Blue Man Truth: The unstoppable fandom of Steven Hammer

Before the puck drops at center ice, before the Tesla coils fire, before Bronze Phil Esposito can usher anyone through Thunder Alley... Bolts fans pay observance to Blue Man.

He is massive. Unmissable. iPhone-shot. So blue.

When the most enigmatic face on Channelside removes the paint, he is Steven Hammer, a medically retired military man who arrived in Tampa upon a stationing at MacDill Air Force Base in 2009.

He's a Lightning Season Ticket Member who's been coming to games for more than 14 years, most of them dressed in an elite getup of Bolts swag ranging from iced-out chains to Lightning-white wigs. He sits up high in Section 316. And is the energy that fans can rely on when the vibe starts to shift from proverbial "7th Man" to plain paying customer. All of which, as far as I'm concerned, plants him firmly at No. 2 in Tampa Bay's Definitive "Stammer" Power Rankings. (If you were to ask Hammer, he'd insist Steven Stamkos still holds that distinction.)

But as with many beloved Bolts fans, there's far more to the story. Hammer was kind enough to meet over a video call while on Department of Defense work in D.C. Wherein yes, he did bring his Firestick to watch the Bally broadcast instead of ESPN (too much "The Lightning are getting swept" chatter) and yes, he is currently a member of the Reverse Michael Bunting Fan Club.

On a bright morning between Games 1 and 2, Hammer fills me in on his origin story, why Tampa is one of the best hockey towns in America, and how names like Jeff Vinik, Dave Andreychuk and Apple have played intricate roles in elevating Hammer's fandom to the lofty heights of Amalie Arena.

What was the moment you first became a Lighting fan?

I guess it was about 14 years ago. I was active duty, and I got stationed at Central Command here at MacDill, and I grew up in Buffalo, huge Buffalo Sabers fan for 20-plus years. And there was a crossover player, you may know him, he played on the Sabers while I was growing up and then came over to the Lightning, briefly. Dave Andreychuk.

Absolutely.

He was my crossover player. I bought his new jersey with the Lightning and I said, "Well, I'm going to be here. I'm right near the stadium." I became a fan then. And he signed my jersey at Firestick Grill one day when he was in there. So from that moment on, and 13 years later, Lightning fan.

At what point in your Lightning fandom did you say, "Alright, time to break out the face paint. I'm turning this up a notch." Is there an origin story?

It's really when [Jeff] Vinik took over and changed the whole organization and paid into the fans. The year he gave jerseys to all the season ticket holders and started a discount. We made the playoffs that year. And it all started with just the helmet with a light on it, and I'm like, "That's pretty cool."

There we go. It started with the helmet.

Yep. So I'd only break it out if they made the second round. I'm like, "That's when they deserve it. They have to get past the first." And now we keep winning. So a buddy of mine who goes to the games with me, probably six years ago, he's like, "Hey, we should face paint!" And I said, "Yeah, let's do it." And we've just been ramping it up ever since.

So the look has evolved. Do you keep an eye out for new looks and accessories?

Oh yeah. Now I have the helmet, now I have sunglasses, underwear with it. We have different chains and stuff. It's actually pretty neat, because a lot of fans, we walk by and they'll just give us stuff. They'll have a placard or something, they hand it to us and then we start wearing that. I have all the different chains with the wheels on it, the Lightning emblem on it, there's a variety.

Are there different pieces that are representative of different years and different fans?

No, we just kind of mix it up. We roll with it, but each year we have to raise it a notch. We always have to one up the previous year, so it's getting difficult these days.

How did Apple find you?

I don't know! I thought the Lightning gave them my information, because when I talked to the Edmonton guy, we were at the photo shoot together up in Vancouver, and his season ticket rep called him and said Apple was looking for him. So I assumed maybe somebody from the Lightning organization talked to Apple. But then they sent over a whole portfolio of all of my prints from all different medias over four years. So they did some work, whoever was doing the research.

How long does the prep and breakdown take before and after the game?

It takes about 30 minutes before the game. And about 15 minutes after. And actually, the Apple thing helped a ton, because if you look at this year-the makeup, the face paint-it's so much nicer. Last year, I was using grease pencils and stuff. When they did the photo shoot, they used professional makeup, and so I bought what they were using.

Oh, nice. So you leveled up thanks to Apple.

Yeah, exactly.

When you have to ante up every year, that level of passion has to take some sort of endurance. What's the biggest thing about the Lightning that keeps you motivated and keeps you coming back every year?

I really think it's the game day experience and the fans that do it. I'm exhausted at the end of the season, especially when they do these deep runs, when we have six and seven game series. We'll even go to watch parties on occasion. And you're painting up three, four times a week. But you get in the crowd and it's all worth it. You get the energy straight out of the crowd. And for [Tampa] being a southern town, and for me growing up in the original area of hockey, the fans here, I believe, are the best fans in professional hockey. Hands down. I've been to Boston games, I've been to Rangers games, I've been to plenty of Buffalo games. The sheer number of fans in [Amalie] over the years-and now I'm seeing other face painters in the crowd-that's kind of cool.

Going to three straight Cups probably helps, right? What moments will you remember most from these runs from a fan perspective?

So my buddy, Dustin, and I were on the glass for the Cup win at home. And unfortunately, we were also on the glass last year for the Cup loss. But just to watch the Cup get skated around, and you're five feet away from this thing… I became a fan after 2004, and Buffalo's never won a Cup. So I've never had the fan experience of winning a Stanley Cup. I've had the experience of getting there and losing with both teams. But to actually be there and win and hoist the Cup on home ice, to me, that was amazing.

I know it might be an unpopular opinion—and hoisting the Cup in 2021 is the mountaintop—but I'm partial to the playoff run leading up to the Colorado loss. It felt more resilient. It was just all these impossible moments stacking on each other like, "Are the Bolts really going to win a third straight Stanley Cup?" I know they didn't end up winning, but even that final game, seeing the fans stay and applaud the Lightning off the ice for giving it this crazy, incredible effort. I thought that was so cool.

Yeah, and the number of fans that stayed to show respect to what Colorado did. That's when you know you've become a hockey town, because the fans stuck around. They know how much work Colorado put into winning that. They stuck around to show appreciation and respect for what Colorado did. And that's hard to do after a hard-fought series like that.

How big of a role do you think the fans actually play in the playoffs?

During the game, I don't know if the players notice. I've played on the ice just a little bit, and you don't really hear it when you're in the zone. But I think a lot of it is the pregame warmup, you see the fans, you feel the energy before the game. And I think that's important. Once they start playing, they're professionals and they're going to be in the zone, and I'm sure they hear the chanting and the screaming. But just coming in with such momentum from the pregame workups and introductions and national anthem-all of that build-up really sets them up for success for that next 60 minutes.

Do you have any tactics or strategies to hype up the crowd when things get soft?

When it's dead in there, when there's no noise at all, I think that does demotivate the team. And so you got to get the fans going. Even the other day, I don't know, they had me singing some Madonna song or something, and I just went with it [laughs]. You just go with it to get the crowd going, because you get the crowd going, it's not dead in there anymore. And if anything, it's intimidation to the opposing team.

How long do you see yourself doing this for? Do you have an endgame in your head?

Well, probably until I retire in 30 years.

I like that. A solid benchmark. 30 years. How about we end on a prediction for Round 1. What's it gonna be?

It'll be six or seven. But Lightning win, either 4-2 or 4-3.

You can follow Steven on Instagram @boltssuperfan.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.