I stumbled upon this idea over the weekend when my colleague, Emily Topper, asked me what she should get her sports fanatic boyfriend for Christmas.
He’s a diehard Gator fan, like many of you, so the trick was to find something he didn’t already own. I found a nice little piece of autographed memorabilia for a good price, something with signatures from the greatest quarterback and coach in University of Florida history, and we think it’ll be the perfect gift.
It also made me think that many of you readers are in the same boat. So, I’ve put together a list of things that I think would be great for the sports fan who has everything.
GAME TICKETS
There’s no shortage of sporting events to attend in the Tampa Bay area, and it’s possible to go to many of them on the cheap.
If you’ve never been to a hockey game before, I highly suggest checking one out in person. It’s so much different — and better — than the TV experience.
Tampa just happens to have a pretty talented team and, while the upcoming home slate against the likes of New York, Chicago, Montreal and Detroit won’t be cheap, tickets to the Bolts-Panthers rivalry game are going for as low as $19 before tax.
I don’t root for the Lightning, but I’ve caught enough Bolts games to know that it’s a good experience no matter where you sit.
Not all of you are sold on hockey, however, so here’s an alternative I’m sure you can get behind: the Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium features an underrated Tennessee Volunteers team taking on a defensively solid Northwestern Wildcats team.
The game kicks off at noon on New Year’s Day, and the official Outback Bowl website has tickets going for $80. For the chance to see two very good college teams going at it in a New Year’s Day bowl game, that’s not bad at all. I’d go, but I’ll be in Arizona to watch my beloved Fighting Irish score an upset win over Ohio State.
GEAR
Somehow, I’ve only seen one vehicle in Plant City that stands out among those of the sports fanatics I know. It’s a pickup truck decked out with Pittsburgh Steelers decals. (Knowing how well Steelers fans travel, it’s not surprising that this is in Florida.)
Maybe your favorite sports fan is looking to take their car or truck to the next level and put their team pride on display. I’ve always used fanatics.com for car stuff, and I noticed that they’ve started selling Star Wars-licensed college football gear. Some of the gear is both cheap ($4.99) and cool. “Seminoles Empire” sounds way more intimidating than most other fanbases, with or without the attached Darth Vader head.
For those of you that want to support Plant City-based teams, I also have something for you. You can hit up SpiritShop.com right now and create your own custom Durant, Plant City or Strawberry Crest gear, with options to add names included. It has about every product imaginable available for customization, and the system is pretty straightforward, so you could spend about 10 minutes on the site and make a great gift for the student-athlete, alum or coach in your life.