Jacksonville Super Bowl editorials

[vicupstate]

Everyone should view the streaming video on Jacksonville.com that plays Terry Bradshaw's response to all the Jacksonville bashing.

I never had a "favorite sports commentator" before, but he is mine now.

[FlaNatv]

I have always liked Jacksonville and have also thought it always gets under-rated. The city's location is ideal and you can't beat the downtown setting. The only minor downside is population and greater variety in retail and dining. I think it's great for them to have the big game there. On a side note I think it's goofy for writers to think New Orleans, Miami, and SouthCal are the ideal spots for the SB. Just looking at the stats I think Tampa Bay outshines all other choices. Southern Cal has great weather and over the top amenity choices but they do have an eathquake threat plus they may as well be in Hawaii for the distance they are from the NFL rich East coast. Tampa has comparable weather with low winter humidity and hurricanes are not a factor. Tampa now has all kinds of choices upscale and lowscale. For Miami again great weather, however culture shock for many could get mixed reviews. Also it's so crowded and congested down there. Tampa has more of an average american culture with a mix of peoples that mirror the country overall. Though I've never been to New Orleans, to me it just seems way too dangerous and the weather is not great, certainly not better than Jax. At least Jax has beaches nearby. Tampa Bay has beaches next door, and an amusment Park to add some fun distraction and great retail areas. If you get bored here Otown is a short drive away. Only in the past couple years Tampa has emerged as an ideal locale. One thing interesting though, Jax must be light years ahead of Tampa when it had it's first SB in 1984 at the old stadium. Jax would be my second choice for being ideal in a couple years

[FLORIDA SKYRISE ORDER]

And remember, Tampa was where Jax is now when it hosted its first super bowl; there were naysayers, mockers, etc., but Tampa pulled it off without a hitch.

Jax will do the same; and we will be recognized and admired after it is all said and done.

FLORIDA SKYRISE ORDER

Sarasota/Jacksonville/Fort Lauderdale

[BosTech]

Well they showed Jacksonville on CNN and it looked very nice,altough weather was nasty they showed Main St bridge in background with one ships docked there....They did mention how city is working hard to attract new businesses and that weather will be sunny on SuperBowl..overall very nice from them to show Jax in positive light.

[Urban_LA]

It's been nice to see some of the kinder views/impressions of Jax...thanks for posting.

The thing that really bites my biscuits is the fact that so many people are just looking for something to rail against. It's not hard for anyone who visits to find at least one or two great things Jax has to offer. Unfortunately, too many of the "writers" (should be whiners) that are here have no clue. I guess if they can't see it from outside their car window or hotel room, it must not be here.

As I have so often told my friends and former classmates... "you just don't know". I too had a less than warm feeling moving here in 1998. But in that time I have found those great places/spaces, built/bought two homes and I am expecting my third child in "Cowford". Why? Because it's the better place to be in Florida (well, except Gainesville... )! Miami...too congested, Orlando...too fake, Tampa...wrong coast/body of water. Jax is moving in the right direction culturally (albeit very slowly), economically and developmentally.

Then again, most folks don't know this because they haven't taken the time to see it.

The Urb

[JaxInvestor]

It's been nice to see some of the kinder views/impressions of Jax...thanks for posting.

The thing that really bites my biscuits is the fact that so many people are just looking for something to rail against.  It's not hard for anyone who visits to find at least one or two great things Jax has to offer.  Unfortunately, too many of the "writers" (should be whiners) that are here have no clue.  I guess if they can't see it from outside their car window or hotel room, it must not be here.

As I have so often told my friends and former classmates... "you just don't know".  I too had a less than warm feeling moving here in 1998.  But in that time I have found those great places/spaces, built/bought two homes and I am expecting my third child in "Cowford".  Why?  Because it's the better place to be in Florida (well, except Gainesville... )!  Miami...too congested, Orlando...too fake, Tampa...wrong coast/body of water.  Jax is moving in the right direction culturally (albeit very slowly), economically and developmentally.

Then again, most folks don't know this because they haven't taken the time to see it.

The Urb

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

excellent and accurate post Urb...and welcome to the board!

[vicupstate]

^^ I second JaxInvestor's comments. Welcome to the forum Urban LA.

In my experience reporters of all kinds (not just sportwriter's) always look for the negative, and in particular CONFLICT. Good news simply isn't news to them. Newspapers are a business, their first responsibility is to sell papers. Readers are attracted to fights, sensationalism, etc., and they give the public what it wants.

[Urban_Legend]

I just watched Terry Bradshaw's comments about Jacksonville. He's my new favorite commentator too, lol.

Oh, and Welcome to the boards, Urban LA!

[Urban_LA]

I appreciate the welcome. I figured I had "lurked" long enough that I should join in.

Thanks.

The Urb

[vicupstate]

Jacksonville Eager to Show Off Its Charms

By EDDIE PELLS

AP Sports Writer

JACKSONVILLE, FL (AP) -- Palm trees sway in the breeze on the banks of the St. Johns River. The sun peeks through a thin, milky layer of clouds. The rich roar of a big, red pickup truck rumbling down Bay Street briefly drowns out the gurgle of a nearby fountain.

This is the way typical mornings start in downtown Jacksonville. This week, though, is nothing typical. This week, Jacksonville has company.

After years of waiting, the Super Bowl has come to one of the biggest little cities in America, a town where the people are eager to charm the scores of those who've insisted Jacksonville could never pull this off.

"The local spirit of volunteerism will melt the most cynical soul. But it's still a yahoo town with no apparent borders," wrote Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe, one of dozens of columnists who felt that way.

Many of the critics ask, why, exactly, is Jacksonville, a city of just 1.2 million, worthy of the Super Bowl?

For one thing, the city has always loved football. It is the home of current stars - Lito Sheppard and Brian Dawkins of the Eagles - and those from the past - "Bullet" Bob Hayes, the first and only athlete to win a Super Bowl ring and an Olympic gold medal.

The Gator Bowl is played here, and so is one of the best college football games of the season - Georgia vs. Florida - otherwise known as the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

One thing that drew the NFL toward Jacksonville in the 1990s was the fact that for years it consistently produced the highest TV ratings for NFL games among cities that didn't have a team.

Despite this history, and a brief stint with the Jacksonville Bulls of the USFL, nearly every successful venture the city has had with the NFL has been met with huge surprise elsewhere in the country.

When the NFL surprisingly awarded the city with an expansion team in 1993, nobody thought it would work, but it did; the Jaguars have been playing 10 years and aren't going anywhere soon. And four years ago, when the league announced the city had beaten out Miami and would host this season's Super Bowl, reaction varied from laughter to outrage.

