The first ESPN Magicjack Bowl in the Tropicana Dome in St. Petersburg was a good show considering the drab look of the brownish artificial turf and the rush to kick off this newest Tampa Bay sports presentation. Still it was lacking something, the most missed element being live fans.

The official attendance numbers likely will be exaggerated, though I am not sure why that should be so for the inaugural MagicJack Bowl at Tropicana.  The actual number will be far easier to top next year and then the next and then the next if the factual figure is reported. And, whatever was there, they were primarily University of South Florida fans, with a few thousand representing Memphis in a decent college football game in which the men in the stripped shirts were in lead roles.

ESPN should be proud. That active sports network that got the game on its schedule, as it did several other of the newer post-season events with room to grow and the people, especially here, to provide the tools for success. It was ESPN, word is, that wanted this final bowl game and ultimately selected Tropicana Field as a first home.

Tampa has, and loves, the Outback Bowl this New Year’s featuring Coach Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina and Iowa. It has climbed now to rank high on that list of special bowls. The Outback owners love the product, love Raymond James Stadium, love their support here and appreciate the good work of Director Jim McVay. The Outback Bowl does not compete with the new Magicjack Bowl, nor does the Magicjack compete with the Outback.

ESPN, word is, was searching Florida for a location of a fifth bowl to fill out a pre-Christmas week of games. Orlando was checked, then USF was asked to look around Tampa Bay. Doug Woodward, the USF athletic director, because USF would host the game, studied this place of his and ours, but well aware of The Outback, began more seriously checking The Trop.

St. Pete already had a committee at work and was a natural setting anyway. There is the USF campus there. It is the home of USF combatative coach, Jim Leavitt, and 22 miles from the USF campus. It looked like an all-around good deal, and it was. Now that it has been played, and the first Majicjack Bowl won by USF over Memphis 41-14 the Bulls can claim the inaugural victory, and hey, they might want to defend the title, if all the other goodies are right.

Know, ESPN surely is happy enough. The game was competitive long enough to have been worth the TV time and, forget not that this is a big, big television market.

USF did not make a rout of it until the game ebbed. And, well, if you had to have a lop-sider, better it was the Bulls, better it was Coach Leavitt, better it was the team with the most support there. And by the way, except for the tattered look of the phony turf, the place looked just fine, and was.

Remember, it can rain this time of year, and has, that week in 1984 when the first Super Bowl was played here, at old Tampa Stadium.

And, let’s not forget how well the Bulls played in the smash of Memphis - offensively, defensively, special teams, in every way except for lacking discipline at times on the field and off, before and during the game. The Bulls had many too many personal fouls. And, word was that Leavitt scolded with part-game suspensions of some of his veteran players.

Sounds to some to be bigsshotish to break rules.  Nothing bigsshotish when it is mentioned on national television and reported here, that sort of lack of discipline.

  Otherwise, the Bulls, with captains Matt Grothe and George Selvie leading as they were elected to do, it was a fine debut for a bowl - except for the missing grass, in Florida, of all places.