Usually this is something we announce via Facebook Live or LIVE on the air, but this year it's print only with the hectic schedule changes and me being on vacation.
We polled over 30 members of the Tampa Bay media and came up with the Top Sports Stars in the Bay!!
- Jay -
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#20 **TIE** Rays President Erik Neander (Last Year : #17) & UT Head Baseball Coach Joe Urso (Last Year : Not Ranked)
#19 **TIE** USF Women's Basketball Head Coach Jose Fernandez (Last Year : Honorable Mention) & WWE Superstar & Global Ambassador Titus O'Neil (Last Year : #18)
#18 Bucs LB Devin White (Last Year : #16)
#17 Bucs Executive Bruce Arians (Last Year : #10)
#16 Rowdies Midfielder & USL MVP Leo Fernandes (Last Year : Not Ranked)
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HONORABLE MENTION
Rays OF Randy Arozarena
USF Football All-American Brian Battie
Astros All-Star & Plant High Baseball Alumni Kyle Tucker
The Great & Honorable Tony Dungy
NEW Baseball Hall of Famer & Jefferson High School Baseball Star Fred McGriff
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#15 Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs (Last Year : Not Ranked)
#14 USF Softball Legend Georgina Corrick (Last Year : Not Ranked)
#13 Lightning GM Julien BriseBois (Last Year : #19)
#12 Lightning C Brayden Point (Last Year : #12)
#11 Lightning owner Jeffrey Vinik (Last Year : #14)
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Who's Missing???
Former Bucs TE Rob Gronkowski (Last Year : #8)
Bucs GM Jason Licht (Last Year : #13)
Bucs RB Leonard Fournette (Last Year : #20)
Former Rays OFs Kevin Kiermaier & Brett Phillips (Last Year : Honorable Mention)
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#10 Rays SS Wander Franco (Last Year : #4)
#9 Lightning D Victor Hedman (Last Year : #15)
#8 Rays manager Kevin Cash (Last Year : #6)
#7 Buccaneers WR Mike Evans (Last Year : #7)
#6 Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov (Last Year : #5)
#5 Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper (Last Year : #3)
#4 Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy (Last Year : #2)
#3 Rays All-Star SP Shane McClanahan (Last Year : Not Ranked)
#2 Buccaneers QB Tom Brady (Last Year : #1)
#1 Lightning captain Steven Stamkos (Last Year : #9)
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The Top 20 Sports Stars of Tampa Bay in 2022
#1 Steven Stamkos
#2 Tom Brady
#3 Shane McClanahan
#4 Andrei Vasilevskiy
#5 Jon Cooper
#6 Nikita Kucherov
#7 Mike Evans
#8 Kevin Cash
#9 Victor Hedman
#10 Wander Franco
#11 Jeffrey Vinik
#12 Brayden Point
#13 Julien BriseBois
#14 Georgina Corrick
#15 Tristan Wirfs
#16 Leo Fernandes
#17 Bruce Arians
#18 Devin White
#19 Jose Fernandez and Titus O'Neil
#20 Erik Neander and Joe Urso
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There's the LIST!!
What do YOU think? Who is too high on the list? Who is too low? Who should be on it that isn't? Who is on there that shouldn't be?
Let us KNOW!!
A big thank you to ALL of the members of the Tampa Bay sports media who helped contribute to our list!
PHOTO : Getty Images