Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Visitor bureaus were concerned about Florida’s headlines last summer. Recent reports indicate that tourism continues to increase. Hotel taxes are at an all time high! I hope it lasts throughout the year.

A couple websites showed up with the intention of getting Vince Naimoli to step aside as head honcho of the Devil Rays. The efforts are pretty basic, but they’ve enjoyed some publicity. If you want to take a look, try VinceMustGo.com or Oust Naimoli.

Super Middleweight Champion Jeff Lacy always reminds people he is from Tampa Bay. Now he’s bringing a title fight to the Forum. Mega props to our hometown champion fighter. Showtime has to approve the venue, tentatively scheduled for August 6. I know you’ll go out and support this event.

By the way, the above link takes you to a two week old article suggesting Lacy was looking into the prospect. This Tuesday, the Tribune ran a story with the latest info, but there are no Tribune sports stories online for April 19.

There’s been a dearth in posts here recently. It’s not because I don’t love you. I’ve just had some emergency family issues taking up my attention. No need to worry, as everything has worked out well. But as it turns out, I’ll have a new tale to tell.

In the meantime, there’s been quite a bit of Tampa news, so these next few posts will be just quick and dirty updates, with very little of the witty (read: lame) commentary sometimes found hereabouts.

Paul Rademacher combined Craigslist and Google Maps. Clicking on your city brings up the map with locations of places for sale, and the list alongside. Fantastic! Hey Paul, let me know when you add Tampa. Hat tip goes to Domoni at Temple of Me, who has plans to move somewhere nearby.

Check out my map of Downtown Tampa.

Here’s my first attempt at a memory map. Go to the photo and hover over the highlights to see notes. Thanks to flickr for the note feature, and a super thanks to Adam of implobbable for the idea as well as the impossible to screw up step-by-step directions.

If you think the blue background and the orange sidebars look horrible, you can blame tommy. He’s the one who chose the color scheme. Tommy wanted a light feel to the site, especially a white background for the main column. The title color has also been changed to a maroon. Tommy is now in the process of determining the order of the sidebar links, as well as the color of the text there.

Much love goes to John Fontana - see boltsmag and/or stonegauge for his invaluable assistance in getting this thing to look right how I want it.

You may have seen the art covering north downtown abandoned storefronts. They were part of the Growing Panes public art program. Different artists painted their version of “Postcards of Tampa” on a piece of plywood. The art has now been taken down, and is being offered for auction. The online auction ends tomorrow, but a few will be offered at a reception on Thursday. I encourage you to take a look at the artwork and make a bid. Some of the pieces are pretty good. Even if you don’t see something you particularly care for, you only have two months to get something with a little more flash than last year.

What are the odds Tampa could be the site to host the NCAA Frozen Four soon? About 50%! Tampa has been named one of six finalists to host the tourney in ’09, ’10, or ’11. That would be very cool (anytime I use the word “cool” in regards to hockey, the pun is most definitely intended). The host institution would be the closest college with a hockey team: The University of Alabama in Huntsville, home of the Chargers.