Tuesday Afternoon Linebacker

hate it when there’s a week off before the Super Bowl. The only thing on TV on the weekend were “all-star” shows from guys like Madden and Howie Long. But we did get our first taste of Arena ball for this season. Well, on to the TALB.

Sue, Sue, Sue-dio
This isn’t really a lawsuit or anything, but I’ve been dying to use that line. Anyway. The Bucs have filed a greivance with the NFL against Keenan McCardell in response to his hold-out. Essentially, they are seeking one million dollars in signing bonus money that the team claims he is not entitled to due to his hold-out. Additionally, they seek about $400,000 in fines also related to the hold-out. The big news here is that the bonus money, if the league finds for the Bucs before a certain date, can be used to free up salary cap space this year. Which is a good thing.

Bye Bye Pittman?
Over the last couple of weeks, the Bucs have been mentioned as possible destinations for a few promising runners. The news dropped a while ago that Travis Henry, current with Buffalo, is looking to leave in the wake of the emergence of Willis McGahee. Then there is LaMont Jordan of the Jets. Like Henry, Jordan is stuck in the shadow of another back (Curtis Martin). Unlike Henry, Jordan will be a free-agent. And then there is Auburn back Cadillac Williams. I personally would rather see the Bucs use their first round pick on an offensive lineman. And between Jordan and Henry I think Jordan has more upside. He’s younger, he’s a free-agent, and he’s worked with Paul Hackett before.

There is speculation that Jordan could be franchise tagged. TALB does not think that will be the case. Given that the Jets have a couple of other high-profile free-agents this year (John Abraham and Shaun Ellis to name two) that they are more likely to want to keep around. Plus they have a proven feature back in Curtis Martin. If they were to tag Jordan they’d have to pay him feature back money to be the back-up.

I’m not as down on Pittman as everyone else seems to be, but if we can land one of these guys I think the running game will be in good shape.

TALB: Behind The HTML
With the bye week before the Super Bowl in full swing TALB has to fill the space somehow. So I’ll show you around a typical week of preparation before the column hits the web on Tuesdays. If you don’t give a crap, please skip ahead.

Wednesday
Usually nothing happens around TALB on hump-day. Unless a story really jumps out at me.

Thursday
Thursday is the first day of the TALB “work week” if you will. I’ll create the template text file that will hold the week’s column. By Thursday things in football are generally jumping as the anticipation for the upcoming weekend starts to build and the focus of sports websites shifts from the weekday sports over to football. This is also the day that I usually start the opinion pieces that often infect this space. In fact, what you are reading right now is being written on a Thursday.

Friday
This is when I’ll refine some of the non game-related pieces. The Running Items are also created on Fridays. They may not always be filled in (Reverse Watch and Worst. Call. Ever. of course need to have inputs from actual games), but the framework is there for what I think I want to feature in those items.

Saturday & Sunday
Watch football. I don’t catch every game, but those that I do will be featured prominently in whatever analysis creeps into the column. I don’t take any written notes; that explains why some times my thoughts are half-formed or I put something in like last week’s Breath Of A Salesman. The closest I have ever come to making a note on the weekend has been that one time where I emailed myself something that I wanted to use.

Monday
With the weekend games over and done with I can start working on the meat of the column. The majority of my Bucs analysis is done by Monday. On Monday I can also start to work with the story-lines from the games; injuries, controversies, et cetera. The opinion sections are also finalized on Mondays. The Running Items are also generally finished on Mondays.

Tuesday
Tuesday morning I will usually proof-read the column and fill in any last minute bits like outstanding Running Items, MNF action, and any other minor touches like a thig images. Then sometime after noon when I think about it, the column is posted to your favorite blog.

Tools
TALB uses Ultra Edit 32 for all of his composing.
For reference and source information I will use CNNSI.com, Espn.com, Tbo.com, and the Bucs Message Board as primary sources.
For humor I employ my finite wit.

I hope you enjoyed this look inside the glamorous world of the Tuesday Afternoon Linebacker. I know it sure filled some space for me.

Indoor War; Started
The Arena League took full advantage of the week off before the Super Bowl and started their season this past weekend. The hometown Storm eked out a win over the defending champion San Jose Sabercats; final score 63-33.

Running Items
WTF?
The Arizona Cardinals have changed their logo, allegedly. See for yourself.
Old:
New:

Breath Of A Salesman
This spot for Budweiser will not be played during the “Big Game” this Sunday. But you can check it out for yourself. I giggled.

Though Bud has made a great decision. By making it available on their website and making sure that there is a press release, they have just saved a ton of money and are still going to be able to put the spot in front of viewers.

Super Bowl XXXIX
Just to keep it going:
Patriots 31 Eagles 19

Next Week: Super Bowling, the end of the season, up next for TALB…