Stories I tell, about those meetings ...

I posted a piece on LinkedIn Wednesday about meetings. They're sort of a necessary evil. I outlined a couple of meetings over the years related to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and offered some tips on running a great meeting.

But I left out part of the aftermath of the Super Bowl week meeting. On the day of that meeting, my goal was to make sure a story on Bucs receiver Joe Jurevicius would make 1A of the St. Petersburg Times. It was the first time he had spoken publicly about his infant son, who was born prematurely with a rare disease. The boy died about two months later.

That story did indeed make 1A. The frustrating debate that day was over two other stories. One was a story on fans who got Bucs tattoos and the other was on the Oakland Raiders’ logo and similarities between the Raiders and Bucs themes. Eventually, the Raiders logo went to 1A and tattoos came to the Super Bowl section because it could be the lead photo there.

The next morning, my boss was NOT happy about a tattoo being the lead photo on the Super Bowl front, which he saw as more of a Sports section. Not a good way to start the day.

As I drove to work that morning, the radio played AC/DC's Highway to Hell.  

I burst out laughing.