Questions, Comments?

Here's your chance.

E-mail them to me as a Reply or post them as a Critique below. Todd Wright will be the host of tomorrow's Tailgate Overtime show (7pm, Sun Sports), as I'll be helping the Rays announcers with another live pregame show before Game 3 of the American League Championship Series (pregame at 3:30, Fox Sports Florida).

On that note -- received a question from an anonymous viewer as to why he/she couldn't see the live Gator Pregame show we produced prior to Saturday's smackdown of LSU. Answer: that pregame show started at 7pm, head-to-head against our live pregame show for the Tampa Bay Lightning's home opener as well as the Rays pregame show, which began at 7:30pm. If you're scoring at home, that's three live pregame shows airing simultaneously on two networks (Sun Sports and Fox Sports Florida).

To make that work, we had to split the signals on each network and make decisions -- some based on contract requirements -- about where in the state we were going to send each show. If you live in the Tampa Bay area, I'm guessing you probably saw the Lightning pregame on one network and the Rays on the other; in South Florida, which is outside of the NHL-mandated Lightning territory, you probably saw the Gator Pregame show. If you go back to the Sun Sports & Fox Sports Florida homepage and click on "Contact," you can get a more detailed response as to why your part of Florida received the programming it did.

Also got a question here about our college football studio programming in general, and the changes that were made for 2008. Short version: "Rec Warehouse College Kickoff," the Friday night show with me, Brady, and Terry that re-aired on Saturday mornings, was not renewed this season. Variety of reasons, a few of which I actually agree with. The postgame shows after Florida and Florida State football games were essentially handed back to the schools, who now produce their coaches' press conferences online at gatorzone.com and seminoles.com. We're producing five live on-location pregame shows (the Florida-LSU game was number three) on Sun Sports, as well as beefing up the Monday night Tailgate Overtime show. That's the studio lineup for college football, which does not include the national games we can air live from FSN or any of the coaches' shows or 'third-party' shows that we air on both networks; check listings, as they say.

Hope that helps. Be nice to Todd and the boys on Monday. If you like, come watch me navigate the Rays pregame show at 3:30pm. See you on TV.

Rays. Red Sox. Game One.

The Tampa Bay Rays are playing in the American League Championship Series.

There, I wrote it, and it looks precisely as preposterous as I imagined.

Within the last week, I've begun ramping up for the NBA season by checking in at a Magic preseason game, and spent a rainy Saturday calling the play-by-play for the FSU-Miami football game. But the story that I simply cannot escape is the freaking Rays.

In fact, I think I might have to call them that. The Freaking Rays.

I write this from the left field auxiliary press box at Tropicana Field during Game One of the ALCS against the mighty Boston Red Sox. The cowbells, which have become a trademark of the Rays' playoff infancy, are at full blast. Unlike the Divisional Series against the White Sox, this game has a noticeable visiting team presence (no shocker there, if you've ever attended a Rays-Red Sox regular season game at the Trop). But while the red shirts are visible, they're not enough to drown out those bloody cowbells, nor can they stifle the Rays fans, who are treating every pitch like 4th & inches.

This is my third Rays playoff game. Fox Sports Florida has produced a one-hour live pregame show for each postseason game at the Trop; my role has been to stand for live shots at the Rotunda entrance, where the majority of the single-game ticket holders enter. I deserve combat pay.

Seriously -- what is it about a camera and lights that turns ordinary baseball fans into complete idiots? I've been cowbelled, hollered at, bumped while on-camera. Nine times out of ten, I can smell the booze on their breath. There are a few friendlies out there -- many thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello, or compliment our coverage, or say how much they love the Chevy Florida Fishing Report (happens all the time, people. All. The. Time.) A few people wanted to shake my hand and say hello. Fine.

But the rest of you? When you wake up tomorrow with a pounding headache, please ask yourself if it's totally necessary to get blitzed before walking into a ballpark. I know the beer in here is expensive, but honestly. And another note -- if you want to get yourself or your sign on TV, it helps to do it when the camera is actually turned on. Or when the camera is attached to the tripod. I lost count of the number of people who walked up and hollered at a bright light and no camera.

Anyway, The Freaking Rays. I've been on a number of radio shows this week in Tampa and Orlando, and I'm out of superlatives. They might lose this series to Boston -- which would make Mrs. Red Sox Nation happy -- but they've already gone so far beyond anything we could reasonably expect, I'm not sure what to hope for anymore.

After visiting the home locker room after the first two games of the White Sox series, I was inclined to believe that this team wasn't going to lose. They dropped the first game in Chicago, of course, but came back to close it without a return trip to this bizarre pit they call home. Actually, Joe Maddon calls it "The Pit," which might be appropriate. Now, they're up against the closest thing to a dynasty that Major League Baseball can currently claim, and...I don't know.

