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Bowl Bling: Earn Style Points This Super Bowl

Special to TBO.com

This handbag and cap are stylish souvenirs for any fashionable Super Bowl fan.

By CLOE CABRERA | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 30, 2009

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It's Super Bowl Sunday. At last.

There are plenty of munchies in the kitchen; football strategy is being discussed on TV; and in a few short hours, your home will be overrun with Steelers and Cardinals fans.

But if you can take your eye off the big-screen for just a little while, you can score souvenirs that will help you remember your Super Bowl experience - including a few that will help you look fabulous.

Creatively named Super Bowl Merchandise is a temporary shop selling official Super Bowl XLIII gear on West Shore Boulevard, right next to WestShore Plaza. Along with the usual assortment of T-shirts, key chains, magnets and coffee mugs, you'll find a smart chrome-and-silver belt buckle for $45, a leather jacket for $125 and ball cap with the logo from all 43 Super Bowl teams for $75. The cap has been one of the store's biggest sellers, said Steve Sodell, president of Sports Fan Marketing.

"It takes a certain person to wear this kind of hat," he said, laughing.

I have to agree. The hat is for someone who doesn't mind wearing color - and lots of it.

Customer Monica Belke was among the early-bird shoppers looking for mementos to take back home to Chicago.

"I've got everyone back home asking for stuff,' said Belke, a University of Tampa student.

Super Bowl is all about the souvenirs, she said. "I don't really follow either team, so I'm not really that into the game."

Super Bowl champion hats and T-shirts will be available right after the game, said Sodell, who plans to keep his store open until the wee hours on Monday morning.

If you've already started your partying and want to stay put (and thank you for that), www.NFLshop.com has you covered. Ladies who have had quite enough of the manly high fives and fist bumps can get their girly on with a sassy Super Bowl bag ($39.99), a crystal-beaded headband ($21.99) and a cashmere and crystal scarf ($49.99).

If you're going to the big game, the best place to pick up a few trinkets is around Raymond James Stadium.

Carl Kreiser runs one of two tents near the stadium operated by Pro License Sports. It carries Super Bowl shot glasses, teddy bears and a replica of the coin that will be tossed at the beginning of today's game. It'll cost you $50.

Souvenirs, from tacky to chic, are always popular during Super Bowl week. But after checking shelves, racks and cases all over town, I couldn't find one souvenir that wiggled, talked or lit up. There wasn't a Kurt Warner or Ben Roethlisberger bobblehead doll to be found.

What gives?

Apparently even Super Bowl souvenirs aren't recession-proof.

The Super Bowl itself is a major event and will sell out, said Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness. "But when you've got households being lost, the unemployment rate is rising and we're in a recession that won't end until 2009, you can count frivolous, dancing and singing bobbleheads out of your Super Bowl experience without diminishing the game. The Super Bowl is a pricey event to attend, and curtailing some of that extraneous spending is a reflection of the economy."

So you may have to punt on the kitsch this time around, but you can still snag cool keepsakes without going long.

Cloe Cabrera can be reached at (813) 259-7656 or ccabrera@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Pursuits, to check my blog for the latest on fashionable Super Bowl happenings and people around town.

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