Quarles returns with tips for trip

The Bucs linebacker learned a few things to share with teammates while on a five-day, whirlwind tour of Japan to promote his team and his sport.

TAMPA - Talk about taking one for the team.

Pro Bowl linebacker Shelton Quarles likely will make a number of valuable contributions to the Bucs this season, but what he did for his teammates over the past week was immeasurable.

As part of an advance team that visited Japan to promote the Aug. 2 preseason game between the Bucs and the Jets at the Tokyo Dome, Quarles guinea-pigged his way through a five-day visit, had a heck of a time and brought back a critical list of dos and don'ts for teammates.

For example, do bring along your favorite snacks because the Japanese aren't into snacking.

Do not sleep before a 13-hour flight because you'd rather sleep on the plane.

Do bring extra shoes or slippers; the Japanese are particular about what you wear on your feet.

And most of all, do not press certain buttons on the automated toilets. They heat and spray areas you might not want heated or sprayed.

"You know, they say when you're in Rome, do as the Romans?" Quarles said Tuesday. "Well, I was in Japan, so I wanted to do as the Japanese."

He and Jets linebacker Marvin Jones learned very quickly.

"It went extremely smoothly," said Pete Abitante, senior director of international public affairs for the NFL. "That's as much a tribute to the players involved who were there to experience the culture and see what it's all about. There was no sleeping in. We asked a lot of them and hopefully they got a lot in return."

Asked by the NFL to help kick off the American Bowl ticket drive, Quarles' excellent adventure began before dawn May6 He flew from Tampa to New York to drop off his family, then took a direct 13-hour flight from New York to Tokyo.

Despite a seven-course meal, a seat that resembled the egg from Mork and Mindy and other assorted comforts (including pajamas) provided in the first-class cabin of Japan Airlines, he made his first major mistake.

"I didn't manage my time well in the air," said Quarles, who watched movies and read most of the flight. "I should have been sleeping when I was awake and when you get over there there's 13 hours of time difference. I really wasn't thinking about that adjustment and when we got over there it was 3:30 p.m. (but 2:30 a.m. in Tampa). But when you get there they want to start doing things. You need to get your body adjusted."

Sleep, as it turned out, was a precious commodity the entire visit.

Through five 16 to 17-hour days, Quarles made appearances, attended news conferences, visited schools, fish markets, monuments and the American military personnel at Yakota Air Force Base. Quarles said he was deeply touched by the level of respect and admiration the Japanese people showered on him and felt, even when not accompanied by guides and interpreters, that the people of Japan have a true understanding of service and respect.

As for SARS, Quarles said it simply wasn't an issue and he saw very few people wearing masks.

"I tell (the team) that SARS is more prevalent here than there," he said.

There were other memorable moments, starting with . . .

Though the Bucs plan to cater three meals a day to their players (who will be in Tokyo for about five days), the intrigue of eating authentic Japanese cuisine will be hard to resist for some.

Quarles said he sampled just about everything.

"We had an interpreter who was eating crazy stuff and I said, "All right, if it doesn't look too bad, I would eat it,' " Quarles said. "She had me eating some stuff that looked like jelly and on the inside was something raw, floating in the jelly. I ate that."

Quarles said if teammates get too squeamish about indigenous foods, there are more than enough American fast-food spots in the city. He said he had the best steak of his life in the New York Grill restaurant, on the 70th floor of a building in the middle of the city.

He said one piece of advice he would give to teammates who like to munch is to bring their own snacks. Apparently, he was not fond of Japanese snacks nor the sizes of Westernized snacks, pointing out that a can of Coca-Cola is roughly the size of a can of V8 in America.

"It's a swallow, (not a drink)," he said.

Quarles and Jones delighted the media at a local sumo school when they donned the thong-like wrestling belt, known as a mawashi, and mixed it up with two 14-year-old apprentices.

"We get downstairs and these guys are looking at us and they don't speak English, but they are trying to tell us how to put on cloth," Quarles said. "They figured it out and one of them took his off and showed us how to wrap it, and I figured out what he was doing. It felt like a fire hose."

Because Jones and Quarles are much smaller than most sumo wrestlers, the players cut one in half and covered themselves fully. Quarles said banging shoulders with the apprentice was a sobering experience.

"He was strong," he said. "They are actually quick, and they have to be athletic to do the moves they do. I wouldn't want to play against him (in football). Once they get in their pose, you can't move those guys. You can't move them at all."

Though flight restrictions might hinder the Bucs from taking too much equipment, the team likely will have to do something about weightlifting facilities. Quarles said the gym he went to, walking distance from the dome, did not have enough weights.

In fact, he said he stacked every weight on the bench, and it still wasn't enough.

One thing he learned was that whichever shoes he walked to the gym in, he could not work out in them.

"I saw people taking their shoes off (at the edge of the carpet), and they put them in this locker and pick some other shoes out of their bag and go work out," Quarles said. "Well, I only had one pair of shoes. ... The lady runs up to me and said, "Okay, hold on for a minute.' She sprints back and comes back with a towel that's wet and starts wiping my shoes off."

Nathan Whitaker, Bucs director of legal affairs, accompanied Quarles on the trip and said such examples of culture shock are expected but not problematic.

"That will be more than made up for by the Japanese people and their excitement about the game and their graciousness and welcoming nature," he said. "It's going to be a great experience and I hope our guys appreciate it."

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