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© St. Petersburg Times, published December 30, 2001
Observations from the Bucs broadcast:
One way Monday Night Football excels is that it tries to involve viewers in what's happening at the stadium. Unlike some announcers who ignore such details, Al Michaels and company made a point of making viewers aware of the crowd's displeasure with some conservative play calling, even while things were going right for the Bucs. When Tampa Bay, up 16-7, played it safe at the end of the first half, Michaels and analyst Dan Fouts criticized the fans' reaction. "I can't believe the crowd is booing," Michaels said. Fouts: "What do they want? They're up by nine against the world champs!"
Sideline reporter Eric Dickerson should get the boot after the season. Given the freedom to share his opinion (even though he's not good at straight reporting), Dickerson said early the Bucs needed to give the ball to Warrick Dunn because Mike Alstott is "a straight-line runner, and that's what the Baltimore defense likes." Um, except when Alstott is scoring the game-sealing fourth-quarter touchdown with a power run up the middle.
Linda Lynch's pregame notes to husband John are a nice story, but Melissa Stark should find something else to highlight from the sideline since she weighed in with almost exactly the same report the last time the Bucs were on ABC. The national media loves to focus the cameras and microphones on Lynch and Warren Sapp, but others deserve more publicity. How about Ronde Barber? Or Simeon Rice? (To be fair, Stark weighed in late with a brief report on Ronde and brother Tiki's playoff chances.)
Suggested New Year's resolution for Aaron Stecker: To run back a kickoff for a touchdown so viewers will never again have to see that chart listing how many times the Bucs have returned a kickoff (1,500-plus) and how many times they've scored a touchdown on said returns (zero). "It's like an anomaly black hole," analyst Dennis Miller said. We're not sure what he means, but we agree wholeheartedly.
Best line: Miller after Michaels dictated the dizzying number of circumstances it would take for the Bucs not to make the playoffs with a win over the Ravens: "That's like what I had to go through to get this job."