But anyone willing to look around long enough will find a city filled with super restaurants, good weather (cool and misty Wednesday, but highs expected in the mid-60s on Super Sunday), fun nightlife and more golf holes per capita than anywhere else in America. Nearly 4,500 people attended a party Tuesday at the Stadium Course on the TPC at Sawgrass, where they were given a chance to land a ball on the world-famous 17th green).

There's the beach, the river, the intercoastal waterway. Fishing, hunting, tennis. In the nearby bedroom communities of Amelia Island, Ponte Vedra Beach and Jacksonville Beach, you can still buy a house on a workingman's salary.

Much has been made of the lack of hotel rooms that compelled the city to dock cruise ships on the St. Johns to make up the difference. No host city has had to do this before.

"It seems like people come here this week and they're concerned that Jacksonville isn't Miami or Orlando or Tampa or Atlanta," said Sam Kouvaris, a popular local sports anchorman since 1981. "The whole point is, who cares? Jacksonville doesn't want to be like any of those places."

Jacksonville is a place where you can still get in the car and make it to work in less than a half-hour, pretty much no matter where in town you live. It's a place where, often as not, you run into someone you know at the movie theater or the grocery store or the park. It's a place with sultry summers and warm winters and a clean, efficient airport that's easy to get to.

It's a city that now smells of seabreeze and coffee beans (thanks to the downtown coffee plant) instead of the paper mills and smoke stacks of the past. It's a city with scenic bridges that have been widened to alleviate congestion and illuminated to glow on the river below.

Most of all, Jacksonville is full of people who have been looking forward to what could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to show itself off to the world.

Traditionally, one of a host committee's biggest tasks is finding enough volunteers to work during the Super Bowl crush. Jacksonville's roster was practically full a year ago.

"It's not perfect," Kouvaris said. "But Jacksonville is comfortable with who we were and what we've become and where we're going. If people have a great time here, that's great. But if they don't, well, I won't feel really bad about that, either."

[Urban_Legend]

JACKSONVILLE, FL (AP) -- Palm trees sway in the breeze on the banks of the St. Johns River.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Urban_LA]

Here's a beauty...

The Last Annual Jax Awards

By Bill Simmons

Page 2

Editor's Note: Page 2's Bill Simmons is filing round-the-clock reports from Jacksonville, Fla., in Super Blog II. Check back throughout the day for updates. Here are all his entries from Day 4:

Posted, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005 -- 8:43 p.m.

Remember when I wrote that "This could be the Super Bowl disaster by which all other Super Bowls will be compared"? Well, judging from the traffic tonight, I'd like to make a new prediction: This will be the first Super Bowl ever where 33 percent of the fans aren't even in their seats for the Opening Kickoff. Just wait until you see how this plays out. We'll be reading about it for weeks afterwards.

Anyway, I've been in Jacksonville for exactly 72 hours. Here are some awards:

Best House Specialty: Sweet Tea

I know I've done my share of complaining about Jacksonville, but finding out about Sweet Tea made it all worth it. First, they make a batch of hot tea. Then they heat up sugar in a pan. Then they pour the hot sugar into the hot tea and let it caramelize. I'm telling you, this is the greatest drink of all-time -- like a combination of iced tea and heroin. I drank two glasses at Gene's Seafood on Tuesday, then went outside and picked up a Pontiac Firebird over my head.

Strangest ongoing Super Bowl phenomenon: Radio Row

This is the section of the Media Center where everyone does their radio shows. I liked the way they set it up this year, splitting it into four sections, with the biggies (WEEI, WFAN, 610, Rome, etc.) right in the front, and the more minor shows stuck on the side, or way in the back. It's a little like the setup at the Adult Video Convention, which I described in a column last year -- you have your best booths in the front, and then it starts getting seedier and seedier ... by the time you reach the back of the room, suddenly you're looking at bestiality videos and snuff films. It's like the ninth gate of hell. Radio Row isn't that bad, but it's close.

Funniest Quote: My buddy Paul

Striding into the Jacksonville airport on Monday, he glanced around in disgust, then muttered, "I'm gonna end up with genital warts this week." Let's see the Host Committee run that in one of their brochures.

Longest wait for a taxi: Thursday afternoon

After I finished my ESPN.com chat on Thursday morning, I walked down Bay Street to check out some of the merchandise shops, eventually ending up at The Landing -- the tourist-y section of downtown Jacksonville. After inhaling a Chick Fil-A sandwich (a Southern fast food specialty) and walking around, I headed back outside to catch a cab back to the hotel. Forty-five minutes later, I was still looking. Not a single cab. I'm not even kidding. And this was a pretty busy scene downtown. I can't wait until this weekend -- it's going to be like "Escape from New York."

Best cab driver: Reggie

He was the guy who picked me up -- I knew we were in good shape when Biggie Smalls was blasting from his radio. In 12 minutes, Reggie told me how Jimmy Johnson spurned his request for an autograph ("I'm a man, just like him!") and asked me if I was going to P. Diddy's party on Friday, leading to this exchange:

Reggie (confidently): "I'm gonna be there."

Me: "You are?"

Reggie: "Yeah, I'm gonna be there. (Dramatic pause.) I'm gonna be outside in this cab!"

Worst Location: The NFL Experience

Remember when I wrote about last year's NFL Experience, or baseball's version of it last summer at the All-Star Game? Not this year. From what I can gather from the volunteers, it's located "across the river." When I asked if I could take a cab there, they told me, "Yeah, if you can find one." When I asked if there were any cabs there -- you know, so I had a way to leave when I was done -- they told me, "Yeah, maybe." Needless to say, I decided to skip the NFL Experience this year.

Best hotel: The Adams Mark Hotel

This is like handing out the award for "Most enjoyable Creed album" -- there isn't an upscale hotel in this entire city. But the Adams Mark seems like the nicest one. Although the Hilton has the best late-night bar scene. Still, nothing like the scene at the Icon in Houston last year.

Coolest outfit: Michael Irvin

At ESPN headquarters on Thursday, he was wearing a lizard-skin jacket with leather cargo pants. Thank God John Clayton didn't show up wearing the same thing -- that would have been awkward.

Best weather: Tuesday

Did you like the steady drizzle on Wednesday? What about the combination fog-and-drizzle on Thursday? Nah, I think I'll go with Tuesday -- dark, gloomy and Morrisey-esque. Super Bowl Week in a coma I know, I know ... it's serious ...

Greatest Perk: WEEI

Thanks to a sponsorship deal with Dunkin' Donuts, the Dennis & Callahan Show (morning show in Boston) gets free Dunkin' Donuts coffee and donuts delivered to them every day. Where can I get a sponsorship deal like that? Sign me up. Just the smell of Dunkin' Donuts coffee made me start flipping out like Chris Rock in "New Jack City." I nearly clotheslined Callahan when he told me they were out of cream. That reminds me ...

