“Well, we’re in the same city, so we’re rooting for them,” McCoy said. “But you do, especially if you have a chance to go to the game, you get to feel that energy. I don’t know if it makes me jealous more than [it makes me] want to feel that [myself].
“I know that we have all the pieces necessary to do it and we’re on the right track, so, more power to the Lightning, we’re pulling for them, but we want to make that more than just one part of the city. We want to try to hit every sport we have in this city, we want to try to be at the top, so we’re definitely feeding off of them, for sure.”
