Bucs Number One

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are number one. By a lot.

No professional sports team in Florida sells more specialty license plates.

According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, the Bucs — with 17,133 specialty plates — top the other eight Sunshine State pro teams. The NBA’s Miami Heat is a distant second with 11,876, followed by the NFL’s Miami Dolphins with 11,156. The rest: Jacksonville Jaguars (5,688), Tampa Bay Lightning (2,458), Orlando Magic (2,403), Tampa Bay Rays (1,942), Florida Marlins (1,542) and Florida Panthers (1,386).

But when it comes to a license to root, no pro team comes close to either the University of Florida (60,506) or Florida State University (37,252). Other universities in Florida in the specialty-license-plate game include:  Miami (15,121), USF (8,369) and UCF (7,835).

Carroll’s Ultimate PR Campaign

Not long ago Rep. Jennifer Carroll, who supported and voted for Bill McCollum in the Republican gubernatorial primary, was throwing rhetorical haymakers at Rick Scott. Remember “We do not need that seat to be a seat where you’re learning, to be a seat where it’s for personal gain, to be a seat where the residents and the citizens of the state of Florida will be negatively impacted because of the lack of vision”?  That pretty much explained why Carroll wouldn’t want a Gov. Scott in Tallahassee.

But that was then–back when she was chairing a statewide African-Americans for McCollum group–and this is now: all of three weeks later.

But time enough for a personal revelation and a political epiphany.

Time enough for the 51-year-old, Trinidad native to feel that she and Scott were, incredibly enough, like reunited “long-lost buddies.” Time enough to discern that their “philosophies” are, as it turns out, “very, very similar.”  Time enough to discover all that they had in common, such as Naval service, tough stands on illegal immigration, respect for financial “accountability” and probably confidence that the voting public wouldn’t wax too cynical and perceive a Sarah Palinesque opportunist and inclusion token instead of an intriguingly balanced ticket.    

Carroll is attractive, well-spoken and, seemingly, unflappable.  She’s media savvy. Unlike Palin, she’s educated and informed.  But like Palin, she appears calculated. She is, for example, a member of both the NAACP and the National Rifle Association.

And her business when she isn’t representing the Jacksonville area’s District 13? She owns her own PR firm. Win or lose, is this great exposure–and hardly limited to Florida–or what?

NFL Confronts Real World

Much has been made that Buccaneer home games are now as likely to be “blacked out” as to be televised.  No sell out, no local TV. First time in a dozen years. It’s a response, of course, to a losing team that’s rebuilding and a down economy that’s still reeling. 

And it’s a bit of come-uppance for the NFL (Nobody Financially Loses).  

How ironic that at a time when it’s popular sport to deride the current president as a “socialist,” we reflect on an American icon of business that’s hardly the paragon of free-enterprise.

Imagine getting somebody else (colleges) to train your employees (players); somebody else (governments) to help subsidize your new plant (stadium); somebody else (the media) to promote your business (football); and somebody else (network television) to ensure that you make money even if you put out an inferior (losing) product. Is this a great country or what?

The black-out policy, which dates back to the early 70s, was designed to encourage attendance. No one wants to lose an entitlement. And it relies on what the NFL does superbly: promote, market and create mystique. The NFL is as much about show biz as football. And it has worked wonderfully well in a sports-celebrity-vicarious-life culture.

Dotcoms have been known to bubble over; the appreciation-forever housing market is no longer with us; but the NFL was this uber successful, capitalist hybrid that took off with television in the 1960s and never stopped soaring regardless of economic cycles. Fans and franchise cities needed the NFL more than it needed them.

And it showed. The league gave arrogance a bad name.

But with national unemployment (12 per cent for the Tampa Bay region) the highest in memory, the league is now in uncharted waters. No longer must it merely compete for the entertainment dollar. Now the field of play includes mortgage and car payments.

And maybe, just maybe, sitting in a broiling Florida stadium on a Sunday afternoon, has lost some luster. And maybe a big USF game on a Friday or Saturday night has more appeal. And, frankly, who has more buzz this weekend: the Bulls vs. Gators or the Bucs vs. Browns?

The sight of empty Bucs seats and an unsightly blackout are signs of the times. Winning, of course, will help. But for now: how humbling. Maybe socialism isn’t the answer.

1-800-Bad Faith

Given its Amphitheatre naming-rights cheesiness, 1-800-Ask-Gary is easy to, well, dislike. But that’s no reason not to see how Gary Kompothecras, the Sarasota chiropractor who’s behind the eponymous1-800 trademark, has been shafted in a domain controversy that’s devolved into another one of those common sense-challenged, free speech cases.

Recently an arbitrator decided that a Pinellas Park personal injury lawyer, David Neville, can keep his AskGarySucks.com website over the protests of Kompothecras, who accused Neville of registering the domain name in bad faith. Neville said he had registered it four years ago as a joke, but also considered it might conceivably be sold to Kompothecras.

Enough to make one wonder about the “bad faith” threshold. And certainly enough to prompt Kompothecras to consider going to court.

