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Wild reception delights victors.
By TAMARA LUSH and BABITA PERSAUD
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 29, 2003
TAMPA -- Taylor Howells, 13, has been a Bucs fan his entire life. He owns four jerseys, five hats and made his mom buy eight Bucs magnets for the side of her car.
So when he heard about a victory parade Tuesday in downtown Tampa, Taylor begged his mom to let him take a sick day from school.
She said yes.
That's why the Palm Harbor Middle School student was among the estimated 100,000 Bucs fans who crowded the milelong parade route, hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite player or, better yet, head coach Jon Gruden.
"This is pretty uplifting," said Taylor's grandfather Don Howells. "Who would have ever believed this?"
Fans started lining the streets at 10 a.m. The parade started 51/2 hours later.
Vendors wheeled carts of balloons and beads down the crowded sidewalks.
"Get your Super Bowl Championship flags here," said one, making his way through a large group near the Platt Street Bridge.
"How much?" shouted a fan.
"$10," said the vendor.
"Oh my God, why don't you just cut off my arm," she said.
"It says world champion on it," said the vendor.
"Okay," the fan said. "I'll take one."
The Bucs seemed as excited as the fans. Several players videotaped the parade as they rolled down Bayshore Boulevard and through city streets.
The parade started on Platt Street and ended at Lykes Gaslight Park downtown.
There, Gruden, several players and team owner Malcolm Glazer took turns addressing the wildly cheering crowd.
"We got a heck of a football team," Gruden said. "We're just getting started."
Glazer couldn't stop smiling.
"Is anybody working today?" he asked.
The players rode in new trucks provided by Bob Wilson Dodge and Jerry Ulm Dodge, and in convertibles supplied by Dayton Andrews Chrysler. Each dealership plans to sell the vehicles.
Some are considering advertising them as having been touched by the magical Bucs.
"We'll have them all out here on display tomorrow," said Keith Johnson, general manager at Bob Wilson Dodge. "We'll have them all marked down (as) parade vehicles used by the Super Bowl champions."
Yet Bucs fever left some people swimming against the tide.
Hillsborough Commissioners Jan Platt and Pat Frank were thrilled about the Super Bowl win. But they weren't happy when other board members agreed to reschedule parts of a Tuesday afternoon land use meeting so people -- including, presumably, some of the board members -- could attend the parade.
"I remember the day the terrorists hit New York and we continued our business because we felt government should go on," Frank said. "I'm happy the Bucs won, I'm cheering them on. But ... the Bucs wouldn't stop if it had something to do with government."
For most people, however, the parade put a climax on three days of partying.
Betty Woitas, 42, of Spring Hill wrote her daughters a note excusing them from school.
The family checked into a Days Inn on Dale Mabry Highway, went to the pep rally Monday night at Raymond James Stadium and the parade Tuesday.
"We've been waiting 27 years for this," said Woitas, who was wearing beads and a Bucs T-shirt, a videocamera in hand.
The parade drew scores of women and teenage girls, and some were eager to see their favorite player. Yanira Albaladejo, 13, of Lithia thinks Ronde Barber is the cutest. Her friend, Ashley Wallace, 14, of Palatka couldn't care less.
"What are the twins' names again?" Ashley asked.
Yanira gave her a steely look. "Ronde and Tiki Barber."
Ashley rolled her eyes. "Who names their kids Ronde and Tiki?"
Yanira later got linebacker Derrick Brooks to sign her shirt, just moments after he addressed the crowd at Lykes Gaslight Park.
"It's truly a pleasure to see you all out here," Brooks told the crowd. Then he just laughed for several seconds. "You are all the best friends in the world."
Don Howells, who is 62 and has been a fan for decades, was happy for the players. And for the children in the crowd.
Kids like his grandson, Taylor, weren't old enough to remember the bad old days of the Bucs, he said, when the team wore orange jerseys and lost game after sorry game.
"That's really what is wonderful about the turnaround," Howells said. "Kids Taylor's age and younger are going to be growing up with a winner."
-- Times staff writers Brady Dennis and Josh Zimmer contributed to this report.