The best of the Houston-Tampa Bay preseason experience

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The NFL is a business and businesses are in business to win....championships! Right? Wrong! They're in it to MAKE MONEY! And, because of THAT FACT, we will have the pleasure of watching the final preseason wind-up as the future ex-Texans play the future ex-Buccaneers this Friday Niiiiiiiightttttttt!!! Did you really think this game was for making the final cuts? Haha, pay attention grasshopper and I will enlighten you on the ways of the world. But, I can't write about those guys...so, I continue...

Super Bowl XLIII champion, seventh overall pick of the 2003 draft, former Jacksonville Jaguar QB and now designated starter for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Byron Leftwich, with his new team, plays host to the Texans next Friday Night, when he and Matt Schaub can get together and compare injury-stories. In four years with Jacksonville, Byron played in 15, 14, 11 and 6 games in successive seasons and after a preseason battle with David Garrard, was cut by coach Jack Del Rio before the 2007 season. He spent 2007 on the roster of the Atlanta Falcons falling in and out of the starting role while battling injuries and Joey Harrington. In 2008, Leftwich caught on with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he played well when called upon, as "the guy sitting in the bullpen," culminating with his Super Bowl ring, doing exactly that...sitting in the bullpen. Now, he finds himself in Tampa where he out-dueled Luke McCown in preseason, and in the words of rookie coach Raheem Morris, "Byron did something a little bit more special as far as what he can do off the play-action pass, getting the ball down the field."...RINGING words of endorsement every QB wants to hear...cough, cough...

But, how much of Byron will the Texans see as these two teams trot out their 2nd, 3rd and 4th stringers to play the game that is played under the guise of trying to whittle their rosters down to the NFL 53-man limit? Word on the street is that the Bucs may carry four QB's going into the season, so in addition to Byron and Luke, add Josh Freeman and Josh Johnson to that list. Do things at Tampa Bay ever change? Does the ghost of Jon Gruden linger at Raymond James Stadium? Don't answer that! I know he's not really dead yet. Josh Freeman, the rookie from Big 12 Kansas State is slated to start the game.

Ok, so Byron and Luke will probably see NO action. Who else will we not see? The Bucs' three-headed RB monster of Earnest Graham, Cadillac Williams and Derrick Ward, will also probably never set foot between the hash-marks. And, the list goes on...Antonio Bryant, Michael Clayton, the entire starting offensive line and nearly every other starter, whose name I don't know.

I haven't mentioned any REAL reason why I would tune into Friday's game. There aren't many. I am not an absolute football junky, so watching guys play football, that will be working at the local gym in one week, isn't real appealing to me. But, I do care about our Houston Texans. And...as a true blue man who loves the football experience and everything that comes with it (after all, what is a hot dog without the fixins'), I am recommending the Houston/Tampa Bay preseason Friday night experience for the line-up pictured above, known as the Swash-Buc-Lers. These lovely ladies, will be featured at every ad cutaway. Let's hope that both teams use all their timeouts and there are a lot of red flags thrown!

One more reason to watch! Sexy Rexy will be on the field, shaking HIS stuff, too!...God help us...