Most dire situation: The coffee shortage in Jacksonville

Forget about the lack of cabs -- this is 100 times worse. For instance, I'm staying in a hotel where the nearest coffee place is 8 minutes away ... and I don't have a rental car. If I end up dead or in jail this week, now you'll know why. Of course, when I was complaining to Peter King about it on Tuesday, that led to ...

Most improbable coffee trip: Me and Peter King heading to Starbucks on Wednesday morning

So I'm complaining to Peter at Media Day that I can't find a good cup of coffee anywhere, and he says, "Meet me in the lobby (of our hotel) at 7:30 tomorrow morning. I'll take you to Starbucks."

Understand this about me: I would rather cut off one of my fingers before getting up at 7:30. It's just not in my blood. I can't even function before 8:00 a.m.; that's one of the reasons I'm doing this for a living. But if I have a choice between drinking crap coffee for seven straight days, or getting up early for a good coffee, I'm getting up when that alarm goes off. That's the bottom line.

(Follow-up note here: Say what you want about Starbucks, but you will not find a stronger cup of coffee on the planet. I'm convinced they put crack in it. Seriously. Eighteen months ago, I hated Starbucks and everything it represented. Now I can't drink any other coffee without getting a headache. How can you explain this? I'm convinced we're headed for one of the biggest scandals ever here. And just for the record, Peter and I stayed for an hour talking football, and he ordered TWO grande hazelnut lattes during that time. No wonder he can do 400 call-in interviews in six hours -- the man is running on pure hazelnut.)

Most inevitable e-mail: My mom

You may remember me writing about her penchant for picking a new bottle of wine at every dinner. This morning, she sent me an e-mail with the subject heading, "The Jacksonville of Moms." Uh-oh. Here was her response to the column:

Thanks for making me sound like a spoiled airhead. The least you could have said was that most of the time I pick great stuff.

(Imagine having the guy from "Sideways" as your mom? That's me.)

Guy who made me feel like I was in a TV show: The Fridge

Hanging out with the guys from "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Tuesday, I felt like I was the pilot of a show being pitched to HBO "as a cross between 'Larry Sanders' and 'Curb Your Enthusiasm!'" There was the Fridge, working for Jimmy's show as a "correspondent," sulking because he didn't want to stand up anymore. There was his agent, wearing a "17th annual Jim Kelly Celebrity Golf Tournament" windbreaker and Jeremy Piven's rug from "Entourage," complaining to the JKL guys that the Fridge was tired and wanted to go home. And we were standing outside the stadium trying to coerce one more take out of him. And when we finally got that last take, they angrily drove off on a golf cart. All we were missing were the closing credits.

Funniest phone call: Me and Sully

I never thought I would be on the phone, at the Super Bowl, convincing one of my good friends NOT to join me at the Super Bowl. But that's what happened this afternoon. Sully kept saying, "I have a ticket, I can even get a flight" and I kept saying, "Stay home, stay home, save yourself, dammit!" This place has turned me into Charlton Heston in "Soylent Green."

Most egregious decision of the week: The ATM ripoff

Would you believe me if I told you that the city of Jacksonville changed all the ATMs (excluding the ones in actual banks) so that A) it costs $5.00 for every ATM transaction fee, and B) you can only take out $100 at a time, and nothing more than that? Well, it's true. In other words, if you want to take out $300, it costs you an extra $15. Great city. Why not charge $5 a pop to use the port-o-johns? What about an "Airport Tax" or $25 for anyone leaving the city? Anyway, if you're coming down here, take out plenty of money beforehand.

Most fruitless search: The Steelers AFC championship T-shirt

You know how they make all the "AFC/NFC Championship" shirts ahead of time, then destroy the ones for the teams that ended up losing in those games? Sometimes they sell those for half-price during Super Bowl Week, so I walked down Bay Street (near the stadium) and went inside every "unofficial" NFL Merchandise store, hoping to find one for the Steelers that I could give to my friend Dave Dameshek -- the Pittsburgh native who proclaimed that the Steelers had "the best offense in football" two months ago. But I couldn't find one.

And that brings me to my last point: If anyone from the NFL is reading this, do NOT destroy those T-shirts anymore. Not only are they a fantastic joke gift, as well as a subtle-yet-effective way to torture your friends, they make for a strangely satisfying memento for fans from the winning team. For example, right after Super Bowl XXXVI, I bought a Rams "2002 World Champions" T-shirt and matching cup that I still have to this day. It's one of my prized possessions, almost like a hunter keeping a deer's head over his fireplace. Anyway, stop destroying this stuff. I don't ask for much.

**Coming tomorrow: More good times from Jacksonville!**

[Urban_LA]

From downtown? - John Donovan (SI.com)

Jax's urban sprawl makes for Super tough week

Posted: Friday February 4, 2005 4:27PM; Updated: Friday February 4, 2005 4:44PM

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Despite rumors to the contrary, there is a downtown to this Super Bowl city. There is a here here.

Granted, it's not the hot spot that a lot of highfalutin northerners expect to find. And, yeah, maybe it takes a little work to hail a taxi around here. Or to find a good restaurant. Or, maybe, just to find downtown. (Hint: Look for the bigger buildings, the backwards-flowing river and a lot of bridges.)

A spruced-up downtown is here, all right, smack dab along the shores of the St. John's River. And to prove it, they shot off fireworks from a barge in the middle of the river Thursday night. A crowd watched from the riverbanks, one deep.

Yeah, it's been a rough start to Super Bowl week on Florida's First Coast.

Jacksonville, with a population around 1.2 million, is the smallest market ever to hold the Super Bowl. (NFL owners, who vote on who gets the big game, really, really like the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Wayne Weaver.) But, strangely, it's the largest area to ever host the game in simple terms of getting around. Jacksonville, at a Super-sized 840ish square miles, is the biggest city in the contiguous 48.

So it's not just downtown that Jacksonville is all about. It's Jacksonville Beach, about 12 miles or so to the east of downtown. It's the new Jacksonville Equestrian Center, way west of downtown, site of Friday's annual Commissioner's Bash (capitalized without authorization from the NFL). It's Little Talbot Island State Park way, way north of downtown, and it's even the Renaissance World Golf Village, the home this week of the Patriots, which is way, way, waaaay south. It's so far south it's actually in St. Augustine.

Figure this out: Jacksonville is the biggest U.S. city this side of Alaska and they can't get everybody staying within the city limits?

Actually, the main reason for that is that the downtown area, where Alltel Stadium is located, has a famous dearth of hotel rooms, necessitating the use this week of six cruise ships that will house somewhere around 7,600 people. Even the cruise ships aren't enough, though, so out-of-towners are staying all over Duval County and points beyond. That means a lot of driving and a lot of valuable drinking time wasted.

