In a flash, I pictured the drive-by podium interview that was in my future.

Most television features are fairly civilized affairs. You sit in a room and the players are brought to you by the public relations staff. No elbows, no bitter sportswriters, no adrenaline rushes, no sweat.

	The podium interview is a subtle art. It's all about timing -- and volume. You can't interrupt the speaker, so you have to wait a beat before yelling your question.

Last week in Tampa, I interviewed nine Bucs players in a single day, and we've been living off that sound for the last week. We've produced features on Warren Sapp as a tight end, Brad Johnson's fastidiousness, Gruden's impact on the team and his evil grimace, Simeon Rice, Derrick Brooks the humanitarian -- six pieces, all culled from three 30-minute tapes. Frankly, I'm getting little tired of that sparkly red background.

The Gruden feature required some actual work. My producer, Nancy Devaney, hit the ground running at 7 a.m. First stop was the Bucs' hotel in La Jolla. I sat in an aisle seat in the second row for Gruden's press conference. There were several dozen reporters in the audience and about 15 television cameras set up in the back.

After Gruden updated his injury list, I pounced. The podium interview is a subtle art. It's all about timing -- and volume. You can't interrupt the speaker, so you have to wait a beat before yelling your question. Invariably, someone else has leaped into the same breach. But once you start, you can't stop; you must shout them down.

I succeeded in delivering the question -- something about the similarities between Brad Johnson and Rich Gannon -- but Gruden did not cooperate.

"Actually," he said, smiling at me, "there are more differences than similarities."

Ouch. I'm 45 years old, but I could feel my cheeks turning red. We had better results later in interviews with Johnson and Gannon, Raiders head coach Bill Callahan -- in a yawning room at a La Jolla hotel with several hundred media types -- and the two offensive coordinators.

There was only minimal hostility from sportswriters, TV and radio people as we muscled into the throngs around them. We got the predictable answers but, as usual, there was a surprise. Gannon said he called Johnson the day Gruden was traded to Tampa Bay.

"I just told him he's going to love him," Gannon said. "I told him it would be a perfect match. I told Brad to enjoy it, and he's going to challenge you. He's going to push you."

It was a nice private moment between the two Super Bowl quarterbacks who crossed paths in 1992 with the Vikings.

Those are the kind stories that make all the elbows -- and public humiliation -- worth it.

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.