By LINDA McEWEN

During the Bucs’ preseason game this past Thursday evening, I began to think of other things when the score got so lopsided, losing on the Bucs side. There wasn’t a lot of excitement going on. I thought of Tom and how he would have written about all of this and drifted into his introductions to many of his columns with his breakfast menus.

Many people over the years were so fascinated by the creativity and, really, audacity of these menus and Tom was constantly asked about the writing of these menus and how did he think of this attention getting foreword to his story of the day.

Looking through the stacks and stacks of stories, I came across his explanation of this happening and here it is, by Tom.

“Most sports columnists occasionally will chose to write a piece on several subjects, not just one. And, most seek a way to lead into this sort of a presentation. I did, and came up with introducing this specialty with what I called a Breakfast Bonus, on the theory that, well, most people eat breakfasts. It became a trademark, popular and widely copied, the sure sign of success.

“So often in the years after that, on introduction, out of an old friend and out of nowhere would come two questions: One, do you really eat those breakfasts you recommend? Two, where do you get those breakfast ideas?  For one, when I can, I will, and it is a favorite meal in our home. For two, the recipes come from my own head, my own experiences growing up Wauchula, Florida, my wonderful wife’s own creative mind, and from friends and from readers.”

It worked. The climax was when a great achiever would ask those questions.

Following below are some of those breakfast suggestions that seemed always to include a treat which would provide a walkaway mouth-cleansing, such as, “two bites of Florida cantaloupe.”

Read on, and salivate.

“Over your pleasant fall Sunday breakfast of a cold glass of jaw-loosening unsweetened Florida grapefruit juice, three Lykes pork sausage patties, two straight-up Masaryktown eggs basted in the sausage leavings placed atop of a hefty pile of North Florida yellow grits, several slices of chilled Ruskin tomatoes with mayonnaise dashes, pre-buttered over-toasted hunks of Tampa-baked (the full round loaf) Italian bread with Florida marmalade on it, glass of East Hillsborough-produced chilled milk, then café con leche, followed by a mouth cleansing bite or two of Wildwood watermelon, these wonders:”

Then the column.

Maybe the Bucs should eat like this a little more, builds you up!

Babaloo!