The city, the whole area -- practically all of Northeast Florida -- has been getting savaged in the national press because of the room thing and the driving thing and the lack of a central place for eating and drinking thing. Jacksonville, to be sure, is not on the Top 50 list of cosmopolitan areas. Folks crack wise about the smell (a coffee plant, river and paper mill mixture) and the location (it's barely Florida, after all). But to be fair, Jax is getting grief largely because of something it can't control.

The weather here, generally very nice at this time of year (average high, 67 degrees), has been brutal. Chilly, gray and rainy. It's definitely put a damper on things, crushing attendance at the riverside fireworks show Thursday night, the free concerts at the downtown baseball park and the NFL's interactive theme park, the NFL Experience.

Of course, a lot of the crankiness exhibited by the media comes because those highfalutin northerners are so high and falutin. The truth is, plenty of people already are having fun despite the layout and the downpours. In fact, some people who maybe shouldn't be having fun are having fun.

Eagles players Dhani Jones (snazzy in his bowtie) and Freddie Mitchell (snazzy himself in a useful wool cap) were seen Thursday night at a trendy nightclub called Endo Exo, which is in the "historic" (translate that as "old but trying to look cool") San Marco area of the city. That's just across the river from Alltel Stadium but a nice ride from the Eagles' hotel, the Sawgrass Marriott on Ponte Vedra Beach, just south of Jacksonville Beach.

Mitchell looked a little worried about being seen heading into a club just three nights before the big game -- until he spotted Jeff Lurie in the crowd.

"As long as my owner's here," Mitchell told a reporter, "we'll be all right."

Meanwhile, at Plush, a nightclub just east of downtown, several football greats (John Elway and Lawrence Taylor among them) braved the chilly weather for a party.

Lots of celebrities are already in town or are rumored to be heading this way. Snoop Dogg, Chris Rock, Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, John Travolta, P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs (just seeing if you're paying attention).

And this weekend, all the big parties are happening. Saturday night alone, there's the Playboy Party (bunnies!), the Maxim Party (babes in skimpy clothing!) and the Sports Illustrated Super Swimsuit Model Party (Peter King!).

Remember, it's not as if this town doesn't know how to get down and dirty. This is the site of the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, a little annual football game and binge-drinking showdown between the football teams from Florida and Georgia and their fans.

All that said, it's true that Jacksonville will not go down as he best site the Super Bowl has ever seen. But with a little break from the weather this weekend, a few more drinks, a decent game and a good halftime show, it won't be the worst. The halftime show, featuring Paul McCartney, might actually provide something truly memorable.

"We're going to play NAKED!" McCartney told reporters Thursday.

Wow. If that happens, people will remember Jacksonville for a long, long time.

[Urban_Legend]

That Bill Simmons article really started beating a dead horse, looking for any excuse to ridicule the city. You mean to tell me that that idiot couldn't get from the northbank to the NFL Experience? There's direct water taxi connections all to-and-fro that place!

I need to go watch that Terry Bradshaw video clip again....

[vicupstate]

That Bill Simmons article really started beating a dead horse, looking for any excuse to ridicule the city.  You mean to tell me that that idiot couldn't get from the northbank to the NFL Experience?  There's direct water taxi connections all to-and-fro that place! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My thoughts exactly. He could have taken the water taxi or walked across the Main St. bridge. This guy must not be too big in the field, if his employer wouldn't spring for a rental car. As for Starbucks, there's one in the Landing. This guy sounds like he's never been out of NYC.

[wolfdawg54]

Unfortunately, the water taxi has its flaws. I went to the Big Boi/ Kanye west concert last night and the water taxis were not efficient at all. The circut that they were running did not allow many people to get on at the Radisson becuase everybody was going to the Landing or the concert from the three previous locations. It was a mess but downtown is awesome!

[KendallKid]

Look, I'll admit I use to look down on Jacksonville. Being from Miami I heard the same stereotypes all these writers keep re-hashing. But since my visit to Jacksonville a few weeks ago I have completely changed my opinion. It is a nice town. Pretty,Friendly,Affordable, I really enjoyed myself. The only issue I have with Jax now is that its people need to be a little more thick skinned. In a big city, if some out of towner speaks ill of the city people usually respond with, "If he doesn't like it he can kiss my ass." This has not been the case with Jacksonville. People there have really taken these comments to heart, and the shouldn't. If they do, it only further perpetuates the negative stereotypes of townness. Jacksonville You have no need to be sad or mad. You are a pretty city with good qualities and a bright future. And the fact that you would take on such a large endevour even knowing your shortcomings only impresses me more and should impress everyone as well. Hold your heads up high Jacksonville, because right now you are the superbowl.

[vicupstate]

Excellent opinion piece from Ron Littlepage

The Super Bowl should only be the beginning

By RON LITTLEPAGE

The Times-Union

If you are a Super Bowl guest in our city, I hope you have had a good time.

I'm sorry that you caught us with our weather down for a few days, but it is February after all and at least there wasn't any snow or ice.

But this column is really meant for those of us who live, work and play here day-in and day-out.

Hosting the Super Bowl has taught us a lot about our city.

For one thing, we now know that downtown can be a happening place.Obviously, downtown won't always be party central as it was with the Super Bowl in town, but after the Super Bowl is gone, the riverwalks, the lighted bridges, the new Bay Street will still be here.

There will be ample opportunity for festivals and marketplaces and entertainment.

Every city needs a gathering place where people of all colors, shapes and sizes, beliefs and cultures can come together and connect with a greeting, a smile or conversation.

The Super Bowl showed us that downtown can be that place.

It also reminded us how important the St. Johns River is to our city.

The river has been one of the main focal points of Super Bowl activities. It is Jacksonville's signature and we must continue to protect it and assure access to it.

The Super Bowl also proved that with the right effort and the right allocation of resources, our city streets can be clear of litter, that our public areas can be beautifully landscaped, that our buildings can be graffiti free.

As one city official told me last week, "The Super Bowl was just what the doctor ordered. We now know what we can be."

As a city, we should settle for nothing less.

Last Friday, just before noon, I was on the river in a boat. The sun had just come out from behind the clouds and people were strolling up and down the riverwalks.

The downtown skyline looked great. River taxis were ferrying people across the river. The Landing was packed. Glistening yachts impressed. People were taking pictures. It made one feel proud.

That's another thing the Super Bowl has taught us.

Many darts were tossed our way by the national media, mostly by writers who didn't have a clue about what Jacksonville is really like, and many of you responded by coming to the defense of our city.

For many, there is a deep sense of pride in our city and that showed last week. That hasn't always been the case in Jacksonville, but you can toss out for good that old saying that Jacksonville has an inferiority complex. We don't.

