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TAMPA'S GAME PLAN IS POLISHED SILVER

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By JIM BEAMGUARD

jbeamguard@tampatrib.com

Published: February 1, 2009

When Tampa hosted its first Super Bowl 25 years ago, the nation snickered at what many considered a small Florida town out of its league in presuming it could host a major sports celebration in the style of Miami, Los Angeles and New Orleans.

Tampa, today hosting its fourth Super Bowl, is having the last laugh. We were a better city in 1984 than the national media gave us credit for, and we've grown better in many ways.

The football players in 1984 had an 11 p.m. curfew, and the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner quoted one as saying, "Just as well. One night ought to be enough to do this town."

This year, they're going to need most of the week. There's much more to do here now, but the Herald-Examiner won't be covering it. The newspaper went out of business in 1989.

Just before Tampa's first Super Bowl week, a visitor telephoned columnist Steve Otto and asked him where to find downtown. The funny thing was, the visitor was calling from the Hyatt, smack in the center of downtown.

The main business center is still less than many of us hope it will become, but its Channel District restaurants and bars, streetcar to Ybor City, new hotels and condos, waterfront aquarium and just-opened history center make downtown much harder to miss than 25 years ago.

This year, Lights On Tampa, an outdoor arts event, is giving downtown an extra dash of excitement.

In 1984, the Washington Times chuckled that Tampa locals call their city "The Big Guava." The writer added: "Seriously, they do," and went on to say the Super Bowl was giving Tampa a chance to show that it is something more than a retirement village.

Well, folks here know that Tampa has never been a retirement village. It's a hard-working harbor town that's visibly evolving and always willing to poke a little fun at itself.

Otto coined the term "Big Guava" and often uses it in his Tribune column.

The New York Times noted in 1984 that a freeze had hit the city and that "Tampa's tropical foliage lies black and rubbery on the ground," as if it were some failure on our part. It could happen again; in fact, we've just had a freeze. If the philodendron droops on game day, New York writers would be fair to note that it will largely recover in time for spring training, while everyone in the Big Apple will still be in ear muffs.

Back in 1984, most of the media seemed to miss the reality and potential of Tampa. They might not have written about it, but how could they miss seeing that Tampa was a legitimate Super Bowl city?

They saw one of the world's best airports when they arrived, just as they did this week. Private parties were booked into impressive venues such as the then-new Museum of Science & Industry. Busch Gardens was thriving in 1984 and still is.

Excitement was in the air, and not all of it had to do with football. Tampa in 1984 was, residents here knew, up and coming. We were about to build a top-notch performing arts center and bulldoze ugly Curtis Hixon Hall and replace it with a stately convention center. The University of Tampa's minarets were about to be restored. The suburbs were poised for growth so fast it would be disorienting. Employers were expanding and bringing in new hires from across the country.

The growth and migration were so fast and continued so long that now that a recession has arrived, it feels more like a crash. In 1984, Hank Fishkind was the University of Florida's chief economic forecaster. His prediction at the time was for Tampa to lead Florida's growth and be "one of the nation's most recession-resistant cities." Until recently, it was. Now an economic consultant, Fishkind warns that Florida's recovery will lag the rest of the country.

That's all the more reason to work harder and set high goals, as Tampa was doing in 1984. On Super Bowl week that year, a group of local business leaders bought a large advertisement in the Tribune to show everyone the coliseum they hoped to build for a Major League Baseball team near Tampa Stadium. The ball didn't bounce their way, but it came close. The stadium was built by taxpayers across the Bay in St. Petersburg, a reminder that the metropolitan area is much, much larger than the Tampa city limits.

A Washington Post reporter complained in 1984 of traveling "a depressing strip of highway that is filled with fast-food restaurants and telephone poles." That still describes many Tampa streets, but there are more places now with a cosmopolitan feel. There are plenty of spots to get a great cup of coffee, a perfect martini or an authentic Cuban dinner.

Those of us who remember that Redskins-Raiders game know how quickly 25 years passes and how much can change in that time. There are 27 Steelers and Cardinals on today's rosters who weren't born when the 18th Super Bowl was played here. The oldest player on the field today, Cardinal quarterback Kurt Warner, was 12 years old then.

The Redskins were favored, but the Raiders smeared them. Tampa, too, was an underdog that came out on top, and, if the media bother to look past superficial impressions, it will find a city still moving up.

Jim Beamguard is a Tribune editorial page editor.

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