Tampa, Florida					Thursday, September 09, 2010

Who Said Jacksonville is not a Super City?
Monday, February 7, 2005
TAMPA—Isn’t about time we got off Jacksonville’s back? Many questioned the selection of the Gateway City—the biggest around in land mass but perhaps the smallest yet selected in numbers of people, hotel rooms, restaurants of style and such amenities felt by some in power to be necessary for this cosmopolitan sports plum sure to do so much for the host city—as it did for Tampa three times. But it was the choice of the owners, and as is so often the case in the past that decision was made because of friendship and popularity of the owner of the host NFL team, the Jaguars, and a new facility, swung the decision to Jax, as we Floridians always called it. Few of us who have worked events in Jacksonville so long and so often thought the Super Bowl-2005 would come off well. And it did. Now, just as there were apprehensions about Jacksonville, The Super Bowl, post-game there were new angles for insufficiency. Bull! Now, critics still are saying there were not enough top-level restaurants. So what? One week in years? So what? Critics now are still complaining that there were not enough top-notch hotel rooms, though plenty of cruise ship rooms, quite an innovation, I thought. No there were not enough stylish rooms, not enough suites, no. So what? Again, for two weeks in a city’s lifetime? So what? Not enough night life, critics said. So, what is required? Super Bowl Cities do not fill up until Thursday night before the Sunday game, in some cases, Friday. There were enough. But, critics, said no Ybor City, no Bourbon Street, and they were right. But, there was enough. I mean, how long has the Gator Bowl been going? How long has the Georgia-Florida football game been a fixture? How long the major golf prize, the Players’ Championship been around? Amelia Island and its top-notch tennis. The Jags themselves? Critics before the game simply said Jacksonville could not handle the big event—surely the biggest, outside of the Olympics? They said Jax could not produce the venues needed by Super Bowl super sponsors for private parties, or, some of the official parties, that it was Redneckville-North, that it was Hicktown, USA. Critics said the flood or bridges into the stadium would not work, traffic would not flow. And some of long memory suggested Jacksonville of another time had police unfriendly to out of towners, ready to pounce with the ticket at the ready. Critics feared the worst from the weather—cold, or rain, or both, a sloppy field. It was the chanciest of all possibilities, I thought. A fine day would be a long, longshot. And the weather might affect the crowd, the game, the pre-game and halftime shows. In my mind, when it was done, Jacksonville did as well as it could. Did fine. Foremost, the weather was just dandy. No rain. No sleet. No lightning. No slop. It was better than one of Tampa’s three Super Bowls. Drawing raves was the hospitality of the people and little is more important. Drawing raves was the stadium, Alltel. The turf was Okay. The place was dandied up. It looked just fine, as did the Jacksonville skyline in the background. There were no louseups. The police were fine. The traffic was jammed, sure. And no, there weren’t enough fine venues for all of the events. The Taste of Jax and the Super Bowl was held in a series of tents, not just one big hall. But, the weather was in the 60s, and pleasant. The pre-game and half time shows—some said out of date with Paul McCartney	of the Beatles the halftime single too old, that there were pre-game louseups, but how about having two American presidents there (George Bush, the dad, and Bill Clinton), the flyover with four of our most modern jet military aircraft, the combined choirs of the four service academies, and the national anthem moment of the night for some of us, background accompaniment by the wonderful, courageous, happy-to-be-there kids from the Deaf and Blind School in nearby St. Augustine. It was appropriate and so fitting because featured on the big stadium screen and with sound was sightless Ray Charles and his great America The Beautiful who attended the St. Augustine school. The close-ups of the kids singing with such heart despite their physical problems was surely the most captivating of the night, for some, like me, a sap for such circumstances. But, one critic in a Tampa paper called the pre-game a “waste of our time,’’ and the halftime outdated. Maybe those of us who liked it were outdated as well, all this with the great fireworks, ongoing light show, the moving, lighted runways in centerfield set up with great speed and without hitch. The game? Just fine. The better team won, New England 24-21 over the second best team in the NFL, Philadelphia. It had all that is good and most that loses games (fumbles, penalties, interceptions) as well. The Pats re-established Bill Belichick as the best coach in the game today, with three SuperBowl titles in four years, which also goes for the team, for the ownership and keyed the inevitable comparisons of the Patriots with the Green Bay Packers of old, and Belichick with Vince Lombardi of those days, and all proper. If reaffirmed Philadelphia is the number two team in the land, reaffirmed the running game is still vital to a champion, but the forward pass is a necessary weapon as well. It was fun, all of it. And our Michael Kelly oversaw it all for Jacksonville as he did for Tampa, he did the Final Four for St. Petersburg. He’s got the touch in staging the big events, this former assistant athletic director at the University of South Florida. So, how about the same pats on the back for Jax those who were there offered. Did fine. Did so well, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said he could see a day the Super Bowl will return to Jax. Nope, won’t happen. Too much risk. Got away with this one. Too much competition, with all the new stadiums being built and in cities without a game ever, or those with games in the past, oh, like Tampa, and, like Atlanta where new Falcons General Manager Rich McKay, once the boss of the pros here and once who favored Tampa so much. No more. He and his owner (Home Depot) are going after the 2009 game for which Tampa has been a four-city finalist. That may not last. Final presentations are coming up. And some in government here are involving themselves heavily. Not looking good, right now. Needs a lift. Once a nice balance of the private sector, government, and the home NFL team in Tampa Bay was a model. No more. Needs a strong looksee. But, for the moment, Jacksonville got its first Super Bowl Kudo. And give Jim Steeg, the NFL boss of Super Bowls all these years, a final kudo. This was his last. Steeg, who has a condo at Tom Dempsey’s Saddlebrook, has resigned. He was picked—and what a fine pick it is—by Alex and Dino Spanos to be the CEO of the San Diego Chargers. Both will prosper. He’s on his way there—well, California Here He Comes. NFL, There He Goes—a winner in his last production. ##
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