Chris Thomas Profile (Players)

Image by Getty Images via Daylife By Bob Andelman (Originally published in Players, August 1991)

The green blinking light is pressed.

"Bobby from St. Pete, you're at bat. Take a swing!"

"Okay! I was at the airport the other day and Phil was there. He's getting on a plane going to Newark. I said, 'Hey, Phil! Good luck!' He said, 'Yeah, we're going to do it!'"

For those who don't know the players on a first-name basis, Chris Thomas explains to the rest of his listeners that "Phil" is Phil Esposito, president of the vaporware Tampa Bay Lightning.

"I have to think the National Hockey League is losing its patience," opines Thomas, host of WFLA 970 AM's "Tampa Bay Sports Line." "It has been two months."

"He looked really nervous," reports Bobby from St. Pete. "I wondered if you have an update?"

"Naah," says Thomas, waving his hand in disgust as if Bobby from St. Pete could see it. "Because the NHL doesn't believe in the First Amendment and free speech, the league has a gag order in place."

Bobby from St. Pete, satisfied, hangs up.

Thomas, 43, looks across the WFLA studio to his engineer in the next room, explaining to him on the air how the name Bob is a palindrome because it is spelled the same way backwards and forwards. Only Thomas can hear Jesse's response in his headphones, but he tells the engineer, "Jesse, you are not a palindrome, you are a meathead."

Four nights a week, Tuesday through Friday from 6:30-8 p.m., WFLA-TV Ch. 8 sportscaster Chris Thomas gives up his dinner break to spend 90 minutes talking to listeners on WFLA radio. It's worth it, both to him and to listeners. There is no more commanding presence and personality in local sportscasting on either TV or radio. Thomas has all the elements, from a voice dripping with sarcasm and bombastic exuberance to an encyclopedic knowledge of sports and a devil-may-care attitude.

Moments before the radio show begins, he and his producer, Kevin, discuss upcoming guests.

"I thought we could get (former Colts quarterback) Earl Morrall," says Kevin. "Did you ever talk to him in Baltimore?"

"Oh, sure," says Thomas. "I know Earl."

"Good talker?"

"Are you kidding? Guy's in his 50s, still wears a crewcut!"

When the show starts, Thomas chats up his listeners a bit to warm up. "We're going to have a special guest whose name escapes me," he admits, cracking himself up.

During the first commercial break, Thomas confesses his only gripe with Tampa Bay sports fans: they're too passive.

"They tend to sit back and listen," he says. "We know they're there. Sometimes I have to kick 'em in the butt. Sometimes I say, you're killing me, you're going to get me fired, my daughter's not going to be able to go to a good college ... Then they call."

Even when they do call, Thomas says area sports fans don't have the same fire in their belly found in Boston, New York, Chicago or Baltimore. "You listen to callers in big cities, they're brutal! Rabid! They're passive here," he says. "There's a latent audience of Bucs fans that want to go berserk, but what's to go berserk over? It's the worst team in the league."

Back on the air.

"Is our guest on the phone yet?" Thomas asks Jesse. "He's not? Play the music. I have to get my notes." Turning off his microphone, Thomas thumbs through his bulging briefcase and asks the engineer: "What's our guest's name again?"

The man's name is Cliff Charpentier and he's just published his eighth book on fantasy football. Thomas knows the game well and makes conversation easily. Despite his bluster, he never hesitates, never takes more than a breath between one solid question and then another.

Charpentier does not light up the phone lines and Thomas grows bored. While the fantasy football expert drones on, Thomas turns off his microphone, coughs, and says, "Guy's pretty exciting." He then closes his eyes and his forehead bangs into the microphone, as if the sportscaster has fallen into a deep coma.

The feeling is not held back from his listeners, either. "Thank you for being on the Sports Line, Cliff," says Thomas, disconnecting Charpentier. "Exciting guy, that Cliff," he says, laughing. "Not quite in the Hoyt Wilhelm league ... "

Former knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm played Major League Baseball far later in life than most athletes. Thomas interviewed him one night for the show. "It was dreadful," he recalls. "He kept doing this (clears his throat, with great difficulty) before answering questions. I thought he was going to die. First of all, why did you come on the show if you're going to die? And if you're going to die, don't take me with you."

Thomas never set out to be in broadcasting. His mind was set on journalism until he accidentally walked into the campus radio station at the University of South Carolina. "I heard this guy doing sports. He was horrible! I turned to this guy and said, 'He's horrible! He stinks! You ought to fire him!' He said, 'Who are you?'"

But Thomas won an audition and bulldozed his way on the air, working as both DJ and sportscaster. He worked in radio for years, in South Carolina and Baltimore, adding TV later on. This isn't the first time he's worked both media, either.

