Month: August 2007

Gator “Pep” Talk

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneer defensive tackle and University of Florida All-American Brad Culpepper is a successful Tampa attorney these days with the Culpepper Kurland firm. He is also prominent among the Gator alumni that UF head football coach Urban Meyer reached out to when he took over the program before the 2005 season.

As a result, Culpepper and Meyer have become fast friends, and Culpepper has been invited to watch practices and games and to formally speak to the players. In fact, he talked to them three times last season.

Culpepper says he’s been impressed with Meyer’s sense of player accountability, discipline and emphasis on “chemistry.”

“Guys buy into it because he’s successful,” assesses Culpepper. There’s also a tangible aura of respect, underscores Culpepper. “No jack-assing around in the meeting room,” he notes. And he saw evidence of that first-hand last year when he spoke to the team before the LSU and FSU games.

Recently he gave the young Gators a pre-season “Pep” talk. As a former player, he has their respect; as an attorney he has their back; and as a gifted, often humor-laced communicator — who is equally at ease in front of blue bloods as black brothers — he definitely has their attention. A sampling:

Dog fighting: “Don’t do it.”

Steroids: “Don’t use ’em.”

Weapons: “Don’t have ’em.”

Weed: “Be careful.”

He’ll be back.

Hillsborough County’s Big Loss

In a previous incarnation, I was a teacher in the Hillsborough County School District — at what is now Young Magnet in East Tampa. During those tough, challenging initial years of court-ordered desegregation.

In the process, which even included a charity basketball game, I got to know James Gatlin. He was then dean of boys at Buchanan Junior High. I wish I had known him better. I envy those who did.

Gatlin, whose legacy is 45 kid-caring years in teaching and administration in Hillsborough County, died last week at age 69. He was special.

As a 6-foot-5, black administrator in those early days of integration, Gatlin was necessarily high-profile. Central Casting couldn’t have sent anyone better. As intimidating as he appeared, his most notable traits were a defusing sense of humor and an empathetic sense of fairness.

He was liked, loved and respected. And he will be missed.

Boob Tubing For Votes

Back in the day, it was anything but routine when presidential aspirant John F. Kennedy appeared on the “Tonight Show” with Jack Paar. It was a creative use of a candidate’s time to position himself in front of a non-traditional, late-night talk show audience.

Paar was appropriately deferential; it certainly wasn’t “Meet The Press” or “Face The Nation.” And JFK, of course, was hardly TV-challenged. It was a smart move.

Over the years, we’ve seen such “non-traditional” forums expand. From Bill Clinton’s safe sax act with Arsenio Hall to Barack Obama’s Kumbaya session with Oprah to Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and others chatting up Jay Leno and David Letterman.

There’s also the, by now, de rigueur appearance on the “Daily Show” with comedian Jon Stewart. Especially if you have a book to hawk. I recently saw Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, the Democrats’ most experienced presidential candidate, on the Stewart faux-news show. I wish I hadn’t. Nobody was better off for Stewart’s smug fest and Biden’s quips, including the prepared ones.

The various debates, forums, television and radio talk-show outlets, plus the Oprahs, Lenos and Lettermans should be enough, thank you. If voters still don’t have a handle on who a candidate is and what a candidate thinks about issues that matter, then they may want to read something, however old school and uncool that may seem.

The point is that in these especially troubling times it’s, well, troubling to see bona fide presidential office-seekers queuing up to participate in a candidate dunk tank billed as a show-’em-your-nimble-wit-side crucible. The process doesn’t need further demeaning.

Which brings us to this fall’s YouTube debate in St. Petersburg. Looks like most, if not all, of the Republican candidates will be there for the Nov. 28 forum, which will be broadcast by CNN.

The only other question is what sort of animated character will lob up a presidential-candidate query this time?

Bolts Better For New Ownership

Of course, so much yet remains to be seen — and played out — as a result of the agreement by Palace Sports & Entertainment to sell the Tampa Bay Lightning for a reported $200 million. But on the surface, this looks like a winner. Herewith, the top five reasons to wax optimistic about Absolute Hockey Enterprises, the new (pending NHL Board of Governors’ approval) Tampa Bay Lightning owners:

1) They’ll be local. The key decision-makers, majority partners Doug MacLean, a former NHL executive and coach, and Coral Springs developer Jeff Sherrin, will move here. That’s a commitment the Bolts have never come close to experiencing before. An absentee owner, even an absentee billionaire owner, is never preferable. Plus MacLean is a bonafide “hockey guy.”

General Manager Jay Feaster will only have to amble over to a nearby suite to see the boss. No more intermediaries and no more hat-in-hand treks to Detroit for an audience with 84-year-old owner William Davidson.

MacLean, Sherrin and marketing maven Oren Koules have said all the right, impassioned things so far. Not even a hint of equivocation about keeping the team here. Chances of moving the team, underscored MacLean several times, are “zero.”

