Fortunately for my wallet, the Buccaneers staged a remarkable comeback yesterday behind Chris Simms and pulled off a point spread cover against the Panthers. On a crucial drive late in the third quarter, Simms catapulted into the end zone after receiving a tremendous hit on his left side. He was in a struggle the rest of the game to play. Last night it was reported that Simms was in the hospital and had his spleen removed.



Twenty years ago I was a promising baseball player, when a friend of mine joking around gave me a shot on my left side, with a nice punch. At the time I was in great shape, lifting weights five times a week and running as well. The night he hit me, I was in pain, but still functioning enough to go home. The next day was very uncomfortable as I tried to swing a bat and most of my power was gone. I got through that day, but now the struggles began as I was discombobulated and working a huge fever.

At this point I needed to get myself to a hospital and once there, the fun began. After x-rays, they couldn't see anything structurally wrong with me and I had no idea that the hit I had received was the culprit. The doctors wheeled me into the hallway and then the convulsions started, as my blood pressure reached 70 over 30, which is close to death.

The doctors asked what had happened and I did mention that I had been hit a few days ago, by a friend. Bingo, they opened my stomach and found six pints of blood sitting there and told me my spleen was ruptured.

When it was obvious that Simms was laboring, the announcers and training staff thought that he was suffering from a lack of hydration and gave him fluids. At the time Simms would've had no idea it was his spleen since the pain in his side was something he was used to.

He returned to the game, but couldn't continue and this was the beginning of the end and lucky for his sake, the training stag remembered the hit. As for his future, he is looking at minimum four weeks for the wound to heal, but then he'll also have lost about 30 pounds. The doctors will probably advise Coach Gruden that it will be minimum eight weeks.

Tampa Bay at 0-3 is in huge trouble, but not completely out of it, as they now turn to rookie Bruce Gradkowski out of Toledo. According to the odds at the , they have a lot of happening for them. Remember, they have a bye week before heading to New Orleans and that should be a nice play. After facing defenses the likes of Baltimore, Atlanta, and Carolina, the Saints will be a welcome to the desperate Buccaneers.

Bob Acton