Category: Tampa Bay

No soccer succor: Before there was professional football, hockey or baseball here in the Tampa Bay market, there was soccer. Highly successful too in the early days of the North American Soccer League.

Now it is no more. The demise of the Tampa Bay Mutiny was sad — but inevitable. “No local ownership, no Major League Soccer franchise” is what it came down to in MLSpeak.

But why would local investors have signed on — only to lose money? That’s what annually loomed in an ill-suited facility, a stadium lease that only benefited the Bucs and crowds that stayed away in droves.

The Raymond James Stadium lease gave the Bucs the first $2 million of concession and parking revenues from non-Buc events, a crippling arrangement for the struggling Mutiny. The Bucs, in a scenario only a Glazer could fathom, were unwilling to renegotiate, apparently figuring no Mutiny-related income at all was better than less.

A Mutiny-less Tampa is particularly unfortunate for all those kids and coaches who will now do without MSL clinics and financial support. But that cuts both ways. Obviously, all those coaches, kids and attendant families could have expressed their gratitude by attending more Mutiny games. No sport has greater youth participation than soccer, but it never translated into support at the professional level.

And whatever happened to Oscar Fabiani?

Sami Al-Arrant: No, there’s no campus witchhunt for Muslims, even Al-Arrogant ones, at the University of South Florida. Nor is it open season on free speech and academic freedom. For all those pointy-heads at USF who will defend tenure under any guise, know this: The firing of Professor Sami Al-Arian has, indeed, set a precedent. And it’s this: Those who would hire, hang out with and/or fund-raise for terrorists can expect to be fired.

Sharpton Sighting: USF has landed the Rev. Al Sharpton as featured speaker for the university’s MLK celebration. How incongruous that the celebration of King’s life should warrant an appearance by one of America’s pre-eminent, race-baiting opportunists.

He’s dropped a lot of weight from his Vieques diet and dresses more conservatively, but he’s still the same Al Sharpton who remains unrepentant over the Tawana Brawley travesty.

Visiting a college campus and wrapping himself in the cloak of a legitimate civil rights icon is just an agenda warm-up for Sharpton these days. He fully expects to be a major player in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. That means preparing for a plank on reparations for slavery in the Democratic Party’s platform. Among those qualifying for reparations, presumably, is Tawana Brawley.

F. Dennis Alvarez has been orchestrating his mayoral plans since retiring as Hillsborough chief judge last March. By all accounts, he has been nursing the ambition since he was too young to vote. With Dick Greco forced to step down next year, the timing would never be better for the 56-year-old Ybor City native.

Never better, but, alas, not good.

There were those recent courthouse controversies and that Aisenberg surveillance bug. The media rehashed it all and then some. The St. Petersburg Times’ account of his formal announcement came under the grim-and-bear-it headline: “Scandal-scarred former judge launches campaign for mayor.” Barely unstated: “Holy LaBrake, this guy wants to run for mayor?”

Wilson Alvarez has had better press.

Then a week later the former judge, who has worked hard for his hometown over the years, underwent an angioplasty.

That ultimately may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for one with previous heart problems — as well as one too enamored of the limelight for his own good health.

Now the University of South Florida knows the feeling.

Last night’s disappointing hoops loss to Florida State was the last encounter between the schools for the foreseeable future. FSU wants out and USF, which needs games like these more than the FSUs and University of Floridas, loses a valued, intra-state rivalry game with more crowd appeal than most Sun Dome match-ups.

Too bad for USF, but the Bulls have seen such scenarios before. From the other side.

It was USF’s call in the early ’90s to discontinue the popular, intra-city basketball series with the University of Tampa, a guaranteed big draw for a program in chronic need of such games. The rationale was that playing a Division II school didn’t help its chances of getting into the NCAA tournament. Never mind that USF’s record against the other 30 teams on its schedule counted a lot more.

