Tampa Basketball - USF Bulls!

A buddy and I attended a USF Bulls(my alumnus) Basketball game last night against Seton Hall. I was a bit nervous about leaving my South Tampa house at exactly 5pm, to head to the north end of Tampa to the USF Sun Dome (about 17 miles), and getting there on time. It must have been a good day, because although traffic was a little slow on I-275 North after downtown to about Sligh Avenue, it was moving, and what is usually less than a 25 minute ride, was actually 40 minutes, so not so bad. I have to say there may be traffic in this city during peak times, but it is NOTHING compared to the major cities.
We had Green and Gold passes, which entitled us to a buffet meal, and meeting with the Coach prior to the game, in the Corral Room of the Dome. Columbia Restaurant did a great job catering for the Green and Gold members, and immediately after the game there is dessert and coffee offered.
It was a tight game to the last 3 seconds, but USF lost it's second to last home game, 75-79. They are now 11-17, (2-13 Conference). going to the game is very nostalgic, seeing the alumni and students, I can remember when the Dome would be packed when I attended USF, tonight it was half full. I'm sure if they had a better record there would be more people in the seats, but the game itself is exciting, and being in the BIG EAST Conference, there are some great teams that play here against the Bulls. Also, since Tampa does not have a professional Basketball team, this makes for great entertainment if you are a Basketball or just a Sports fan, unless you make the 70 minute drive to Orlando for the Magic games.

USF Homecoming

Another loss, 3rd week in a row, what a tough game. On another note though, it was great to see so many alumni at the game, and familiar faces. I noticed differently this year was the number of kids running around compared to years ago during homecoming...man i'm getting older! The stadium packed in about 58,000 for this years homecoming, but the loss to Cincy(38-33) did not make the crowd too happy as the fireworks went off behind the stadium.

Clearwater Beach by day to St. Pete Beach by night

Its been quite some time since I was over at Clearwater Beach, its typically a very busy beach, used to be the prime spot to go when I attended USF, and there are only a few great restaurants I like to visit there now(Frenchy's, Post Corner Pizza, Palm Pavilion, and Island Way Grille). Only about a 30 minute drive from my house in Tampa, I grabbed my bike and headed to the very northern end of Clearwater Beach, a small neighborhood of mixed homes, and private area at the very tip. Biking from one end to the other takes no time, but around the traffic circle you need to watch for novice drivers. I was amazed at the amount of construction on the beach front, towards the South end next to Spyglass there is a huge project, and a new Beachwalk being built. Seems Clearwater Beach is losing its mom and pop type places along the beach, but when riding back, there they all are a block or two away from the beach, some are closed, some in dire need of upgrading and repair. It would be nice to have a more upscale beach area(like a mini Fort Lauderdale Beachwalk) in the Tampa area. Clearwater Beach still seems very touristy and tacky at points, especially when you notice a huge difference going over the Sand Key bridge into Sand Key, with its High rise luxury condos along the beach front, and then Bel-Air. I'm glad I was able to make it back home to watch my Bulls for the USF-FAU game, was an aggravating game, but the Bulls pulled it out to go 5-0 so far for the season. I see them maintaining their #6 standing or possibly moving up one or two at most. GO BULLS!

Saturday evening we headed for a friends birthday get together at St. Pete Beach. He got a few rooms at the Travelodge on St. Pete Beach, which was nice so we did not have to drive back to Tampa after a few cocktails, even though its onyl about half hour ride back to my house in Tampa. The St. Pete Beach Travelodge was just what I had expected, no frills, paper thin towels and pillows, but it was clean. We had his birthday dinner in the attached Shells restaurant. Its been quite some time since I visited a Shells, and I wasnt too impressed. There were about a dozen of us, the service was great! Now for the food, we ordered Calamari, Buffalo Shrimp and Chicken and Onion Rings for starters. Calamari very breaded and crispy fried, Buffalo Shrimp and Chicken were sort of soggy, not as crisp as I thought it should be, the Onion Rings were winners. The bread they serve with dinner is amazing, veyr soft and doughy with alot of garlic butter. Now for the entree's, Shrimp and Scallop skewers on rice with veges consisted of three medium sized scallops and 7 medium shrimps, such a small amount for the price, and were just OK, the shrimp pasta, which they are known for, was very bland, and smaller shrimp than the ones on my skewer. Clam Chowder soup was full of onions, just not a good meal, but as far as service and the company we were with, things were good.

