TAMPA, Florida – Tampa’s mayor and devoted sports fan, Jane Castor, seems willing to do anything to secure a Super Bowl title in her city, jokingly telling ESPN that she’ll even change Tom Brady’s name if he and Buccaneers beat Domigo.
“I told him, we are not discussing changing the name of our city until he takes the Lombardi trophy home. So Tom and I will have this discussion in due course,” said Castor. “Yes, we will talk about that, changing ‘Tampa’, since we are becoming a title city, to ‘Tompa Bay’. We will have these discussions. “
Brady’s welcome in Tampa began when he was unceremoniously kicked out of a public park during requests to stay home in April. This led Castor to write an open letter to Brady with an unconcerned apology for the misunderstanding, in which she said, “Tom, it’s Tampa Bay. It’s not Tampa Brady. You won us a Super Bowl and we’ll discuss Tampa Brady.” .
In addition to the city “renaming”, Castor promised ways in which the city would honor Brady, saying, “Without a doubt, we will one day have Tom Brady”.
Castor is also open to the idea of Buccaneers within linebacker Devin White – arguably his best post-season performance – riding his Dream horse inside Raymond James Stadium, something he expressed a desire to do. He called his horse Daisy Mae around LSU’s Tiger Stadium “the best day of my life”.
“This is definitely an option,” said Castor. “But it will only happen in one way, and that’s if I can ride a horse with Devin White. We can definitely do that … I grew up with horses, so he and I can both ride and hoist that Lombardi trophy on horseback together. “
The Tampa Sports Authority, which runs the Raymond James Stadium, and the Buccaneers told ESPN that they would discuss internally the possibility of leaving a horse at the stadium. But even if that doesn’t happen, Castor, the former Tampa police chief, said he would be very happy to join White for a tour of the city.
“Are you kidding me? We will have a mounted patrol parade,” said Castor. “I was close to the [Tampa] Convention center with our mounted patrol unit. Yes, definitely. I just rode a horse last Sunday, so I know how to handle a horse. And I will find my way around that Lombardi trophy! “
As for the Super Bowl, Castor was satisfied with the area’s compliance with his executive order to use masks in certain outdoor areas, including the nearly 3-mile Riverwalk along downtown Tampa’s waterfront. Tampa’s existing mandates did not require outdoor masks.
“These areas were determined by the idea that there would be large crowds that would not be able to distance themselves socially,” said Castor. “And so far, we’ve seen a lot of adherence to that.”
She also echoed what Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday, when he told people to avoid the Super Bowl parties and “just be quiet and cool.”
“We are adhering to this mantra as well. We would like everyone to stay home and enjoy the excitement of the Super Bowl and the Buccaneers’ victory in the safety of their own home,” said Castor. “But we also realized that people are going to be very excited and a lot of people are going to leave. For this reason, we encourage the use of masks both indoors and outdoors when it is not possible to distance yourself socially.
“We want everyone to have a safe and healthy experience at the Super Bowl. Everyone who comes to visit the city, we want them to arrive healthy, we want them to leave healthy. The only people who will be disappointed are KC fans.”