Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Next week is National Signing Day for college football. It’s the day when high school seniors sign official “Letters of Intent” to enroll a specific universities. In the past, it hasn’t been a big deal… however as college football continues to grow in popularity, Signing Day is getting more and more attention.

At USF, the USF Alumni Association and Bulls Club have worked together over the past few years to have a social event where fans can talk to the coaches about the players who are going to be Bulls each fall. This year, the event will be bigger than ever!!

Here are the details:

The USF Alumni Association Tampa Chapter

and

USF Bulls Club

Present

The 2008 National Signing Day Mixer

Wednesday, February 6, 2008
5:00pm to 7:00pm

at

Splitsville
615 Channelside Drive
Downtown Tampa

The 2007 Football season was incredible:
* USF’s first ever sell-out,
* Exciting wins over Auburn and West Virginia, and
* Being ranked as high as the # 2 team in the nation!

2008 holds fantastic promise, with great returning players and outstanding recruits. USF Football Coach Jim Leavitt and his staff will be on hand to update fans on the successful recruiting season and to answer questions about their upcoming season in the Big East. Come out and talk with fellow USF Alumni, students, and other Bulls Fans!

* For this event, Splitsville will be offering $1 Miller Bottles and $5 cheese pizza. Splitsville, the host of the 2007 Jim Leavitt Radio Show, is located at the Channelside Entertainment Complex.

* WQYK 1010 AM will broadcast live from Splitsville from 2:00pm to 6:00pm, including appearances by Josh Newburg and USF’s own Jim Lighthall.

For more information about the event, please contact Jim Johnson, Tampa Chapter Chair, at JimUSFSig @ Yahoo.com or (813) 361-6249. For more information about the Tampa Chapter, visit our chapter website at www.USFAlumni.net/Tampa.

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Directions: Take I-275 South to the Downtown-West exit; Travel down Tampa Street to Jackson Street & Turn Left; Take Jackson Street to Morgan Street & Turn Right; Take Morgan Street to Channelside Drive (at the St Pete Times Forum) & Turn Left; Continue on Channelside Drive to the Channelside Complex. [Click here for a link to Google Maps]

Parking: Channelside has valet parking and a parking garage across the screet from the Complex. (Remember to bring your parking ticket or valet ticket for validation to get the discounted rates!)

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It’s the season’s first installment of the Florida college basketball update and the Gators still have the best team in the state. By a long shot.

Florida (18-3) : beat South Carolina, Vanderbilt

With a very young Gators team Billy Donovan is playing the respect card and basically begging pollsters to not rank his team. The Gators are coming off their biggest win of the season, a throttling of the previously 13th ranked Commodores. While the win is impressive it is best to withhold judgment on this team until they play a good team on the road, where young teams typically struggle.

Up Next: Arkansas (Sat, 3:00)

Miami (15-4) : lost to UNC, beat Clemson

With nothing but ACC games left on their schedule the ‘Canes badly need some conference wins if they are going to have any chance to get into the NCAA tournament. Sunday’s win against previously 25th ranked Clemson helps and raises the Cane’s ACC record to 2-3. Miami’s fortunes seem to rise and fall with how Jack McClinton’s shot is falling.

Up Next: @ Wake Forest (Tues, 7:00), @ Duke (Sat, 3:30)

South Florida (10-10): lost to Louisville

Baby steps. Just keep repeating that Bulls fans, baby steps. After all if the football team can play in a bowl game this season then surely the basketball team can get to the NCCA tournament in the next few years right?

Up Next: @ Marquette (Tues, 8:00), St Johns (Sat, 7:00)

Florida State (13-8) : beat UVA, lost to NC State

With Al Thornton in the NBA now the Noles have become a disgrace of a basketball team and the local ink sheet is trying the ol’ “blame it on bad luck routine.” At least Noles fans still have that football team to fall back on.

Up Next: @ Virginia Tech (Tues, 9:00), UNC (Sun, 2:00)

I heard of this little establishment via other Tampa blogs and put it high on my list to eat. Savvy Jacks, a little Parisian influenced Southern food oasis, sits just off Fowler Ave. on 56th street. It’s said to be known for the Parisian couple that owns the joint and their ability to fuse Parisian and American Southern comfort food. Well I have to try that!

I set out one Saturday afternoon with high hopes.

My hopes would not be met.

The décor was A-typical. Country French mixed with St. Pete Beach Mom & Pop. It was 1:30 when I arrived and Savvy Jacks closes at 2 PM, so the place wasn’t packed to the gills. Three other diners sat at oddly uncomfortable tables. Ya know those tables that sit amazing low and are paired with amazingly high chairs, so your thighs have to squeeze under. Hey, once upon a time I was a size 0. Not anymore!

