UKnowMoreThanMe

Cross-posted at the Buccaneers Message Board:

I'm going a different direction with this one.  I'm too depressed to continue to be depressed about the current situation for the Bucs.

On January 26, 2003 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, the NFC champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their first Super Bowl by defeating the AFC champion Oakland Raiders, 48-21.

Oakland came into the game as four-point favorites. However, the Tampa Bay defense dominated the contest. Raiders' quarterback Rich Gannon threw a Super Bowl record five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns. Bucs safety Dexter Jackson, who had two of those interceptions and returned them for 34 yards, was named Super Bowl MVP. Jackson became only the second safety and third defensive back to ever be named Super Bowl MVP.

I was at a wedding during the first half of the Buccaneers beatdown of the 49ers in the divisional round. It was sad. So I made a point to let my wife know that if the Buccaneers won against the Eagles and went to the Super Bowl, I was going to do whatever the hell I wanted for that game, no wedding, or anything else was gonig to stop me.

It had been way too long. We went decades of being the laughing stock of the league. We gained respect in the late 90s and came ever so close, we were right there, we needed a Super Bowl appearance or all the blood, sweat, and tear would be worth nothing. The door doesn't stay open forever. 

Sitting on my couch in my one-bedroom apartment at the time, I remember watching Joe Jurevicius catching that crossing pattern on 3rd down and going 70 yards up the field. I was going to have a heart attack, could we finally be conquering the hated Eagles and be making our first ever trip to the Super Bowl? With 3 minutes left in the game, Ronde Barber gave us our answer, "Yes, we were."

Super Bowl Sunday came really quick, especially when that's all I could think about for 2 weeks. I decided to go over to my brother's house were he was having a party and his fiance was a Raiders fan. I got their early and branded my ass into the couch cushion directly in front of the TV. It was time, Gruden was taking his troops into battle against his previous army. I have to admit I was nervous. Who had the advantage? The players that knew their ex-leader's tricks? Or the Leader who knew his ex-players' tricks?

The answer was obvious, almost right away. Charles Woodson intercepted Brad Johnson on the first series. "This is going to be ugly," I told myself, but not so fast...Simeon Rice set the tone by slamming Rich Gannon to the ground, forcing a field goal, and the defensive eruption took place. John Lynch told us that they were running the same plays Gruden told them to look for, that they were still using the audible signals that Gruden used in Oakland. It was obvious.

Tampa Bay dominated Oakland, outgaining them in total yards (365 to 269), rushing yards (150 to 19), first downs (24 to 11), offensive plays (76 to 60), and forced turnovers (5 to 1).It was domination. It was offensive domination, it was defensive domination, it was every aspect of the game domination. And it was good.

By the time Jerry Rice caught his touchdown, I was, shall we say, not sober. By the time the clock hit all noughts, the reality still hadn't hit me, but the excitement had. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had won the Super Bowl. The team many of had grown up watching get embarassed The team that until last year was the sole owner of a "defeated" season was not fixing to pose with the Lombardi Trophy.

I remember running around the neighborhood like a crazy person, letting anyone who was not aware that the Buccaneers were Super Bowl champions. It was glorious. I was on a natural high for months after that. I'm glad I get to have that memory as a fan with this franchise. Good times, good times.

So tell me...What were you doing on January 26, 2003? What do you remember? What was so awesome about it. There are plenty of threads for negativity, wailing, and moaning.

Share some positive memories with the rest of us from the Super Bowl win or any other point of Buccaneers history.

One of my esteemed Buccaneers' fans had this little nugget for me earlier:

Dominik said that they are not and were never interested in Parker.  Parker has not even visited Tampa, so hold off at getting to upset with Domink.  A lot of false stories get spread around this time of year.
Allow me to retort.

Mark Dominik has my pity.  He is either a useful idiot, or just being taken advantage of. 

