Commentary: The Good, The Great & The Ugly

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It’s Tuesday and time for the Good, the Great and the Ugly! Battle of Florida edition.

First the good: It’s the last of the eight first round Stanley Cup Playoff series to get going — the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning with Game 1 tonight at Amalie Arena in Tampa. They’re meeting for the fourth time in five years. Can you believe I’ve been here for them all!?

When the schedule was announced last week it seemed like an eternity until Game 1. But all that did was allow us some extra days to build up the hype.

Pro tip: When you constantly look for the good in every situation, it turns that frown upside down.

Next the great: Frankly I really don’t care for when the Panthers & Lightning meet in the playoffs and in a second I’ll tell you why.

But there’s no denying that it’s great for business!

My eyes popped open at 4:00 am today and that was it! My feet hit the floor just as excited as if I was playing in the game. It’s all kinds of great!!

As for a prediction? I’ve got the Panthers taking it in 7.

And lastly the ugly: Trigger Warning! This is why I loathe when these two teams play each other; playoffs, regular season, preseason or in shuffleboard.

We host an award-winning Florida NHL podcast called “Cats N Bolts” where we cover both the Lightning and Panthers. It’s quickly become Florida’s favorite hockey show. And it’s never a problem till the two teams play each other, and we’re forced to pick a side, or a winner.

After picking the Cats to take this one, Bolts fans have been enraged and called me a homer. (Maybe this is why so many people are afraid to take a side in anything).

It’s a trigger because of all those years of calling Pats & Riders games on radio and fans and staff of other teams calling me a “homer”. I absolutely hated that!

But when you think about it, WTF was I supposed to do? And why did it make me so upset? In retrospect, all they were trying to do was get under my skin, and it worked.

Ahhhhhhh, glad to get that off my chest. It feels good to say it out loud and realize I won’t let them get to me anymore.

May the best team win.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

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