We then ventured to the Swigwam, which is the Tiki Bar behind the Travelodge located on the beach, the breezes were great, the drinks were cold, the crowd was a little less than desirable. It just seemed people had been drinking there all day and could hardly walk, and they just seemed a bit "laid back"..there was a very good raggae band playing, but the courtyard area was very brightly lit which seemed unusual for a beach tiki bar. The good news was that you can walk bar to bar along the beach, and we went next door to Jimi B's. I love this place, much better atmosphere and crowd, and the band playing tonight was Edge of Red, playing classic rock tunes, keeping the beach crowd on their feet and happy. Jimi B's is a grat large tiki area, with three bar area and different levels, and a nice boardwalk out to the water that is dimly lit. Great atmosphere, people and music, we spent most of the night here, before retiring back to Travelodge to sleep on the flimsy mattresses and pillows.

Its off the Madre's for dinner with the family, and watch the Bucs this afternoon!

VICTORIOUS USF BULLS; Hyde Park Art Fest, and Lunch in Hyde Park

What a night, What a game! The euphoric feeling was everywhere in Tampa last night. Being an Alumni, and going to most games since day one, this is what we look forward to, these victorious happenings..coach Jim Leavitt is amazing, the City of Tampa is so proud, and there are lots of new Bulls fans all over the Bay area! Makes me want to go back to USF just for the student rush that's happening on campus.
After the game, we headed over to the Green Iguana Westshore, by 1am, the place was packed, Bulls fans everywhere, and those that were new to the Bulls rage congratulating everyone. It's amazing what a football game can do to people, uplifting spirits, strangers hugging strangers, high fives all around.

Today we got out to the Annual Hyde Park Art Festival, it was a nice crowd, and good breeze on this late September warm day. It was nice to walk around, see some interesting and creative pieces of art, amongst the interesting people. We then walked around Hyde Park area, looking at the historic homes, one of my favorite neighborhoods. With stomachs grumbling after a few hours at the Art Fest, we headed to Howard Ave for lunch, Strings and Rings was only serving a Breakfast Brunch all day, so we went to Evo's for some healthy eats. All their food is fresh, and healthy, very low in fat, no grease of fryers. The Buffalo Chicken Wrap and Thai Chicken Wrap were very filling and flavorful, they have different types of fresh brewed iced teas, and a variety of ketchup flavors for the "AirFries" which are cooked with very hot air, rather than fried...yummy! On the way home we stopped by Pondscapes on the corner of Manhattan Ave and Wallcraft Ave, around the corner from my house, to view the variety of Ponds and Fountains they have on display, actually kicked back for a while in the back area by one of the ponds, very relaxing. They have alot of backyard and outdoor items you normally dont see around.

Finally Got my First Tattoo!

After nearly seven years of procrastinating, I finally got my tattoo, and mostly cause of the bet I made to get one after USF beat Auburn a few weeks back. Check it out!. Went to Ybor City, lots of Tattoo Parlor's there, and just went to a couple of places and finally decided upon Phat Katz Tattoo's on 7th Avenue, mostly cause they could do it at that time, and they were relatively around what I wanted to spend. The girl at the counter was very friendly and explained about the procedure, shrank my design to fit my leg, and the artist "Ozzy" was able to quickly draw it up. I proceeded upstairs, where i thought there would have been separate rooms, but it was one large room, i'm just glad there was only one other person getting a tat, but it also made for good conversation with the other artist and patron. There are windows all around looking out on 7th avenue in Ybor which made some interesting people watching, or they are watching you. Ozzy was very friendly, explained the procedure again and the tools used, the whole process took about 30 minutes, and basically just felt like someone was pulling the hairs from your skin, a little discomfort, but not painful. I was very pleased with the outcome, Ozzy assured me to come back if it needs any attention, but he is moving to New Zealand in November. Ozzy explained the care for my tattoo, but I wish they could have handed me a one-pager that went over the instructions. All in all, a great experience. John and I walked over to Lounge 7-14 to throw some darts and celebrate afterwards. Ybor was a little busy for a Wednesday night, with most stores and bars open.

I'm looking forward to Friday nights game...18 USF vs 5 West Virginia, sold out crowd of nearly 65,000(largest for a Big East Conference game), the Sun trust building downtown will be glowing Green and Gold. We all had a feeling when attending these games 10 years ago something good was going to happen with the Bulls football program, I am proud that I was a there from the start in 1987 when I first moved to Tampa and attended USF, and when the discussions started to turn into actions.

We Are the BULLS, We Are the BULLS; We Are, We Are, We Are the BULLS!

Just to make a note.....Big East SOUTH FLORIDA BEATS SEC AUBURN 26-23 in OT. My brother went to Auburn, and always said USF was just a rinky dink little commuter school, that would never amount to anything, and doesn't know why I never went to a great Football College like Auburn. Well, in only 11 years, USF has done alot with it's football program, and watching the game last night, although frustrating at times(5 Auburn turnovers, with no points made, and three USF missed field goals) gave USF alumni, students and the Tampa community something else to cheer about. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. GO BULLS!
Now I need to find a place to get my tatoo I promised myself if USF won(the 'U' insignia on my lower leg).