Yesterday was the start of the 2015 NHL Playoffs. The Tampa Egg Cluckening chicken jersey is new, but the Chicago Chickenhawks shirt is a re-use. That's to be expected, since the 'Hawks seem to be trying for a hockey dynasty.
Tampa, though... I'm automatically prejudiced against playing hockey in June in cities where there are tall swaying palm trees in the parking lot. This is a point upon which I disagree with Mr. Gary Bettman. Worse, Tampa Bay defeated Calgary to win the 2004 Stanley Cup, after which the NHL stopped playing hockey for an entire year due to a very unpleasant labour dispute. So, I have bad memories of Tampa.
One is of being stuck in line at a large store that had only one cashier available. As we in line waited, there was a little boy up front who became very loud and inconsolable. His toddler-ific "NOOOO-OOOO-OOO!!" was enough to topple trees for almost a kilometer around. I joked to the person next to me in line that the kid must have just learned that the Player's Union had rejected the owners' latest offer and the season was going to be postponed for another couple of months.
I think my favourite recollection of the Tampa Bay Lightning was a segment of comedian Rick Mercer's "Talking To Americans". This is a bit where Mercer asks citizens of the US of A their opinion on something that every Canadian would know. Most of the time, the Americans are ignorant of the correct answer, but in trying to be polite, they make up whatever they can come up with on the spot. It's a funny segment, but cruel to our fine neighbours to the south.
Anyways, Rick traveled to Tampa Bay and went to the beach wearing a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey jersey. At the time, the jersey had the words "TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING" in large lettering right on the front. Then he asked the locals what the name of the Tampa Bay hockey team was. None of them could name the team, and none of them thought to just read out loud the name on the jersey.
The modern Tampa Bay jersey just says Tampa Bay (or "Bolts"). The new logo has a stylized lightning bolt, but by very slightly stretching out the logo, it also looks like a cracked egg. Perfect for a chicken jersey!
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