There was also the spirited USF-UT rivalry in soccer than ended in 1997. The Mayor’s Cup game could pack Pepin-Rood Stadium. But there was that Division II damper. And never mind that UT was — and is — really, really good. The Spartans are the current Division II national champions.

Moreover, USF didn’t encourage the University of Central Florida to pursue an intra-state series in football. Florida or Florida State would be more than acceptable, thank you, because they are prestigious programs who dangle big guarantee money for visiting teams. UCF, which did beat Alabama last season, is not in that class. Almost no one is.

That a natural I-4 rivalry could transcend the appeal of Conference USA foes — Cincinnati, Memphis, Texas Christian? — was never a factor. It should have been.

So be it. Those were USF’s calls; this was FSU’s. All of them were made with a narrow self-interest in mind. And none of them were good for the schools involved.

For long-time residents, Bay Area mass transit is as classic an oxymoron as George Carlin’s jumbo shrimp. A few bus lines doesn’t count, unless you’re of the socio-economic class that must use them. Reportedly, the issue of mess transit kept Tampa off the U.S. Olympic Committee’s short list of finalists.

There have been proposals and studies and blue ribbon panels and public hearings and even a pro-commuter rail editorial by the Tampa Tribune. But nothing is ultimately addressed but paving priorities. Cost savings, congestion alleviation and air-quality upgrades never carry the day — especially when the other side of the equation is a tax hike and locals’ love affair with their automobiles and SUVs.

Well, here’s one more arrow for that light-rail quiver. It will save lives.

A survey by Washington-based TRIP — The Road Information Report — has ranked the Tampa-St. Petersburg areas as the second worst in the country when it comes to fatality rates for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. Tourists — including elderly snowbirds who nest in the passing lanes — and normal Florida population growth continue to overwhelm the Interstate system. Catching up with asphalt is neither an option nor a possibility.

Perhaps the ultimate quality-of-life issue — fatality rates — will make a difference.

Perhaps.

They didn’t monkey around in St. Petersburg. The forces of political correctness got what they wanted: the head of Police Chief Mack Vines. Mayor Rick Baker, who would give tremulous a bad name, fired him.

Vines was done in by the simile police who were outraged that he would liken an “orangutan” to an unruly, resistant suspect who had to be dragged out of the window of a pickup by several officers. Said suspect was a black man.

Perhaps Vines should have gone with the generic “madman” or “crazy man” or even garden-variety “lunatic.” But to belittle, in effect, the mentally and emotionally challenged is probably beyond insensitivity today. Neither did he utter the culturally chancy “whirling dervish” or the ADA-alerting “spastic.”

No, it was “orangutan.”

There were some phone calls and the usual suspects took the usual umbrage. The city’s employee relations director investigated. A Vines’ apology for having “offended individuals from the African-American community” was not enough. This was a fire-able offense. No counseling. No hair shirt. No second chance. Termination.

Mayor Baker, who has less backbone than, well, an orangutan, summed up the travesty nicely. After acknowledging that he didn’t think Vines’ reference was intended to be racially based, Baker said the simian simile, “however innocently made

According to USF officials, more than $15 million in budget cuts will force a “culture shift” at the university that will take the form of reduced course offerings, bigger classes and fewer adjunct professors and perhaps support staff as well. Layoffs are in the offing. A hiring freeze will only be waived when the job is “justified.”

All this, including holding classes at rented movie theaters at University Mall, is regrettable but understandable with a $1.3 billion state budget shortfall.

But there will be money — and more than $100,000 at that — available for USF’s first diversity chief. It’s not enough that universities, including USF, are already enclaves of political correctness and citadels of ethnic-racial-cultural-sexual orientation-but-not-ideologic-diversity.

USF needs a $101,000-a-year associate vice president for diversity and equal opportunity the way it needs more black basketball players. Hmmm. Actually, isn’t this part of a too-much, too-late public relations campaign to help distance USF from that embarrassing racial discrimination suit brought by all those black women’s basketball players?