Back to the phones.

The blue computer screen to Thomas's left indicates the name of each caller, their sex, topic of interest and how long they've been waiting. Cellular car phone callers usually get through quickest.

Mike from Clearwater: "I think you and Tedd Webb should get off Ray Perkins' back."

Thomas: "Hey, I haven't mentioned his name in two days!"

Some callers are better than others, of course. They require the host's full attention. That's when Thomas puts down his latest Marlboro, his eyes narrow and focus on a point beyond the microphone, talking to it like the caller is actually in the room.

Thomas, like other talk show hosts at WFLA, has his regular callers. Kerry is distinguished by his horse laugh. Bill has a very distinctive voice. And Bill is a retiree from Detroit. Thomas prefers "open phones" to interviewing authors and minor celebs, which makes the job seem more like work.

Physically, Thomas is different than you'd expect from seeing him on TV. Instead of the de rigeour jacket and tie, he shows up at the radio studio in his golfing clothes, yellow shorts and multi-colored polo shirt. And where TV makes him look pudgy, he's not. Thomas is tall, thin, tanned and taut. The camera, she lies.

Six calls later - and discussion of Arena football, Hugh Culverhouse, the Seattle Mariners behind him - it's 7:55:01 p.m., time for the Fat Lady to sing.

"This is a marvelous country, ladies and gentlemen," says Thomas as Kate Smith's version of "God Bless America" comes up behind him. "It's a land that I love ... Stand beside her, and guide her ... From the mountains, to the prairies ... "

A year ago, a listener sent him a tape of Kate Smith singing "God Bless America." Thomas used it to close the show for a week or two as a gag. When he stopped, listeners demanded her return. Now WFLA promotes Chris Thomas and Kate Smith as "America's Sweethearts."

"Everybody needs a signature," says Thomas with a shrug. "Not only that - it shortens the show by three minutes!"

Program Notes! Upcoming on WMNF 88.5 FM's "The Women's Show": "Return of the Goddess," narrated by Merlin Stone (8/17, 24); a call-in with author Diane Stein (8/31). The show airs Saturdays at 10 a.m. ... WQYK 99.5 FM/1010 AM is carrying the Tampa Bay Buc games on both AM and FM. If you missed the first two games, you'll be surprised at how well former Buc David Logan makes the transition to the broadcast booth. ... "Live with the Governor" - you know, Lawton Chiles - airs Aug. 20 at 6 p.m. on WTKN 570 AM. The guv will be taking calls. ... WUSF 90 FM will carry John Adams' new opera, The Death of Klinghoffer, on Aug. 31 at 1:30 p.m. It is about the murder of handicapped cruise ship passenger Leon Klinghoffer aboard the Achille Lauro in 1985.

Attention All PDs! Former 95 YNF disc jockey Robert Reed asked RadioRadio to get the word out that he is still in town and looking for work. Reed, 29, has deep roots in the Tampa Bay area, having been on the scene since 1982. He and his his wife own a home in St. Pete and are looking for an opportunity to stick around. If you'd like to contact Reed, call Players at (813) 578-1400 and we'll pass it on.

Calling All Gators! Mick Hubert, voice of the University of Florida football Gators, will appear on WTKN's "Tampa Bay Sports Hour" throughout the upcoming season. His first appearance will be Sept. 3 at 7 p.m.; thereafter, Hubert will appear every Monday night. WTKN is also carrying Gator games and the "Gator Football Report," Monday through Friday at 7:53 a.m. and 6:23 p.m., as well as "Gator Hotline" with Hubert and Coach Steve Spurrier, every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

95 on the Move! WYNF FM made several changes in its special programs. The new line-up:

Mon.: "Fresh Trax," 11 p.m.; "Rockline," 11:30 p.m. (Jethro Tull, 8/26; David Bowie, 9/2)

Tues.: "Rock 'n' Roll Six Pack," 11 p.m.

Wed.: "Wednesday Night Live," 11 p.m.

Thurs.: "Local Licks," 11 p.m.

Fri.: "Headbanger's Block," 11 p.m.

Sun.: "In the Studio," 8 a.m. (Grand Funk Railroad, 8/18); "Radio Clash," 8-10 p.m.; "Powercuts," 10 p.m.-midnight.

Jay Marvin Update! The boisterous, opinionated late night talk host at WFLA recently devoted his entire show to an expose of the Liberty Lobby, which owns the Sun Radio Network and WEND 760 AM. The program was pure theater and we heard folks talking about it for days.

Speaking of Marvin, he placed another poem, this one with the Nihilistic Review.