Having the Super Bowl here added momentum to a city that has been moving in the right direction for a number of years now.

We must keep that momentum going. Jacksonville is a great city. It can be even better.

ron.littlepagejacksonville.com, (904) 359-4284

[Urban_LA]

How about a different spin on things...how will Jacksonville fair in comparison to next year's Super Bowl site...Detroit? Here's one commentary from someone in Detroit...

Saturday, February 5, 2005

Jacksonville sun shines on Detroit as next Super Bowl site

By Jerry Green / The Detroit News

Jerry Green

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The magnificent yacht Detroit Eagle slipped quietly along the St. Johns River. It passed the showy Jacksonville Landing, and it glided beneath the Main Street Bridge, the bridge's blue neon lights glowing across the span and up its two towers.

A vessel full of Yankee invaders, led by the intrepid Roger Penske.

A statement was being made and reactions were being recorded - and as we sailed onward down the river, I became assured that Detroit can kick Jacksonville's butt when Super Bowl cities are compared.

Roger's yacht is so plush and so sleek and so well-fitted that the passengers were required to remove their shoes and pad around in their stocking feet. Extra socks were provided.

And as I stepped onto the deck, portside, to snap some pictures of the blue bridge, my feet were quickly soaked. Through both pair of socks.

It was raining down on us. Most of Super Bowl XXXIX week, it seemed. Rain and thick morning fog.

Jacksonville's Super Bowl XXXIX was not blessed with much sunshine.

Penske was here to make an impression, to plug Detroit.

His Detroit Super Bowl XL Host Committee has been working diligently for several years now to polish over the city's image.

Penske came in with a planeload of goodwill sports and civic ambassadors. Gordie Howe enthralled the invited national media. Barry Sanders chatted in the middle of the salon, Steve Yzerman delivered some anecdotal stories. Kirk Gibson, Matt Millen, Steve Mariucci, Robert Porcher, Jim Thrower were aboard to represent sporting Detroit. Pudge Rodriguez came up from Miami to support his baseball hometown. Detroit leaders such as News Publisher/Editor Mark Silverman, radio mogul Rich Homberg and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick provided the counterbalance to the sports theme.

In 39 years of attending these Super Bowl parties - my eyes reddening, my middle bloating - Penske's nautical soiree was the best.

The positive impression was made.

The reaction of so many of the visiting media marvels I spoke with was that the best thing for Detroit's Super Bowl efforts was Jacksonville. Jacksonville has boosted Detroit's image.

Griping and growling and groaning are ingrained in our profession. We are skeptics and cynics and critics and complainers. It is fashionable to rip and ridicule the host city.

Me too.

But never before have I heard so much whining and wailing at a Super Bowl as this one in Jacksonville.

Me too.

Super Bowl XXXIX has been a logistical horror show.

Jacksonville town just hasn't worked as a Super Bowl site.

Detroit can - and I think it shall - succeed at Super Bowl XL.

The gripe artists will grump about the cold and yelp about the snow and bring up reminders about how the parking lot at the Silverdome was frozen solid at Super Bowl XVI.

But then they will remember that the Eagles and Patriots were billeted some 40 miles apart in Jacksonville. And that devoted journalists wishing to cover both teams on the same day spent a couple of hours on gaseous busses, being dragged back and forth.

And then they will remember that the ink-stained wretches with their electronic media comrades were housed mostly out in the boondocks.

OK, a pity party for us! I know people must truly sympathize with our problems of logistics and access. We're just the media, and who cares?

But I happen to have this archaic notion that newspapers, and yeah, TV and radio, keep the public informed. We are the link between Tom Brady and Donovan McNabb and the fans who itch to know the latest on these young men. We are a necessary evil.

I acknowledge that we have been spoiled. Through my 39 years of covering these Super Bowls, we the media usually have been housed in hotels adjacent to the NFL's Media Center. We have become accustomed to walking to glean much of our information, when not being bussed to the not-too-distant team locations.

The NFL always has been generous by providing the busses, transporting us to the teams and stadium venues. But in Jacksonville, we needed busses to lug us the six or seven miles to the media center also.

Ride, ride back, write.

That is not going to happen at Super Bowl XL. Much of the visiting media -- critics from all over the nation and all over the world -- will not have to go outside and freeze their buns to reach the media center. Of that I have been assured.

The teams' headquarters will be located closer, Susan Sherer, executive director of the Detroit Host Committee, told Pro Football Writers Association members on Friday.

The entire concept is to protect Detroit's image.

As the Detroit Eagle churned along the St. Johns River through the rain, Yzerman went on his cell phone. He smiled.

"My oldest daughter is starting to play hockey," he said. "I talked to my wife. I had to tell her how to put each piece of equipment on."

Stevie, to me, has symbolized the sporting character of Detroit for two decades. Grit, a solid family ethic, resilience, toughness, determination, the ability to take some hits and hit back. This encompasses the Detroit mentality. And that mentality stretches over the city boundaries into the suburbs and through an entire corner of Michigan.

Thanks for the help, Jacksonville!

You can reach Jerry Green at [email protected].

[vicupstate]

ALL FIRED UP

It will be burned into the city's history -- are you ready?

By MARK WOODS

Times-Union columnist

May 3, 1901.

There have been many big days in Jacksonville history. Civil War occupations, presidential visits and, yes, football games. But at least until 800 million people all over the world turn on their televisions tonight, there's no debate. The biggest single day in the city's history remains the first Friday in May in 1901.

It's the day that sparks from a wood stove in a small cabin were drawn up a chimney and carried by a westerly wind to moss fibers laid out to dry near the Cleveland Fibre Factory.

The fire burned for eight hours, destroying 2,368 buildings. In 466 of the city's most populous acres, only three buildings survived; 146 city blocks near the river were reduced to smoldering ashes.

The flames could be seen in Savannah, Ga.

The smoke could be seen in Raleigh, N.C.

The Great Fire, as it was called, made news around the world.

"It was the top headline in The New York Times," local historian Wayne Wood said, explaining that Jacksonville had been the tourist destination of choice for northerners during the 1870s and 1880s. "Our population doubled in the wintertime. People came here from Boston and Philadelphia and all up and down the Eastern seaboard. It's ironic that here it is happening again."

Nearly 124 years later, tourists from Boston and Philadelphia are back, along with people from all over the world, for another event with a capitalized title.

From the Great Fire to the Super Bowl.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Feb. 6, 2005.

Downtown Jacksonville is a beehive of Super Bowl eve activity along the Northbank on Saturday. Thousands strolled along the banks of the St. Johns River taking in sights, sun and entertainment.

