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On the water colors

Coxed and loaded college crews leave their mark along the river.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published April 13, 2007

DOWNTOWN

They're gone. Again.

As usual, they took a little piece of us with them. And left more than a little behind.

They took a little of our sunshine, now marked on their freckled shoulders, on their bronzed hair.

They took memories of rowing in Florida's gorgeous spring weather back to their Northeastern colleges.

Back to Princeton and Rutgers, Indiana and Yale, Michigan and Massachusetts.

The crew teams, who spend a week each spring rowing the downtown stretch of the Hillsborough River, also leave something behind each year.

Their school logos, mottos and other illustrations adorn the shoreline, bridges and just about anything else down here that can be painted.

They're the product of midnight-and-beyond "tagging" runs, where the rowing squads take time out for a little artistic expression.

It's graffiti, granted. It's vandalism, technically.

But it's also downtown Tampa's underground - and slightly above-water - art exhibit.

- - -

Yes, it's illegal - "criminal mischief," to be specific, Tampa police say.

But authorities don't focus much on landing fun-loving freshmen when they have bigger fish to fry.

Issues with authorities have been few and far between, and generally occur in years that end in "7," though this was an off year.

In 1987, three guys from Penn were arrested while dangling a buddy over a bridge to paint a tricky spot, former coach Larry Connell said. They paid a small fine for the trouble.

In 1997, a women's team from Princeton garnered unwelcome attention when a Tampa Tribune security guard caught them painting the west seawall that borders the paper's offices.

But no charges were filed. And today, Princeton - perhaps the most prolific of all the river painters - has that wall covered outright. The intricate paint job, presumably by the Class of '07, even includes a twist on the James Bond 007 logo.

- - -

No one knows exactly when it started, just that it's been going on for decades, at least back to the 1970s.

On the water, it's hard to find the older examples, because most have been painted over. But under the Cass Street Bridge, for example, a few logos date to '87 and even one to '83. Whether that necessarily relates to the year those logos were painted, or to the graduation year of the class that painted them is another question.

Most crews go with the latter strategy, which explains the fresh '09 and '10.

And it reminds one how odd-sounding it is to note you're a member of the "Class of Ten."

- - -

Most of the illustrations are logos and brief messages, but some teams get more creative, especially in areas that are nearly or entirely invisible from the shoreline.

The messages most easily seen from the river can get a little suggestive.

Kent School Boat Club added a message best not repeated here. Suffice it to say it takes a little liberty with the title given for the team member who steers the racing shell and motivates the rowers. The term is "coxswain."

(Oh, those crazy Fighting Episcopalians.)

There are political statements, too. One, for example, includes a representation of the American flag and a strong profanity.

It's rare that such terms escape alteration. They usually get a couple of coats on top. One is a bridge-adorned motto that reads Look the devil in the eyes and say (painted over word of about, say, four letters) you, man.

- - -

Among the messages from the crews:

Fast girls have more fun - Princeton (women's team, to be clear).

Protein eatin' lumberjacks - Rutgers (painted over a Colgate logo).

She's a fast machine - Massachusetts (again, women's team).

Thug Life - Unknown. (It's next to a Rutgers logo, in similar red paint, but we're leaning toward the notion that's an "unrelated graffiti" coincidence.)

[Last modified April 12, 2007, 07:56:16]