Wanted! Reader Kevin Coldiron collectors radio station promotional materials. If you have any to buy, sell or trade, drop him a line at 11401 9th Street N, #305, St. Petersburg, Florida 33716-2310.

Dittos! U92 DJ Al Cruise did a tremendous job as public address announcer of the Tampa Bay Storm this season. One more reason we'll look forward to the team's return next summer.
Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

Best and Worst of 1991 (Tampa Bay Life)

Image via Wikipedia By Bob Andelman
(Originally published in the Tampa Bay Life, 1991)

What makes something the best? What makes it the worst?

Why, we do, of course.

This is the third year Tampa Bay Life has contributed to the local culture by stepping out on a palm frond to pronounce "The Best and Worst of Tampa Bay."

Putting aside all risks to their persons and professional reputations, Bobs Casterline and Andelman have once again searched (and scorched) the earth and sea for the finest and crummiest our community has to offer. And unlike amateur compilations offered elsewhere, the Bobs go beyond the easy ones like best pizza or best doughnut. Where else to find "Best News About Pinellas Park" or "Best Meteorologist, Cooking Division"? Or "Worst Father" and "Worst Art Show"?

(The Bobs' enthusiasm for their task was dampened only when plans for a new category - "Worst Restaurant Larger Than One City Block" - had to be scratched when The Kapok Tree in Clearwater closed.)

As is a Tampa Bay Life tradition, our readers have chimed in with their two grouper fingers' worth. So please, without further ado and self-aggrandizement, meet this year's winners and losers.

Best Reason to Start Watching the Local Evening News Again: Kelly Ring, co- anchor of WTVT Ch. 13's "Eyewitness News"

Best Track Event: 2nd Annual University of Florida Nude Relays

Best Business Name: Spurt & Squirt, Inc., Pinellas Park

Best Bite: St. Petersburg's Dogwater Cafe serves its meals in dog food bowls

Worst Tabloid (But We Read It Cover to Cover): The Tatler, Saint Pete's most anticipated and feared birdcage liner. Mike Allen lives in Pinellas Park but for some reason publishes a free rag that is distributed only in St. Petersburg's better neighborhoods. He is vicious and unrelenting towards city officials, Bay Plaza, the Times and anyone who won't buy advertising. His spelling and grammar stink, too.

Best Name for a Failed Business: Classic Casket Galleries, Largo

Sheryl Browne Knows Noose: The WTSP Ch. 10 news anchor wore a noose around her neck during a news update on Halloween.

Best Sports News: Three new sports franchises: The Tampa Bay Lightning (National Hockey League), Tampa Bay Storm (arena football) and Suncoast Sunblasters (United States Basketball League).

Worst Sports News: No baseball franchise. Drat! Drat! And double-drat!

Most Gratuitous Sex Video: Pinellas County Commissioners asked Vision Cable not to broadcast its "frank and candid" debate of an ordinance to regulate nude dance clubs and theaters.

Smith WAS Overhead Saying "Gobble, Gobble": Gov. Lawton Chiles nearly ran over Secretary of State Jim Smith in the wee hours of the morning while on a turkey hunting trip in a rural area outside Tallahassee. Chiles was trespassing on Smith's property and didn't see his secretary. Or so he says.

Best Art Show: Gasparilla, Tampa. Innovative artists, genres and variety.

Worst Art Show: Mainsail, St. Petersburg. Booooooring. It becomes more like a senior citizens' crafts show each year. We're curious about the upcoming show by artists whom the Mainsail selection committee rejected.

Biggest Coup: The St. Petersburg Times hired political columnist Howard Troxler away from the Tampa Tribune.

Persian Gulf Update #1: A Dade County judge said babies whose parents were deployed for months to the war in Kuwait should be put up for adoption if a relative can't care for them.

Best Neon: The surfer in the window of On The Beach Sports and Swimwear, Madeira Beach.

Kill All the Lawyers But This One: Richard Reinhart, a Bradenton assistant public defender, said not one word in defense of his client, prison escapee Thomas Edward Clements. It took a jury just seven minutes to convict Clements.

Best Garage Sale: Tampa Palms developer Ken Good's.

Persian Gulf Update #2: After three months without receiving a payment on his car loan, Barnett Bank of Tallahassee sent a threatening notice of delinquency to Anthony Giugliano. In Saudi Arabia. Giugliano was an Army reserve sergeant called up during the early stages of Operation Desert Shield. (The bank later froze the loan after a barrage of negative publicity.)

Worst Place to Skinny Dip: Madeira Beach. Lt. Matthew McShane arrested Roxanne Murasso and Gunther Fick for taking a midnight swim in the buff. Fick was allowed to put his clothes on for the trip to the police station; Murasso was not. McShane handcuffed the naked lady, put the naked lady in the back of his cruiser and paraded the naked lady through the Madeira Beach police station before being allowed to dress. The naked lady is now in therapy and will probably sue.

