USF football team in a 'rush' to get passports
Thursday, December 10, 2009

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- The U.S. passport office at the Hillsborough County courthouse in Tampa was a good place not to be on Thursday.

Unless, that is, you're connected with the USF Bulls football team. The Bulls are playing in the International Bowl in Canada and they needed to apply for passports. Now.

More than 150 students need passports to head to Canada for the International Bowl on Jan. 2.

"We did not know until Sunday, when the decision was made, that that was where we were going," said coach Patrick Burnham. "A lot of the kids, and even myself, don't have a passport, so we are down here trying to get everyone legal and ready to cross the border."

Normally, the passport process can take up to eight weeks, but the clerk's office agreed to expedite the process. The clerk's office asked for one favor in return.

"Everybody is doing the best they can do," said clerk of circuit court Pat Frank. "But we will keep our fingers crossed and hopefully the Bulls will be there and we will have a winning team."

The clerk's office plans to take all of the applications to the airport to be overnighted to Miami.

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2009/12/10/557625.html?title=USF+football+team+in+a+'rush'+to+get+passports+

Cool for the bulls. However, I am a strong believer that everyone should have a passport. They would not be in this position if they already had one. You never know when you might need to leave the country with only a few days/weeks notice. You may not get a visa for a certain country, but with the passport you can get into most countries...

Steve

Speaking of passports, I do see ads on here about "24 hour US Passport" service. I think that's rubbish. With that set aside, I think that everyone who wishes to attend that game should be able to get thier passports in a timely manner.

Mine took two months but it's good until 2011 I think.