Take that, Atlanta!

http://bucs.tbo.com/bucs/MGB71SGV59E.html

Take that, Atlanta!

http://bucs.tbo.com/bucs/MGB71SGV59E.html

This is great for the city!

I wonder how many NFL commissioners Pam Iorio had to sleep with for this one.

I wonder how many NFL commissioners Pam Iorio had to sleep with for this one.

Aww man that's just disturbing. I did not want that picture in my head! :runaway:

But seriously, this is another huge moment for the city. By that time all these new projects will be done, and hopefully even more! What better way to get publicity than with the most watched program in America???

That is a pretty nasty thought. Anyway, congrats. From reading this forum, it looked like Atlanta had this wrapped up in the bag.

Now maybe they will repave Dale Mabury and hopefully replace the stop lights with ones that dont crap out in the daly thunderstorms.

How exciting to have a Superbowl in suburban Orlando ! :jk:

And by 2009 Tampa will sport an impressive skyline to showcase on national (or even world) TV.

nope - they will not fix the stoplights - they turn 'em off for big events anyway.

RE: Atlanta had this wrapped up

Anyone think this is going to be just one of those things that help move the Tampa / Atlanta rivalry along? Or is Atlanta too lax to truly have a rival (in Sports)?

I'm a huge Buc fan and i'm super excited about this. I do think that Raymond James Stadium is one of the best in the NFL with that huge pirate ship. I agree that the Bucs and Falcons have a rivalry. The Bucs are the only team season in and season out who can stop Vick and they can't be happy about that.

FL Hawk you took the words out of my mouth "Take that, Atlanta!" Nothing against Atlanta by the way. I agree this will be a great way to show the city. Tampa will have a lot of improvements since it was last here. The channelside district will be a lot more development and malfunction junction should be a little better.

That is a pretty nasty thought. Anyway, congrats. From reading this forum, it looked like Atlanta had this wrapped up in the bag.

So did I. What a shock...When I worked for the TSA, I had heard that NFL folks weren't all that pleased with the way things went last time...


BTW, they had better get thier ass in gear with the Links project, and the reconstruction of I-275 from DT to Westshore.

More money to fund Malcom Glazers soccer team in Europe. Think that had anything to do with Tampa's surprise selection?

I can guarantee you that Gasparilla will NOT be held the same weekend as the SuperBowl in 2009. Although I didn't live here during the last Tampa Super Bowl in 2001, by all accounts the traffic was a cluster f**k.

^Yes, it was...

RE: Atlanta had this wrapped up

Anyone think this is going to be just one of those things that help move the Tampa / Atlanta rivalry along? Or is Atlanta too lax to truly have a rival (in Sports)?

No, Atlanta is the worst sports town in america bar none. I would be surprised if half the metro population even knows they have a NFL team let alone teams in the other 2 and half major sports.

I lived in Atlanta from 97 to 01, and went to a few Falcons games in the GA Dome. Yawn.

Two of these games were against the Bucs, and it seemed like there were more Tampa Bay fans than home crowd Falcons fans. Certainly the Bucs backers were louder and more decked out in team paraphernalia.

^Wow, what a turn around. I remember going to Bear/bucs games and it was about 75 percent bear fans year in year out at tampa stadium. Or going to Detroit Lion games to see the Great Berry Sanders and there was a total of 10,000 fans max.

TheJim -- two things helped contribute to that and you can see both of those things in St. Petersburg with the Devil Rays:

Porrous management and ownership of the home team and a stinking venue. Some people might recall Tampa Stadium fondly but I've heard the horror stories about games played on hot days and people pissing in the sinks because the lines in the bathroom were too long... Bleacher seating for the entirety of the stadium? In a major league sport? Ugh..

Glazer - as cold and shrewd as he is - took care of both the Bucs day-to-day operations and management problems as well as getting that highway-robbery deal for Raymond James Stadium. You couldn't see Hugh Culverhouse doing either of those things because he was happy with the income and didn't think to invest it back into the team to gain more income.... Oh well....

I'm guessing that Mayor Pam will be turning up the intensity level ever so slightly on the RiverWalk downtown. She seems to have adopted this as her "pet project," and I'm sure she would love nothing more than to show it off for a Super-sized audience in a few years' time.

Given all the new residential and other projects on the boards, it's kind of fun to think about how Tampa will be changing between now and January 2009 (TTT, Floridan, Fairmount, O2, SkyPoint, museums, interstates, etc.).

Or, take it a step further and think about all the changes since our LAST Super Bowl in 2001 (TECO Streetcar, Channelside, International Plaza, etc.).

^And Baywalk, Clearwater beach redux...

Jacksonville in 2005, Miami in 2007, Tampa in 2009...See a pattern developing here? Florida should get it more often than every other year though.

The NFL should just revolve the Super Bowl between Miami, Tampa, and Jacksonville. Of course its not going to happen, but here your guaranteed good, mild weather in January, something you won't find anywhere else.

Awesome news. I lived in Hotlanta in the mid-nineties. I wore a Cubs hat on MARTA to the game on a Friday nite which the Bravos won. I got heckled for routing for the wrong team. The Cubs left town on Sunday nite winning the series 2-1. :)

Tampa vs. Atlanta: I guess it can be considered the battle of the I-75 corridor; There is alot to be said for Tampa beating them out-- the whole GA Dome/WCC complex is pretty state of the art (but not nearly as big as the OCCC :) );

Hey, and its not just Tampa that needs to get ready-- I guarantee you there are going to be some Orlando area hotels getting booked for some of those Superbowlers who are going to make a weekend of it in all of central fla., incl. the mouse house. I-4 needs to be done by then as well in Polk and Osceola.

Right where the high speed train would have been perfect. Stay at overflow hotels in Orlando (If needed) and be shuttled to Tampa for the game.