Call it reparations money. Or just call it an institutionally “justified” hire.

What “culture shift”?

Just when you think the Florida Legislature’s special session, also known as Fiscal Food Fight ’02, couldn’t get much more bizarre, it does. Thanks, in part, to Janet Reno. But even more thanks to Cuban-American legislators.

Last week Reno, the former U.S. attorney general who’s running for governor, turned up in Tallahassee and was introduced as a guest to the House by North Miami Beach Democrat Rep. Sally Heyman. This prompted about a dozen legislators, mostly the usual suspects from Miami-Dade County, to walk out.

Nice touch. And great for the “cause.”

“We weren’t disrespectful,” sniffed Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami. “We didn’t hiss.” The hiss-less demonstration, of course, was the Cuban-American delegation’s way of reminding Reno — and everyone else, thank you — that they neither forget nor forgive her for deciding to return Elian Gonzalez to his Cuban father last year.

The unflappable Reno didn’t indicate if she were hissed-off or not by the walkout. Deep down, however, she had to know it couldn’t hurt.

Having a bunch of grandstanding South Florida Cuban-Americans walk out could, if anything, earn sympathy for Reno. It’s also a reminder that even if you disagreed with Reno’s Elian position, you could still respect her stand in the face-off with the forces of outrage and intimidation. Finally, how much can you be hurt by a demonstration by those who discredited themselves nationally over the Elian affair?

Waytogo, Mario.

Recently the Tampa firefighters union conducted its traditional mayoral poll. Only 436 out of the 1,889 registered voters contacted had an opinion — other than “undecided” — on the 2003 race.

But of those 436 political junkies, their preferences broke down this way: Tampa City Councilman Bob Buckhorn, 114; Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Pam Iorio, 98; former Hillsborough Chief Circuit Judge Dennis Alvarez, 97; City Council Chairman Charlie Miranda, 46; City Councilwoman Rose Ferlita, 40; Hillsborough County Commissioner Chris Hart, 24; and former Assistant Secretary of Transportation Francisco Sanchez, 17.

What this mainly means is that while it’s never premature for candidates to look ahead a political light year, a 2003 race is decidedly too far out for most voters. Thus, these poll results are mainly a function of early name recognition.

What it also indicates, however, is that while it surprises no one that Buckhorn tops this or any other early poll, any coalescing of Hispanic candidates — although problematic — could prove formidable. Even decisive. Especially in an election that historically draws less than 40,000 voters.

It’s in the mailNever let it be said that Tampa isn’t on some cutting edges. And no, we’re not talking face-scans, lap-dances and sneakercams.

Starting next month Tampa will be one of just three cities nationwide giving the Segway Human Transporter — aka “It” and “Ginger” — a formal, 30-day, 12-mph run. The much hyped, battery-powered, gyroscopic-stabilized scooters will help ferry Tampa mail carriers on their rounds.

The check may not be in the mail, and the mail may not arrive any sooner. But this could be fun to watch.

A tragic lessonAt the risk of piling on a tragedy, just one question regarding the terrible hunting accident that resulted in a Tampa man accidentally shooting and killing his 9-year-old son last month. Why wasn’t that child in school?

An excursion to see Harry Potter on school time is enough of a reach, but a parent taking a kid out of school for several days to observe deer hunting? That’s where the negligence began. Tragically, it didn’t end there.

Reno reaction ill-advisedJust when you think the Florida Legislature’s special session, also known as Fiscal Food Fight ’02, couldn’t get much more bizarre, it does. Thanks, in part, to Janet Reno. But even more thanks to Cuban-American legislators.

Last week Reno, the former U.S. attorney general who’s running for governor, turned up in Tallahassee and was introduced as a guest to the House by North Miami Beach Democrat Rep. Sally Heyman. This prompted about a dozen legislators, mostly the usual suspects from Miami-Dade County, to walk out.

Nice touch. And great for the “cause.”

