SI

The Tampa Bay Lightning Ran the Dumbest, Most Classless ‘Promotion’ You’ll Ever See

A cancer survivor missed out on a $1 million donation because he couldn’t make a near-impossible shot.
Jimmy Traina|
Cancer survivor Rob Higgins missed out on a $1 million donation in a bizarre promotion at a recent Lightning game.
Cancer survivor Rob Higgins missed out on a $1 million donation in a bizarre promotion at a recent Lightning game. | NHL

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Tampa Bay Lightning

1. Apparently, there are people in the Lightning organization who think there’s nothing more fun than a “contest” that had money on the line for cancer research. How on Earth this segment got thought of and then approved, I’ll never understand.

It happened on Sunday during an intermission of the Stadium Series game between the Bruins and Lightning at the home of the Buccaneers. Former Bucs defensive star Ronde Barber brought cancer survivor Rob Higgins onto the ice. Barber told Higgins that the Lightning were donating $100,000 to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa Bay.

Great. Wonderful. Generous.

The segment should’ve stopped there.

Instead, P.K. Subban came out to tell Higgins that if he made some stupid shot into a teeny tiny hole in the net, the organization would donate $500,000 instead of $100,000.

Whether Higgins made or missed the shot, that is a ridiculous stipulation to put on Higgins, who ended up missing the shot. A shot, mind you, that most NHL players would miss.

But the Lightning wanted to double down on the cruel promotion. So, Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield then came out, with Rob’s dad, who also is a cancer survivor, and told Higgins that he’d get another attempt and that if made this shot, the team would donate $1 million to the Moffitt Cancer Center. Rob missed again.

The Lightning then tried to gaslight everyone into thinking they were heroes and gave Higgins $200,000 instead of $100,000.

Let me see if I have this straight. The Lightning were willing to donate $1 million for cancer research if Higgins made some gimmick hockey shot. He didn’t, so then only $200,000 was donated.

So, the Lightning made Higgins, a cancer survivor, feel like crap twice and then held back $800,000 that they had earmarked for cancer research.

Gross on so many levels.

2. The biggest piece of news for the NFL fan that came out of Roger Goodell’s Monday press conference at the Super Bowl was that an 18-game schedule isn’t as close to happening as we might have thought.

3. I always love it when dopes on social media tell me nobody watches ESPN anymore or ESPN is dead or ESPN is irrelevant.

The latest Disney quarterly earnings show that ESPN’s value is now $30 billion.

4. I would love to know how Patriots fans feel about Tom Brady telling Jim Gray on SiriusXM, “I have no dog in the fight in this one” regarding the Super Bowl.

Brady added, “May the best team win.”

5. Monday Night Raw was in Philadelphia last night, so the hometown crowd wasn’t going to miss their opportunity to taunt 42-year-old Nikki Bella about possibly dating 22-year-old Eagles defensive back, Cooper DeJean. And she handled it masterfully.

6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis about all the latest sports media news.

Topics discussed include: Mike Tirico calling his first Super Bowl for NBC, ratings for the AFC and NFC championship games, Tony Romo backlash, Tom Brady’s improvement as an analyst, the problem with NFL rules analysts, college football’s strong ratings despite being a mess off the field, ESPN’s promotion for next year’s Super Bowl, the state of podcasts, The Washington Post reportedly shutting down its sports section, Radio Row and more.

Following Curtis, SNY's Sal Licata joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we talked about the fallout from the massive snow storm that hit our areas, whether NFL playoff games should be played at a neutral site, blunders by Sean Payton and Sean McVay, Bill Belichick getting snubbed by the Hall of Fame, the Super Bowl and show recommendations.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. If you’re a fan of the Olympics, make sure you check out Sports Illustrated’s Daily Rings podcast hosted by Mitch Goldich and Dan Gartland. Full episodes will be available every day for the next three weeks wherever you get your podcasts.

8. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I really need to know the comedian that Will Arnett is talking about in this clip.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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