Best of Tampa 2008

Staff Picks
BEST LOCAL POLITICIAN State Sen. Charlie Justice
WORST LOCAL POLITICIAN Buddy Johnson
BEST STATE TO TAKE A GUN TO WORK Florida
MOST MISPLACED PRIORITIES USF’s new Lakeland campus
BEST SCANDAL MANAGEMENT Don Wallace and Barry Cohen
BEST CRITICISM OF A “DAY OF SILENCE” BY A POLITICIAN WHO SHOULD OBSERVE A DAY OF SILENCE Brian Blair
MOST IGNORANT STATEMENT BY A PUBLIC OFFICIAL “I don’t even know what a transgendered is.” —Pinellas County Commissioner Calvin Harris
BEST CONTINUING CRIME WAVE (THAT’S NOT REALLY HAPPENING?) St. Petersburg
BEST WAY TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF THE FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION Burn a raccoon alive, show no remorse.
CRAZIEST IDEAS FOR PRISON NUTRITION TIE: Cutting calories & “Management Loaf”
BEST CIRCLE JERK Robert Linger and friends
BEST ATTEMPT TO FLEECE TAXPAYERS The Jim Smith land scandal
BEST “NO-DUH” IDEA BY A LOCAL GOVERNMENT Removing the parking meters from a nearly deserted Ybor City
BEST PLACE TO WEAR A "V FOR VENDETTA" MASK Anonymous’ protest of Scientology
BEST $450 MILLION TAXPAYER-FUNDED SPORTS PROPOSAL Rays’ waterfront ballpark plans
BEST LUXURY ITEM FOR THE WELL-HEELED SPORTS FAN Flat-screen TVs in the Ray Jay
MOST AMAZING LOCAL SPORTS STORY OF THE YEAR Tampa Bay Rays
SECOND MOST AMAZING LOCAL SPORTS STORY OF THE YEAR USF Bulls Football
BEST RAY WHO SHOULD GET MORE LOVE Akinori Iwamura
BEST HAPPY RETURN Warrick Dunn
BEST RE-ACQUISITION Brian Griese
WORST SIGNING Jerramy Stevens
WORST SPORTS MELTDOWN Tampa Bay Lightning
BEST FORMER WEEKEND ANCHOR Jennifer Leigh, Newschannel 8
BEST USE OF THE WORD “BEADS” Gayle Guyardo
BEST USE OF THE WORDS “OH YEAHHH” Bill Ratliff
BEST JOURNALIST (BROADCAST) Kathy Fountain, Fox 13
BEST JOURNALISTS (PRINT) Lindsay Peterson & Billy Townsend of the Tampa Tribune
BEST BLOWING THE LID OFF “TV chef spiced up his past exploits,” by Ben Montgomery of the St. Petersburg Times
BEST LOCAL BLOG Litbrit
BEST RADIO TALK SHOW PARTNERS Ian Beckles and Ron Diaz of The Ron and Ian Show
QUICKEST WAY TO FAME Have Sex with an Underage Student — or Several