It was just another assignment when I went down to the old Trailer Park gym on Rome Ave. to do a story on the Florida Wheels. This was back in the dark ages of the ‘70s and even being sportswriter I couldn’t work up a whole lot of enthusiasm for wheelchair basketball.
It was Chuck Porter, a member of the Wheels squad, who had lured me onto the court, loaning me his chair so I could experience a little bit of the game.
It took about five minutes to realize that this was a different game requiring different skills. While the two teams raced up and down the court I made one trip and was out of gas. Not only that my hands were getting raw from trying to twist the chair around. And I was getting banged around by other players in chairs. In short I was getting mugged on the court.
But the experience also allowed me to feel a little of the bonding of the players, men who had decided to take on their special challenges to the fullest. I did my story and then found myself coming back to the gym and even borrowing a chair now and then to worked with the team, even if I was no match for their skill level.
After a couple of hours in the unairconditioned gym they would roll over to Leos bar for a couple of beers. It became a weekly ritual. The Wheels played in a national league and traveled around the South playing in their division.
The Wheels disbanded years ago but Porter, who has worked as chairman of the Mayor’s Alliance on Disabilities, called to tell me they will have a reunion next Wednesday, May 14th at 1 p.m. at the Embassy Suites out on Fowler Ave.  by the USF campus. He’s looking for former players, coaches, refs, anybody who was a part of that special time. If you want some more information, you can call Chuck Porter at (813) 886-4163.

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Sorry I’ve been a little slow with the blog this week. I want to blame it on the crash. My youngest was driving back from FSU at the end of the semester last weekend when he was slammed into by an 18-wheeler. He climbed out of the little Mazda with only a couple of bruises and a sore neck. The car looked like what happens when you’re through with a sheet of aluminum foil and crush it up into a ball. I haven’t been able to shake the image all week.
Your emails have been very kind although the dozens of you who have shared similar experiences is almost scary.
Here is a sampling of some of your notes:
My old friend and former Tampa Times’ colleague Mike Sherard wrote, “...Know the phone call all too well. Judy and I still dread the phone even ringing at night...Our son rolled his car getting on the interstate in October and I swear we went through everything you did. I was so grateful he was alive, I was giving money to the trash guys, paid a guy’s bill at the grocery store and on and on. So hang in there; there’s a bunch of us that know how you feel...damn kids.’’
From John Swann: “First let me say I am very glad your son is OK. I am a father with a daughter in college in Arkansas and have spent many a night worry about that same call. Your article could not have come at a better time for me. I was having a really bad day and very worried about things going on right now (lack of money) and your article shook me to the core. How dare I be concerned about things like that when I have so many things to be grateful for in my life. P.S. I think I’d be looking at a bigger used care this time.’’
Mark Tenney knew our feelings well: “Steve,...Your experience and the feelings evoked hit really close to home for Kathy and me. About three and a half years ago we had an eerily similar experience. Our oldest son John was driving home from school for Christmas break. He was involved in a serious car accident on I-75 at Payne’s Prairie (just north of the Citra exit) and his car was totaled very similar to your son’s car.
“Once we arrived in Gainesville and saw the extent of the damage to his car we wondered how he escaped unharmed. As we rummaged through all of his so-called valuables, we quickly realized how unimportant ‘stuff’ is and just how precious your children are. As we prepare to drive to Gainesville this weekend to watch John graduate from UF, your column reminded us that this blessing came very close to never being realized. Thanks again for the reminder of what is truly important in life and how quickly it can be lost.’’
Jay Botsch, who is General manager of WestShore Plaza, wrote, “Hi Steve, “This past Monday afternoon my cell phone rang with a very upset 18-year-old high school senior girl on the other end...sitting in her car moments after being struck by a vehicle that failed to stop at a traffic signal on East Lake Road. As you’ve guessed, the 18-year-old is my daughter Jennifer. I soon learned that parental helplessness is not a familiar, comfortable or welcome state for me.
“The good news is that my daughter seems to be okay. And we’re happy the other drive is okay as well...though that’s a tougher lesson to learn for an 18 year old that just lost her car/freedom. We’re also grateful to the numerous passersby that assisted my daughter from the car leading her to safety. I actually spoke with one person, a parent as well, assuring me that Jennifer was okay (never learned her name which I’m sorry about). Our thanks and praise are also extended to the Sheriff’s Dept., East Lake Fire and Rescue and Mease Countryside Emergency personnel. Simply terrific professional service at a time when you really need it.
“So I find that my wife and I are in the same reflective state about life and priorities...just as you are. I understand fully. So now that we’re bonded, let me in on any good used car leads you hear about through this story. Ha! Enjoy your son this summer.’’

