A wheel off the track......... Tampa II (Updated with photos)

[Pete]

Well, here we are once again the day after a loss that just shouldn’t have been. The weekend started well enough, but got a bit off track fairly fast to say the least. Waking up on a beautiful Saturday in south FL, heading out for a quick hair cut, and leisurely packing my bag for the trip. Had a light lunch, and hit the road around 1:00. What could have been better then a three day weekend centered around the Redskins. Now, Tampa is a two hour trip if you do five over the speed limit, so me in my ultra high performance 91 Previa mini van toonin along at 80 give or take a little. This baby comes with all the goodies, like lack of air-conditioning, a vibration at 80 MPH, and no stereo………… I even treated myself for the ride to Tampa, and remembered to bring my Mp3. About an hour into the ride, I tune in the Tampa classic rock station “The Bone”, and I’m all set for the rest of the ride. They were playin great toons, and I guess I snoozed right past my exit. :doh:

After a while, the reception was getting bad, and it would have struck me as odd, being I hadn’t gotten to Tampa, and reception would normally get better as I got closer. Then I saw the sign that said Ocala bla bla bla miles to go. I actually snoozed about 30 minutes past my exit. Wish I could blame this on smokin grass, but I haven’t done that in years :doh: No big deal really, get her pointed in the right direction and I should be at the hotel in no time. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little cruise on a sunny day, and I knew I’d be enjoying an icy cold brew soon enough. I hit the hotel a 4:00 right on the button. Grab my gear, and head for the check in desk. No reservation ????? What do you mean I don’t have a room ? I say it was booked by the teams travel people…….. Still nothing. OK, try a reservation for Art …….. Now, the kid behind the desk seemed to be nice enough, but spitting out 4 other names that all had the same last name told me this wasn’t going to be an easy task. Does he have two rooms booked………. No………….. But it has two double beds. VIOLA ! Of course, he didn’t tell me that Art was already checked in, so I went over to the bar being Art told me he would be in after 4:00. On my second beer, I figure I’ll buzz Art to let him know I’m in, and waiting in the loby. Calls me right back and tells me he’s been here for hours……….

The place was buzzing with fans, and I met a couple from my neck of the woods, Kevin and…………. Hell, I can’t remember her name, sorry. :laugh: Real cool folks from Marco Island none the less, and dedicated fans. I head up to the room, chat for a minute with Art, and head back down to the bar . Once Art showed up at the bar, I head up to the room, get changed………….. life is good, and back on track. After hangin at the bar, we head out for food, which is simple enough. Now maybe I’m a bit too choosey, but when you order fish and chips, silverware should come standard, as should malt vinegar. I was forced to eat my fish and waffle fries (some chips huh) with my bare hands and tarter sauce. Down right uncivilized………

After a typical night with Art and the guys from the team site, hit the crib for the night. Morning came way to early, but I actually got right up, and headed for the lobby. Had to catch a smoke out front. It was a hair past 7:00, and a few fans were already lining up to catch the team leaving for the game. Before long we headed out for the stadium, anticipating some killer omelets in the press box. Life is good, and back on track. Drop off a few guys at the stadium, and come to find we’re parked in the boonies. We start our trek to the stadium, and with being that much taller then me, I have to keep a faster pace. If I have to walk any faster, I could stroke out, so I figure a smoke will give me the boost to keep up with Arts pace. Once we’re checked in, we head up to the booth. Where in hell are the omelets…….. I mean come on now, the only thing you have ready is chicken supreme, and some sandwiches. This is not a good sign of things to come. Seems we have to wait till 11:00 for omelets, and it’s barely ten. You remember that ol rule, you have to wait 20 minutes after you eat before going onto the field or you’ll cramp up. I’m a little agitated at this point, and settle on a ham sandwich, and a cookie to hold me over till the man in the tall hat is cookin. After an hour of milling about, watching cheer leaders warm up, and Art fighting to get the internet to work, the eggs were on the griddle. Then I hear the faithful words from the cooks mouth, where’s the cheese. First fish and chips with no malt vinegar, and now omelets without cheese.

After getting past not being able to have my spinach omelet, I settled on bacon, ham mushroom, onion, and peppers. The sacrifices we have to make, but I’ll take one for the team. Parting words with Art, and it’s down to the field. There’s a few players doing a little running and stretching. I catch Wade listening to music and stretching out. He was in high spirits, and said he was ready to play but the staff insisted he sit. I hadn’t seen the list of in actives, and didn’t know if he was upgraded. He said we’ll see him this Sunday. IMO, if the staff thinks Heyer did a good job yesterday, they may just give the kid another start and rest Wade another week. I like Wade. He’s a great guy, and is willing to stop to talk to anybody who strolls up, but if Heyer has a future with this team, now is the perfect time to get him the reps.

Really not much happening, just walkin around the field. I see a group of Skins fans at the rail, and tell them to make lots of noise today. One of the men said we’re here supporting the Skins, over from Edinburgh Scotland. I’m sure they had a great day in the sun, even though we lost. It’s so much fun to talk to the fans prior to the game, and in Florida, even the locals aren’t local. To see how far people will travel to see their team play hasn’t ceased to amaze me. They start letting people onto the sidelines, so things pick up a bit. Most of the folks are gathered at one corner of the end zone at this point, waiting for the players to come out for warm ups. Life was good, and back on track.

