Fan Based Lightning Rally Tomorrow 10AM

May 4, 2011; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning fans taunt Washington Capitals goalie Michal Neuvirth (30) after Lightning left wing Ryan Malone (6) scored a goal during the first period in game four of the second round of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs at St. Pete Times Forum. Mandatory Credit: Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

A couple of fans, who wish to remain anonymous, have organized a rally. (No, I am not one of them. FanSided, Bolts By The Bay, nor I personally have anything to do with this.) I am giving the fans to use this blog as a platform to vent, provided it’s kept clean. If you have something that you would like me to publish, send me an email at FanSidedBoltsByTheBay@gmail.com. You can choose either to be named or remain unnamed.

These fans are well informed on what is going on with the CBA negotiations, or lack there of. They aren’t having a ‘we’re the fans, we want hockey and you guys suck for having a lock-out’ protest. It’s much, much more than that. Click on the link for Bill Daly. They are more voicing the fact that they are not uninformed babbling idiots, as he has called us. Here is what they have to say:

"Tampa Bay Lightning Fan Rally is Saturday, September 15 at 10am. We will meet under the Lightning Bolts on the plaza.Why are we holding a fan rally on Saturday?We chose to hold a fan rally opposing the lockout on Saturday on the simple end, if the NHL locks out the players they also lockout us, the fans. The fans who spend their hard earned money on everything from tickets, apparel, to parking and food at games. We love our hockey, and we do not want to see our team locked out.On a personal level, as a fan who has kept up with the information coming out of the CBA talks I don’t appreciate Bill Daly saying basically saying fans are uninformed. (see:http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8348330/how-social-media-impacting-cba-discussions ) Fans are voicing their opinions, players are telling us exactly what happened in the meetings, we are listening to both sides of the issue and making our own informed decisions on which side we support. This rally is intended to show the owners the fans that not only do not want a lock out but as a place to support each other.I think the problem that most people have with the information coming out of the CBA talks right now is coming from the NHL’s side. All summer we have heard the NHL tout how revenue’s acrossed the board have gone up and now all of a sudden it’s the NHL has lost 270 million dollars, if that’s true why have you been telling us how good things are. As fans we sat there and watched the owners of certain teams hand out monster contracts for up to 12 years and valued at almost 100 million dollars, now in the CBA talks the owners want to cut salary and limit the length of a contract. Personally speaking if you’re going to offer to pay someone 100 million dollars over 12 years and then 2 months later cry poor that you can’t afford to pay them that much why did you offer them that much money in the first place? I see the information coming out of the player’s camp and it’s all uniform information, the statistics all match up and the information is all uniform. It’s not changed over the course of the summer. The players are looking for a deal that is equal and fair. From how things seem the owners got what they wanted in the 2004 lockout but now the deal isn’t working for them and they want more.A lock out isn’t good for the league as a whole. There are teams such as the Bruins and the Rangers saying they are going to lose anywhere from a million dollars a game to upwards of a $170million dollars if the season is lost. Now that’s two teams out of 30. As a Lightning fan, one of the teams that is struggling, I think a lost season for us is going to be a whole lot worse. There’s a lot at stake from losing new fans, to losing fans that are tired of the lockouts. It makes the struggle to turn a profit that much harder when the product is not around to see. Players are what the fans come to see. I don’t know a fan out there that attends a Lightning game to see Jeff Vinik (as much as I adore him as the owner of my team). I go to see Vinny Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos, and the rest of the guys who strap on their skates and leave it all on the ice.Right now, from my view the players see a lock out as a last resort and the owners see a lockout as the only resort. I just hope the players don’t lose their shirt in a deal that the owners will probably say didn’t work in the end. -anonymous fan"

I read in the Tampa Bay Times today that another fan is planning a protest at 3pm. His reasons are simply that we, as fans, do not deserve to be treated like this and he’s not going to take it. There are actually rallies and protests being planned all over the Nation. They aren’t going to do any good, but perhaps they will make a point and that point will penetrate the offices.

Dolly Dolce

@HulaDolly