There’s a new marshal in town.
That would be former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Mike Alstott, the newly named grand marshal of the 2010 Gasparilla Parade of Pirates. He’s only the fifth GM in the parade’s 106-year history. Arguably, he doesn’t have a tough act to follow. The most recent GMs were Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda in 1989.
According to John Fontana, the president of parade sponsor Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, the popular “A-Train” was the perfect choice to reflect the parade’s twin themes of “responsibility and community.” In a statement, Alstott said he looked forward to helping make the event a “family tradition.”
Three points.
First, good luck morphing a drunkfest into a family event.
Second, excellent choice. Alstott is a quintessential family guy, community leader and one of the all-time Buccaneer greats. He underscores as few others could the concerted effort being made this year to clean up Gasparilla. In the recent past, which includes the 2009 version, the parade necessarily invaded South Tampa residential neighborhoods with drunks and punks.
Third, parade officials should seriously think about asking Alstott to consider options to sitting symbolically atop a float or in a convertible for the entire parade route. In fact, why not suggest that the “A-Train” hop off at Bayshore Boulevard and, say, Willow Avenue and help patrol — as only a former All-Pro fullback can — one of the ground-zero alleys. That’s where a marshal is really needed.