For such a rotten sports city, Bucs sure are happy to be in O-Town

They like us.

They actually like us.

Can you believe it, Orlando?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers rave about us. The NFL adores us. They talk about what great facilities we have. They talk about what great support we've given them.

"The City of Orlando has been tremendous," said Bucs Coach Jon Gruden as his team clocked in for training camp at Disney.

All we ever hear is about how rotten we are as a sports town. All we ever hear is how our facilities stink, our basketball arena is outdated, our football stadium is a relic, our commitment to sports is a joke.

You know what? It's downright refreshing to hear the king of all sports -- the NFL -- appreciate and applaud us. It's sort of like getting dumped on your whole life by every girl in the bar and then Halle Berry comes along one night and says, "Has anybody ever told you how absolutely HOT you are?"

Hommina, hommina, hommina.

That's the sense of excitement that pervaded the grounds Thursday when the Bucs reported here for camp. It's only fitting that the team is staying at the Celebration Hotel. Why not, right? Every time they show up here in Central Florida it feels like we should be celebrating something.

We can only hope the party doesn't end after this training camp. In about a month, the Bucs are scheduled to move into their palatial new $30 million training facility in Tampa. They started coming to Orlando four years ago to get away from the dilapidated, old rat hole known as One Buc Place and to escape the antiquated facilities at the University of Tampa. Now that they have their new digs in Tampa, do they really need to pack up and make the 90-mile trip to Orlando every July?

The simple, obvious answer would be no way, but the Bucs are too savvy to come to such a shortsighted conclusion. There was a time when Orlando was a strong Miami Dolphins market, but the Bucs have clearly become our favorite NFL team during the last several years.

Why wouldn't the Bucs want to keep building a fan base in the 20th-ranked TV market in the country? There are thousands of potential season-ticket holders in Orlando who can drive to Tampa on a Sunday afternoon in the time it takes them to drive to work on I-4 during the week.

Sure, it costs more to train here in Orlando than it would at home but, fortunately, the Bucs are smart enough to realize that staying in Orlando would be the most astute business move they've made since dumping Warren Sapp (is he still in the league?).

"This gives us a chance to plant the Buccaneer flag a little further into the state of Florida," Gruden said.

"We don't look at training here as an expense, we look at it as an investment," said Bucs Chief Operating Officer Eric Land. "It's very important for us to have a presence in this market."

It's no wonder the Bucs are happy here. Disney, after all, is the king of hospitality. These people know how to make visitors want to come back. The accommodations are immaculate, the food exquisite, the fields pristine.

When the Bucs first came here, Reggie Williams, Disney's vice president of sports attractions, explained his mission thusly: "Our job is ensure that everything they want, they get," he said. "When they say, 'Jump,' we don't ask, 'How high?' We ask, 'Is that 5.3 feet or 5.3 meters?' "

We worry about the Magic leaving if they don't get a new arena.

We worry about our college bowl games eventually bolting if they don't upgrade the Citrus Bowl.

But the Buccaneers are so happy with their accommodations and facilities, they're looking for reasons not to leave.

Maybe we should put Disney in charge of downtown redevelopment.

Mike Bianchi can be reached at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com.