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Signs Of The Super Bowl

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By JOE O'NEILL

Tribune Correspondent

Published: November 19, 2008

You can always tell when another Tampa Super Bowl is imminent.

The sprucing up of downtown gets serious, and there's typically a civic project or two hurrying to completion.

The new Tampa Bay History Center, for example, should open in time, and new restaurants at SkyPoint will be ready and Massey Park has been renovated and reopened.

The signs for Tampa's Super Bowl XLIII, however, are more literal than usual.

That's because the city is also installing 166 blue, directional signs so drivers and pedestrians can maneuver their way away around downtown.

That will ensure that visitors won't, for example, find themselves misdirected to streets that are no longer two-way or to destinations that have relocated.

And they won't be the only new downtown signage. All downtown parking garages will also have spiffy new blue signs.

And speaking of signs, here's a suggestion - actually a reiteration of an earlier one. What about that (welcome to the) "City of Champions" sign that greets all those exiting Tampa International Airport?

It properly projected civic pride when Tampa's Super Bowl, Stanley Cup and Arena Bowl wins were fresh memories.

But this will be 2009 - and the last of those fast-fading triumphs was the Lightning in 2004. True, there was a recent World Series runner-up, but that team played in St. Petersburg.

No, we're not living in the past, and this is a proud sports market. But that won't stop out-of-town media from spinning it otherwise. Count on it.

Then, again, if the Bucs are actually in the Super Bowl ...

Managing Success

Imagine, Joe Maddon is the American League's Manager of the Year, and Lou Piniella, the Tampa native who preceded Maddon as Rays' manager, is the National League's Manager of the Year after a very successful season with the Chicago Cubs. How ironic - and how misleading.
Joe Maddon could have managed the deep-pocketed Cubs into the World Series. Piniella could not - again -- have done the same with the low-budget Rays.

Joe O'Neill is a South Tampa writer who can be contacted at moesez@aol.com or www .opinionstogoonline.com.

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