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You know, we had those rascals for about four innings. I’m talking about us - The Media All Stars - and how we had that team from the Lighthouse for the Blind on the ropes in 20th annual Beepball Classic at the New York Yankees Community Field this afternoon.
I think they were a tad overconfident. Maybe it was winning the first 19 years in a row. Beepball is a variation of baseball - a pretty strange variation at that . The idea is to hit a beeping ball while you are blindfolded and then to try and find the beeping base before the outfield finds the beeping ball. There’s more but you get the picture.
I knew it was going to be a close game when their big hitter Lee Kimbrell slashed a hit up the middle That
s traditionally been the beginning of the end, but this time our own Alicia Roberts, WFLA’s morning traffic person deluxe, sacrificed her body, diving to the ground to scoop it up.
After New York Yankee’s Phil McNiff scored our first run, Tampa City Councilman Charlie Miranda whacked one down the first base line and for the first time in a dozen or so years we were leading.
I think we might have pushed our luck later on when our Pinetop Peterson set his mystical Mojo Hand, which comes in a giant jar, behind home plate.
The mojo worked against us and the Lighthouse team, led by Kimbrell, scored five runs, finally winning for the 20th consecutive time 7-3.
Hey it was a beautiful day, the hot dogs were great, the Coleman Middle School Orchstra was super and there is always next year.

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It wasn’t exactly breaking news, but the source was a little surprising when Tampa City Councilman Charlie Miranda announced that the council is “dysfunctional.’’ For several reasons Charlie is my favorite councilman and one of them is his ability to cut to the chase.  On Thusday they managed to drag out a discussion on limiiting their own campaign contributions for what seemed hours.
It finally got to that point where Charlie lost it and declared the whole crowd dysfunctional and announced he was goign to run for county commssion. Should all that happen and he gets a seat on the county board, you have to wonder how long it’s going to take for him to realize he has fallen into the Black Hole of dysfunction.
- Actually my personal concern is that Charlie and Councilwoman Mary Mulhern are in my starting lineup in tomorrow’s Beepball game against the Lighthouse for the Blind (10 a.m. at the New York Yankees Community Field right next to Legends Fieldy. The last thing I need is a dysfuntional infield as we try to snap or 19-year string of losses to the Lighthouse.

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Not a very catchy headline is it? thought I might try some daily ramblings and see how it goes. They probably won’t be anything too heavy, just ramblings.
We watched the latest Presidential debate last night, this one from Philadelphia. I’ve been wondering when the candidates might get down to something substantial. It didn’t happen last night, although I can’t blame the two Democrats who were at the mercy of the ABC network’s moderators. They were more interested in the cult of personality that has become the trademark of our media and they worked it mercilessly.
- Today has been such a day of contrasts as the media focuses on that bizarre Texas cult and the coming of the Pope to the United States. It is on days like this we are reminded of our diverse and different we really are.

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So Farmer Buddy has been late or has not completely paid his property taxes for four years in a row. And this is the same Farmer Buddy who was looking for some exemptions on his property because he let someone else graze twelve cows there.
Farmer Buddy is hardly unique in Hillsborough County in being late or in working the rules to try to save a few bucks.
But Buddy Johnson is also the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections. Maybe we shouldn’t try to hold elected officials to higher standards or even as models of anything because we are so frequently disappointed . Buddy has a right to work the system as much as anyone else.
At the same time this is the same guy repsonsible for huge amounts of your tax dollars and for operating an elections department that needs to not only be efficient but squeaky clean. Historically this office has failed at both and something like this doesn’t do much to raise anybody’s confidence level in what’s going on down there. 

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Did you catch the Olympic torch todayas it made its one and only appearance in the United States in San Francisco?
With protest crowds lining the streets of the city, the torch bearer made her way off the platofrm, into a warehouse, into a motorcade and was last seen leaving the country faster than last year’s Christmas toys.
Most telling was the Chinese news agency, which reported back home that everything went just swell over in America.
It is going to be an interesting summer as China attempts to let the world in without the politics and winds of free speech that come with it..