“We weren’t disrespectful,” sniffed Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami. “We didn’t hiss.” The hiss-less demonstration, of course, was the Cuban-American delegation’s way of reminding Reno — and everyone else, thank you — that they neither forget nor forgive her for deciding to return Elian Gonzalez to his Cuban father last year.

The unflappable Reno didn’t indicate if she were hissed-off or not by the walkout. Deep down, however, she had to know it couldn’t hurt.

Having a bunch of grandstanding South Florida Cuban-Americans walk out could, if anything, earn sympathy for Reno. It’s also a reminder that even if you disagreed with Reno’s Elian position, you could still respect her stand in the face-off with the forces of outrage and intimidation. Finally, how much can you be hurt by a demonstration by those who discredited themselves nationally over the Elian affair?

Waytogo, Mario.

Janet Reno, as we’ve come to know, is a one-of-kind, buck-stops-here, what-you-see-is-what-you-get, I-gotta-be-me Democratic candidate for governor. That, of course, is not without appeal. As is the return of the native daughter who made it big inside the Beltway.

The 63-year-old former U.S. attorney general drives a pick-up truck, lives in her mom’s old Miami house and keeps her home telephone number listed — populist touches all.She doesn’t back off the baggage she ostensibly totes around: Waco, Elian, the Clinton years or an obvious Parkinson’s condition. She deals with all this political Samsonite directly, bluntly and, at times, humorously. Preceding her everywhere is the sort of name recognition that most political candidates can only fantasize about. Conventional wisdom still says she trumps the field in a primary sans run-off.

And yet.

For all the grit it’s taken to forge on with Parkinson’s; for all the fortitude needed to avoid defeat by notorious lose-lose scenarios; and for all the ad hominem cheap shots she’s had to endure; in person, she’s somehow less than the sum of those resolute, even defiant, parts.

At the podium, in front of political junkies and partisans, she is no longer a larger-than-life icon of the left. Just tall. And, well, short on passion.

And passion is hardly unimportant when it comes to being a catalytic candidate for change. It’s even more critical for energizing an electorate, especially traditional Democratic constituencies that must turn out in record numbers for Democrats to have a chance of unseating a powerful incumbent. Ultimately, voters are more likely to rally around a person than a name.

If what you see is what you get, then most folks at the recent Tiger Bay Club of Tampa gathering couldn’t have seen enough to get giddy over the prospect of a Jeb Bush-Janet Reno showdown. Reno, however, vowed to beat Jeb Bush “by getting out traditional Democratic voters.”

We’ll see.

Would that she hadn’t uttered, however, the mantra of all who already wax nostalgic for a polarizing return to the politics of “disenfranchisement.”

“If the votes had been counted the way the people who voted intended that they be counted, Al Gore would be president of the United States today, and Florida would have been won by the Democrats,” noted Reno.

So much for a one-of-kind candidacy when pandering is a stump-speech staple.

Reno delivered that stump spiel as if she were addressing a seminar. All she needed was an overhead projector. She would, she intoned, make the case to voters that they should support tax hikes to meet priority needs such as education, preventive health care and Everglades restoration. She would focus heavily on domestic violence prevention and information-technology funding.

None of these, of course, are wayward priorities. Despite his ideological tethers, Gov. Bush could probably agree. The devil, of course, is in the details.

As for what taxes or whose exemptions, well, that’s what long campaigns are for. At the end of which, “I gotta-be-me” candidates will have morphed into “I gotta-be-elected” politicians.

Never let it be said that Tampa isn’t on some cutting edges. And no, we’re not talking face-scans, lap-dances and sneakercams.

Starting next month Tampa will be one of just three cities nationwide giving the Segway Human Transporter — aka “It” and “Ginger” — a formal, 30-day, 12-mph run. The much hyped, battery-powered, gyroscopic-stabilized scooters will help ferry Tampa mail carriers on their rounds.

The check may not be in the mail, and the mail may not arrive any sooner. But this could be fun to watch.