UPDATE: An administration spokesperson says that the Mayor and his wife, along with chief of staff Paul Okeson, are guests of the Super Bowl host committee, but Ballard will be paying back his wife’s expenses. Public Safety Director Scott Newman, along with the police and fire chiefs, also are in Tampa, though I’m still trying to figure out who’s paying their way. The CIB is not footing the bill, though I’d still question why all three of the Mayor’s top public safety folks need to be down there when there’s a foot of snow on the ground here, and it’s unclear whether Ballard will even be in that job when Indy’s Super Bowl rolls around. As an aside, I continue to question why the Mayor can’t seem to go anywhere without his wife. Hello? Super Bowl? Man weekend?

I just heard a tip that Greg Ballard took his whole family to Tampa at the expense of the Capital Improvement Board despite being told by advisers that it would be a bad move.

Ballard apparently didn’t listen and said he thought it was a family getaway that he deserved to take.

If that’s true, he should have at least offered to take one or two snow-bound Circle City residents with him. Don’t we deserve a getaway, too?

I don’t really have a dog in Sunday’s Super Bowl hunt, so I figure, why not make it political?

While I admired John McCain 1.0 (the non-wingnut, down-to-earth model), Version 2.008 (a.k.a. The Pander Bear) made me — and a lot of other voters — a little sick.

There’s a giant demerit for Arizona.

Back in 2004, I was never a gung-ho John Kerry groupie, but he sure as shootin’ would’ve been a better pick than four more years of Dubya. That being said, the Heinz name and family fortune that trailed his wife around didn’t exactly make him, shall we say, overly marketable to real people. (I’m reminded of this because Kerry was just on cable news talking about some other issue but happened to mention the Super Bowl.)

A slight ding, then, for the Steelers, who play at Heinz Field.

So, how do we resolve this?

Beer, that’s how.

Pennsylvania, a state I could otherwise take or leave, is home to Yuengling, America’s oldest brewery (they even brewed watered-down libations during Prohibition). My roommate in college was from Philly and would always bring a case back when she’d go home. That was cool cuz (a) we were underage; and (b) you can’t buy Yuengling in the Midwest. Not only is it quality beer, but it’s rare in these here parts. One bonus of driving out to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration was being able to pick up a couple cases in Maryland.

I guess, in the end, my decision is less political than thirst-oriented: On Sunday, I’m going to invite over a few friends, crack open a tasty amber and root for the Steelers.

But only because the Colts aren’t playing.

Who d’ya like?

The more I think about the fact that Greg Ballard fled our snow-covered city yesterday for a few days of partying in Tampa, the more I wonder who in God’s name made that terrible decision.

I also wonder who’s paying for his trip and whether his wife and kids are along for the ride.

But mostly, I wonder why a mayor who’s on the ballot in 2011 would bail on local residents in their time of need to prep for a Super Bowl that won’t take place here until…2012.

Send the committee? Send top public safety advisers? Event planners? Absolutely.

Send the guy who ought to be back here helping residents dig out and explaining to them how he’s making our city “livable” by telling them to shovel their own streets ? Pretty darn boneheaded.

While he’s basking in the warm Florida sun, Ballard had better hope for a heat wave here to melt the snow and cool residents’ ire over the way his administration has flubbed this situation.