He's just the guy in the office cashing a big check, with the General Manager nameplate on his desk.  His only responsibility is to take the heat for the crap the resource-depleted Buccaneers are going to have to serve up to us as Manchester United sucks the life out of a recently proud franchise. 

The only thing I as a fan can lay my hopes on for success, is the heart and soul of the players on the team, because they aren't going to get any support from the front office. 

The recession completely murdered the Glazers, and by extension, the Bucs.  These guys have much of the Manchester United debt tied up in Hedge Funds and other big-time money players at 14.25% interest. 

Hundereds of millions of dollars at 14.25% interest set to spike to 16.25% in the summer.  I don't even have a credit card with a rate that high.  Mercy.

Word on the street is that the Glazers are trying to avoid having to use Manchester United's other owners' cash to pay down their own mounting debt.  In other words, if they are forced into borrowing form Manchester United's cash assets to pay down the debt/interest related to the very aquisition of said franchise, then you can rest assured that they have sucked every last nickel they can out of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

And also, here's an ecouraging story from the Politically Correct Moron Brits accross the pond, I've quoted my favorite part:

But with the net spending under the Glazers amounting to an average of just £6.48 million a season, the club's failure to reinvest the £80 million banked from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid this summer has prompted fears among supporters that the club's main priority is now to service their £699 million debt rather than strengthen Sir Alex Ferguson's first-team squad.Yeah, they aren't spending anything on Manchester United either.  Oh man it's going to be a fun time until they sell the team, either voluntary or by force.  If anyone hasn't figured it out by now;  Welcome to 1976-1996 v2.0, two decades of fun, fun, fun!

A wonderful nugget from Gregg Easterbrook:


Only in Washington could you have one guy calling the running plays (Sherman Smith), another guy calling the passing plays (Sherman Lewis) and a third guy calling the fourth-down plays (Jim Zorn). Maybe what the Redskins need is an even more top-heavy coaching staff -- a guy who calls only screens, a guy who specializes in calling curls, a guy who calls only counter plays to the right on first down in the third quarter. Only in Washington could it seem to make sense to address a problem by putting more people at the top and giving them confused, overlapping responsibilities. Bear this in mind as you hear that more rules and more bureaucracy are the solutions to health care and greenhouse-gas problems.
Also, the obligatory link to the obligatory video of quite possibly the worst NFL playcall of all time.

Much has been said about Tiger and his shenanigans.  He's obviously a male slut.  And nobody would have any problem with that as long as he didn't get married for no apparent reason what-so-ever other than to boost his already sparkling persona.  He's got kids that have to live through this now for their entire life.  Money doesn't solve all problems, and no amount of money will make this situation better for the true victims in all of this...his kids.

Having said that, it's plainly obvious what needs to be done.  Tiger needs to play golf, on the tour, and face the music.  It's not going to go away, the media will not magically stop asking questions.  He's going to have to answer to the media, so why not get it over with as soon as possible.

We all know Tiger's motivation.  That motivation is to break Jack's record of 18 Major victories (Remember Jack finished in 2nd place 19 times, and had 73 top 10 finishes).  Tiger sits at 14 Major wins (32 top 10s) and has plenty of time to win 5 more.  I believe however, that if Tiger takes too much time off, he is risking his career.  Golf is not like riding your bike, no matter what they say.

Tiger needs to get on the course.  That is what he knows.  He knows competitive golf, and more importantly, he knows WINNING competitve golf tournements.  He needs to be where he is comfortable.  He needs to do this for himself, his career, his sport, and his fans.  I predict we will see him back on the tour a week or two before The Masters.  The fellows at Augusta will do their best to run cover for him over that week.

As much negativity and vile that has been thrown in Tiger's direction, believe this:  The first time he tees it up this coming year, he will stand up on the tee box to semi-restricted applause.  Tiger will smash one down the middle, the gallery will cheer wildly.  Someone will yell, "You da man!"  And it will be mostly forgotten.

And in Tiger's world, when this is all said and done, and the dust around the divorce settles, he'll be able to bone whoever he wants.