JON M. FLETCHER/The Times-Union

What does this day mean for Jacksonville?

We don't exactly know yet. We probably won't truly know for years. But it's big. Perhaps bigger than for any Super Bowl host city ever.

There have been 11 other Super Bowl debuts: Los Angeles/Pasadena (1967), Miami (1968), New Orleans (1970), Houston (1974), Detroit/Pontiac (1982), Tampa (1984), San Francisco (1985), San Diego (1988), Minneapolis (1992), Atlanta (1994) and Phoenix (1996).

But has any ever felt quite like this to the host city?

In Los Angeles, they didn't count down the final 1,000 days leading up to Super Bowl I. They probably barely counted down the final 1,000 minutes.

Some of that is because the Super Bowl wasn't nearly as big in 1967. It wasn't even called the Super Bowl yet. But some of that is because Los Angeles already was Los Angeles. It had an international identity. Ditto for Miami, San Francisco and a bunch of other host cities. And throw out Pasadena, because it is basically an L.A. suburb.

"San Diego," Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver said.

This is the comparison most often tossed out. San Diego in 1988. A military town in a relatively warm climate. But by that point in San Diego's history, its metropolitan area already had more than 2 million residents. It had been home to a pro-football team, the Chargers, for more than 25 years. It had hosted a World Series four years earlier.

Tampa in 1984? Perhaps.

The Tampa Bay metropolitan area already had a larger population then (1.6 million) than Jacksonville does now (1.1 million). And it had 25,000 hotel rooms to work with. But if you go back and read the newspaper stories written in the days leading up to it, there are some similarities. Local officials kept saying this was the chance to bring business to the area, to let people know where Tampa was on a map. It was, they said, the biggest day in city history. It also was a week that began with nasty weather.

The New York Times described a town "dripping with gray rain" but giddy with a sense of coming of age and full of expectations "burning hot and bright."

Sound familiar?

Downtown Jacksonville and the St. Johns River on the eve of the Super Bowl.

JON M. FLETCHER/The Times-Union

Aug. 8, 1967.

That's the day that voters literally made Jacksonville what it is today -- at 841 square miles, the largest city in the lower 48.

Consolidation didn't just turn Jacksonville into a trivia question. One of the most significant changes came in the St. Johns River. Before consolidation, raw sewage flowed directly into the river, creating a mess that nobody wanted to take responsibility for.

"The county people didn't want to pay for it," recalled Hans Tanzler, who was mayor at the time of consolidation. "They thought the city ought to clean it up. The city said, 'Wait a minute, it's your river, too.' They were pointing fingers at each other."

Today, officials from Duval County and the NFL are pointing at that water, draped with lighted bridges and filled with huge boats. It is the centerpiece of Super Bowl XXXIX.

Without that water, the game isn't here today.

"If all goes well, people may look back on Feb. 6, 2005, as a day that Jacksonville came of age," said Chuck Day, author of Jacksonville Football History. "But a lot of people will tell you that Jacksonville jumped to the next level when the NFL awarded the city a franchise."

Nov. 30, 1993.

Long before that day -- the day that the NFL made the Jacksonville Jaguars the 30th franchise -- Jake Godbold began trying to improve his city.

His tool of choice: football.

Mayor Jock, he became known as.

To explain his rationale, Godbold starts by telling about a study conducted not long after his election. He wanted to figure out how to revive Jacksonville, how to pump some life into downtown.

"This guy who did the poll came and said, 'Look, you can forget about all that until first you do something about the attitude in Jacksonville,'" Godbold said last week. "He said, 'These people don't believe in themselves. This is the most negative town I've ever been in.'"

Godbold describes what led him to believe football was the answer. He was sitting in his living room in the 1980s, watching a Houston Oilers' game.

"The city of Houston had a bunch of problems," he said. "But I turned on the TV one Sunday. And here were all these people in the stands. Black and white, young and old, hollering, 'We're the Houston Oilers,' waving those damn blue and white pom-poms.'

"I said to my wife, 'Jane, that's we need here.'"

Godbold dreamed big. Just not this big. He always believed the city would eventually get an NFL team. But he admits he didn't ever think he'd be watching Super Bowl week unfold in Jacksonville.

"Are we ready?" he said, referring not necessarily to the game itself but the whole week. "The answer is, no, we're not ready. We're as ready as we can be. Everybody has done everything they can do. If we had another 10 years this city would be ready. But even then we're not going to be New Orleans. We don't have a Bourbon Street, as everybody knows. And we probably won't 10 years from now. But I think we're going to make a good show."

The early reviews weren't good. One of the story lines leading to Super Bowl XXXIX was the beating that Jacksonville took from visiting writers -- and the way the city's residents and media responded.

Some pointed at the vehement defense as proof that this is indeed a small-time city. A big-time city, they said, would have ignored it, shrugged it off.

Godbold looked at it another way. He liked the way people responded, especially to a column written by The Washington Post's Tony Kornheiser.

"I was tickled to death to pick up the paper and read the letters to the editor," he said. "People took the time to tell that guy to kiss our ass. Twenty years ago they wouldn't have even bothered. Maybe they would have agreed with him. There's the message. Jacksonville is proud of itself today."

As he talked about that pride, rattling off examples around town, he tossed out an interesting choice of metaphors.

"The whole city's on fire," he said.

May 4, 1901.

Mark Woods writes a column three times a week for the Times-Union. Today he writes how hosting the Super Bowl fits in with other significant dates in Jacksonville's history.

The streets were literally still hot the day after the Great Fire.

The Great Fire?

When you stop and think about it, it seems like an odd name for a disaster.

The "great" of course, refers to the size of the largest metropolitan fire to occur in the South. But, ultimately, the fire -- or at least what happened after it -- did turn into one of the city's great success stories.

In the days after the fire, some of the most noted journalists of the time converged on Jacksonville to chronicle the devastation. The Baltimore Sun sent a young writer named H.L. Mencken. And soon, as reports of the fire started reaching people up north, hundreds of trains began heading south, bringing supplies and manpower.

Only seven people died in the fire. But it left 8,677 homeless and caused $15 million in damage -- of which about $5 million was covered by insurance.

"That $5 million was paid off very quickly," said Wood, the local historian. "It was pumped into the economy in a two-month period. So people came from all over the world to get a piece of the action. Architects and builders and investors, as well as farm hands and soda jerks."

Within two years, there were more buildings downtown than there had been before the fire.

Media attention? The arrival of people trying to get a piece of the pie? Rapid growth? Sound familiar?

There are parallels between what happened after the Great Fire and before the Super Bowl.

In the last five years, the city has again undergone dramatic change. Roads, stadiums, arenas. Much of that change was planned before Jacksonville was awarded the Super Bowl. Still, it will be remembered as part of this period in city history.

