Tampa Jam !

by Chris

Wow ! What an awesome trip. Kelly & I had been looking forward to this trip since we left Florida last May. It was great to be back home in sunny & WARM Tampa. We have a lot of stuff to post here on the ol' blog so stay tuned over the next few weeks as we catch up. We visited our family and friends in St Augustine, Tampa and St Pete. Lets start with the reason we traveled in February.

The 14th annual Tampa Jam Lacrosse Tournament in St Petersburg !

This year there were 6 teams playing : Southern Empire (Atlanta), Hogtowne (Gainesville), Atlantic Sportswear (Maine), F.R.O.G.s (Florida Really Old Guys - Tampa) and 2 Tampa Thunder teams.


We missed hangin' out with our Tampa Thunder lacrosse friends since we've been gone, and the Tampa Jam enabled us to see everyone all in one weekend. Unfortunately, we didn't take nearly enough pictures, as we were very busy catching up and socializing. WooooHoooooooooooo Thunder !

Atlantic Sportswear beat Southern Empire to win the tournament (2nd time in 4 years) after a disappointing Thunder showing. (Including a 17-0 asskicking handed to the B team by Atlantic)

Ahhh the warm weather, so different then playing lacrosse in Ireland.

Suzanne traveled with us to Florida and had her first lacrosse experience...she'll be back next year, she's hooked on lacrosse !
Bingo had time in between games to model girls bracelets and daydream about ways to get out of work.

Whats better than a good ol' fashioned game of Quarters after a long day of lacrosse ? There was alot of elbow gesturing as people "consumed" rather than "drank" their beers and obeyed a long list of other typically ridiculous rules. Everyone had a great time

Suzanne's hair smelled really good

Brian & Clayton comparing beer bellies as Bingo looks on and dreams of men's bellies.


I'd been looking forward to this for a while. A blackened grouper sandwich...oh yummy yum yum


Our home away from home. The Miramar Beach Resort. Full of drunken Canadian retirees and lacrosse players.... Heaven on Earth.


Miramar gang signs. We threw them around...alot.


Beach+Beer+Male Bonding = New Sports. In the tradition of other made-up sports of days gone by like Volleybat last Easter (see link - Volleybat), we came up with a few new events for the St Pete Beach Olympics (SPBO)

Event #1 - Gladiator Beach Square Football (GBSF)

Participants take turns rotating thru all 3 positions, accumulating points for completed passes and interceptions. Although Chris was the early favorite due to his height advantage over Joe and Matt, Joe's aggressive defense won the day and earned him the Gold Medal with Matty coming in a close second. I had to settle for the Bronze.

Event #2 - Miramar Pool Pail Ball (MPPB)

Objective : shoot a water logged tennis ball into one of two pails floating on a boogie board. Easier then it sounds when there are two defensemen and no rules of contact. The picture above shows how the defense worked together as Matt tries to take my legs out while Joe jumps on my back like a rabid monkey. Their efforts were in vain

Gold Medal - Chris

Team Event - Shuffleboard

There were many shuffleboard matches and the competition was fierce, but the Chris/Joe matchup was too much for our opponents.

Gold Medal - Chris/Joe


Individual event #3 - St Pete Beach Chair Toss (SPBCT)


Laid out the same as a Shot Put contest, the chair toss combines brut strength and quick thinking as to avoid smashing yourself in the face with a chair.

Mens Gold Medal - Chris , Womens Gold - Kelly

After a disappointing showing by the Irish Womens Team (Suzanne) she got some quick pointers from the SPBCT Gold Medalist on the next event :

The St Pete Beach Over the Head Chair Toss (SPBOTHCT)


Once again Kelly won the Gold in the Womens Division. Joe showcased his superior upper body strength and took Men's Gold.


All in all a succesful SPB Olympiad


No wonder that by the end of our vacation, we were exhausted.


More pics and stories to come soon !