On Saturday, many festivities got under way for next weekends big game, when the Arizona Cardinals face the Pittsburgh Steelers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL. The NFL Experience opened for it’s first day back in Tampa, as well as numerous tournaments and parties around the Bay Area. One event you might of missed out on, the Tampa Bay All Stars media day at Gaither High School, just twenty minutes away from next weekends big game.

As many of you know, rap super star Snoop Dogg for the past several years has put on what he calls the Snoop Bowl.  He brings the team he coaches in California, to the host city of the big game, and puts his team up against the best the town has to offer, with all proceeds going to charity. This year he is up against former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Mike Alstott.

I have to admit, when I got there, I didn’t expect to see much from kids not even teenagers yet, but I have to say, I was very impressed, and by the time the scrimmage was over, my thoughts had reversed. You could tell the coaches really wanted these players to have the best time they could, and through out practice you would hear coaches remind the players this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Each coach was very focused on helping the player be the best they could be, not just on the field, but in school as well.

At the end of the day players and parents were called to mid-field for a meeting. Coach explained that today was the final cut, from the 67 players there, they could only keep 30 for next weekends game, but he let every player know that they have helped the team greatly, even if they were to end up getting cut. He also encouraged anyone that was cut, to come to practice still, and help develop the team even more, after all, when final rosters are announced Thursday, a player might get hurt in this weeks practice, and a void would not be made in the family now created.