Author: opinionstogo

New York Times Blindsides USF Football

Amid the hoopla over the Buccaneers, these final thoughts on the successful season that was at the University of South Florida.

*Head Coach Jim Leavitt got a hefty raise, but his new contract only carries a $50,000 buy-out clause. That means, regardless of his obvious fondness for this area and loyalty to USF, he’s year to year. And how close did he come to becoming the head coach of Alabama? One consummate insider, who was on the receiving end of a frantic, last-minute call from Alabama Athletics Director Mal Moore, said USF came “within about four hours” of losing Leavitt.

*Maybe it was a “make-up” call. Last month the cover of The New York Times Magazine featured USF gridders above the words: “How Football Can Crush A College.” Not satisfied with such subtlety, the story inside was titled: “Football Is A Sucker’s Game.” USF wasn’t so much singled out for notoriety as puzzlement. As in why would you aspire to major football renown? Football at that level, underscored the Times , is too often hypocritical, demeaning of what higher education is all about and a money-losing proposition.

Having said that, the Times’ Final Computer Ranking had USF 14th. In the country. Penn State was 19th, Notre Dame 20th. Florida and Florida State didn’t make the top 25.

*By the way, this was Bear Bryant’s response to a reporter who once questioned the role of football amid more pressing priorities at the University of Alabama: “It’s real hard to rally around the math department.” No, that quote never made it into the Times’ piece.

Bucs Will Come Home Winners

Here is why the Buccaneers will return home winners even though the road to the Super Bowl must course through the City of Brotherly Mug. I know, I know, the ultimate mettle-detector site — nasty, rat-infested, magistrate-and-jail fortified Veterans Stadium — awaits. As does complementary lousy weather. As does a throaty lot of drunk, cheesesteak-head vulgarians. Worse yet, many in this lynch mob that passes for Philly fandom will be armed with screwdrivers and wrenches to expedite souvenir hunting — one staggered step in front of the wrecking ball that will soon euthanize the decrepit Vet.

And most importantly, of course, a really good football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, also awaits.

But should the outcome be no different than the previous four — all Eagle wins — the Bucs won’t ultimately leave as losers. Win or not, the Bucs get to return here. Whatever the outcome, the “Iggles” have to stay there.

Thanks to Gov. Bush, Broward Still Stuck With Oliphant

Gov. Jeb Bush has taken, arguably, more than his share of criticism from the usual quarters over jettisoning affirmative action in state university admissions. That liberal lobby won’t desist, of course, until meritocracy has been finally eliminated in higher education.

But couldn’t the minority-special-interest crowd at least stop carping long enough to acknowledge — let alone thank — the governor for his stand on Miriam Oliphant. He won’t fire the certifiably competence-challenged, black Broward County supervisor of elections.

She is paid a six-figure salary to serve as a beacon to all those whose aspirations, gall and sense of entitlement far exceed their abilities, ethics and sense of pride.

Not only did she botch the gubernatorial primary last year, but her legacy continues to expand to concerns about her financial management as well as questions about her office’s preparation for next month’s elections. She is a national embarrassment and a statewide scandal.

Gov. Bush, is, at best, an enabler for the affirmative tokenism crowd. At worst, he’s derelict in his duty. In effect, he is thwarting the will of the Broward County Commission who want Oliphant out. It is their county, after all, that she threatens to make another mockery and laughingstock out of. The commissioners want her gone, preferably last year. But it would require the governor’s help. He’d actually have to do the pinkslipping.

In trying not to offend minorities and others prone to defend the indefensible, Bush has embarrassed and discredited himself. He is not backing the Broward board’s wishes because there is no concrete evidence that Oliphant engaged in any INTENTIONAL wrongdoing.

Say what?

Isn’t merely being very bad in a very important job cause enough? Do you have to be a saboteur to be fired?

Bush is getting what he deserves in Broward. Not only is he not praised by civil rights careerists, he’s not respected by minorities who can tell pander from principle. He earns disgust from everyone else who see a duplicitous, politically expedient governor fearing a Mau-mauing for doing the right thing.

The residents of Broward, however, are not getting what they deserve. They’re still stuck with a supervisor of elections who is lousy — but apparently not on purpose.

