* It’s a familiar refrain: Kudos again to Rob Higgins, the executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission. The Women’s basketball Final Four will be coming here in 2019, and the bid presentation was again largely the work of the Higgins-led TBSC. It will be this city’s third such Final Four, after 2008 and 2015. Moreover, Tampa will be the sports stage for hockey’s Frozen Four–for the second time–in 2016 and the college football national championship game in 2017.
More than bragging rights and heightened profile are involved. “You’re talking heads in beds and the dollars that are spent at restaurants and bars and hotels,” reminded Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan.
* Nice to see the return of Farrukh Quraishi, who will take over as Tampa Bay Rowdies president and general manager. The personal Quraishi was a member of the original Rowdies from 1975-80. He was the first overall pick in the 1975 North American Soccer League college draft and a NASL All-Star his first year.
Quraishi is a native of Tehran, Iran, who grew up in England and played his collegiate soccer at Oneonta State (N.Y.). I still recall his answer to the question of how he handled inquiries about where he was from–in the context of the Iranian (Nov. 1979-Jan. 1981) hostage-taking.
“I just tell people I’m from Persia,” he said. “And they just nod.”
* The newly enlightened NFL has announced that it will begin reaching out to LGBT–owned businesses as part of its Business Connect program. For the record, the LGBT community represents nearly $839 billion in buying power.
* This weekend is the full-menu, regular-service debut of Ava, the SoHo restaurant owned by Joe Maddon and Michael Stewart. The notable feature is the Italian-made pizza oven. But, no, “Chicago-style” pizza won’t be featured.
* Would have thought long-time Rays’ bench coach Davey Martinez would have been at least accorded a finalist interview. It would have been the classy gesture.
* Compared to Joe Maddon leaving and Davey Martinez being passed over, the loss of Triple-A pitching coach Neil Allen hasn’t received much attention. But given that the Rays are pitching driven and a lot of it is developed at the minor league level, the departure of Allen–for the Minnesota Twins–could matter. He had been with the Rays for eight years, the last four at Triple-A affiliate Durham.