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That's All For 'Today' In Downtown Tampa

By WALT BELCHER

wbelcher@tampatrib.com

Published: February 3, 2009

TAMPA - Having dined at Bern's, toured Ybor City and soaked in all the excitement of Super Bowl XLIII, the "Today" show staff wrapped up a five-day visit with a telecast from the fourth floor patio of The News Center this morning.

With the University of Tampa in the background, Meredith Vieira and Al Roker recapped the Super Bowl and the commercials and Tiki Barber gave his take on the game.

Animal handlers from Busch Gardens and SeaWorld brought over a couple of pythons and a big black hornbill bird.

Also in the building that houses The Tampa Tribune, News Channel 8 and TBO.com. were Joe and Dave Herbert, filmmaking brothers from Indiana who produced one of the most talked-about commercials in the Super Bowl: the Doritos office workers who toss crystal balls.

The brothers won $1 million in a Doritos contest, but they also scored with viewers.

"This was my first Super Bowl and my first time in Tampa," said Vieira, who treated her teenage son and three of his friends to the experience.

"I got to eat at the famed Bern's Steak House on the first night. I was told that is the place to go," she said.

"It was cooler here than I anticipated - at first - but yesterday was gorgeous. And the coolest thing was that I got to play with the pirates of Gasparilla. I went out on the pirate ship, and that was great. "

Vieira showed off photographs of her in pirate garb with some scary fake teeth.

She broadcast live from Tampa on Friday, Sunday and today.

Roker has been in town since Thursday. "Everything ran smoothly for us and for NBC," he said.

"This was a relatively quiet Super Bowl, with all the excitement on the field as it should be."

"People were predicting that it wouldn't be much of game, but Tiki says it might have been the best Super Bowl ever," Vieira said.

Vieira says working on "Today" involves a lot of travel. "I'm still worried about whether my pets were being fed this weekend," she said.

"But it has been rewarding because of the range of stories, from serious issues to having fun."

Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654.

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