Ok, the Super Bowl excitement is over.
Like many of you, I attended many of the "Celebrity" parties. Tampa looked good, but as the parties got under full swing, no one seemed to mention the actual game. At one party within feet of me were some of the greatest sports heroes of all time - Wade Boggs, Bobby Bell, Garo Ypremian, Billy Kilmer and plenty more- when a Tampa resident asked me if I had seen any celebrities ? I asked if she had, and the answer was no. Seemed silly for me to change her luck.
Mike Ditka's Gridiron Greats held various events around town to assist former sports players in need of medical and financial assistance. Congratulations to Ditka and local events organizer and former Florida State/Green Bay Packer player Barry Smith on a great job, BUT special mention must be made of Bill Horne, President of Laser Spine Institute at Rocky Point. Laser Spine Institute is contributing One Million Dollars in surgery costs to sports heroes through the Gridiron Greats.
Ticket prices seemed to like to hover at the $250 range for most of these events and many had special VIP sections with prices in the thousands. "Celebrities" must sleep in because they seemed consistently late to arrive to "their" events, if at all. While red carpets with lit logoed back stages seemed everywhere, many were more celebrity wannabes than anything. The tv/movie/music stars seemed to be what the crowds were talking about. Pretty funny considering this all revolves around a major sporting event.
The opening of the Hula Bay Club happened with three celebrity events. This club, formerly Rattlefish, is now staffed with many former SOHO bartenders, managers, chefs, and servers under the direction of former Whiskey SOHO Manager Armando Valdes. The club will open officially next week.
Tampa did a great job in hosting the event. Traffic seemed congested but not too congested. The Tampa Police Dept. seemed to have a pretty good attitude about it all. As did the crowds in attendance. I had doubts Channelside could handle the whole thing and it did feel cheapening to see all the sausage and elephant ear vendors lining downtown streets, but all in all, it turned out pretty well.
Mayor Iorio gave a good summary by saying it is better to have the Super Bowl here during a recession than not having the Super Bowl at all and still having a recession.
BUT back to the game. After days of Super Bowl partying with little mention of the game by the partying crowd, what a game we got. It started a little slow and stayed exciting all the way til the very last minute. Whether a Pittsburgh Steeler or Phoenix Cardinal fan, it was a hell of a game. Did I go to the game ? You kidding ? I attended three great parties and had a great time. What did you do ?
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