Pacman Jones' Attending Super Bowl XLIII or Tampa's 43 Strip Clubs?

The NFL will play its 43rd Super Bowl on Sunday.

Troy Polamalu wears No. 43 for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In Tampa, Florida the No. 43 has its own meaning, it’s the number of strip clubs found in the metropolitan area.

Incidentally, all 43 Tampa-area strips clubs have a dancer named "Shyla."

The week leading up to the Super Bowl is for Tampa strip clubs what the day after Thanksgiving is for shopping malls (minus the g-strings and tassels).

"Based on what we did last Super Bowl (in 2001), the numbers will quadruple during that [week]” says Nick Polefrone, general manager of 2001 Odyssey, a gentlemen’s club within walking distance of Raymond James Stadium.

Depending on the club, time of day, and implants, some dancers will make as much as $2,000 a day—and that’s just from Mike Pereira alone.

Back in 2001, for Super Bowl XV (Ravens over the Giants), Tampa lawmakers passed a law making lap-dances a misdemeanor offense.

However, Tampa Police don’t patrol strip clubs looking for men with strippers on their laps, but they will investigate if someone complains (i.e. the wife, the girlfriend, or NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell).

While the police may not care, surely a platoon of NFL security guards will be stationed at every club to make sure one of its current players doesn’t pull a “Pacman Jones.” 

Strip clubs are so much a part of the area, that the Tampa Tribune added a feature to its web site where visitors can search all 43 strip clubs for such information as cover charge, dress code, and peroxide usage.

The Super Bowl and strip clubs...you can’t get much more American than that.