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Dancing In The Spotlight

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By JOEY JOHNSTON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 23, 2008

Updated: 05/23/2008 12:22 am

The Rays are contenders. Everything looks new and different - from uniforms to results. The core players are maturing before everyone's eyes. Once, the franchise couldn't avoid ridicule. Now there's a virtual love-fest from the national media.

As turnaround blueprints go, it's not bad.

Sound familiar? It should.

It happened for the Tampa Bay area's other two major professional franchises - the Bucs and Lightning - in eerily similar fashion.

The Rays will try to reclaim their first-place perch in the American League East during a season-high 10-game homestand, which begins tonight against the Baltimore Orioles. No matter what happens in the future - even (gasp!) championships - the Rays appear to be on the ground floor of something special.

Just like the Bucs and Lightning, when they ended last-place legacies.

•After 14 consecutive double-digit losing seasons, the Bucs made the 1997 playoffs, jump-starting an era in which Tampa Bay's NFL franchise made five postseason appearances in six years, culminating with the Super Bowl XXXVII championship.

The '97 Bucs began 5-0. Before the season's first month was done, the Bucs made the cover of Sports Illustrated - twice - and the magazine's readers were greeted by this screaming headline:

Break Up The Bucs!

"It felt different - and it felt great," said former Bucs safety John Lynch, now with the Denver Broncos. "We had these sharp new uniforms. We were winning. It was all ahead of us. Nobody was laughing at the Bucs anymore."

•Twenty months after being ranked 30th (among 30 NHL teams) in Sports Illustrated's preseason projections, the Lightning raised the Stanley Cup in 2004.

"It was so much fun," former Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk said. "We were going on the road - night in and night out - and winning games that the so-called experts say you have no business winning. Honestly, I think it's similar to what the Rays are experiencing now.

"We had to battle that feeling of doubt from others right to the end, even when we were the No. 1 seed in our conference. There are probably people who still can't believe we actually won it."

Old perceptions die hard.

Former Bucs defensive tackle Brad Culpepper was introduced to the local football perception two weeks after joining Tampa Bay in 1994.

"I was pumping gas into my car and I was wearing a team-issued cap," said Culpepper, now a Tampa attorney. "Some guy saw me and said, 'You like the Bucs?' I go, 'Yeah.' And he says, 'Man, the Bucs stink.' I'm like, 'Wow, is that the way it is here?'

"Not long ago, Urban Meyer invited me to speak to the University of Florida football team. I was trying to explain to them how bad the Bucs used to be. They looked at me just perplexed. Like, 'The Bucs were bad?' They had no idea. They didn't remember the creamsicle-orange uniforms. So it can definitely change, even when it looks hopeless, even when the perception is locked in."

Culpepper said the Bucs' turnaround actually began in 1996, when a come-from-behind victory at San Diego served as a catalyst for a fast-finishing 6-10 season. From the outside, nobody was that impressed at another losing year. But in the locker room, things already felt different.

"It doesn't begin with just the first year you start winning," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "It's a process - and the process is the most rewarding part.

"Winning the Stanley Cup was important, and it was a blast. But I remember more about the process and how we got there. And they weren't all good moments. Even the bad things that happened, they were part of the process."

Nobody realizes that more than Lightning star Vinny Lecavalier. He was hailed as a supreme talent as the 1998 draft's first overall selection. But after a few seasons in Tampa Bay, his skills were seemingly mired in obscurity. And he probably wondered about playing elsewhere.

When the Lightning became winners, though, Lecavalier knew his struggles were worth the final payoff.

"Once you start to get a taste of winning, you get that extra jump, that extra motivation to take you to the next level," Lecavalier said. "We've always heard about how young the Rays are. Now they are still young, but getting more mature and getting better and better each year.

"When you gain confidence, you are going to play better. And now they are near first place, they know they can do it and they will become even more dangerous."

Young and dangerous.

Winners for the first time.

Members of the Bucs and Lightning agree on advice for the rising Rays. Enjoy this ride. There's nothing like the first time around, before heightened expectations demand a championship.

"It's special when you know you're good and you can sustain it," said Bucs coach Jon Gruden, who followed back-to-back .500 seasons with 12-4 and 11-5 marks at Oakland, helping the Raiders to consecutive AFC West titles for the first time since John Madden roamed the sideline.

"The Rays aren't winning games because some guy bobbled a grounder or the other pitcher was wild. Every night, they're sending out a horse and they're mowing guys down. They're stealing bases, making great plays in the field, doing the things you need for winning baseball. That's what I'm feeling from the Rays right now. Those guys are legit."

Reporter Erik Erlendsson contributed to this story. Joey Johnston can be reached at (813) 259-7353 or jjohnston@tampatrib.com.

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