2) It’s a vote of confidence in downtown-Channel District synergy and the unrealized potential of 5.5 acres of prime real estate adjacent to the St. Pete Times Forum, which was part of the deal. To be sure, this isn’t Columbus, Ohio, where MacLean, 53, had been president and general manager of the NHL Blue Jackets franchise.

3) Koules is a big picture marketing guy. Actually, a highly successful Hollywood producer, including the gratuitously gory “Saw” series. But fresh blood, so to speak, should realize untapped marketing opportunities here. Tampa Bay may still be considered “small market” in pro sports parlance, but this is the country’s 12 largest TV market.

Hockey is artistry on skates as well as a violent collision sport. That’s hardly without appeal, to which the Bolts’ 19,877 average attendance (third in the league) attests. And Tampa Bay’s best players would already be matinee idols in the other major sports. Moreover, hockey is not a rap sheet sport. We’ll leave it at that.

Look for sponsorship enhancements. In addition, naming rights for one of the most successful indoor venues in the country is up for grabs with new ownership. The Absolute Vodka Arena?

4) These guys were competent enough to keep this purchase – through a 7-week gestation period – secret. In two countries. Presidential administrations should be this leak-proof competent.

5) MacLean, the “hockey guy,” owes us one. Big time.

Think what it was that was most glaringly missing last year from a good Lightning team that could have done much better than merely make the playoffs. It was shy a reliable goalie and a goal-scoring forward to play on Brad Richards’ line. Think disappointing Marc Denis and 30-goal scorer Freddy Modin. The Bolts gave up Modin to get Denis. From Columbus. A net minus that still smarts.

More Than DWA (“Driving While Arab”)

Here’s hoping, of course, that the South Carolina arrest of two Middle Eastern, Muslim USF students doesn’t turn out to be a Sami sequel prompting jihad-expert Steve Emerson to set up local shop and fan more flames. May it be no more than the perfect storm of foreigners being in the wrong place, at the wrong time with the wrong mien.

Indeed, we hope that the “pipe bombs” were truly a form of fireworks; a quickly shut down lap top a generically nervous gesture; proximity to Goose Creek Naval Weapons Station a coincidence; oil canisters in the car trunk a function of an auto-restoration project; and an itinerary seemingly without precise destination the modus operandi of 20-something college students on a weekend whirl of sightseeing.

Two points.

First, in this post-9/11 era, when we’re all asked to pay more attention to anything suspicious, it was well within the purview of a Berkeley County (SC) sheriff’s deputy to write more than a speeding ticket for Ahmed Abda Mohamed, an engineering graduate student at USF. He was accompanied by USF undergrad Yousef Samir Megahed.

Whatever the ultimate outcome, the officer did the right thing.

Law enforcement is on the de facto front lines of homeland security. And, yes, common sense profiling is a legitimate tool. It can be utilized without being ugly or turning our police into ethno-centric storm troopers.

Not that it takes reminding, but we are not in a civilizational war with Jews or Hindis or Buddhists or Shintos or Confucianists or Calvinists or animists or atheists or Marxists or Trotskyites or Rotarians. But jihadi Muslims with death wishes – ours and theirs.

Second, nobody owes anyone an apology if it turns out the way we want it: an unfortunate misunderstanding in the context of America under attack by extremist, suicidal Muslims.

In fact, the ultimate apology is still due the U.S.

Headline Writers On Deadline

Anyone wondering about the state of Bay Area bridges – in the aftermath of that Minnesota disaster – had to be still wondering if they had only glanced at the front pages of the two daily newspapers recently. The sub-head of the Tampa Tribune : “Bay Area Spans Stand Strong.” The sub-head of the St. Petersburg Times : “Five Area Bridges Flagged As ‘Poor.'”

Both papers prominently quoted Pepe Garcia, the state Department of Transportation’s structures and facilities engineer for west-central Florida. Noted Garcia: “I can categorically tell you the bridges in the Tampa Bay area are safe for the traveling public.”

The discrepancy arose because of the 56 bridges in Florida rated officially “poor,” five are in the Bay Area. But the label of “poor” takes some parsing – and updating.

Two of the five had been repaired in the last six months. None of the other three are in danger of collapse. Decking on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway (over 22nd Street) will be replaced this fall; the Paul Buchman Highway Bridge over the Hillsborough River in Pasco County will be replaced next year; and repairs to the Johns Pass Bridge (erosion around foundation) on S.R. 699 in Pinellas County are already underway.

It’s not easy being a headline writer on deadline.

Obama Unwrapped

Presidential candidate Barack Obama has had to do his share of quote clarification of late. What world leaders he would meet with without preconditions and what he might do about Pakistan come readily to mind.

But here’s one he never should have clarified, much less taken back. In April, according to the Associated Press, he characterized rappers as “degrading their sisters. That doesn’t inspire me.”

