Computers suck. Wait. Let me rephrase that. My laptop computer sucks. I arrived at Raymond James Stadium over 2 hours early because I wanted to walk around and soak in a pretty cool looking NFL stadium. But I spent close to 2 hours trying to figure out why I couldn't pick up the internet in the press box. No wireless, no ethernet. So I am forced to use my dial-up connection tonight. It's slow, it's inconvenient. It's also amazing how far we've come. To get a working analog phone line at Raymond James Stadium, I had to move way, way, way down the end of the press box, whhere it seems like I'm a quarter mile away from the rest of the media. I'm basically in exile. Strange.

Adding to my frustration is the Yankees laying yet another egg in the playoffs. I drove by Legends Field this morning, hoping it would spark a little kharma. Guess not. One of the reporters said he was in the Legend's Field gift shop earlier, and Alex Rodriguez '13' t-shirts were selling for half price. An omen? I hope so.

Back to football, Raymond James is pretty nice. It looks like some sort of Pirates of the Caribbean theme park at Disney World. Between the pirate ship and the pirate-themed concession stands, I expect to see Johnny Depp stumble onto the field at some point. But I like the stadium. There are palm trees and pirate flags everywhere...fun place, fun atmosphere. At least for Bucs games, I assume. There's a virtual sea of empty seats. South Florida doesn't have a massive fan base. Hard to imagine they ever will unless they turn into a national power overnight. Tampa is too much of a pro city.

It was brutally hot today in Tampa. Temps passed 90 degrees, and the humidity made it unbearable. I saw a few UConn football players wandering around the hotel earlier. A couple of them tried to sit outside by the pool to relax, but couldn't take it more than a few minutes before heading back to the comfort of the air conditioning inside. It's cooled down somewhat now, but still in the low-to-mid 80s. No wonder they play all night games at USF.

One player I didn't see at the hotel was Dahna Deleston, who was left back in Storrs by Randy Edsall for arriving 40 minutes late to a team meeting Friday. Allan Barnes will start in his stead.

We're just getting ready for the teams to charge out of the tunnel onto the field. USF has a fairly large band, and a very large group of cheerleaders and dance team members. Should be a fun game. I'll check back later, as long as the dial-up connection holds.