Culture Shock At The Planet

So, the Weekly Planet gets a makeover. It has jettisoned its news staff and will concentrate on “more real, meaty stories about culture, broadly defined.” Those are the words, whatever they mean, of Neil Skene, senior vice president, group publisher. Out with the political muckraking and gadfly style and in with: “culture, broadly defined.”

So what’s next? An overhaul in advertising approach? Out with the escort ads, lingerie modeling, 900-number calls and kinky personals?

To replace full-time staffers with free-lancers is an obvious, even understandable, cost-cutting measure. But did it have to lobotomize itself in the process? Apparently going to staple binding wasn’t enough.

Iorio Now In The Mix: A Fourth For Bridge?

The metaphor was perfect: downtown Tampa’s protean skyline and cultural-arts-district-to-be as seen from the Hillsborough River.

A bank of the Hillsborough was an ideal spot for Pam Iorio to officially launch her mayoral campaign. In her formal announcement, she pretty much covered the waterfront of all the good things we all want to happen, no matter who is elected mayor. No one is against progress or in favor of leaving anyone behind. No one is for more garages on the river. No one wants an ethics-challenged City Hall. No one doesn’t want a “can-do” mayor. Everyone wants a mayor who sounds this positive and this good, even with laryngitis.

But more pointedly, the site behind the University of Tampa was reinforcing to a major theme of her candidacy. She is not, she avowed in a still raspy voice, about pitting downtown interests against neighborhoods. Hers is a Pam glossian scenario — the best of all possible Tampas.

“Residents sometimes feel that big ticket items take away from an investment in everyday needs — sidewalks, drainage, roads, parks, public safety,” stated Iorio. “I believe we can have both

GOP: Going, Going, Gone to Gotham

In the aftermath of the GOP’s selection of New York City for the 2004 Republican Convention, these thoughts:

*Would Gov. Jeb Bush have tried harder for the GOP convention had it been Miami vying for it? Yes, that’s a rhetorical question.

*You don’t have to be a cheerleader or chamber of commerce mole to resent some of the local punditry that passed for analysis of the selection decision. NYC is America’s pre-eminent city and worthy of a national political convention, even, presumably, a Republican one. Finishing runner-up, however, doesn’t relegate Tampa to comparative “dump” status, as one sour-butt columnist sarDANically noted.

*Let’s see how the “War on Terrorism” plays out over the next two years. There’s a chance that bin Laden will still have Judge Crater status, and that we haven’t seen the last of high-profile, terrorist atrocities on our own soil. Graphic “Ground Zero” reminders and drumbeat retrospectives might not play as well in 2004 as Karl Rove anticipates.

*The GOP going to NYC is like the Dixiecrats going to Harlem.

*The GOP last won New York state in 1984. Regardless of Karl Rove’s recent track record, this gambit is a windmill tilt. We knew Ronald Reagan. George W. Bush is no Ronald Reagan. Rove should know that too.

*NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg put up big bucks and will still be in office in ’04. Dick Greco couldn’t write a big check and won’t be around to see this through. It mattered.

What’s In A Name? Not This Body Part

By almost any other name, a streetcar station is a streetcar station. Except if that name were “Mons Venus.” Thus, did Tampa Historical Streetcar turn down the station-naming request of adult entertainment gadfly Joe Redner — and the much-needed $150,000 fee that would have accompanied it.

According to THS, female body parts were well within the erroneous zone of impropriety. The streetcars’ policy was taken directly from that of HARTline, the system’s operator, which reserves the right to reject ads based on its own sense of taste.

HARTline spokesman Ed Crawford — presumably with a straight face — elaborated by noting that “Turgid Erect Member Station” would similarly have been rejected. Thanks, Ed. Now we really get it. Presumably, “Velvet Cave” wouldn’t have passed muster either. Ditto for a Streetcar Station Named (Triangle of) Desire.

The controversial Redner feigned incredulity over the banned-body-part provision. “I don’t know how they distinguish that from eye, foot, nose or ear,” he deadpanned.

Unless Redner wants to push “Foot Fetish,” he may want to consider going co-op to get his way and retool some old Mons’ signage. Remember “Talk About Your Bush Gardens”?