Best Bridging the Bay News: The new span of the Howard Frankland Bridge finally opened and construction began on the 49th Street Bridge.

Best Business Strategy: A record 13,251 bankruptcies were filed in Hillsborough County in 1990, an increase of 34% over the previous year.

Best Business Editor: After the St. Petersburg Times fired Len Apcar due to an alleged conflict of interest, the New York Times snapped him up as assistant business-finance editor. "We're satisfied there was no conflict," said his new Times boss.

A Horse is a Horse, Of Course, Of Course: Dr. Edward and Patty Kampsen of Tampa bought a horse for $18,000. It was intended to be used by their two children for show jumping but the horse was blind. They returned it. Horse #2 was too tall to qualify for youth shows. They returned it. Horse #3 had damaged ligaments and couldn't be riden at all. They returned it. Horse #4 was a thoroughbred the Kampsens hired to sue the seller of horses #1-3.

Persian Gulf Update #3: Two weeks before the outbreak of hostilities, U.S. Sen Connie Mack (R-Fl.) sent a letter to supporters asking for campaign contributions. He said sending money to him would "show support for our troops and our president."

Best Break: Roger McGuinn hired Largo-based band The Headlites to support and open shows for him on his 1991 world concert tour.

Best News About Pinellas Park (Gateway to Largo): They're improving their image; they're waxing the cars that are up on blocks.

Worst Father: A St. Petersburg man allowed a friend to rape his mentally retarded 9-year-old daughter in exchange for cigarettes. The girl's mother was in love with the man and held her daughter down for him.

Worst Road Hog: Traffic along the Howard Frankland bridged creeps along on a daily basis, but it came to a full stop for hours when a 500-pound pig named Goober escaped from the rear door of his owner's pick-up truck.

Best Excuse to Ride a Bus: The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority re-painted one of its buses to look like a '59 pink Cadillac.

Best-Kept Secret of Tampa's Neighborhoods: Police raided a "medieval dungeon" on Armenia Avenue where bizarre sex rituals were performed. Confiscated items included racks, whips, chains, masks, paddles, enema bottles and devices used to crush male genitalia.

Separated at Birth #1:
Developer Ken Good and Exxon Valdez Captain Joseph Hazelwood

Most Promising TV Personality: Kathy Fountain, WTVT Ch. 13. The midday talk show "Eye on Tampa Bay" would be "Murphy in the Morning" without Fountain's warmth, sincerity and journalistic technique. She's been at the station for years but is only now in full bloom.

Racial Intolerance #1: Wendell Bennett Jr., a reserve deputy in the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department, used a racial slur during a conversation inadvertently broadcast over a main dispatch radio channel. He was suspended for 14 days and ordered to attend ethnic sensitivity training.

Best Meteorologist, Cooking Division: Laura York, WFLA TV Ch. 8. She's won more state fair blue ribbons for her recipes than Ch. 13's Roy Leep and Ch. 10's Dick Fletcher combined.

Weirdest Sign: Hemmorhoid Clinics of America: "It's So Much Easier," Henderson Blvd., Tampa.

Best Mom: Rosa Martinez. After the agonizing tragedy of daughter Eliana's death from AIDS, Rosa took in two orphan sisters diagnosed with the deadly disease.

Best Mexican Restaurant/Convenience Store: El Sombrero, Largo

Worst Local TV News: WTSP's "Newscenter 10."

Best Line: To prevent men from using snakes as a way of meeting women on its beaches, the Madeira Beach City Commission passed an ordinance prohibiting reptiles on the beach. Turtles are advised to swim north to Indian Shores.

Best Sandwiches, Health Food Division: Caryl's Natural Foods, 121 Ft. Harrison N., Clearwater. Great shakes, too.

Dumbest Counterfeiter: Joseph T. Hill of Orlando became the first U.S. citizen ever convicted of counterfeiting Polish currency. The feds say Hill printed 3 million zlotys - worth about $316 - on his laser copy machine.

Best Autograph: On the wall of Magadan's Sports Cafe is a picture of one-time Tampa Bay Buccaneers first-round draft choice Bo Jackson. The inscription reads: "To Doc Gooden - Tampa Bay ain't shit. Bo Jackson."

Best Fight: Clearwater resident and Philadelphia Phillies catcher Darren Daulton went after St. Petersburg resident and New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

Worst Potential In-laws: A St. Petersburg couple was arrested after the husband picked up his step-daughter's boyfriend, held him overhead and tossed the boy off a 12-foot balcony. The parents were upset when they found their daughter, who is 12, alone with the boy, who is 14.

