Adams: Jacksonville the underdog grows up, now a Super town

When I left Jacksonville in the summer of 1987, the biggest game in town was Florida vs. Georgia, the biggest pro sport was golf, the Jaguars were all foreign, and the NFL was a big tease.

Robert Irsay flirted with Jacksonville long before he moved his Colts from Baltimore to Indianapolis. Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams made a pass, too.

You couldn't blame them. It was good business.

Jacksonville desperately wanted an NFL franchise, and NFL franchises wanted leverage. That didn't make for a perfect marriage, but it was a pretty good date.

Jacksonville provided leverage. Established NFL franchises offered hope. So the user and the enabler took a couple of turns around the dance floor together. No harm, no team.

I covered plenty of NFL games during my two years in Jacksonville. I covered them in Tampa, Atlanta and Miami. I covered a Super Bowl, too. It was in New Orleans.

Almost nothing was in Jacksonville. It was a big city with a big sports hole.

You had Florida-Georgia in November, the Gator Bowl in January and the TPC in March. Everything else of consequence was a road trip.

The biggest sports star I remember was Tiger Whiz. He was virtually unbeatable during his heyday at the Jacksonville Greyhound Track.

I also remember Twister, who was the mascot for the Jacksonville Jets. They zoomed through town one year as a member of the Continental Basketball League.

The team, which was owned by former Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien, moved to Jacksonville from Pensacola, Fla., and changed its name from Tornados to Jets. But Stepien liked Twister so much that he kept the same mascot. The incompatibility of Jets and Twisters never dawned on him.

Greg Larson, a fellow sports columnist in Jacksonville, wrote only one column about the Jets. He went from one fan to another in the stands, wrote their names in his notebook and listed them in his next day's column. It was a short column.

I had dinner with another professional basketball entrepreneur in Jacksonville. He tried to sell me on the U.S. Basketball League. I told him about Greg's column.

The franchise never made it to the mascot stage.

Most pro sports were only in Jacksonville for a weekend. I wrote a column about a professional putt-putt tournament in which the winner received $125. I wrote another column about a professional volleyball tournament, which was sponsored by a popular beer.

The sponsor subtly placed its name on two model beer cans inflated to the size of condominiums. Beer was not allowed on Jacksonville Beach, so an announcer repeatedly reminded spectators (no, I didn't bother getting their names) that the sponsor's product was being served in a nearby restaurant.

A bikini contest was held in conjunction with the tournament. The contestants' suits were just big enough to accommodate a pin bearing the beer sponsor's name.

The theme of my next day's column: Beach volleyball is a serious sport. The participants and the Jacksonville Beach mayor thought I was being sarcastic. Go figure.

It's probably too cold for volleyball and bikinis at Jacksonville Beach this week. The city will have to get by with a Super Bowl.

How did it happen? How does any upset happen?

How did the Red Sox rally from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Yankees? How did Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson? How did Doug Flutie complete that Hail Mary?

You can't explain the "Miracle on Ice." You just marvel at it.

This NFL wannabe finally got what it wanted - and more. In 1993, Jacksonville became the NFL's 30th franchise. Now, it has the 39th Super Bowl.

You might get goose bumps thinking about the Amazin' Mets, Hoosiers and Rudy. But the Jacksonville I remember was a bigger underdog than any of them.

It couldn't even measure up in its own state. Miami was an international city. Orlando had Disney World. Tampa had an NFL team in 1976.

Jacksonville had a short drive to Georgia.

As a sports columnist for the Jacksonville Journal, I could appreciate the city's underdog role. The Journal was a small afternoon paper under the same ownership as the much larger morning paper, the Florida Times-Union. Although I wrote for the larger paper's weekend editions, my week-day efforts were confined to the Journal.

Despite the Journal's small circulation, a generous travel budget enabled me to cover major sporting events throughout the country. I even had my own office until someone decided the space was needed for storage. I returned from a trip to Tallahassee one night, flipped on the light switch and noticed my desk was missing.

It was already obvious that neither of us would be there for long.

I didn't stick around to witness the demise of another afternoon paper. But I also missed out on seeing Jacksonville grow up.

The Journal didn't make it. Jacksonville did.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.