The Great Fire destroyed Jacksonville, then built it again.

The Super Bowl pumped up Jacksonville, then what? Made it bigger and better? Destroyed it?

The biggest fear today: an utter failure.

The second biggest fear: a smashing success, growth and a Jacksonville that makes us miss the one we woke up with on Feb. 6, 2005.

Godbold doesn't see it that way. He says this day is a dream come true. But not for the reasons people keep pointing to, not because it might convince some Fortune 500 executive to bring his company here. Because of what it did to convince people who already were here.

"When this Super Bowl is over, we've got to come back to reality," Godbold said. "But this city will never be the same. Everybody talks about what it's going to mean for new jobs and new industry. That's great. But what's more important than that -- the big story -- is look how proud we are. Look at the excitement."

The whole city's on fire.

mark.woodsjacksonville.com, (904) 359-421

[Urban_Legend]

Jacksonville: The Super Bowl reviews are in

By BILL BORTZFIELD

Jacksonville.com

The newspapers are out and the verdict is in: 2 winners: Pats, Jacksonville.

That was the headline on The Orlando's Sentinel's Web site this morning. Other newspapers around the country also had plenty to say about Jacksonville's performance as a Super Bowl city.

"All those critics who said Jacksonville couldn't pull off a Super Bowl turned out to be wrong. Not everything went perfectly. But it turned out pretty well," wrote Soyia Ellison of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on this morning's Web site.

The Boston Globe wrote "It took all week, but Jacksonville finally got its groove on yesterday. And it started early, even before the first face-painted fans streamed into the parking lot at Alltel Stadium to set up their elaborate tailgate operations. It started in the pre-dawn dark, on the sidewalk outside Jacksonville's elegant Garden Club, where Maxim's breathlessly hyped party had just wrapped. "

A quick Google of news sites around the country this morning seemed to show a similar pattern: the grumbling has turned into praise. USA Today.com's headline this morning was: Jacksonville proves to be a Super site.

[BosTech]

Jacksonville spreads the warmth

By Pete O'Brien, USATODAY.com

JACKSONVILLE

[bobliocatt]

You have to give a little to get a lot. Anyway here's another article from the USA Today.

Jacksonville proves to be a Super site

By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY

JACKSONVILLE — The final analysis won't be made until Monday when the masses flood the airport and leave town, but how did Jacksonville, the smallest market to ever host a Super Bowl, do?

"I think this city has done a great job," said NFL senior vice president Jim Steeg, who has run the last 26 Super Bowls. "I think they exceeded what everyone expected and anytime you do that, you're going to come out of this very favorable."

At his annual Super Bowl news conference, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue predicted Jacksonville wouldn't be a one-and-done host city. "My feeling is it will be back here at some point," Tagliabue said Friday.

Given the city's lack of hotel rooms, the biggest concern was accommodations. To meet the league's hotel room requirement, five cruise ships were docked along the St. Johns River, adding the equivalent of 3,667 floating hotel rooms, housing about 6,400 people. Though hotel rooms were hard to find for last-minute visitors, no significant problems were reported, Steeg said.

Detroit will host next year's Super Bowl, followed by Miami and Arizona, but NFL officials said Jacksonville could be a contender in the next decade. By then officials believe the city will be more equipped to host an event of the Super Bowl's size.

"I can tell you that if you look at the number of hotels that have been added in this city the past 10 years since the NFL (the Jaguars began playing in 1994), we can expect that kind of growth and more expeditiously over the next 10 years," Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver said. "So, I would say in 10 years we would probably have enough hotel rooms to accommodate that. But having said that, I think the cruise ships are a great idea. I think it gives the experience a different feel and different cache. ... Whether we had enough hotels or not, we might still bring cruise ships in."

The other major challenge for Jacksonville because of its size was its airport, the smallest of any Super Bowl city. Monday the airport is expected to handle more than two times the number of passengers it has ever handled on its busiest day when 25,000 plus passengers are expected to flood the gates. To accommodate the surge, the airport turned an air cargo facility into a temporary satellite terminal complete with check-in counters and security screening.

Early last week when traffic was slow at the airport it seemed like there were two volunteers to every passenger. As passengers walked through the terminal, they were welcomed to Jacksonville just about every 10 feet. About 9,500 residents volunteered to help out the host committee, an exceptionally high number in proportion to the area's population (1.2 million), NFL executives said. And despite the gripes of sportswriters, Steeg said the enthusiasm of Jacksonville's residents is what made the Super Bowl a success.

"I thought the thing that would make this stand out was the people," Steeg said. "I can't tell you how many people I've talked to who have said there's cops standing in the rain, people working outside who take time to give you directions and I think that's translated to the attitude here."

Throughout much of last week, the city took a beating from sportswriters who criticized everything from the food (Waffle House and Hooters were a familiar target) to the weather (unseasonably cold and rainy last Wednesday and Thursday). "I don't think they gave the city a chance to prove itself before they started to take it on," Steeg said.

When some poked fun at Jacksonville, the city's residents and its local media took it personally and vehemently defended the city. So did Tagliabue, calling Jacksonville "The Little Engine that Could" which first showed its spunk when it beat out bigger markets in the mid-'90s for an expansion team. The commissioner also took a few shots at those who complained that Jacksonville wasn't as warm as San Diego or as upscale as Miami.

"Some of us (have) become too high falutin'," he said. "The fans are here for football. They're here for fun. In other years, we get lambasted by some people because we're into high-end hotels and luxury in excess and hedonism. And this year we're not into any of those things and we're getting lambasted."

However, it will matter little what the media thinks about Jacksonville as a Super Bowl city, given the league's 32 owners select the host sites. Before the game was played, a few owners gave the city positive reviews.

"I very much like the game in Jacksonville," Kansas City owner Lamar Hunt told The Florida Times-Union. "I don't think we want a cookie-cutter deal where we go to the same places every year."

Pittsburgh Steelers President Dan Rooney said the concerns about traffic were overblown. "Every site that has a Super Bowl has traffic problems. Los Angeles, the biggest city in America as far as roads are concerned, has problems when the Super Bowl is there. This has been fine. I see nothing but good things here," Rooney said.

So Jacksonville, the little city that could, just might do it again. "We'll start (Monday) talking about the next one," said Tom Petway, the co-chairman of the Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee. "We hope to be in the rotation. We're going to be a Super Bowl city forever in my judgment."

[BosTech]

Jacksonville did just fine

Story Tools: Print Email

Special to FOXSports.com

Posted: 3 hours ago

To every older, fatter and smokier writer that beotched about Jacksonville Super Bowl week, let me say this:

Good effort Jacksonville.

You did the very best you could with what you had to work with, and you did an outstanding job.

