Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn doesn’t know “smack talking” like Hulk Hogan, apparently.
In a Facebook post Wednesday morning Buckhorn shared a Tampa Bay Times article about Hulk Hogan’s verbal and social media rivalry with Chicago wrestler CM Punk over the Lightning showdown with the Blackhawks.
“Now this is some smack talking,” Buckhorn wrote. “Careful though some bloggers may actually think they are serious.”
Buckhorn is likely referring either to me or Creative Loafing’s Kate Bradshaw or both. Bradshaw first called Buckhorn out over the weekend for slandering Chicagoans as heavy drinkers in a trash-talking pre-game interview with a Chicago sports reporter.
Later, I compared his slightly over-the-top phrasing to a history of “you probably shouldn’t have said that.”
But apparently he was just joking when he defended the Lightning’s policy of not selling Stanley Cup tickets to Blackhawks fans with “we didn’t want to lower our standards” or when he implied Chicago tourists spend most of their money at the bar.
And it seems he was also joking when he said, “we don’t care about hospitable.”
Because all of that is nothing compared to Hulk Hogan’s trash talking.
Hey Mayor, if you felt the need to defend your “smack” talk, maybe you should have picked someone a little more admirable. Hulk is a former wrestler who was literally paid for dramatically beating the snot out of people. You are the mayor of a major metropolitan city. Big difference, sir.
But congratulations, you’re now in the same ring with an expert trash-talker who can’t even get the name of our team captain or coach correct.
For those who haven’t seen it, Hulk and his awesome mustache took to TV to defend the Lightning to CM Punk. In doing so he called Lightning captain Steven Stamkos “Steve Stamko” and coach Jon Cooper “coach Connor.”
Thanks for the shout out, though.