After the friggin toy boat in the stadium made lots of noise, the teams were ready to go. I’m fairly close to the left side of the Skins bench, and Fletcher comes over and kneels down a few feet from me, and proceeds to blow chow………….. While it may be a regular thing for him to do, puke is my kryptonite. I quickly moved farther up the line gagging all the way, and making mental note not to kneel there. By the end of the first quarter, I seemed there was far too much bad karma to overcome, and the team was stepping on their members. At the end of the half, I wasn’t feelin to good about the way things were going, but I had to take care of priorities. I headed up the tunnel, and lit a smoke. I had enough time to run up to the booth for food, drink, a squirt, and then back down for another quick smoke. As the second half moved along, things were getting better, and never once did the team look really down, and you heard many words of encouragement form player to player. All we needed was a score and PAT, and the game was ours with little time left. We’d been moving the ball well in the second half, and we were knockin on the door. I wasn’t sharing looks of utter confussion, and complete frustration with one of the film guys from Redskins.com that we were all through the first half. Ahhhhhhhh Life was good, and back on track.

Of course, we all know how the game ended……………… IN the end, 6 turnovers is pretty hard to overcome for the best of teams, and to be able to have a shot to win is a testament to what this team has become. If nothing more, they have become a tight group with some serious grit, that don’t quit till the final gun. Some may say that Jason lost the game for us. In black and white, it’s about as true as it gets, but not all is defined in black and white. The original plan this season was to let Jason develop behind a stout line and running game. While not everybody will like that idea, it is what it is. Jason has been pushed a bit faster then the coaching staff would have, and the results have been mixed. Had the team not let it get out of hand in the first half, we would have not been in the ol desperation mode. Some say Jason may not have “IT” because he doesn’t play like Bret or Tony with the game on the line, others say it’s the learning curve. It’s been proven time and again that you don’t need an all star QB to be a winner. We have few options at QB, and rested the teams fate on Jason. I won’t pass any judgment till seasons end on Jason.

Dejected, dehydrated, and down right disgusted, I turned in my field vest, and headed up to the box to hook up with Art. You could see how PO’d Art was, and neither relished going into the locker room after another tough loss. To hell with it, and we packed up, and headed back to the car. The walk to the car was even longer, but Art didn’t have the same snap to his step, so the walk is easier. Made it back to the hotel in good time compared to the ungodly maze we worked our way through last year. The hotel was sadly quiet, and void of Skins fans. I headed up, packed my bags, and with a fond farewell to Art, hit the road for home. Don’t get me wrong, life is good, but it would be better if the team didn’t have one wheel on the track, and one in the ditch. The numbers say that we still have a shot for a playoff spot, and I want revenge for a second time in Tampa………..

My thought and prayers are with Taylor right now, but I’ll have the game pics up at some point.

Skins VS Bucs Pre-game

Game pics

[DeanCollins]

hows it feel to join the ES high brows while skipping the local extreme skins tailgate at Al Lopez? Oh and miss the omletes?, how petty of me :doh:

[JohnnyUtah]

I've got to say, the ES tailgate was awesome. I was really happy to see how much support everyone had for our team, especially so far away from home. It really was FedExSouth. Even though we lost, and had to put up with a lot of BS from the TB fans (at least I did), it was still a great time and experience. I would just have loved to see Jason's last throw go for a TD instead of an INT to have rubbed it in the faces of the 2 a-holes sitting in front of me and my girlfriend. But, they're the ones that have to stay in Tampa so I don't really feel all that badly.

[Pete]

It's Saturday, and it's been a long week in many ways. Kick back, and unwind a little while loooking at the game pics from the Bucs game.

[PCS]

Well it's about time. Slacker.

[Pete]

You know me............ always late to the party

[Blondie]

Great Pics Pete.

How different the week turned out........thanks so much for that look at "before".

BTW......I am waiting on your CHRISTMAS songs.......I had a thread last Saturday I think it was.........ready for your contributions.

You are so good with lyrics and poems.

[Tarhog]

You've developed mad skillz...really some nice photo work there Pete

[Pete]

Great Pics Pete.

How different the week turned out........thanks so much for that look at "before".

BTW......I am waiting on your CHRISTMAS songs.......I had a thread last Saturday I think it was.........ready for your contributions.

You are so good with lyrics and poems.

I'll have no computer at my disposal till next Saturday, but will see what I can come up with for ya kiddo. Hope your well........

You've developed mad skillz...really some nice photo work there Pete

Thanks brother.

[PCS]

Well done on the pics Pete. Gotta love that camera.

[Pete]

Well done on the pics Pete. Gotta love that camera.

Thanks bro, your day will come. My next toy is a 2 X magnifier :cool:

[PCS]

Thanks bro, your day will come. My next toy is a 2 X magnifier :cool:

My next one is the 18-55 mm image stabilized lens.

:geek:

[Blondie]

My next one is the 18-55 mm image stabilized lens.

:geek:

This statement made me :rotflmao:

THEN I re-read it.

You DIDN'T say min.

You said mm.

I could just see you trying to be "stablized" for 55 min.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[PCS]

:laugh: :laugh:

er..

Now wait a minu......

For that matter, even 55 seconds.