Phony Wars Don’t Do Us Any Favours Little did we know that the Bucs would literally start playing out the (second) string a little early this year, and in effect purposely lock ourselves into the 4th seed in the NFC, ensuring we would end up in Dallas and not frigid Green Bay in the Divisional round should we be lucky enough to get by the G-Men. I’d be lying if I said I was too pleased once we started emptying the benches; I understand the reasoning for it but still don’t like it all the same. Having decided we were more interested in resting bodies than chasing the “W” we got what we deserved, a loss, and the less said about what became a phony war the better. All reasoning points to more of the same this Sunday when the soap dodgers come to Tampa, and despite the fact that Id love to make the Hicks eat another shit sandwich the likelihood is we will lose given that messrs Graham, Garcia, Galloway will play a maximum of two quarters if the fans are lucky. I seem to remember we adopted this policy and took our foot completely off the gas in 2001, resting players for the wild card round only to get absolutely killed in Philadelphia; the merits of this current policy will be played out on January 6th against the Giants, and only the result of that game will truly tell us if it was the right one. So Sunday brings my good mates, The Twits to town and a chance to double them with our scout-team and ballboys playing in the second half. The thought of beating them with the reserves does amuse me so I’ve got to tip a Bucs win, though its in hope more than expectation. Winning a meaningless game would still please some of us out there, and 10 wins sounds a whole lot better to me than 9 so lets hope we can finish with a mini-flourish and have some momentum going into that all important Giants game. Have a great new year and lets hope there’s many more Buc games to come for us in January, in what should be an exciting start to the year; certainly more uplifting than a Sunday night of reserve team football in our bogey away ground in San Fran. I’m off now to continue the Christmas tradition of eating and drinking oneself to death in a seven day span. Nod of Acknowledgement to - Phil Jones At last the FFL Champion, well done buddy – well deserved and long overdue. Can wait for that draft in 2008 and the dancing girls you promised us if you won! Get in the Real World Award - Roger Clemens plea of innocence Do us a favour sunbeam, and don’t waste your time or any column space with it. Sports News Story I No Longer Give a Toss About – Ridiculous amount of College Bowl games. The big 5 or 6 are gripping, but the Outback Steakhouse Get a Free Beer with your Ticket Stub Bowl doesn’t hold much appeal to be honest. Head on the Block Time Last week 11-5 (season 152-87 ) Lock of the Week 7-2 Consistency is coming by fluke more than anything – this weeks holders of the golden tickets are ….Cheats, The Fudge, Cheese, Da Bears, Texans, Buckos, Iggles, Phins, Starbucks, Vikes, Stillers, Skins, J E T S Jets Jets Jets, San Diego Super Chargers, Cards, Oilers.