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Sound bites

By MIKE STEPHENSON

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 8, 2001

Flash photo/audio gallery Photo gallery

Observations on the Bucs broadcast:

Fox cut to the Bucs feed too late, picking up sideline reporter Ron Pitts in mid-sentence as he talked about the heat.

Analyst John Madden, who drew criticism here last week when he said kicker Martin Gramatica's uniform looked like a Halloween costume, brought a chuckle as Gramatica lined up for a field-goal attempt in the first quarter: "I tell you, he looks good in a uniform. My man Gramatica."

The periodic scoring update promised regular updates on the United States-led attack on the Taliban, but the only update came at halftime. A standing "crawl" with news updates should have been used.

The halftime update on the attack would have had a more serious tone if newscaster Linda Vester hadn't twice referred to studio host James Brown as "J.B."

Where was the replay of Mark Royals' first-quarter punt that was ruled to have gone into the end zone even though the Bucs appeared to down it at the 1?

Do the math: Play-by-play man Pat Summerall stumbled reporting that Shelton Quarles' 98-yard interception return set a team record saying, "The old record is 82, so he breaks it by 10 ... or more than that."

Apt description: Madden on excitable defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin: "Never had a cup of decaffeinated coffee in his life."

Fox's replay showed the Bucs would win their challenge of a ruling that initially gave the Packers a first down, but Madden's blather about "cubic inches" was nonsense.

Aside from the Royals' punt, Fox generally was strong on replays, showing Warren Sapp's frustrated reaction to Brett Favre's touchdown pass and Keyshawn Johnson's collapse on the way to the sideline late in the game.

Strongest comment: Madden on a conservative third-down play call: "What are you paying all that money for? Let them make plays when they need to be made."

The broadcast left it unclear whether Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks was injured or exhausted as he lay on the field after the game.

Parting shot: Howie Long after the game, "This is like Ali-Frazier."

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