Paul Allen’s Sports

NIGHTMOVES®

SPORTS REPORT

BY PAUL ALLEN

TAMPA BAY BUCS

At press time they are still in rst place in the NFC South but The Tampa Bay Bucs are not playing like a Super Bowl contending team. The o ense is not scoring points and the defense is letting opposing teams march down the eld and score at will. The victory in Germany against Seattle was nice but the loss against the Cleveland Browns on overtime was heart breaking.

Injuries are a part of the problem but I really don’t care for the play calling. It seems like every rst down is a run up the middle and we are always looking at third and long. Tom Brady is playing ok but the team itself seems lost.

The Bucs might make the playo s … and actually get a home playo game but another Super Bowl??? I don’t see that happening!

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING TAMPA BAY RAYS

Not much has happened during the o season with the exception of the team saying goodbye to a few players. See ya’s go out to: Ji Man Choi, Ryan Yarbrough and Kevin Kiermaier (to name a few). Look for the Rays to sign a few players (maybe this month). Talk is they are interested in Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy.

Spring training games start in February and regular season game tickets go on sales starting December 2 and the Rays home opener for the regular season is March 30 against the Detroit Tigers.

The Bolts started the 2022-2023 season playing pretty good hockey. The team plays nine home games in December: 12/3 Toronto Maple Leafs … 12/6 Detroit Red Wings … 12/8 Nashville Predators … 12/10 Florida Panthers … 12/13 Seattle Kraken … 12/15 Columbus Blue Jackets … 12/28 Montreal Canadiens … 12/29 New York Rangers … 12/31 Arizona Coyotes (New Year’s Eve). At press time the Lightning nd themselves in 4th place in the Eastern Conference trailing the Boston Bruins (who have an amazing 18-3 record), Toronto and Detroit. They have a 12-7-1 record and have been competitive in every game. The Bolts are a solid team with great goaltending and plenty of scorers. Let’s hope everybody stays healthy and another run for the Stanley Cup is a real possibility!

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Tons of college football bowl games will be played this month including the

Gasparilla Bowl (on ESPN)at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on Friday, December 23 and the ReliaQuest Bowl (Noon on ESPN2) Monday January 2 at Raymond James Stadium. At press time, teams have not yet been decided.

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