SDK4 that is forward thinking and you know our state and local goverments dont do that.

^Indeed... In fact, our leaders willing to ignore and manipulate the law to ensure that we maintain our rednecky backwater heritage.

Too bad Florida won't be rednecky and backwater for long. Florida is evolving with the times, and state government needs to deal with it and move on.

i was surprised when i went to tampa and saw so many rednecks,i really wasn't expecting it..then all of a sudden we passed by a neighorhood with about 10 pickup trucks and a bunch of houses with confederate flags.for a minute i taught i was in texas.

"rednecky backwater heritage" - really hurt Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, etc. . . some of the smartest, richest people in America have such a heritage . . .

You really don't see a ton of them in the city anymore, just east of I-75.

^And north of Bearss, or west of Dale Mabry/north of Erlich, or anywhere in Central Pinellas, or along any of the causeways spanning the bay, or anywhere in Pasco and Hernando.

'Git 'er done !' Who's the guy that says that ? Some uber-rich redneck, I think.

Great timing for Tampa, the Super Bowl. Brand new skyline. New Terminal. Hwy improvements. Another new plan for the art museum. :laugh:

Hey don't be talkin down on my man Earl Pitts! As far as rednecks go, he is OK.

I have seen far more rednecks in Orlando and of course Osceola county, home to Yee Haw Junction (Actual town. :) ) than here in Tampa. Again, I am a yankee who thinks everyone who walks barefoot in public is a redneck.

You can find them in the suburbs -- for all the Suburban kids who try to be ghetto, you have just as many flying the Confederate Flag and preaching that the South shall Rise Again....

Anyone remember the fiasco last year at Tarpon Spring sHigh School when a black student circulated a petition to ban the Confederate flag at school? She was suspended

Nothing like all them Greek rednecks. . .

Again, I am a yankee who thinks everyone who walks barefoot in public is a redneck.

Yes, that is definitely a redneck indicator.

along any of the causeways spanning the bay

You must be talking about the reknowned Redneck Riviera! There must be some magnetic pull in Tampa Bay that forces thousands of rednecks across West-central Florida to journey to it's shores every weekend. Oh well, at least they stay off the good beaches. ;)

You must be talking about the reknowned Redneck Riviera! There must be some magnetic pull in Tampa Bay that forces thousands of rednecks across West-central Florida to journey to it's shores every weekend. Oh well, at least they stay off the good beaches. ;)

If you think there are rednecks here, then try moving to NC. I actually commented just the other day how there weren't many rednecks in the Tampa Bay area. I guess it depends on what you are used to...

Bay Area beaches are far from being the Redneck Riviera. Got to Panama City Beach or Pensacola. You'll see big trucks, gun racks, and confereadte flags galore. We have our fare share of rednecks but they seem to gravitate toward Ben T. Davis Beach. Let them have it. I wouldn't stpe foot in that water.

But anyway I think the Superbowl will be great to showcase how different Tampa will be in 4 years and we might be able to brush away the redneck image or the image of being a retirement center.

I don't think they meant Bay area beaches in general - they were talking about beaches spanning the bay (ont eh causeways / bridges).

Clearwater Beach is definately not Redneck, but Dunedin Causeway...? Well....

Nothing like all them Greek rednecks. . .

So you're just dismissing the point instead of talking about it huh? SO much as for healthy debate - someone gave you a point that counters your own and you can just use a bit of sarcasm to dismiss it... :down:

So you're just dismissing the point instead of talking about it huh? SO much as for healthy debate - someone gave you a point that counters your own and you can just use a bit of sarcasm to dismiss it... :down:

I won't dismiss debate. But I would say that stuff like this happens everywhere. Even in the Northeast. Even in more-enlightened-than-thou Europe.

On the contrary - explain the Greek redneck, or the Italian or Cuban redneck. . . or what is a redneck? Or why did the girl actually get in trouble - because my memory is that it had nothing to actually do with the confederate flag (which shuld be protected speech anyway), but rather her methods. . .

As far as I can tell, "redneck" as used on the mesage board basically means "someone not as cooly sophisticated as me." and "somone who disagrees with me and so must be ignorant."

In terms of development, "redneck" is a meaningless and irrelevant term (see Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, and Charlotte - as well as Jax and a host of other places)

Bay Area beaches are far from being the Redneck Riviera.

The beaches in question are the ones located along the sides of the Courtney Campbell and Gandy causeways.

As far as I can tell, "redneck" as used on the mesage board basically means "someone not as cooly sophisticated as me." and "somone who disagrees with me and so must be ignorant."


I don't know which forum you're referring to, because it most certainly is not this one.

Perhaps you can explain to me how my "rednecky backwater heritage" comment (which started this), is somehow directed at other forumers?

Last I checked, my comment was directly squarely at our bumbling state leadership, who judging by the laws which have been passed during the past several years, are intent on sending Florida's culture back to circa 1950, when Florida was indeed considered a "rednecky backwater", even by self admission. If you support the so-called leaders I refer to, then good for you. But personally, I prefer societal progression, not regression.

You guys kill me. This is an entire country full of rednecks. Just ask any Brit and they'll tell you.

And Smiley, Greeks are people too-- they've got just as much God given right to partake in redneckdom as the next guy. Besides, they gave us math and philosophy feta cheese and sponges and Jennifer Anniston.

Right now, northerners are reading this thread going-- "man, Tampa got the superbowl and those Florida rednecks are arguing over who's got the most rednecks..."

And regarding beaches in Florida, every beach in this state is somewhat a redneck riviera except for South Beach and Palm Beach. Rednecks don't like South Beach b/c its full of gays and foreigners, kinda like Disney. And they can't afford to stay in Palm Beach.

I would much rather have the beaches full of tourists rather than rednecks.