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MELANIE AVEAbout 600 women took part in the Buccaneers' NFL 101, some to learn about football, others to glimpse a famous face or two.
TAMPA - Sometime after entering through the sacred doors of Raymond James Stadium and snapping a picture of Bucs mascot Captain Fear, 28-year-old Erica Skelton suppressed her giddiness and explained why she wanted to know more about the elusive game of football.
Every Sunday, the Tampa woman sits in front of the television with her husband. And every Sunday, the details of the game are lost on her faster than Warren Sapp chasing down the other team's quarterback.
"He hollers and I'm like, "What the heck are you hollering about?"' Skelton said. "I know about football but I don't know enough of it."
Skelton was like so many of the 600 women who attended Thursday's football training course called NFL 101, a course organized for the past four years by the Tampa Bay Bucs and Eckerd Corp. Half the women won a drawing held by Eckerd, and were encouraged to bring a female friend along to learn about plays and techniques.
Most said they love football but know little of its intricacies.
But is it a sexist course that assumes women don't know as much about football as men?
No way, said Bucs spokesman Charles Campisi.
"We're trying to expand who we're marketing game to. Obviously, it's a male dominated sport," he said.
"We have a lot of our male fans who could benefit from this as well."
Football dummies these women were not, that much was clear from the plastic football necklaces they wore around their necks to their black and red Bucs socks. Most were diehard fans of the Bucs, swathed in "Super Bowl Champions" shirts.
They chanted "defense, defense" and cheered wildly at the mere mention of wide receiver Joe Jurevicius.
They were treated to roasted pork loin and beer and listened to detailed discussions by several Bucs coaches including defensive backs coach Mike Tomlin, linebackers coach Joe Barry, running backs coach Kirby Wilson and tight ends coach Art Valero.
There were a few star watchers like Judi Sylvia, a 41-year-old from Lakeland.
"You know what I was hoping for, delicious Jurevicius," she said. "Isn't he something?"
The course may have been called "101" but the talk was clearly worthy of a graduate degree in football. There was little discussion of how many points a touchdown is worth or explanations of first downs and fumbles.
The coaches stood in front of their animated students, who couldn't fight back their gameside clapping and yells. They drew popular plays on an overhead projector and reviewed tapes of the games.
Tomlin briefed the women on the Bucs' defensive alignment, called a "cover two," where two deep defenders split the field in half to cover the flanks and funnel the opponent into the middle.Karen Ashton, 36, and five of her teacher friends from Weightman Middle School in Wesley Chapel sat on the back rows during the lesson and did the wave. She admitted her inspiration for attending was not so much about education.
"I thought I'd get some free stuff," she said. "I'm a teacher and I'm intrinsically motivated by free stuff."
She and the others got a free T-shirt, disposable camera and Eckerd coupons.
After Wilson ran several volunteers through offensive formations like the deuce, Palm Harbor's Mary Copeland stood up, her Chucky bracelet shining, and asked: "I just want to know if Chucky (coach Jon Gruden) is as easy to work with as he is to look at?"
Wilson hunched his shoulders and walked across the stage.
"This is the way I walk around," he said, smiling. "I hope that answers your question."
Wilson said he was impressed with the women's knowledge of the game and made them each an intriguing offer. "You write me down a play and I'll take it to coach Gruden tonight," he said.
As the three-hour evening came to a close, the women were taken down to the field.
Wide receiver Karl Williams and long snapper Ryan Benjamin offered a few tips.
A handful of women were selected to don shoulder pads, jerseys and helmets and run some plays.
Perhaps the most excited woman on the field was 34-year-old Jill Nicolson of Torrington, Conn., who flew in Tuesday just for the course. Her friend Ansley Neuhaus won the contest and invited Nicolson, knowing she was a Bucs "fanatic."
After she slipped a Mike Alstott jersey over her head, she shook. "I'm going to cry," she said, the helmet slipping over her eyes. "I'm going to pass out. This is the most exciting day of my entire life."
The stay-at-home mom, a former Tampa resident, said football is her escape from the difficulties of raising four children under the age of 9.
She and the other volunteers ran out on the field and got a briefing from Williams on punting. As a machine punted her a ball, she reached out her hands and wrapped them around the football. She's supposed to fly home tomorrow, but she's thinking about staying for the Bucs' game against Indianapolis.
"If I get tickets, I'm going to stay," she said. "My mother-in-law will just have to keep the kids."
- Melanie Ave can be reached at 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com