Cheap thrills

You may have thought Tampa and the Bay Area was all about endless sunshine, 70-degree winter days, the nation's best beaches and palm trees. Those things alone make my new hometown appealing for an event on the scale of the Super Bowl.

But, no, we've got much more than that to offer: we're also serious about our lap dances and silicone-inflated breassesses.

The Super Bowl is a command performance for a city defined, in part, by its international reputation for lap dancing.

Tampa has 30 licensed adult dance clubs, adult theaters, live model studios and adult bookstores on record at City Hall. That's roughly 1 per 11,300 residents, among the highest rates nationwide. The infamous adults-only scene gives Tampa part of its luster, some say.

"I don't think it's a stretch to say that the adult entertainment industry helps us get things like the Super Bowl,'' said Paul Allen, publisher of NightMoves magazine, one of the oldest adult club publications in the country.

Raised in another city (Houston) known for its, uh, nightlife, I've gotta say that Tampa is not at all prudish about its offerings. That even extends to my generally family-friendly employer. Check out this post on one of our many, many, many Super Bowl blogs:

There's one guy who likes to bring girls in the private area and all he wants you to do -- in costume -- is bend over and constantly smoke cigarettes and blow smoke between your legs. He doesn't want to touch you. He just wants you to blow smoke in between your legs and occasionally blow smoke in his face.

Speaking of silicone breassesses, we've also invited former SI "columnist" and aspiring "model" Jenn Sterger to share her thoughts on our Web site.

And hey, I'm all for it. Let's go 100 percent with this thing. Anything for eyeballs and Web clicks. I'm sure she came, uh, cheap.