Best Burger Alternative: Gregory's Flame-Broiled Chicken, Clearwater and St. Petersburg

Best Magazine Selection: BookStop, Countryside Square, Clearwater.

Best Buns, State Attorney Division: The jury convicted Brian Keith Smith of first-degree murder for shooting a motel clerk to death. But before reconvening to decide whether Smith deserved life in prison or death in the electric chair, they asked a bailiff to deliver a single rose to Assistant State Attorney Robert Heyman. It seems the female jurors had enjoyed watching Heyman's backside during the trial. They even developed a nickname for him: "Bunsy."

Best Buns, Toy Division: A "Ken" doll - as in "Barbie and Ken" - purchased in a Tampa toy store was rather unusual: Ken was wearing women's clothes. The unique find was featured in Newsweek and Fortune magazines, as well as the Joan Rivers Show until a store clerk admitted it was just a late night prank. Ken is not - we repeat, not - a transvestite.

Separated at Birth #2:
St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler and late Times Publisher Nelson Poynter

Catchy Title: Both the Times and Tribune retitled their annual guides to the bay area "Discover Tampa Bay."

Best Way to Make Friends with Advertisers: After Creative Loafing Music Editor Tom Roe wrote about concert promoters in his weekly column, legendary promoter Jack Boyle of Cellar Door responded: "Dear Mr. Roe - Since you are so busy writing editorials about 'slimy promoters,' we will save you some time. In the future, don't call us for advertising ... we will call you. Sincerely, Jack Boyle."

Worst Job Candidate: Safety Harbor was interested in hiring Charles Dubyak as its new city manager. The city offered him a $58,000 salary - $17,000 more than he was making as manager of the small Panhandle town of Mary Esther. That wasn't enough for Dubyak. In his counter-offer, he asked for a $61,500 salary, use of a new car every three years (or a $500 monthly vehicle allowance); six months of severance pay regardless of why he might leave the job; life insurance of $100,000 on his wife and $75,000 on his three sons; and closing costs on the sale of his current home and on the purchase of a new one. Dubyak didn't get the job.

Most Annoying Columnist: Neil Cote of the Tampa Tribune's Pinellas/south regional edition. An endless whiner.

Best 3 out of 5: Nick Kordas and Scott Wilson agreed to flip a coin to decide who would win a hotly contested seat on the Redington Beach City Commission after each received 307 votes. Kordas won on the flip of a Canadian coin. As one woman told the Beach Beacon, "Only in American can an election be decided with a Canadian coin."

Worst Luck: A new newspaper, The Informer, vows to print the names of everyone arrested in Pinellas County. Sometimes they even print one that wasn't arrested, as in the case of a St. Petersburg carpet installer and father of three whose name was listed under cocaine busts. The man's employer saw the listing and fired him. "Unfortunately," said Publisher Ray Aden, "some people might be hurt by this."

Worst Credit Risk: Dixie Lee Dorsey, an unemployed Winter Haven woman whose only income is $480 a month from Social Security, ran up $43,714 on seven American Express cards during a whirlwind tour of Europe.

Best Reason to Buy Disposable Diapers: Ten-month-old Brandi Lynn Ford was saved from harm by her Huggies diaper when two men burst into her parents Riverview home and fired three shots during a robbery. One of the shots tore through Brandi Lynn's diaper and stopped. "It was a really thick diaper," said her mom.

It's the Real Thing: The Pinellas County Sheriff's Narcotics Bureau traded two tractor-trailers filled with 5,000 cases of Coca-Cola to Largo drug dealers for 350 pieces of crack cocaine and $13,000 in cash. (The drug dealers were later arrested.)

Best Reason to Advertise: Lonely convenience store manager John Young, 45, put a "wife wanted" sign on the side of his car. The Tribune wrote about the Clearwater man and the story was reprinted across the U.S. and Canada, prompting hundreds of calls. That's how he finally met Marilyn Dozier of Lake Charles, La., who began their first conversation, "Have you found any woman who wants to marry you yet?"

Sweetest Money Pit: With honey oozing out of every nook and cranny in their new home in northwestern Hillsborough County, Allen and Annette Clausen discovered 300 pounds of honeybee hives in the walls.

Best New Radio Station: SportsRadio 910 AM, WFNS. All sports, all the time.

Best Disc Jockey: Alicia Kaye, Q105, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. The first new talent hired at the Q after the Mason Dixon purge. Great pipes, she's funny and sexy.

Worst New Radio Station: Mix 96 FM, WMTX. All Mason Dixon, all the time.