Can The Freaking Rays go to the World Series?

Couple of notes: Tim Kurkjian is sitting two seats away from me, right next to Peter Gammons. Good to know that ESPN's star baseball reporters don't get seats any better than mine. Tim said hello when he walked in, which was a minor surprise, as it's been over five years since I worked with him in Bristol.

I asked him if he could believe this. "I have no idea how they're doing it," was his reply. "I picked them to finish fourth."

Also ran into former Magic play-by-play announcer and current TBS talent Chip Caray, who is working this series. He still lives in Orlando, and I see his family around town every so often. He's ready for this to be over. Baseball is a long season, no matter how entertaining The Freaking Rays might be.

The media crush for this series is easily 50 percent bigger than it was for the White Sox. These are the Red Sox, after all, and this is the Championship Series. The Rays PR staff, bless their hearts, are doing everything they can do to keep up with the demand. It's borderline overwhelming.

Oh, yeah -- I have to drive to Gainesville in the morning for our live Gator Pregame show, as UF faces LSU in a night game at the Swamp. So you've got that, plus another Fox Sports Florida pregame for the Rays, plus opening night for the Tampa Bay Lightning, all happening simultaneously on Saturday. Our two networks are being split and split again to divy up those three live pregame shows around the state, so check your local listings, as they say.

Next week, when the series moves to Boston, I'll host pregame and postgame live from our studio with Dewayne Staats and Joe Magrane while Todd Kalas reports live from Fenway. That's Fox Sports Florida in your channel guide.

The Freaking Rays. Shouldn't I be writing about college football right about now?

Post Your Questions For Tailgate Overtime

Trying something new this week...

If you're reading this and would like to post a question, comment, or topic for discussion for "Tailgate Overtime" (Mondays, 7pm, Sun Sports), please post it here as a Critique or use the Reply function and e-mail it to me. Then, watch the show and you might see your topic on TV.

Items for discussion this week may include:

* The FSU-Miami game (The Dolphin Stadium Downpour), which was the most bizarre collection of trick plays, momentum shifts, and general weirdness that I've seen on the field in a while. A halfback option? Lateral to a tackle? Kicking not one but two muffed punts out of bounds? Freaky game. Also, it was my debut as the play-by-play announcer for Prime Time Noles (Sundays, 7pm, Sun Sports), so feel free to blast my feeble skillz after you watch the replay tonight.

* UCF gets off the schneid, and possibly saves its season, by beating SMU. And a student group that hired an airplane banner to protest the Orlando Sentinel's coverage of UCF's program couldn't spell "Sentinel" correctly. For real.

* Florida wins, but everyone's miserable. And is Tebow hurt or what?

* FIU -- dangerous! And on a winning streak! Is it too early to drop Mario Cristobal's name in the hat as the next head coach at Miami? And can anyone explain to me how the so-called "Big Three" managed to whiff on T.Y. Hilton?

...or whatever else you'd like to hear us talk about. See you on TV.

Live From The Trop

Wondering if Rays fans were desperate to enjoy a little success in their first-ever postseason game?

In the first inning of today's ALDS opener against the White Sox, the fans at the Trop were cheering called strikes as if each were the final out of the World Series. I watched the first inning, but I couldn't hear it. It's deafening in here. Cowbells are one thing -- this is as throaty a crowd as I can recall at a major league baseball game.

Outside, during our live pregame show on FSN Florida, I was practically assaulted as I tried to do standups near the Rotunda entrance. Not only are they amped, they're shorn -- as in mohawks, the look du jour of today's Rays fan in the know. It's positively electric here.

At least, it was pretty electric when Evan Longoria homered to open scoring...the mood was dampened a tad when the Sox came back to take a third-inning lead. Lot of baseball left...but the atmosphere here is charged.

(pause)

Evan. Longoria.

(long pause)

Back at my usual Tampa hotel, in the high-rent district (cough), and now have some time to digest what I saw tonight.

First: the crowd support tonight was outstanding. I mean, outlandish. Remember back around '02 when Angels fans busted out the Thunderstix? It was that loud. Louder, I think. The Rays fans have a thing about cowbells -- which, if they really stopped and thought about it, is kind of insulting to Tampa Bay as a "cowtown" -- and they ain't skeered to rattle those puppies. That building tonight brought back memories of the loudest, most emotional sports venue I've ever personally witnessed, which happened to be Game 7 of the 1995 NBA Eastern Conference Finals, when the homestanding Orlando Magic beat up on the Indiana Pacers.

It was close. Not quite as loud -- 35,000 fans in a cavernous stadium can't generate the heat of 15,000 in a building half the size -- but it was close.

Second: when I stepped into the Rays locker room tonight to gather interviews for the live postgame show on FSN Florida, I was stunned at the silence.