Needless to say, it’s still preferred that someone else had been asked to buy the Amphitheatre naming rights, but even hucksters can be wronged. Just (1-800) ask Kompothecras.

A Suitable Strategy

The gall-and-money candidate–oops, there’s been more than one: make that the guy with the Mike Tyson, bizarre yacht-sorties and notorious subprime-shorter back story–is still at it. Jeff Greene has blamed the St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald for his one-sided loss to Kendrick Meek in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. Actually, it’s blame in the form of a libel lawsuit.

Who knew you could sue for definition of character?

Notoriety Update For Pinellas Schools

A couple of weeks ago this column referenced the ignominy of Pinellas County as it was singled out by the Schott Foundation for Public Education for having the lowest percentage of black male graduates of any major school district in the country. Approximately 20 percent. Beyond disgrace.

It was noted that the school district, after questioning Schott’s methodology, would be pushing the usual pedagogical buttons: more remedial classes, study halls and mentors as well as a plea for better administrators, teachers and pay. Of course. Obviously that can always help, but chronic black underachievement is its own, unique societal pathology. Home and ‘hood environment and student attitudes are indispensable components. Prominent among the Pinellas County laggards: Gibbs and Lakewood High Schools.

The new school year has barely begun, so it’s too early for assessments. But not too early for signs and symptoms. Lakeland’s football game against Gibbs last Friday was ended a few minutes prematurely. Gunfire near the field had players dropping for cover and fans exiting anxiously.

Pinellas County schools, especially these two, are being closely scrutinized. They’re under the gun. But that’s supposed to be a metaphor.

America’s Bottom Line

According to all the polls and plenty of pols, President Obama’s popularity continues heading south. The economy remains in recession mode, the international war on terrorism still seems like a no-winner and the Obama Administration can’t avoid politically tone-deaf missteps.

But here’s a question that is blatantly begged: Would we be better off with President John “Gee, the economy is not exactly my strong suit” McCain and Vice President Sarah “I can see Russia from my front porch” Palin?

Arguably, a case for refudiation.

White House Rug Redux

Nice touch for President Obama to have that customized rug with inspiring, pertinent quotes ranging from Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt to JFK and MLK. But it was part of an Oval Office remodeling, and, as such, was subject to recessionary criticism. Worse yet, we now find that the quote attributed to King (“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”) should have been attributed to abolitionist Theodore Parker. Oops. 

If the president is truly committed to quotes that wear better than wool–and is not limited to what lies on the Oval Office floor–he might also consider:                                                             * “We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.”–Stephen Vincent Benet.                         * “No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious.”–George Bernard Shaw.                                                                                                                                                  * “Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.”–Johan Wolfgang von Goethe.                                                                                                                    * “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.”–John F. Kennedy.         * “If you need to verify a quote, at least check with Wikipedia first.”–Jimmy Wales.

Quoteworthy

* “A lot of this was really inevitable, or at least pretty predictable. We have a lot of government activism at a time when skepticism of government efficiency is at an all-time high.”–Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) on President Obama’s low poll numbers.

* “The Palins are now reality TV royalty, like the Blagojeviches and the Ozzy Osbournes.”–Gail Collins, New York Times.

* “The rich spend a much smaller proportion of their incomes than the rest of us. So when they get a disproportionate share of total income, the economy is robbed of the demand it needs to keep growing and creating jobs. What’s more, the rich don’t necessarily invest their earnings and savings in the American economy; they send them anywhere around the globe where they’ll summon the highest returns.”–Robert B. Reich, former secretary of labor and author of “After-shock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.”

* “The federal government should require that all credentialed scientists have access to the affected sites. Without such a commitment to independent financing and equal access, the legal process and the rehabilitation of the Gulf will be seriously undermined.”–Linda Hooper-Bui, professor of entomology, Louisiana State University.

* “He contacted me.”–Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink on whether her campaign had requested that independent candidate Bud Chiles drop out.

* “How do you unite a divided party? Establish a common enemy.”–University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato on the Rick Scott campaign strategy of linking “Obamacrat” Alex Sink with President Obama.

* “It’s not anti-incumbent year. It’s an anti-incompetence year.”–Dave Beattie, Alex Sink pollster.

* “Representing 28 private, not-for-profit universities in Florida, I hope U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and George LeMieux, along with Florida’s entire congressional delegation, will support maintaining the 15 percent maximum tax rate on dividends and capital gains. Keeping the current capital gains and dividend tax rates would give employers economic stability to create jobs for our graduates.”–Ed Moore, president and CEO, Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida.

* “The gangs are used to putting fear into the community. Law enforcement is putting the fear back into the gangs.” Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office detective David Everts in the aftermath of an anti-gang operation that resulted in 28 arrests, many in the Palm River and Progress Village area.

* “It has to be closed. I want the candidates to be open. We are talking with someone we never met before and asking them to tell us everything they can to tough questions.”–Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Chairman Al Austin on why interviews with the four finalists for executive director of TIA will not be open to the public or the media.