Oh, That Gay! Parochialism is alive and well. Gay Culverhouse, president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, told W magazine all about the differences between Tampa and St. Petersburg. "No one I know ever crosses the bridge that connects the two towns," she said. "I'm dead in the water there (St. Petersburg). I have no idea where I am. The two areas just don't mix." Except when buying over-priced tickets and concessions at Bucs games, of course.

Tribune Makes Everything Clear: "Tampa is a city, the location of Tampa Stadium, the location of Super Bowl XXV. Tampa Bay is a body of water between Tampa and some other places across the bay. So, if you're in Tampa right now, so far so good. If you're in Tampa Bay, your week is off to a bad start; get out before it gets worse. Tampa. ... Tampa Bay. ... Any questions?"

Racial Intolerance #2: Indian Shores Town Council member Jane Hawk referred to Martin Luther King Day as "National Nigger Day" and called blacks "spuds." She said King Day was a holiday for blacks and since Indian Shores had no black employees, the town shouldn't observe the federal holiday.

Worst Surgeon: Pennsylvania heart surgeon Dr. Horace MacVaugh was granted a Florida medical license despite being the subject of 18 malpractice suits since 1979. Nine of the patients in the suits died and nine of the suits were dropped.

Best Sounds: The Southeast Music Conference showcased 60 local rock, jazz and alternative bands at three venues over two days and was an incredible success for both music lovers and musicians.

Let's See, If He Didn't Mean Men, He Must Be Referring to ... : Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles urged young men at a Panhandle high school to respect the rights of "the weaker sex."

Let's See, If He Didn't Mean Buddhists, He Must Be Referring to ... : Along with special messages of congratulations for two members of St. Joseph's Church in Zephyrhills celebrating their 101st and 105th birthdays, an aide to Gov. Chiles inadvertently included a cover letter in which Chiles wrote, "Another special favor for the fish-eaters."

Best Billboard: "We Are Growing: LARGO - Home of 70,143 Nice People and 15 Old Grumps."

Best Book By an Ex-Buc: "Quarterblack, Shattering the NFL Myth," by Doug Williams.

Welcome to the 20th Century (You Almost Missed It): Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla accepted its first black members. Women, you're next (if you live that long).

Best Columnist: Chef Miles, Creative Loafing

Best Local Band Name: Liz Back on Booze
Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

Jay Feaster, Tampa Bay Lightning (Maddux Business Report)

Image via WikipediaOriginally published in 2007

By Bob Andelman

Put yourself in Jay Feaster’s shoes.

Year in and year out, your team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, is a playoff contender. That would be good enough in most cities, but this franchise actually won the Stanley Cup in 2004, forever changing expectations.

Since then, the Lightning has been good – but not great. There have been moments of brilliance on the ice, but a fair number of times, the team’s play in key games has made grown men ball like little babies.

It all comes back to the office of the general manager, Jay Feaster.

When Lightning players look for a few more talented teammates, they look to Feaster. When head coach John Tortorella is desperate for a speedier, more athletic star that can score more goals, he turns to Feaster. When the team owner wants to know why his team isn’t winning more games, he puts the pressure on Feaster.

And when the out-of-town owner sells the team without warning – as happened in early August, after this interview was conducted – the media, the fans and everyone else turns to Feaster for answers he can’t provide. In fact, he declined to answers additional questions at deadline because he didn’t know anymore about the new owners, Absolute Hockey, and the team’s future – or his own – than you do.

On the other hand, maybe you don’t want to be in Jay Feaster’s shoes after all.

* * *

MADDUX BUSINESS REPORT: Jay, no pressure, but how’s your team gonna look this year?

JAY FEASTER: We’re excited about the things that we’ve done this off-season. We’ve already locked up the big key main free agents that would be out there on the market if we hadn’t taken the steps to keep them in Tampa. We have four of the very best players in the National Hockey League that skate on our ice at the St. Pete Times Forum, as it is every game, in Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis, and Danny Boyle. So we start from the fact we have a very good core to build around, and it really is a matter of trying to fit in the pieces.

MR: With St. Louis, Lecavalier, Richards, and Boyle, the Lightning has something that maybe some other teams in town don’t have at the moment, and that is real star-power.

FEASTER: There’s no question. When I first arrived in Tampa as an assistant general manager in 1998, if we had said to the fan base at that time, “We’re gonna win more than 40 games every year for four straight years, we’re gonna make the playoffs every year for four straight years, some years we’ll go out in the first round, some years we may win a round, sometime in that time frame, we might even challenge for a Stanley Cup,” people would have said, “Where do I sign up?”

MR: Looking at other teams in town, the Bucs need an offensive line and a reliable quarterback, the Devil Rays need, well, three-fifths of a pitching staff. What does the Lightning still need to be more competitive going into the season?

