Super Bowl XXXVII

Plotting your escape

[Times art: Don Morris] You can watch another channel. More ideas below.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 22, 2003

Don't care one iota about the Super Bowl? You're not alone. Some insist they have better things to do. (We have some ideas, too)

Marilyn Hall arrived in the Tampa Bay area the same year as the Buccaneers -- 1976.

She was here for their humiliating 0-26 start, and for all of their tortuous rise from national laughingstocks to NFC champions.

At kickoff time on Super Bowl Sunday, Hall plans something special.

"I'll probably be reading a book or quilting. If it's nice out, I might go for a walk," said Hall, 45, of St. Petersburg. "I'm certainly not going to watch a bunch of men in padded tights run around and hit each other."

Hall, you see, doesn't follow football. And she's far from alone. She's one of countless thousands of people in the bay area who honestly don't care that the home team is finally in the Big Game.

Every year, nearly half the U.S. population watches the Super Bowl. That leaves the other half, some 150-million Americans, who happily find other things to do.

Locally, Super Bowl viewership will be sky-high. But even as frenzied Bucs fans yell themselves hoarse this Sunday, living and dying with every third down, many of their neighbors will be doing laundry or running errands or watching Super Sunday of Style on Home & Garden Television.

"My husband and I will go for a bike ride. It'll be good because there'll be no traffic," said Leeza Trigg, 28, who was browsing for books Tuesday at St. Petersburg's main public library.

"We'll read, have a family dinner, put the kids to bed and maybe watch a video," she said. "I don't know why we're not football fans. We just aren't."

People like her aren't even fair weather fans. And age, race and gender don't matter.

For instance, at the Cafe Monet & Gallery on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, the staff is seeing a reversal of stereotypes: The women care deeply about the Bucs, and the men don't.

"When I was growing up, it was grossly unfashionable to be a Bucs fan," said line cook Robert Phillips, 20, who probably will play video games during the Super Bowl.

This past Sunday, Phillips' mother kept calling him with updates from the Bucs-Eagles game: "We scored!" and then "We scored again!" and finally, "We won! We won!"

Phillips' deadpan response: "That's nice."

Meanwhile, cafe owner Renae Lynn has Super Bowl tickets and wore her Buccaneers apron to work Tuesday.

In a region where the names Gruden, Sapp, Lynch, Brooks and Alstott are living legends, there are plenty of people who can't name a single player on the team.

One of them is Noel Verge, 20, a purple-dreadlocked clerk at Asylum Records, also on Central Avenue. Her boss teases her because she never recognizes the Buccaneers who come into the store (Mike Alstott, Jeff Christy, ex-Buc Dave Moore).

At kickoff time on Sunday, she'll likely be painting or sculpting.

"I find it ridiculous that people spend so much money on football tickets and T-shirts. When you boil it down, it's just a game," Verge said. "It's all marketing."

Obviously, the Buccaneers enjoy lavish fan support: a soldout stadium, profitable apparel sales, robust TV ratings. At times like this, it might seem like all of Tampa Bay is behind the Bucs.

But a sizeable chunk of the population doesn't care. They don't read the sports section. They channel-surf past ESPN. The Bucs simply aren't on their radar screen, not even now.

This Sunday, local playwright Bob Devin Jones, 46, will attend a six-hour rehearsal of his latest work, Manhattan Casino, a musical based on a renowned St. Petersburg nightclub.

Then he'll go eat sushi with friends, utterly ignoring the Super Bowl.

If he can.

"It's in every section of the newspaper, with these headlines as big as "Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.' It's on every radio station. You go to Publix and see signs: "Buy a Super Bowl food tray,' " Jones said.

"For the fans' sake, I hope the Bucs win. The bigger the buildup, the bigger the letdown."

• 1. Watch another channel. There’s a Two Fat Ladies marathon on the Food Network; Disney channel plans a Stanley marathon; and Independence Day airs on WTVT-Ch. 13. 2. Catch up on the Oscar contenders. Haven’t seen Chicago? You’re sure to find a good seat at your local movieplex. 3. Catch up on e-mails and letter writing. Do you still need to thank Grandma for that Christmas sweater? 4. Get into your favorite restaurant that always has a two-hour wait for a table. 5. Read a book. Patricia Cornwell’s Portrait of a Killer and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold lead the bestseller lists. 6. It’s a great time to give your teenager a driving lesson. No one will be on the roads. 7. Find five other people who share your feelings and host a dinner party. 8. Go to church or sit and meditate for a few hours. 9. Wash your hair. 10. Catch up on the national and world news you might have missed this week because it didn’t make the front page.

