TAMPA -- If I'm lying . . . A man was walking down the main drag here with a string tied to a pigeon that had been water-colored red. ''I'm an Arizona Cardinal fan,'' he said -- the man, not the pigeon. ``But I couldn't find a cardinal for a mascot.''

Super Bowl.

Crazy.

Pittsburgh Steelers followers don't do things like that because they have played in six Super Bowls and won five of them, but this is brand-new for Arizona.

Still, though, between Cardinals and Steelers, Tampa has gone nuts. Even though they have played the biggest game of all here three times before, each succeeding game is considered the greatest thing to happen since the first Gulf of Mexico wave hit shore here. A lot of people still consider Tampa a little on the dull side, but nobody ever said that about this week, when five minutes never pass between bursts of klaxon horns, and every night is fireworks night.

''I don't know exactly what it is, either,'' said Ray Thomas, 63, who lives next to a fire station, ``but something about Super Bowls makes people think they have to set off fires. Maybe it's just the fireworks burning out, but there's always a ton of fires around here every Super Bowl week.''

Maybe it's just the contrast between the ordinary quiet of Tampa and and the viral hysteria taking effect. Whatever, odd things keep happening. Jon Gruden, 45, who coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Super Bowl championship just six years ago, was fired Jan. 16 -- ''stunned,'' he said, like a lot of other Tampa Bay folk.

South Florida -- Miami/Fort Lauderdale -- and New Orleans have held the most Super Bowls, with nine apiece.

The big one returns to South Florida next year, and the area plans to bid for another in 2013.

LUCKING OUT

It is the perfect site because of the perfect combination of great weather, a great stadium and a great many first-class hotel rooms. This might be a good year for South Florida to miss the championship match because limited numbers of Arizona supporters are expected to travel cross-country.

Even the greatest Cardinal of them all will take this one on TV. Halfback Charley Trippi, 87, who might be the greatest football player of all time, will catch the game on the tube in his hometown of Athens, Ga.

''You see a lot more on TV,,'' Trippi said, correctly.

You also avoid a lot of crowds, even if you are watching TV here. A spot called O'Brien's Irish Pub in Tampa expects 1,000 customers Sunday.

It's a Steelers-fan hangout, although O'Brien himself roots for the Buccaneers.

You would think O'Brien at least would put a Roethlisberger on the menu, but no such news. Anyway, business is good.

It seems to be good anywhere there's a Super Bowl.

This 43rd Super Bowl -- I refuse to call it XLIII on the theory that few people understand Roman numerals beyond about III -- is supposed to bring the local economy about $200 million.

INFLATED FIGURE?

No doubt Super Bowling is terrific for business, but eating and drinking and hotel-rooming into the

$200 million range sounds a little high to me.

Besides, if 40 percent of U.S. households are going to tune their TVs to the game, that has to mean at least a little extra beer and groceries around the whole country.

These days, that alone makes the Super Bowl pretty super.

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