FEASTER: Well, the one thing that we have to get is consistent goaltending. There’s no running from that. There’s no hiding that. Again, coming out of the lockout, after we won the Stanley Cup in ’04, if we had played the ’04-’05 season, we already had Nikolai Khabibulin, our starting goaltender who won the Stanley Cup with us. We had him under contract for one more year. Unfortunately, the entire ’04-’05 season was wiped out, and that year went off the books. So Khabibulin was unrestricted at that time, and we had to get him re-signed.

We tried everything from a two-year deal to a four-year deal to a five-year deal, three-year deal, all sorts of different machinations, asked Khabibulin’s agent for the right to match an offer from another team, give us just ten minutes to see if we could match what another team’s gonna pay you. And unfortunately, the other side never even negotiated. It was, “We’re looking for cap money which is 20 percent of the $39 million cap at that time. And so Nik went to Chicago. And from that moment on, we were in search of a goaltender who could provide consistency.

There’s no question that as we enter training camp, the biggest question mark, the biggest need, the biggest thing that we have to accomplish is that we have to have another outstanding season from Holmer (Johan Holmqvist). He has to continue to get better. And we have to have a bounce-back season from Marc Denis.

MR: You’ve made reference a couple times already in our conversation to money, and money seems to definitely play an important role in pretty much all the pro sports these days. Last season, the Lightning had a $44 million payroll. And earlier this summer, instead of being cut, there was talk that the budget for player salaries might actually increase for this coming season. Did that happen?

FEASTER: We’re at $44 million again. When we presented our budget to Mr. Davidson back in May, even with a very aggressive revenue program in place, even at a $40 million payroll, we were still looking at a $5 million operating loss before the impact of any postseason play. Fortunately, Mr. Davidson looked at that and said, “That’s not the direction I want to go with payroll. I don’t want to have to trade away or have you trade away core players. I’m prepared to take this up to the $44 million.” He took that $5 million operating loss and basically tacked $4 million more right on top of it.

The fans don’t want to hear about the money aspect of it, and yet, the fact of the matter is, that if we lose $9 million this season, Mr. Davidson is writing a personal check for $9 million. It’s not play money. It’s not abstract. It’s not something that isn’t real. It’s a real loss. And if we were in a position where Mr. Davidson were ever to come to us and say, “I want you to submit a budget that is a break-even. You have to show that you’re gonna break even on the operation in Tampa,” we wouldn’t spend more than $35 million on payroll.

MR: You sound like a man who takes spending his boss’s money pretty seriously.

FEASTER: I do, I do. The only year that this team has ever turned a profit, modest as it was, was in 2004 when we won the Stanley Cup.

MR: The last time we spoke, Jay, it was February 2004. It was before you won the championship, and you were the rookie among Tampa Bay’s pro sports general managers. Now you’re actually the dean in a class that includes Andrew Friedman at the Rays and George Allen at the Bucs. What knowledge can you share with your counterparts about operating in the Tampa Bay sports theater?

FEASTER: Well, my own observation is that you have to win. Not so much a front-running town as much as it’s a town that the expectations are just sky-high. And I think it’s a number of things. Again, the Lightning, the fact that we won in ’04, now there’s this sense that if you don’t win the Stanley Cup every year, you’ve had a disappointing season. Certainly, the community has tasted a championship with the Bucs, and just as with the Lightning, suffered through many, many, many down years. And so now that’s the gold standard. That’s the only thing that’s acceptable from a football standpoint.

So, from a standpoint of advice, there’s nothing that cures winning. I don’t care what kind of a marketer you are. I don’t care how brilliant you are. I don’t care what promotions and gimmicks you come up with. I don’t care where your stadium’s located. What all those other things are, if you’re not winning, it isn’t good enough.

MR: Khabibulin, obviously, was ready to move on based on your description of the attempt at negotiations. Is this a community that players enjoy being in?

FEASTER: Yes, very much so. And what I find most interesting is that those players who have moved on, almost to a man, and this is the truth, almost to a man, they at some point in their career want to come back. They would love to return to this community. We had it this summer. We had some of our players who had been elsewhere and who are now very interested because they’re unrestricted in coming back here. Brad Lukowich was absolutely thrilled. His wife was in tears by the opportunity to come back to the Tampa area. And even as it relates to a player like Nik, Nik made a decision at that time that had nothing to do with the area or the organization. It was simply a financial decision. It was driven by the dollars, and that’s where he went. And so the one thing that we certainly do have going for us is that players do love the region. They love playing in Tampa. They love the fact that, when the building is packed and is rocking, it’s a very intimidating environment in which to play.