Obama recently told Vibe magazine that he was misquoted. He was talking about the culture as a whole, he explained, not rappers in particular.Oh.

Hi-Def Is Here

Somebody had to be first, and it was WFTS-Channel 28, the ABC affiliate, that recently inaugurated the Tampa Bay market’s first high-definition local newscast.

That means another arrow in the technological quiver of the country’s 12th largest TV market. It also means that viewers will be treated to video on fires, accidents, robberies and murders plus ambush interviews, happy talk, suspendered meteorologists, network-tease pieces and Bucs training-camp filler in hi-def. Enjoy.

Sample Summer Series Ambience At Tampa Theatre

Iconic, 81-year-old Tampa Theatre, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of those hometown gems that can easily be taken for granted by locals.

So, any reason to experience the architectural archetype for “Florida Mediterranean,” your basic pastiche of Italian Renaissance, Byzantine, Spanish, Mediterranean, Greek Revival, Baroque and English Tudor, should do. In fact, any excuse to ensconce yourself amid the alcoves, tiles, mirrors, statuary, stairways, history and ambient light — and under that star-bedecked ceiling — should suffice.

And as good a vehicle as any would be the (3 p.m. Sundays) Summer Classic Movie Series, now in its 14th year. It began May 27 and runs through Aug. 26. The featured fare ranges from “Top Hat” and “The Thin Man” to “Gone With The Wind” and “The Great Gatsby.” The last three are: “Casablanca” (Aug. 12), “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (Aug. 19) and “The Thief of Baghdad” (Aug. 26).

Basically, something for anyone wanting to escape unforgiving humidity, bad indoor baseball and too many contemporary movies obviously aimed at a target market of 14-year-old boys.

If you’ve never sampled the summer series at Tampa Theatre, consider putting it on one of those sempiternal “to do” lists. Especially when it’s sub-Sahara hot around here.

“It transports people back to another era,” explains Tara Schroeder, now in her 15th year as Tampa Theatre’s community relations manager. “It’s one of our best draws; we love it.” So much so that for the last six years Tampa Theatre has even added an “Audience Costume Craze,” which encourages patrons to dress in period fashion. “The Great Gatsby” and “Blazing Saddles” were so designated this summer.

And Schroeder also loves the attendance figures. Whereas an average screening in the balconied, 1,446-seat “specialty film house” would attract an audience of 75-100, the summer series’ movies average 700-800.A prime example was last Sunday’s “Hard Day’s Night,” the recently restored print of the 1964 Beatles mockumentary. Attendance, which included my wife Laraine and I, was 714. (That evening’s indie film, “Crazy Love,” did about 700 less.)

We are reminded that rare Grand Dames such as Tampa Theatre were built for cinematic grandeur and must not be relegated to museum status or commercial conversion. They must be experienced collectively — with the life force that is a critical-mass live audience.

Which is certainly the case on any give summer Sunday, including this one. And, yes, we were transported. Alas, murder and cancer have halved the Beatles over the years, but this was 1964 — for everybody. We were all young and carefree and immortal and at the freeze-frame pinnacle of our young adulthood, including those of us who were spastic on the dance floor. And who cares that we didn’t realize then that “Hard Day’s Night” could have been retitled: “The Beatles meet Benny Hill.”

Frenetic and silly worked much better then, to be sure, but the music remains timeless. The Beatles were generational avatars who were gifted musicians and lyricists, a parlay that is much less in favor today.

And even when the sound system malfunctioned, as it did several times, the baby-boomer crowd was more than understanding. Way more.

Fortunately, these brief outages were mostly concert scenes and the crowd responded by seamlessly singing along — “

Missed Armory Opportunity

It’s now official. The Heritage Square at the Armory group has signed a deal with the National Guard to buy Fort Homer Hesterly Armory on North Howard Avenue near Interstate 275. The $98-million project includes an anchor 300-room hotel, a day spa, restaurants, boutiques, a cultural arts center and a farmers market.

Anyone who knows anything about government bureaucracy, knows why this process has been painstakingly slow. And anyone who knows anything about vacant, prominent real estate proximate to key traffic corridors knows how welcome it is to be this much closer to a revitalized Fort Homer Hesterly property.

But anyone who knows anything about this working-class, West Tampa neighborhood and Tampa’s need to diversify its economy — especially when it comes to the creative sector — knows that the Heritage Square scenario is probably not the best way to redevelop the Armory property.

The runner-up developer was Armory Partners Group of Tampa, which had plans to build a video, film and sound studio and develop creative arts businesses. APG’s scenario also included apartments, retail and a grocery store, pragmatic neighborhood complements.

Those in the know already know that this decision has and will continue to cost Tampa creative business, precisely what this city covets and recruits. It’s certainly put a governor on the prospects for being more attractive to the movie/video production industry – beyond the usual “location shoots.”

But West Tampa will get a luxury hotel and a spa.