The menu offered American breakfast staples like Biscuits and Gravy and also offered the Parisian staples, omelets, eggs benedict, and crepes. A modest Lunch section offered hot and cold sandwiches and entrees (it is typical in France to eat your biggest meal at Lunch) along with salads and deserts.

I settled on the Ham and Cheese Crepe with mixed vegetables and my Hubby choose the Biscuits and Gravy Platter. Both were nominally priced, I think both were $8 or $9. We patiently waited as we heard one of the other diners pronounce his love for the food. His exact words were “This was the best Breakfast I have ever had.” Being that the man had to be in his late forties, I thought that was an amazing commitment.

Ahhh, finally our dishes arrived. At first, both dishes looked delectably delicious. Quickly, we realized the Gravy for the biscuits was not the traditional American Sausage gravy, but rather a Béchamel sauce. That’s fine. Hell, I’m married to a classically French trained Executive Chef. I’m used to getting new pairings. Not to mention, I love Béchamel. Unfortunately, it was the blandest Béchamel I have ever had in my life. The texture was perfection, but it was like eating air. Where was the onion piqué? No bay leaf. Not even a hint of nutmeg. This was simply flour, butter, and milk. There wasn’t even any pepper. The biscuit was not cook thoroughly, leaving a taste of raw flour behind. The accompaniment, Ham, had been reheated on a flat top. I know this because the grease from the flat top still dripped off the Ham. The potatoes were all right. No seasoning would be found here either. I actually had to use the salt and peppershaker on the table, something I rarely do. They would be good at a greasy spoon diner, but this place?

The Ham and Cheese crepe was just as disappointing. The crepe was nothing special and was filled with shredded cheddar cheese and sliced deli ham that had that familiar flat top grease dripping off of it. Béchamel topped the crepe, again, a tasteless sauce. The mixed vegetables, which were almost Ratatouille, were awful. They had the potential to be very good. It was obvious the vegetables were cubed fresh, but there was NO seasoning and they had been cooked on that greasy flat top. So much that the veggies laid in their puddle of flat top grease.

I kept wondering as I shoveled greasy yellow squash into my mouth and nodded with a smile as the waitress asked how things were going. What the hell did that guy have that made it the best breakfast he’d ever eaten? Perhaps my Mother-in-law had cooked for him the 40 something year’s prior.

This was an extremely disappointing visit. You be the judge.

11401 N 56th St # 22
Tampa, FL 33617
(813) 914-8804

Showing up 20 minutes before Maya Angelou was scheduled to speak as part of the University Lecture Series was not enough. It was like getting tickets to see a football game all over again! There were about 200 people in line in front of me, Monday night, as a chill in the air threatened to make my cold unendurable.

It was worth it though. Hearing Maya Angelou’s lecture is one of highlights of my time here at USF, I can already say that with conviction. She was so personable and relaxed as she spoke in front of thousands, not afraid to share personal information about her childhood and proud to proclaim the “rainbows in her life” who have inspired her to be who she is. She shared her poetry and the poetry of such figures as William Dunbar and William Shakespeare.

What made an impression on me was her laugh. It was a sort of high pitched cackle, a characteristic laugh that was so original it seemed like it could only come from her. Angelou made facial expressions, the type that shy introverts would be embarrassed to attempt. I didn’t laugh at all her jokes (partly because the sound carries so poorly in the Sun Dome I couldn’t hear it from row 1200) but when I heard words that impressed me I wholeheartedly applauded and gave her a well-deserved ovation as she brought the sign language interpreters to the front of the stage and bowed with them. That’s class.

Maya Angelou was as real and unpretentious of a person as they come. I could have stayed and listened to her all night.

Thanks to an idea some modern journalists are kicking around, I’m going to start keeping office hours at local eateries. So, on Sunday, Tampans can find me at the Panera Bread on the corner of Fowler and Bruce B. Downs.

I will be at the location from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.; anyone with a story they’d like to tell is welcome to join me in breaking bread (literally). Eventually I’ll have cards printed up to bring with me, but in this initial meetup / office hours experiment, I’m only going to have my notebook with me.

In the next few weeks, I plan to have more meetups / office hours at different locations and times. If anyone has a story they’d like to tell but can’t make it on Sunday, please let me know through my email, wendylbolm (at) gmail.com.

Everyone is welcome. If any other bloggers / journalists in the area would like to join me, please come and enjoy. I will be wearing a very bright, yellow, patterned satin shirt.