MR: This is a business magazine so let’s talk money a little bit more. The Lightning reported a $9 million loss for last season. How did that compare to previous seasons? Is that better? Worse?

FEASTER: Well, it’s a little bit better, certainly not as good, for example, as what it was in that championship season when we actually made a little bit of money. But the losses have hovered in the range anywhere from about $7.5 million to $15 million over the time that Mr. Davidson owned the team. One of the things that we continue to struggle with, and that’s despite the fact that we do play to a large capacity in our building, is the fact that our average ticket price continues to languish in the bottom third of the league. And if you polled season ticket holders, they’d say, “All I know is our prices keep going up,” and yet the fact of the matter is, that even with increases over time, we still come in with an average ticket price in the bottom third. That was okay, relatively speaking, when our payroll was in the bottom third of the league. But certainly, in ’05-’06 and in ’06-’07, when we were a capped team and we spent right up to the new cap in this new collective bargaining agreement, you’re no longer supporting a payroll that’s in the bottom third. You’re in the very top percentage, you’re capping out. And so that’s where it becomes problematic for us.

MR: Are Tampa Bay ticket buyers at their upper limit of what they can afford to pay, do you think?

FEASTER: That’s a concern we have. Certainly, the price increases are painful all the time. It’s not something that we want to do as a business, and yet it’s something that we have to do. And I think every time we do it, we feel the pain and the push back and the resistance on the part of our fan base. It’s something that we’re always very, very mindful of. I sometimes get the sense that people have this impression that we just sit there and automatically add on some percentage. “Well, let’s take them up by X.” It is a pain-staking, gut-wrenching decision because we understand that it has real-world consequences. At the same time, Tampa, because it is not necessarily a corporate headquarters location, we’re not able to generate the same dollars through sponsorship and advertising that some of the other teams are where they’re playing in markets where they have a bigger corporate base. So that, too, is a challenge. It’s not just the ticket prices, but it’s also what the corporate base and corporate community can support from a marketing and advertising standpoint.

MR: How do you view the community’s support of your team, both from the fan perspective and that of your corporate sponsors? Is it commensurate to the type of business community and fan base that’s here? Is it holding its own, or do you think it could be doing more?

FEASTER: No, I think it’s very, very solid. From that standpoint, we are very, very fortunate. We have tremendous support in the community from both the fans and the business community. No question about that. Again, I think you have to go back to the fact that the area itself and part of it is simply historical, part of it goes back to the fact that when the old ownership group, the original ownership group, was playing at what is now Tropicana Field, the old Thunderdome, and you had 30,000 tickets to sell, you could sell season tickets upstairs for $100 for a forty-one game schedule. It’s pretty difficult when that’s what the market has become accustomed to, to now all of a sudden try to take it up to what it should be in order to compete with other teams in the National Hockey League.

And the same thing from a business community standpoint, there were years when the product was so bad on the ice and years when we’re losing 50-plus games, that we were thrilled to have any corporation on our signage. And so deals were cut, and deals were made that really deeply discounted what advertising was being sold for. And it makes it that much tougher for successor ownership groups to come in and say, “Let’s get this up to what really ought to be a market-based pricing scheme.” It’s just that much tougher. But that’s not the fault of the business community or the fan base. We feel that we have certainly been supported very solidly by both the business community and the fans.

MR: The Lightning’s been in the news locally over the years for its off-the-ice battles: looking for a place to play, for tax breaks, sometimes even threatening to relocate. What’s the status of all those issues as we go into a new season?

FEASTER: Just from a corporate philosophical standpoint, obviously, we do believe that we’re good community partners and that we bring something to the table, that we contribute, we give back. We’re looking for the support of the fan base, the support of the corporate community. I think for any sports franchise to be successful, there needs to be a third component to that, and there needs to be the support of the governmental entities. That support can come in a lot of different ways. And certainly, there are many different issues that we lobby for and try to bring about. One of the biggest drawbacks is, as great as the location of our facility is downtown, the biggest drawback is that we don’t have parking. And, as you know, that’s a major, major, major source of revenue in those cities and for those facilities that do have that parking.

MR: Is the Lightning here to stay at this point?

FEASTER: As far as I know, yes. And, again, those are decisions that are made at a level well above the general manager of the hockey team. That’s not the type of thing where I’m consulted as to what I think. Those are issues that really go to the heart of ownership.

This may be the best way for the general manager of the hockey team to answer the question: I have a contract that runs for four more years, and my wife and I and our family, we’re building a new home out in Brandon. So if the team’s going anywhere, I don’t know about it. How’s that?

(You can listen to this interview in its entirety at www.maddux.com )

Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

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