This was business as usual for these guys. Every player I talked to, from Rocco Baldelli to JP Howell to Carl Crawford to Dan Wheeler to Carlos Pena, all repeated the same mantra: we're sticking to our routine. This is just another day. It's game 163. Blah blah, and blah.

Yet, it's not blah. It's for real. It's how these guys do their thing. I've been fortunate enough to cover the Rays several times this season on FSN Florida, and I've been consistently struck by their supreme sense of confidence. Not cocky, mind you, but confident. They honestly believe they're supposed to be here.

Stop and think about that for a moment.

The Rays, as has been written a thousand times already, have absolutely no business being here, if we judge that statement by their own history. Ten years in baseball, nine years dead last, one year second-to-last. They had the worst record in the majors last year. And they just waxed the White Sox.

That was one of the best baseball games I have ever seen. For a variety of reasons.

And read this: Chicago will be lucky to win one game in this series. Tampa Bay is going to the American League Championship Series, folks. They remind me quite a bit of the 2006 Florida football Gators. They ain't losing. Not this time.

One more thing, relevant to our football audience: after the Rays game, I went to dinner in downtown St. Pete with my cousin Rick, who lives in the area and was lucky enough to score tickets to the game. We ate dinner and watched South Florida's home game against Pitt -- what a night to be a sports fan in the Bay Area! -- and I made a comment in the bar that I wish I had posted here, because you won't believe me now.

With the score tied at 7-7, I said to nobody in particular: "The Bulls are gonna lose this game."

Bingo.

All I'm saying is, I'm on a streak. So set your schedules for the ALCS.

On The Road, Again

So here's my schedule for the rest of this week:

On Wednesday afternoon, I pick up a rental car in Orlando. This will be explained later.

Thursday morning, I drive to St. Petersburg and assist Todd Kalas, Dewayne Staats, and Joe Magrane with live pregame and postgame coverage of the Tampa Bay Rays' first ever playoff game, against the Chicago White Sox.

I use the phrase "assist" lightly, as these guys have seen every game the Rays have played this year -- hell, they've seen every game the Rays have ever played. My presence is certainly not required, but I'm happy to be there. The Rays, a squad that finished DFL in its division in nine of its ten living seasons, are unquestionably the best story in sports this year. Honestly, don't try to sell me on anything else, because you're wrong.

However, they present a problem.

Because, you see, I am making my 'Prime Time Noles' play-by-play debut this Saturday as Florida State plays, ahem, Miami. These two programs may be down, but it's still one of the best rivalries in the game...and the timing sucks.

Let me explain.

Paul Kennedy has been calling the play-by-play for Sun Sports' exclusively produced replays of Florida State football for 20 years. However, he's also our host for Tampa Bay Lightning hockey, and the 'Ning happen to be playing on Saturday. In Prague. Good seats still available.

No, he's not going there, but he IS coming to our studio to host pregame and intermission reports for the game, and generally be a failsafe in case the satellite feed from the Czech Republic is interrupted, which is unlikely, but certainly wouldn't be shocking.

So anyway, he's out for the FSU-Miami game.

Normally, Tom Block would step in for Paul, but he and his wife just had a baby (and Mazel Tov to them). Tom, being a smart guy, foresaw the fact that his wife would be due right about now, so he asked for the weekend off. Which left me.

Since I was going to be in Miami anyway for a previously scheduled pregame show, I simply move into the play-by-play booth. Perfect. Except...the Rays.

Game 1 is Thursday, Game 2 is Friday. So the schedule now reads: drive said rental car to St. Pete on Thursday morning. Assist the professionals with their pregame show (on FSN Florida, ask your cable or satellite provider) from 1:30pm until first pitch. Stay and watch the Rays play their first playoff game ever.

/wrapping hair over ears, whispering "excellent"

Assist the professionals with the postgame show (again, on FSN Florida, and I *really* think you need to call your cable or satellite provider). Drive to hotel and check in.

Friday, same drill. Wake up, work out.

No, seriously. I really do that on the road. Minimum 30 minutes a day on the treadmill, or I'll pop a power yoga DVD into my laptop. Swear. If I didn't do that, I would go nuts.

Anyway, 5pm pregame show on FSN Florida, 6pm first pitch, stay and watch the game, do some interviews on postgame show (on FSN Florida!). Go to hotel. Sleep.

Saturday morning, wake up and drive rental car (aha!) to Tampa airport. Take 55-minute flight to Fort Lauderdale. Pick up another rental car. Drive to hotel, pick up Keith Jones, Barry Milligan, and whoever else needs a ride to Dolphin Stadium. Drive to the park and do the play-by-play for Florida State and freaking Miami.

Feel sorry for me? I know you don't. But I'm losing track of rental car reservations already. And I have a LOT of work to do to get ready for a college football game this weekend...more than you can imagine.

Stay tuned. More to come.