Stormwater Status No Longer Quo

Across too many years, through too many administrations, for all kinds of reasons, stormwater has been the stepchild issue of Tampa. Schools, police, fire, parks, playgrounds, garages, a stadium and downtown development dominated budgets. Priorities and politics.

That toad-strangler on New Year’s Eve was the most recent reminder that no-wake zones aren’t limited to the Hillsborough River and that too many canals have morphed into run-off ditches. Would that kayaks at certain South Tampa intersections were always exercises in hyperbole.

Finally, however, stormwater has standing.

Recently City Council served notice to the county tax collector of plans to impose a stormwater fee this year. This election year. The proposal, at the behest of lame duck Mayor Dick Greco, will come before the Council next month. A “yes” vote would result in single-family homeowners being charged $12 a year. Multi-family residences would ante up $6 a year per unit. Businesses would be billed based on the size of their buildings.

It’s not a perfect solution. That would have had to occur years ago — as Tampa’s pipes grew ancient and filters became all the rage. But it is reasonable and long overdue. The tax would raise about $4 million a year toward city drainage projects. Tampa’s current — and manifestly inadequate — stormwater budget is $9.4 million per year. The additional funding would also make the city eligible for numerous federal grants. It could help leverage more loan dollars as well.

The most formidable obstacle standing in the way of doing what should have been done a generation ago is potential political posturing and parochialism. This is not the time to re-fight the Community Investment Tax allocations or question the timing of the mayor’s forget-me-not fee on the way out of office. Nor is it proper to foster scenarios that pit neighborhoods against each other because not all residential areas are equally vulnerable to stormwater surges.

For example, South Tampa, where elevation is low and density high, will require a sizable share of the stormwater funding. On balance, however, flooding is a citywide issue. Tampa is an increasingly crowded, waterfront city that is finally addressing this chronic growing pain that has drained patience and quality of life for too long.

City Council Chairman Charlie Miranda, a mayoral candidate who will vote for the fee, put it best. “Say there’s no flooding problem where I live (in West Tampa), but I also drive on Kennedy Boulevard,” noted Miranda. “You have an enormous problem there.”

And that’s everybody’s enormous problem, including the next mayor’s.

Stetson Racially Retro?

So will Stetson, the private, 102-year-old law school that will be setting up shop in Tampa Heights, be some racially retro neighbor? According to one of its tenured, constitutional law professors, yes. Stetson University College of Law Professor Mark Brown says the school does an awful job of recruiting minority students. He cites a relatively stagnant black enrollment of about 5 to 7 percent for almost a decade, a figure that is lower than other law schools in this state.

Brown may or may not have valid points when it comes to Stetson’s aggressiveness in minority recruiting. He also may or may not be getting picked on for his racial critique of Stetson (“Affirmative Inaction: Stories From A Small Southern School”) that he published in Temple University’s Law Review and e-mailed to the entire student body during finals week.

But he’s definitely off base on one facet. He apparently thinks it’s Stetson’s responsibility to produce a black enrollment that’s reflective of this state’s black population, which is approximately 15 percent.

Stetson is a private law school, not a social experiment in diversity — which is typically defined in higher education circles by ethnicity and color. It is not the University of Michigan. Stetson shouldn’t be burdened with having to reflect the dubious presumption that abilities, aptitudes and attitudes — to cite just three factors — are proportionately parceled out in the population. Any population.

If that were the case, then obviously certain groups are disproportionately over-represented. Anyone want to tell Jewish Americans, for example, that their numbers are inordinately high for law and medical schools? Anyone want to make the case that venerating family, education and achievement is not a good enough reason for disproportionate representation?

“I’m embarrassed for my generation,” Brown told the Associated Press. So be it. So likely is the entire American Civil Liberties Union.

That, Stetson should be able to live with.

Plunder Blunder: Krewe’s Skewed View

Next year marks the centennial celebration of the Gasparilla parade. If Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla has its way — and it almost always does — 2004 will also commemorate something else: the Krewe’s own culture of self importance. That would be underscored if YMK follows through on its mandate to ban all other krewes who deign to dress as pirates for this quintessentially pirate-themed event.

As parade founders, organizers and longtime benefactors, YMK deserves its share of civic thanks for what has become Tampa’s signature event. An appropriate response would be “You’re welcome” not “cease and desist.”