Guess Who’s Back, Back Again
Ah football. Preseason NFL football is in full swing. NFL training camps are in session across the nation. The start of the college season is right around the corner with under a month to go until a slate of Thursday games kick off on September 1st. TALB also returns triumphantly to the gridiron to bring you a full season of mediocre football analysis.
Crystal Clear: But It Doesn’t Count
All four Bucs preseason contests will be shown in glorious HD by WFLA. Big ups to Channel 8 for doing this. It’s a sign that they are embracing the new technology and running with it. Though the first game had a lot of noticeable pixelation during fast pans or heavy action.
Titan-ic Ho-hum
The Bucs squeaked out a victory in their opening preseason collision against the Tennessee Titans. Ironically, the kicking game was the deciding factor. I caught the game in bits and pieces. I recorded it, but fast forwarded through most of the game. And I didn’t pad the thing, so I missed the last half of the 4th quarter and the entire OT period. The bright spots were the running of Earnest Graham and Derek Watson, the play of Barret Ruud, and the improved kicking game. The lowlights include the run defense; which still needs work as Jarret Payton ran roughshod over the lads. And Chris Simms is still struggling. I wonder about those people who are still
And the star of the show played just one down. Cadillac Williams was in for one play, a play-action pass, and then sat on the sidelines for the rest of the game. Likewise, Micheal Pittman, who also dressed, did not see any action. Graham and Watson carried the bulk of the running load this past Friday. Coach says that Caddy will get a good look this coming Saturday against the Jags as the Pirates in Pewter Pants open their home schedule.
Peter <3 Nick
Peter King continues to gush on about his new man-crush, Nick Saban. Coach Saban, having never been a head football coach at the pro level, is getting the kind of pre-season press and adulation once heaped upon The Ol’ Ball Coach before his disastrous stint in suburban Virginia. Saban’s only hope is that he does have previous NFL assistant coaching experience; under the current Lord Almighty of the NFL coaching fraternity. Good luck Nick. Here’s hoping you don’t end up at Kentucky or Vanderbilt in three or four years.
LOL x 10000000000000
Phil “Fatman” Fulmer = teh pwn3d by Steve Spurrier.
Fulmer said his initial reaction to hearing Spurrier had taken the South Carolina job was, “Aw, crap”.
Turn Down The Sound
You can read here all the details of the new (in 2006) announcer line-ups we can expect. If you don’t want to RTFA…
- NBC Sunday Night Football will feature John Madden and an as yet unnamed play-by-play man
- ESPN Monday Night Football will be called by Al Michaels and, horrors, Joe Theisman.
- The NBC lead-in show will be hosted by Bob Costas (of course), Cris Collisworth, and a third person yet to be named.
- Over at ESPN, each and every employee of the network will be featured on the show. From Chris Berman to Peter Gammons to the copy boy.
Luckily, TALB rarely watches the MNF game unless the Bucs are playing. JT has to be the WORST announcer on the face of the planet. He talks over the refs and he talks over his booth-mates. He gets so wrapped up in whatever storyline he wants to work that he never realizes it when that story becomes irrelevant during the course of the game. Hopefully, Michaels can reign this guy in a bit. Al respects the game and the viewers, I can only hope that he takes JT aside before next season and gives him a good talking to.
And for your review, Dr.Z’s review of the announce-o-trons from the 2004 season. One thing of note in this article; the current SNF crew (featuring Leggy McBroken) received a big goose egg rating. In a readers’ letters follow-up a week later, Dr.Z notes that the only thing that counts is the ratings. So Joey T is part of a crew that calls a nationally televised NFL game, ratings are going to be huge even if it were three monkeys in the booth. Maybe ESPN/ABC/Disney should get some fans in a room and ask their opinion.
Camp Twoadaysinpads
- Former Sharpie spokesman T.O. has decided to grace the Eagles with his presence during training camp. It’s not like he was under contract or anything, oh wait…
- He then proceeded to get into a tiff with Coach Tubby, who then kicked his prima-donna behind out of camp.
- Cadillac Williams has signed with the Bucs and reported to the first day of camp. Word is the young back has impressed the coaching staff. Of course, the Bucs’ run defense is not really something to be feared, so I would temper those early returns for young Carnell.
- Neon Deion continues his embarrassing return to the NFL with the Ravens.
- Jerry Rice continues his embarrassing pursuit of playing time in the twilight of his career.
- Three of the first 32 selections from the 2005 NFL Draft remain unsigned as of this writing.
Shape Up
TTNHBC, upon seeing his new charges at TALB’s beloved University of Florida, questioned their toughness. He has since installed a rigorous training and conditioning regimen that should serve to assuage the coach of those concerns. As the article rightly points out, the Gators fell too many times in the late going during the Zook era. I had always attributed the problem to poor coaching during crunch time. But could it have been that the revered “players’ coach” was just too soft on the men? Looking back on it with this new information in hand sure makes TALB think so.
1, 2, 3, 4…
The preseason Coaches’ college football poll has been released. USC is the top team; raking in 60 of the 62 first place votes. Texas, Tennessee, Michigan, and Oklahoma round out the top five. The big three come in at 8 (Miami), 11 (Florida), and 12 (FSU). Of note; last year’s darling (and TTNHBC’s previous job) Utah is unranked, garnering just 103 points. South Carolina, on the other hand, has managed to pull in 16 points; likely due to SoS’ presence.
And of course, this is all bunk anyway. But it sure makes for some fun debates.
Philly Still Sucks
The hated Eagles have quite an obstacle facing them this season. Not only is Donnovan McNabb the cover boy for Madden 2006. There is a Super Bowl loser’s curse as well. Here’s hoping they both come true.
Running Items
Oh Ricky
I guess this item will have to be retired for a bit. At least until the holistic one makes another jackass of himself.
Breath Of A Salesman
Chrysizzle My Nizzle. If the ride mo fly, you must buy. Snoop Dogg plus Lee Iacocca in a commercial together. This could very well have also been filed under WTF. And Chrysler decided to air all four of the Iacocca ads during the Bucs-Titans clash. They are all the same. Nearly the same script. And they all end the same.
Next Week: More preseason notes and a look into my fantasy draft strategy…
