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How well does Gov. Rick Scott really know Florida? Apparently not well enough to know that the area including St. Petersburg, Tampa and Clearwater — you know, the second biggest metro area in his state — is pretty commonly referred to as “Tampa Bay.” We don’t like to pull the “real Floridian” card often, but dear Lord, if you’ve never heard the term “Tampa Bay” you are not a real Floridian.
So, earlier this week the St. Petersburg Times, the most read paper in the state, announced in that starting next year it would rename itself the Tampa Bay Times to reflect its dominant position the area.
Scott was asked his opinion of the name change.
“That’s interesting. … Does the region call itself the Tampa Bay region?” was his reply.
What?
Seriously, how does the Governor of Florida not know that Tampa Bay calls itself Tampa Bay?
Is he not at the very least familiar with their sports team? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Tampa Bay Lighting.
“It’s not something we can just laugh off,” Tampa council member Frank Reddick told WTSP (which bills itself as “Tampa Bay’s news leader”). “I think the governor needs to go get a history lesson.”
Scott is an Illinois native who’s only lived in Florida since 2003, so maybe we should cut him some slack. But seriously, we’re so used to “the Bay” or “Bay Area” referring to Tampa Bay, you have no idea how many San Franciscans we’ve pissed off by assuming they’re from Largo. So, we truly are perplexed as to how the governor is not familiar with the term.
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