General

TSB in Tampa: DeAngelo Williams Plays it Safe

Jan 28, 2009, 4:28 PM UTC

Chris Mottram is on the loose inâ†µTampa this week. He'll be posting about various goodness andâ†µmisadventures here on no particular schedule.
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At last year’s Super Bowl, I spent the majority of my time stalking -- literally -- Radio Row. This year, with my inability to do the stalker thing, I’ve spent a total of maybe five minutes on the Row. With no other plans for today, I decided to check it out and see what’s happening. And that’s when I stumbled upon Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams, who stuck out in an otherwise dead room for an obvious reason:
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â†µâ†µI assumed the helmet was part of a promotional shtick -- maybe he was doing something with, I don’t know, Huffy bicycles or something. But no, DeAngelo was wearing it on his own accord with a far greater motive behind it. As he sat down to do a television interview with FOX Sports, I overheard this conversation: â†µ

â†µâ†µReporter: Do you wanna put the helmet back on for the interview? â†µ

â†µâ†µDeAngelo: [PR Rep] won’t let me. He says it “sends the wrong message.” â†µ

â†µâ†µReporter: What is the message? â†µ

â†µâ†µDeAngelo: Bicycle safety.â†µ

â†µâ†µThere you have it: DeAngelo Williams knows the importance of saving on gas money in this economy, and doing so safely. Although I highly doubt he pedaled his way from the hotel to Radio Row. â†µ

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â†µCouple other morning Radio Row notes:â†µ

â†µâ†µ-- As previously mentioned, it is dead in here. Others have noted the continual shrinkage of Radio Row over the years, so I’m assuming this lack of buzz is a combination of trend and cutbacks. It costs a lot of loot to send an entire radio crew to Tampa for a week. â†µ

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â†µâ†µ-- The Barber bros are the only athletes I spotted, aside from DeAngelo and ex-players hosting their own shows, such as Michael Irvin and John Riggins. They’re so hard to tell apart when Tiki isn’t covered in paint:â†µ

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