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Now some members of the Tampa Art Museum’s board want to put up a rooftop terrace on the new art museum about to be constructed downtown on the river. The pitch is that it would act as a fund raiser for the museum, hosting weddings, bar mitzvahs and the like, providing an open air facility overlooking the minarets across the Hillsborough River. It sounds romantic, moonlight over Monet and all that ,but the more cynical out there might see it as just a venue for the artsy fartsy set that most of us would never see.
I say build it but, except for a designated number of occasions, open it up, put in a few potted palms and call it a public park.

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These days Wright Gres is a tugboat captain living on a bluff over the Altamaha River in southeastern Georgia. But he is a Tampa native, who grew up sailing and working on anything that floated around Tampa Bay.
Now Gres has written a novel, “Macedonian Passage: Dangerous Cargo.’’ It’s a good read and for a first novel a very good read. He’s back in town and will be at the Inkwood Bookstore in Hyde Park Thursday at 7 p.m. He’s a likable guy tells some great stories. 

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The bad news is that legislators are still meandering around Tallahassee. The good news is about the most important on their agenda these days seems to be the state song. After spending a few months holding an online contest to come up with a new song to replace “Old Folks At Home,’’ they have finally concluded that the winner sounds more like background music at a Disney attraction and are trying to salvage the current one.
Their solution is to keep the original with revised lyrics that replace the original words done in mock slave dialect. That’s OK by me except that some legislators apparently want to write their own, brand new lyrics. You have to figure if a legislative committee gets hold of that, they will spend the next six months trying to come with a verse that rhymes with “Seating the Florida delegation.’’

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The 10 judges were lined up on stools at the bar. Unfortunately the bar, like the Channelside restaurant where it was located, had closed its doors a few weeks back. We were using it as the secret chambers for judging this the 21st annual Steve Otto Chili Cookoff.
We were into our 20th or maybe it was the 21st sample cup and things were getting hostile. Chili is an iconic American dish. If you want a true bowl of red, you have to come to this country to get it.
The problem was, we weren’t getting it. Team after team, after sweating for hours outdoors in the Channelside courtyard, had turned in concoctions that sort of resembled chili, but tasted more like grout cleaner mixed with beans.
It had happened before in earlier contests, where the teams, maybe with too much time on their hands, saw other competitors dumping peppers and unknowns in the chili pot and figured they had to do the same. By judging time many of them were practically inedible. I think it was the 21st first cup that one of the judges suggested might make a good putty for bricks. Not only would it hold the bricks together, the aroma would kill any termites that dared come close.
Despite the pain, the judges pressed on and finally came up with a credible winner. I’ll probably give you some more on the contest in Wednesday’s column, but it did raise $13,000 for the Judeo Christian Health Clinic and that’s a good thing.

The winner

The winning team was The Krewe of Zingaro, which placed second last year. Here’s their recipe:

INGREDIENTS: 6 POUNDS LEAN BEEF, SIRLOIN TIP ROAST, CUT INTO HALF-INCH CUBES
4 POUNDS PORK TENDERLOIN , TRIMMED OF ALL FAT AND CUT INTO HALF-INCH CUBES
1 AND A HALF POUNDS PANCETTA, OR OTHER SMOKED BACON, CUT INTO STRIPS
2 LARGE VIDALIA ONIONS, CHOPPED
12 LARGE CLOVES OF GARLIC, MASHED INTO TWO TABLESPOONS OLIVE OIL , DIVIDED
6 TABLESPOONS GROUND CUMIN, DIVIDED
7 TABLESPOONS REGULAR CHILI POWDER
8 TABLESPOONS HOT CHILI POWDER
4 TABLESPPONS SMOKED PAPRIKA, DIVIDED
1 TEASPOON MEXICAN OREGANO
1 SEVEN OUNCE CAN CHIPOLTES IN ADOBE SAUCE, STEMS REMOVED, CHOPPED, SEEDED
2-3 TABLESPOONS OF MASA (OPTIONAL)
3 28-OUNCE CANS CRUSHED iTALIAN TOMATOES
16 OUNCES BEEF STOCK
1 12-OUNCE BEER, WARM
2 TABLESPOONS FLAVOR ENHANCER
4 TEASPOONS SEA SALT
1 TEASPOON CAYENNE PEPPER
OLIVE OIL


PROCESS:

Put the chopped bacon into a heavy-bottomed skillet and cook over medium high heat until the fat is rendered.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon into a 15-quart heavy bottomed stock pot.
Saute the chopped Vidalia onions in the heated iron skillet with the bacon drippings until soft, about five minutes over medium high heat, then transfer the onions to the stock pot. 
Put one tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet and brown the meat in batches, alternating between the beef and pork. adding a little oil each time. When each batch is browned, add to the stock pot. When about halfway through the browning process, add half of the garlic, half of the cumin, one tablespoon smoked paprika, the regular chili powder, Mexican oregano, tomatoes, beer, beef stock, flavor enhancer, and two teaspoons of the sea salt to the stock pot and begin to cook over medium heat.
Continue to brown the remaining meat and add to the simmering pot.
Cook over medium heat, covered, stirring occasionally, to maintain a good simmer, about one and a half hours.
When the meat is tender, add the reamaining cumin and garlic, hot chili powder, remaining three tablespoons smoked paprika, the chipoltes in adobe sauce, and remaining two teaspoons of sea salt and the cayenne pepper.
If using masa, mix with some of the liquid, and re-introduce into the pot. Continue cooking for at least thity minutes to combine spices.
Invite the fire department over and eat.

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Now there is a study to see if teachers are having more sex with their students than in the past. This come after 10 Hillsborough County teachers in less than three years have been charged.
Last night I asked my third-grade teacher wife if there was something to this sex thing. She looked at me and said she had a headache and rolled over.

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Curtis Wienker wrote in to comment on last week’s column that mentioned the excativions in downtown Tampa and the “lack of proof’’ about whose bones we found.
Wienker is actually Dr. Curtis Wienker, Emeritus Profesor of Anthropology and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of South Florida. The man know his bones.
“I contact you regarding your column of today (3/17/08). You wrote that there was “never really any proof’ that the bones found at the site of the Fort Brooke Parking Garage were from American Indians. I am the physical anthropologist that studied the remains of more than 100 of the graves that were excavated during the project, which was under the direction of then Piper and Piper, a private archaeology firm. I studied them ‘blind’, in the absence of any archaeological information aside from whatever artifacts might have been included with the remains that were brought to the physical anthropology laboratory at USF , oh so many years ago. Then, near the end of the project, I was given a description of the cultural artifacts found in each grave.
“It was one of the more interesting projects I have been involved with since first coming to USF in 1972. Indeed, you are almost certainly correct that some of the remains probably were derived from early settlers of the village of Tampa. The site dates approximately to the time of the Second Seminole War, roughly 1824-1848. Historical records suggest that the cemetery (all interments appear to have been in wooden coffins) contained the remains of Seminoles, settlers, US military personnel, and American Indian scouts associated with Fort Brooke. 
“That some of the remains were American Indian is virtually incontestable. Some had dental characteristics definitive of American Indians and Asians and some were buried with typical Seminole artifacts. While not proof, the scientific evidence is incontrovertible, in my professional experience and opinion.
“My final report, and the comprehensive project report of Harry M. Piper and his wife Jacqueline are in the USF Library. It is almost certain that there are more graves in land immediately adjacent to the area that was excavated.
Sincerely,
Curtis W. Wienker, Ph.D.

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There was a memorial service today in Sun City Center for Merrill Pratt Thomas, who died last week and who was the subject of a column last Sunday. A lot of of are tourists on this planet. We pass through life like we’re on one of those tour buses, never getting out to meet the people. Merrill, who died at the age of 100, having led a life that took her from rural Mississippi to Shanghai and Manhattan, was one of those who got off the bus and got to know the local surroundings.
Merrill was full of life practically to the end. It was only last year we went out for a rich Indonesian meal full of spices. She was involved with the Community Foundation and a generous donor.
At the memorial service her close friend Sister Rosalie Hennessey mentioned that at the age of 97, she had come to the nun and asked her to read a two page mission statement. “At the age of 97 Merrill decided she needed a plan and so wrote what had to be the only mision statement ever done by a 97 year old,’’ said Hennessey.
The last line of Merrill’s stement reads, “My mission now at age 97 is to be as kind and loving as I can be. and try not to be miserable around the people who love me.’’
Sounds like a mission statement we could all use, and not wait until we’re 97 to start trying.

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Another day, another couple of Cubans have slipped out of Tampa hotel rooms and gone looking for a piece of the American Dream.
For a lot of us that dream seems to be a little more difficult these days and if you watch enough news, things look almost bleaak .
So at the very least you can thank a handful (so far) of Cuban soccer players for reminding us of the things that are important and that if you want to pursue your own dreams, then you are in the right place to do just that.

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