“Mr. Glazer, let’s roll up to city hall for a chat.”
Joe finds the words of a Dade City Commissioner to be neither cute nor appropriate.
Like most cities, towns and unincorporated areas across the Tampa Bay area, Dade City in east Pasco County is loaded with Buccaneers fans. However, public servant and Dade City commissioner Ann Cosentino last weekend seemed not to care about those rabid fans she represents.
“We’re an Atlanta Falcons town,” Cosentino said with a smile, per Hernando Sun reporter Pat Yasinskas. (Yes, that Pat Yasinskas, the former ESPN and Tampa Tribune beat writer, an attendee of Ira Kaufman’s birthday party last August.)
Falcons quarterback Michael Penix, a Dade City kid who later starred at Pasco and Tampa Bay Tech high schools, hosted a 300-kid youth camp on Cosentino’s turf. Penix not only paid the bill for the event, per Yasinskas, Dade City named a street after him.
It’s clear from Yasinskas that Penix plans to plant deep Bay area roots while he quarterbacks the Falcons, and it seems somebody is trying to build a base of Falcons fandom on the Bucs’ home turf.
“With most of a crowd of about 500 decked out in Falcons’ red, black and white, Dade City held a street-renaming event Saturday afternoon,” Yasinskas wrote, noting Penix told the kids the camp would be an annual event.
Joe is all for giving back and supporting kids, but the Falcons-focused part of this really stinks. Where does it stop? How many Falcons players might join Penix next year at a much bigger event? Will he do something similar at Tampa Bay Tech, 10 miles from One Buc Palace?
Given Penix’s status and potential, Joe thinks someone at One Buc Palace should put this on their radar. And while the Bucs rarely have community relations events in Dade City, perhaps it’s time to get one on the calendar.
In the meantime, fans are welcome to send a tasteful email to the Dade City commissioner, acosentino@dadecityfl.com.