Friends have asked if I, as a Philadelphia native , had mixed allegiances over the Bolts-Flyers Eastern Conference finals. The answer: A resounding “Hey, yo — no way.” Like many Tampa residents, I live here by choice — not by an accident of birth or a function of inertia.
There’s something ironic and incongruous about a sport where the archetypal joke is that “during the fight a hockey game broke out, ” and yet at season’s end players actually vie for something called the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, emblematic of “sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct.” For all the slashing, bone-rattling hits, periodic brawls and generic [...]
There’s something ironic and incongruous about a sport where the archetypal joke is that “during the fight a hockey game broke out, ” and yet at season’s end players actually vie for something called the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, emblematic of “sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct.” For all the slashing, bone-rattling hits, periodic brawls and generic [...]
Who would have thought that the city’s new ethics code would have impacted the Stanley Cup finals? But the code precluded Mayor Pam Iorio from being comped by the St. Petersburg Times for the opening game against Calgary, and she had to ante up for tickets. Guest luxury box ducats for the mayor and her [...]
Remember when Bill Cosby was criticized by a lot of black folks for “The Cosby Show”? Holy Huxtable, it was an unreal depiction of black life. As if any sitcom was a depiction of anything real. Cosby’s original sin was that he wasn’t Jimmy Walker. Now a generation later, he is hearing it in some [...]
Remember when Bill Cosby was criticized by a lot of black folks for “The Cosby Show”? Holy Huxtable, it was an unreal depiction of black life. As if any sitcom was a depiction of anything real. Cosby’s original sin was that he wasn’t Jimmy Walker. Now a generation later, he is hearing it in some [...]
Oh, those PR-magnet Bucs. Head Coach Jon Gruden has agreed to be a (play-scripting) consultant — with a cameo still possible — for a re-make of “The Longest Yard,” the 1974 classic about a former pro quarterback-turned-prisoner who leads the inmates’ football team. The original starred Burt Reynolds in his prime. This one has Adam [...]
Oh, those PR-magnet Bucs. Head Coach Jon Gruden has agreed to be a (play-scripting) consultant — with a cameo still possible — for a re-make of “The Longest Yard,” the 1974 classic about a former pro quarterback-turned-prisoner who leads the inmates’ football team. The original starred Burt Reynolds in his prime. This one has Adam [...]
The real estate section of this month’s “Money” magazine carries a feature on “What Makes a Place Hot.” Florida was mentioned prominently. Richard Florida, that is. He’s the popular author of “The Rise of the Creative Class” and a well-referenced guru to CreativeTampaBay. Alas, Tampa didn’t make any of the top rankings, including America’s “Up [...]
It appears that St. Petersburg dodged a bullet a fortnight ago when the civil disturbance in Midtown didn’t morph into a full-fledged riot. That, of course, is small consolation to those merchants who did have their shops broken into and inventory hauled off. And then there were some wrong-time, wrong-place folks who genuinely feared for [...]
