By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.comMONDAY 10:22 PM
DALLAS - I just beat the snot out of a story about the massive impact Twitter has and will continue to have on the NFL. Now, as promised, a few thoughts on how my second day in Big D went.There was no access to either team until 1:30 p.m. Central (still haven't had a time change mishap, yay me!), so I hit the media center at 9 a.m. and got to working on that Twitter story and banged out a "5 Things" column.
List columns kick the ass off of the Internet. They're easy to navigate for the reader and - ideally - they let the reader know they'll be in and out quick. That's the way they're supposed to work. Mine didn't.I prattled on too long with the first two points and ran out of time because I wandered around doing reporting for the other story, had committed to doing Jim Rome at noon and needed to get to the Steelers hotel in Fort Worth. So the 5 became 3.One thing I like to do at the Super Bowl is work a day ahead. Collect the stuff you're writing about on Tuesday on Monday. There was little collecting I could do Sunday, so I was left scrambling Monday. Meh. You'll get your 5 Tuesday.Thank God my editor rolls with my inefficiency.I was set to leave at 12:30 but needed to put out a fire on the homefront via telephone so my departure didn't come until closer to 1 p.m. No crisis. I still was able to get LaMarr Woodley on his LOLing at the Packers team picture dustup.Not without some serious effort though.The media sessions at the team hotels are an hour long. In trying to get Woodley, I moved to the side of his staging area. There's no rhyme or reason to getting your question asked and answered. You just have to start asking it and hope the player turns your way to signify he's taking yours. Off to the side, I was having no success. Meanwhile, Ian Rapoport from the Boston Herald had a solid spot up front and asked Woodley a handful ofgood questions about the 3-4 scheme. At the end of each Woodley answered, I'd start with the first few words of my question, but he'd look elsewhere. Rap and I exchanged "what can you do" looks. He knew what I was trying to do. Then Rap launched in with a couple more questions, cutting me off to get his in. And I got the feeling Woodley was icing me because I was saying "twitter." I was pissed at Rap for not yielding to me and Woodley for not hooking me up. Eventually, I squeezed in up front and got the question in. Then I went to find Rap and told him that's why he drives me batcrap sometimes. You gotta work together out here sometimes, even if your local competitors. At least that's the way I operate with people I know.Whatever. I got a blog entry out of one of Rap's questions and got over to Ben Roethlisberger as he was finishing up his session. Pre-2010 his reputation for dealing with the media was poor. He didn't engage, was the rap. But he's made an effort to change since his suspension and PR beatdown after last offseason.Having gotten there late, I didn't get my question in so I figured I'd take a crack at his newfound personability and caught him as he walked from the podium to the door leading out of the ballroom. It was a walk-and-talk, but he answered my question about his place among elite quarterbacks and wasn't pleasant enough about it.After finishing with the Steelers, I had to go to Arlington to get ready for a SportsNet Central hit we were taping. Carolyn Manno and I talked some Big Ben and Steelers experience. Then I adjourned to the Sheraton next to the Arlington Conference Center where we taped the hit (with the Jerry Jones Taj Mahal in the background) and did some more work on the Twitter story.At 5:30 Central, I pulled up stakes there and went back to the Dallas Sheraton where the media center is and where I'm staying. (Remember, 1,840 rooms? Read Sunday's missive.)I'm a big-time napper. Legendary. And I knew I was a bag of crap at that point and needed a 30-minute snorefest. So I got that in, woke up, called home, got the day's report from my three boys and my wife then went downstairs to finish up the Twitter story.So now it's almost 11 out here and I haven't eaten any dinner. That needs addressing. Tomorrow, we have media day at the stadium. It's a clusterfudge but you know that going in, so you roll with it. Then I have TV again out in Arlington so I'll probably post up in that Sheraton lobby again and get my work done.Tomorrow night we got the annual media party at the Hard Rock here in Dallas. It's supposed to be a BBQ fest. A friend of mine from down here told me all about it. If I remember, I'll tell you an absolutely hysterical story about this guy (no names) that will make you shake your head off your neck.But now . . . we eat. Check in tomorrow. BEFORE the media thingy.Check out Sunday's entry here.
Tom E. Curran canbe reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com.Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran