Tampa is painted orange this week.
The Florida town is playing host to the 2008 NCAA Woman’s Basketball Final Four and Championship games. So, while the men got stuck in sultry San Antonio, the women could at least cool off at the beach — at least that’s what I did.
I spent Thursday through Sunday in Tampa for the event and was extremely impressed with how well prepared the town was. Signs decorated the roadways and the grass was groomed to perfection. Having been there once before, I’m proud to announce that this place is cleaner than your grandma’s kitchen.
The St. Pete Times Forum sits along the channel that runs through the town. It was decorated with huge, colorful banners and lit up with beautiful lights for the event.
Parking, you ask? No problem. The only thing you have to worry about is how much you want to pay $5 or $10. Not bad at all considering you have to pay $15 to park in Newark, NJ.
Outside the arena there’s plenty of good bars, but they were never packed enough where you had to wait to get inside. In fact, the area surrounding the Forum was deserted during the two Final Four games, even famed Lightning winger Dave Andreychuk’s restaurant. If you weren’t inside the Forum, you certainly weren’t watching it from a bar stool within a mile radius.
Thousands of players, coaches and fans took to Tampa for the three games. Walking through the lobby at the “official” hotel of the tournament, several big-time coaches sat and watched North Carolina get blown out. Some cheered, some booed, all drank.
Tomorrow, Stanford takes on Tennessee for the title and I’d have to throw my pick behind Stanford. I love the way Stanford’s future WNBA lottery pick Candice Wiggins plays. Heck, her tools are so refined, she could be an NBA lottery pick.
Tennessee barely beat UConn with an almost-healthy Candice Parker. How are the Lady Vols going to get by a Stanford team that has played four more games than them this year and don’t even look winded?
The Prediction: Stanford 80, Tennessee 74
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