Not football

Here are 10 ways to spend Sunday other than paying attention to the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Super Bowl:

TEMPLE BETH-EL ART FESTIVAL: 30th annual juried art exhibition and sale of original paintings, sculpture, ceramics, glass, jewelry and photography, including works by emerging artists from Pinellas County schools. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (727) 347-6136.

TV ALTERNATIVES TO FOOTBALL: Two Fat Ladies marathon, 2 p.m.-2 a.m., Food Network. . . . Pet Psychic marathon, 2 p.m.-4 a.m., Animal Planet. . . . Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), 3:10 p.m., AMC. . . . Murder, She Wrote marathon, 4 p.m.-4 a.m., A&E. . . . Stanley marathon, 5-9 p.m., Disney. . . . Sabrina (1954), 5:35 p.m., AMC. . . . Gone With the Wind (1939), 6 p.m., TNT. . . . Independence Day (1996), 7 p.m., WTVT-Ch. 13. . . . High Fidelity (2000), 7:30 p.m., Comedy Central. . . . My Fair Lady (1964), 8 p.m., AMC. . . . The Color Purple (1985), 8 p.m., WTOG-Ch. 44. . . . Saturday Night Live alternative to the Super Bowl halftime show, 8 p.m., WFLA-Ch. 8. . . . Forensic Files marathon, 8 p.m.-4 a.m., Court TV. . . . Masterpiece Theater, Me and Mrs. Jones, 9 p.m., WEDU-Ch. 3.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION: Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art celebrates its first anniversary with a "Super (Birthday) Sunday." Free admission, birthday cake, popcorn, games and prizes, 1-5 p.m., 600 Klosterman Road, Tarpon Springs. (727) 712-5762.

ART EXHIBIT OPENING: "Tiffany Desk Treasures," Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 NE Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, (352) 236-7100. Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sun. $10 adult, $8 seniors, $6 educators and college or university students, $5 ages 10-18.

"PROOF': David Auburn's Pulitzer prize-winning play. Florida Studio Theatre, 1241 N Palm Ave., Sarasota. 3 and 8 p.m. $26-$28. (941) 366-9000.

DINNER THEATER: Sophie, Totie & Belle, doors 4 p.m., curtain 6 p.m., Angel Cabaret Dinner Theatre, 5201 U.S. 19, New Port Richey. $34.50 dinner and show; $21.95 show only. RSVP (727) 847-0019. . . . Don't Dress for Dinner, buffet 4 p.m., curtain 6 p.m., Early Bird Dinner Theater at Bill Irle's, 1411 N Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater. $14.95. (727) 446-5898. . . . Damn Yankees, dinner 6 p.m., curtain 8 p.m., Golden Apple Dinner Theater, 25 N Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. $27-$37.50. (941) 366-5454.

GIRLS WITH GUITARS: Celebrates America's female songwriters of the 20th century, from the Weavers and the Carters to Carole King, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, the Dixie Chicks, Mary Chapin Carpenter and others. Cabaret Series at Florida Studio Theatre. 1241 N Palm Ave., Sarasota. 2 and 7:30 p.m. $20-$22. (941) 366-9000.

DISNEY'S "THE LION KING': The final performance of the Broadway musical at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center is at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, but it's sold out. The IMAX version of the Disney movie shows at 5:45 and 7:30 p.m. at the Museum of Science and Industry's IMAX Dome Theatre.

SUNSETS AT PIER 60: Year-round daily festival with artisans, crafters, street performers and live music, playground areas for younger children, beach access, a fishing pier and concessions. (727) 449-1036 or www.sunsetsatpier60.com. Hours: two hours before and two hours after sunset, weather permitting. 10 Pier 60 Drive, Clearwater Beach. Free.

FLORIDA BOTANICAL GARDENS: Botanical gardens with more than 10,000 plants. In the Pinewood Cultural Park with Heritage Village and Gulf Coast Museum of Art. 12175 125th St. N, Largo. (727) 582-2100. Gardens open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. Free.