Joe Maddon pretends he’s not Lightning fan for sake of Chicago

Joe Maddon coached the Tampa Bay Rays for nine seasons before becoming the manager of the Chicago Cubs. During that time, his team did its part to support the other local sports clubs, including the Tampa Bay Lightning.

So where do Maddon’s loyalties lie for the Stanley Cup Final between the Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks? To the surprise of no one that understands the joyous “with us or against us” mantra of Chicago sports, he’s staying neutral.

“I hate to say ‘may the best team win’ but may the best team win,” he said over the weekend, when asked about the series by reporters. “Coach Coop was down at Ava with his wife down in Tampa Bay, and he’s been texting me a little bit.”

[Ava is the Italian eatery co-owned by Maddon. Three and a half stars on Yelp!)

Maddon said he caught the Chicago Blackhawks’ Game 7 against the Anaheim Ducks.

“I watched the [Blackhawks] game the other day. Pretty incredible victory. You could see (the Hawks) did break the will of the other team. That was my takeaway, the way the game began, where the Ducks had a chance to do something and did not and then here come the Blackhawks. It was pretty interesting to watch. Then to finish it off the way they did. I just think to be a hockey fan you have got to be into this thing.”

Ultimately, Maddon said he’s shedding his allegiance to the Lightning and chasing after the Blackhawks bandwagon, via CBS Chicago:

“I am becoming a Blackhawks fan, as I should be. I do have some roots back there in Tampa Bay. I know coach (Lightning coach Jon) Cooper really well. He is a really good guy. I have not met coach (Joel) Quenneville yet.”

“I am really excited about watching the whole thing,” Maddon said. “It should be a very powerful series.”

While we suspect Maddon has some affinity for Tampa Bay and “Coach Coop” in this series, please note that his Rays rocked Blackhawks jerseys on a 2010 road trip, right around the Hawks’ Stanley Cup Final series with the Philadelphia Flyers. (Maddon wanted John Madden’s jersey, for the record.)

Of course, it should also be noted that Maddon had to be convinced by his Philly-hating, Chicago-loving pitching coach that the Blackhawks jerseys were the way to go.