Tampa, Florida is located on the west side of the state on the Gulf of Mexico side and has many beaches and parks as well as a thriving metropolitan area.
Because of the beautiful sunny weather, it is the perfect location to watch your favorite sports teams.
Tampa is lucky to have three professional teams located in such a small city says a group of Tampa divorce mediators who also deal with Tampa child custody cases.
The local Tampa teams are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that play in the National Football League, Tampa Bay Lightning that are the professional hockey team and the Tampa Bay Rays that are part of the Major League Baseball.
This article will give some more detailed information about all three of these teams.
Professional sports teams have not always been in Tampa.
The very first professional sports team to set their roots down in the area was a soccer team called the Tampa Bay Rowdies that began in 1975.
This team was greatly followed right from the start bringing in fans and even won the Soccer Bowl their first year.
They eventually went under but may be reinstated in the year 2010.
The NFL created the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976 as an expansion team.
They started off with a horrible losing streak losing their first 26 games in a row.
Their record was not that good of one until the late 1990's and eventually won the Super Bowl in 2002.
The professional football team played at a small practice facility near the airport for many years but finally got a brand new training facility in 2006 right across the street from the Raymond James stadium.
One of the interesting things in the stadium is a huge replica of a pirate ship inside the stadium.
Raheem Morris is the current head coach for the team and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are owned by Malcolm Glazer.
The professional hockey team is the Tampa Bay Lightning that was established in 1992.
Their nickname is The Bolts because of the lightning bolt depicted on their jerseys.
Although a fairly new team, they won the coveted Stanley Cup championship in 2004.
They play at the ice arena known as the St.
Pete Time Forum in Tampa.
Like many teams they had losing and winning records and went on a bit of a roller coaster ride of play.
The Bolts are playing under a new coach hired this season named Rick Tocchet and are hoping to make the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs after a miserable season last year.
The third professional team is the MLB called the Tampa Bay Rays that was established in 1998 and is based in St.
Petersburg, Florida.
This baseball team plays their games at Tropicana Field and had a great season in 2009 when they qualified for the World Series.
Their original name was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays but was changed by the owner in 2007.
The current manager for the team is Joe Maddon.