Por (Bill Thornton) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Come on… a Championship game vs. the worst team in hockey last season… The Bolts would expect the reverse to occur if we ever get back into being a good team

Por (Cookie) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Erik,it would be a class act to even ask the league for a change. I don’t think that will happen. In spite of being a fanatic Bolts fan, I will be at the Trop.

Por (hockeyWA) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

I say…absolutely NOT.  Keep the same scheduled time for saturday.

Por (Patrick) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

With the way the Lightning are playing (and trading), it shouldn’t be that difficult of a choice to make.

I hope the Lightning don’t change the time/date.

Por (BOLTS RULE !!!!) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Guess there will be more seats available at the hockey game. Interesting problem, but since hurricanes are playing the night prior, I doubt they will change anything. Carolina plays Monday night at home so moving to Sunday doesnt help anything for them.

Por (Mark) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

The Bolts have always been my favorite Tampa Bay sports team with the Rays coming in second. I can’t afford to go to either game this year but luckily I can flip back and forth. I think people are over-reacting to the Bolts first 2 losses, its not like they got blown out of the building. A few plays made here or there would maybe result in a different outcome, Melrose will fix that. As for the Rays, what more can you say about a great team being established in baseball for years to come. Again, no matter what the color of the Sox are, the Rays aren’t scared!! Go Rays and Bolts

Por (Mike Joyce) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Watching baseball is like watching paint dry.  It’s been too long since the last hockey game.

LET’S PLAY HOCKEY!!!

Por (Thunderstruck) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Mike J is right on the money!  I’d rather count stars in the night time sky than watch baseball.  Are you kidding me?  Hockey even ruined football for me!  Football is too much standing around with the clock tick-tick ticking away.  What do they really play in football-25 to 35 min?  Heck NO, I’m ready to watch some real action.  Leave the Bolt’s home opener AS IS!

Por (Thunderstruck) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

By the way, just read another comment from another ‘fan’.  Please don’t call yourself a ‘fanatic’ Bolt’s fan if you’d rather watch that nonsense over in St Pete.  That is proof right there that a ‘fanatic Bolts fan’, you are NOT.  :(

Por (dale) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Rays tickets $100.00, Beers $7.00, parking difficult at best, hooking up with freinds for the Bolts season opener, priceless!!!!!!!! Updates on the Rays will work for me.

Good luck Rays, let’s go Bolts.

Por (Ruthe Robertson) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Don’t even consider changing the date and time. All the so called Rays fans are fair weather fans anyway. Where the heck were they two years ago when they couldn’t draw 5,000 fans to a game. At least the Bolts fans supported the team, even when finishing last in the division. Just drop the puck! We’ve waited a long time for the season opener. Hockey vs. Baseball, a no brainer. Go Bolts.

Por (Teresa P.) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Speak for yourself, Ruthe.  I’ve suffered through with the Rays as long as I did with the Bolts, no fair weather fan here.  I’d love the chance to see both.  Would be a classy move by the Lightning.

Por (Cookie) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Thunderstruck, my initial reaction to attending a baseball game a few years back was that my husband had taken me to a hockey addict detox center.  It’s never been a game I enjoyed.  This year, each Rays game I attended was truly enjoyable.  Fanatic fan of the Bolts always.  My daughter even consulted me as to the last possible day of the Stanley Cup playoffs , before she set her wedding date!  What the Rays have accomplished so far is a first.  I’d like to cheer the home team on.  First Bolts opener I’m missing in 7 years. Forgive me!

Por (Nick) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT:  I HAVE WAITED SINCE LAST YEAR TO SEE THE LIGHTNING. I HAVE WENT TO ALOT OF RAYS GAME THIS YEAR AND I AM CHEERING THEM ON, BUT THERE GAME ISNT GOING TO CLINCH ANYTHING SO NO WAY.

Por (Tampafan) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

I can’t believe you would even think to change the time/date.  I have been to a few Rays games and I can tell you the fanatical fans they have right now are fair weather.  Up until recently the stands were never even close to full unless the Yankees were in town.  Leave the hockey alone.  Hockey fans are always true fans because once it hooks you, it reels you right in.  There is nothing like it.

Por (Anne B) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Keep it the same time. Some of us have to work before the game. Its not like the TV’s at the forum won’t have the baseball game on.

Por (msanders) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

lightning website says they’ve changed the time to 3pm.  they must’ve been listening to ya.

Por (msanders) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

i take my previous comment back.  it’s the carolina game in november that they’ve changed the time for.

Por (Herb) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Figures, someone out of town (Bill Thornton), would say that the game time start should change. I have to work Saturday morning/afternoon. I am a full season ticket holder who was a full season ticket holder last year that suffered through a horrific season. I want to be there Saturday in the worst way to kick off another season (of hope). Come on EE put down the crack pipe.

Por (Patrick) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Baseball, more boring than hockey?

What year’s NHL are we talking about? Cuz 5-10 years ago, I would have agreed with you. Today’s NHL, with little to no hitting, no emotion, and over coached play—I would rather watch the Rays. And if the NHL keeps going the way of European hockey, I will be a Rays fan for many years to come.

Por (chris) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Leave it alone, we’ll be driving 4 hours to get there & can watch the rays on the concourse tvs if we must. Scores will be posted on the corner boards I’m sure.

Por (Joellyn Carpenter) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

I have been a Bolt fan since 1992 and a Ray’s fan for the past 3 years.  I haven’t missed a Ligtning home opener since they have been at the St. Pete Times Forum but, a Rays ALCS playoff game trumps a Lightning regular season game and unless they change the time, my season tickets will be going to friends.

Por (Thunderstruck) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Have fun at the Trop then Patrick.  The only thing good about baseball is it’s an excuse to drink beer due to the lame product (yawn) down on the field.  Baseball boring?  You betcha!  Little to no hitting in hockey?  And you’d rather watch NONE in baseball?  I don’t get it.

Por (LightningDogg) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

You go Ruthe! I’m working all night til 6am then driving 100 miles each way to see the opener. Wait and see if the Rays make it to the World Series before adjusting the Lightning schedule. Cue AC/DC, let’s drop the puck! GO BOLTS

Por (Mike Joyce) on October 07, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Baseball is 3 minutes of the most intense action imaginable, crammed into 3 hours.

To a hockey fan, nothing trumps hockey.  Even a bad hockey game is better than a good baseball game, on it’s best day.

Football is almost worse.  When you see the teletubbies running down the file and folds of flab are bouncing around their belts.

HOCKEY IS LIFE