I arrived at work early Tuesday morning to give a final, and found the CIS building covered in chalk and window paint. Most of the graffiti consisted of crude drawings of the AOL Instant Messenger “yellow man” mascot and cryptic references to web sites that either don’t exist, or appear to have no connection whatsoever to USF. The statements took, for the most part, the form of AIM “away messages.”

The most intriguing references were to a “Dr. Liu,” always in the form of the phrase “Dr. Liu what? Change your major!” (There are numerous Dr. Lius who work at USF, so which one they might be referring to is beyond me.) There were also several references to a “Coby” who may or may not be found at Peabody’s in Tampa Palms.

The culprits even managed to climb up the side of the building, marking many of the windows facing the library parking lot. The whole scene reminded me of the Toynbee Tile phenomenon.

So what is it, folks? A promo group hired by Peabody’s? The work of the mysterious “Coby”? A student disgruntled with his/her advisor, Dr. Liu? Gallery of pics below, click to see the full size.

Vice President Jennifer Meningall was found not guilty on charges of financial misconduct, last Wednesday, after an audit concluded that most policies and procedures were followed. VP Meningall was accused by former staff member James Dragna back in October of this year.

This sparked major controversy amidst students at a time when budget cuts and tuition fee increases made them especially attentive to any talks of financial corruption with Student Affairs funds. In response, students held a sit-in and used the lack of police and security due to budget cuts as one of their main platforms.

The question of corruption within the administration aside, this lack of security continues to be a real problem. USF has selected Allied Baron, a security company, to “complement” the police force which many people had opposed, some calling it a “band-aid” solution. It may not be what everyone’s looking for, but it’s a start. I just hope to see more progress in the future. With changes like new 230,000 square foot Marshall Center being built and (I’ve heard rumors) of bulls statues that cost $50,000 each to be put in the future, remodeled MLK plaza, let’s find some money to complete our campus security force.

For More Info:
Channel 10 (WTSP.com) covered the story when Dragna’s email first came out. This has the original email from Dragna that was sent to President Genshaft & Co. The Oracle (usforacle.com) has the full audit report that was released on December 5.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
The Gators lost their Oh-Fours to the NBA draft but they still have the most talented team in the state. In addition to one of the best recruiting classes in the country head-lined by Jai Lucas and Nick Calathes the Gators return bigman Marreese Speights and guard Walter Hodge. More importantly, the Gators return Billy Donovan despite his flirtations with the Orlando Magic. When Billy the Kid first came to Florida he ran an up temp attack while giving up to ten players significant minutes. For the last two years Donovan has played fewer players (seven last year) significant minutes but that will likely change this year as nine players will get a good deal of playing time. Either way the Gators will have one of the better offenses in the country.

KEY PLAYER: Center Marreese Speights
FINAL RECORD: 27-7
CONFERENCE RANK: #5
#7 seed in NCAA Tournament

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

There is a sizable drop off after the Gators in the Sunshine State, although the Bulls are early favorites for the #2 spot based on their win over Florida State. (more…)

Saturday, I discovered a small, rundown building off the beaten path in Ybor. The paint is peeling, and cats wind themselves under the front porch and throughout the back yard. Still, of all the theaters I’ve visited in the area, Silver Meteor seems to have the most pluck.

I received the invite to Hats Off to the Arts, a fundraiser and art festival Hat Trick Theatre was holding in the theater from my friend, Paul McColgan. Paul’s a member of the troupe and their director of marketing. I took the flyer and decided to go for a few hours, just to support the local art community. I ended up staying seven hours.

From 3-6:30 p.m. was the family friendly potion of the evening. Once most of the kids went home to bed, the fun really started.

The highlight of the night for me was the last act, BAIT, or the Bay Area Improv Theatre. They had charm, wit, and a good amount of cheesiness, perfect for an improv troupe. Toby Martini looks a bit like Stephen King, which fascinated me. And, Darryl Knapp brought an intense and outlandish energy to the group.

My second favorite bit was the experimental scene My Dad is Nathan Lane, written and directed by Matt Frankel. The story revolves around Matt’s dad transforming into Nathan Lane, with a slew of outrageous moments culminating in a horrifying, if not unexpected ending which left the audience wondering if they should laugh or gasp in horror.

The most memorable piece was The Tableau Vivant Nouveau, an interpretive puppet show by my former coworker Adam Sageser and his own troupe. Michael Pucak was on hand, sketching the performance as Christie Lenee provided the music.

Adam said Tableau Vivant Nouveau did well in a recent performance where members of the Jim Henson Company were in attendance; the troupe is currently looking for a permanent studio space and applying for grants to keep them going.It should be noted that Hat Trick Theatre’s next show is starting on Nov. 16. Now I’ve had a taste of their talent and enthusiasm, I’m sure I’ll be in attendance at least once before the run is over.