I grade Jacksonville as a C+ for its first Super Bowl.

Next time, the entire city will know what it's doing. From road closures to more accommodations, Jacksonville will be better next go-around.

Full disclosure here, I live in San Diego, and it is by far the best place for the Super Bowl. However, the Super Bowl isn't coming back anytime soon, and since the local politicians don't see the value in it, then San Diego's loss can be other cities' gains.

Jacksonville is one of those cities. By the time Jacksonville gets its second Super Bowl, it will be a much more prepared place.

For all the complaining I heard from everyone, not just the fat old writers, this was one of my easiest Super Bowls.

Driving in every morning for my radio broadcast, I never sat in any traffic. I never even had to so much as slow down. Driving into the city from Ponte Vedre at 7 a.m. was a pleasure.

Parking was the easiest it's ever been in the history of Super Bowls. I parked, for free, directly across the street from the convention center ... every day!

Traffic back to the beach was again no problem. The freeways had terrific signage, making directions to and from wherever relatively easy for a visitor.

When you go to the Super Bowl as working press, and there aren't a lot of sexy story lines, you bag on the town, its weather, the restaurants (or lack thereof), the people...anything to fill space.

The truth is, it's how you do it, and what you're there for.

If you're there to work, then work. Quit beotching about how there are no good restaurants to finally use your expense account.

The people of Jacksonville did a fine job, and to insult the town because it was congested or because you were hoping for Florida weather, is just lazy.

Another complaint was how spread out Jacksonville was, especially on Saturday night.

The key to a successful Saturday night at the Super Bowl is picking a spot and staying there. Unless you have a limo and a traveling party, the best move is to pick a party and stay there.

Maxim and Playboy are becoming too over the top. In other words, those parties are being taken over by the Hollywood scene. If seeing Joe Montana is nowhere near as interesting as seeing Paula Abdul, I don't want to be at that type of party.

Sports Illustrated had a party near the beach, so that's where I camped out. What an event, featuring SI swimsuit models and a performance by Grammy-nominated producer and rapper Kanye West.

Now I was told I'd blow my street cred if I admitted I didn't know who Kanye West was, but I didn't, and quite frankly I didn't know one of his songs, but he's up for Album of the Year.

Jacksonville did OK for its first Super Bowl. And if it gets a second, it'll be better prepared. (Hope Kinchem / AP)

Kanye was more interesting back stage; meeting his mom, who was an English teacher at Chicago State University, was more my speed.

Saturday night at the Super Bowl produces good gossip too. Look for a story about a particular young, major market quarterback and a beautiful young swimsuit model, but this isn't the place for that.

When Saturday night was over, five miles down the road to the hotel, pack up, and at the airport by 5 a.m., on my own couch by kickoff.

So for all the complaining about Jacksonville last week, consider the source.

True, Jacksonville had some drawbacks, but it did a good job hosting an event it maybe wasn't quite yet equipped for.

As San Diego wallows in stadium uncertainty, cities like Jacksonville can get itself in a regular rotation to host, and each time the NFL will leave that city bigger and better than before.

[vicupstate]

Jacksonville gave the NFL just what it needed, and vice-versa

Have you ever proudly driven your shiny new car into the driveway, only to have your neighbor smirk at the new ride as he walks to his mailbox? Does my new baby have a dent, you wonder? Is this model already out of date? In short, what have I done wrong?

Nothing. Your neighbor is just envious. His disdain is simply his own, insecure need to look down on someone, anyone, and for any reason he can muster.

Following last Sunday's Super Bowl, the city of Jacksonville knows exactly how that new car owner feels. Every measure taken to be a good host was appreciated by the vast majority of visitors. But a loud, disgruntled few fell in behind a handful of freeloading journalists in lampooning the city's every move. Once again, no good deed goes unpunished.

I should know. I've long owned homes in both the Jacksonville area and in Atlanta. The Georgia capital city basically put life itself on hold for the several years it took to spruce things up for the 1996 Olympics -- the games that were attended by far more people than any other Olympic Games in history.

The city's thanks? Endless derision that continues to his day. You're welcome, world.

Now, Jacksonville has gotten its own undeserved taste of this bitter medicine. Most readers have encountered the condescending remarks, either overheard on the streets, or read in newsprint or on the Internet. So I won't present my own list of most outrageous gripes, except for this one personal favorite.

Some hotshot writing for espn.com couldn't resist expressing civic outrage that his hometown of Los Angeles can't seem to land a Super Bowl, even though there are "as many people on the Santa Monica Freeway at any given time" as there are living in all of Jacksonville. Well, yes, but there's just this problem: None of those commuters is on his or her way to a pro football game. The NFL has no team in Los Angeles.

From the ground in Jacksonville, it's hard to see the forest for the trees. But from the far-off perspective of a national newspaper column -- and from viewing the big game on national TV -- let me assure everyone that the city and the game looked as good as a demonstrator model with very low mileage.

The TV camera shots of the bridges over the St. Johns River symbolized the town itself as the gateway to America's most dynamic state. The city's night lights put a dazzling, cosmopolitan sheen on the downtown area. Hundreds upon hundreds of visitors e-mailed The Super Bowl Host Committee to compliment Jacksonville's beauty.

It was the perfect stage for exactly what the NFL and its commercial sponsors very desperately needed -- a wholesome show.

Paul McCartney reached across the generations to entertain all at halftime. He got the adrenaline flowing without parents having to shield their children's eyes from indecent exposure, a la Janet Jackson last year.

Former presidents, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, stamped the proceedings with dignity, and put an American stamp on this most American of spectacles.

While the U.S. military was completely ignored at last year's game, it was brought this time to where it belongs -- front and center in the national consciousness.

And as if on cue, the game played itself out in grand, uncontroversial style. No one was injured in a brawl, either on the field or in the stands. No players were arrested while in town. Drug use was likely confined to the portable johns behind the press tent. No controversial referee's blunder decided the outcome.

Best of all, the game didn't follow its traditional pattern of being a complete rout by halftime.

The final chapter in this story of Super Bowl XXXIX has yet to be written. The last word must be penned by the city's people, as expressed through the future actions of civic and business institutions. If Jacksonville wants more and better, it will get them. But everyone must have the desire to extend the legacy of the big game; to make it step one in a further ascent to national and international acclaim.

In that pursuit, the logistical and public relations lessons learned at the Super Bowl will prove invaluable, believe me.

From my perspective as both an insider and an outsider to Jacksonville and Northeast Florida, believe me when I say that this new car isn't just spit-shined. It's got plenty of rev under the hood. Congratulations.

For Jacksonville, the future is right now.

Matt Towery writes a syndicated column based out of The Florida Times-Union. He can be e-mailed at mtoweryinsideradvantage.com