Why do we love the Buccaneers?
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Happy Valentine’s Day, Buccaneers fans. We hope that you are waking up with that special someone, or at the very least, have the plans all set for tonight. Whether you are with someone or not, we will keep you warm with this post filled with Valentine’s Day love.
This morning, we are focusing the holiday love on the team that resides at One Buc Place. You all love this team, and you have your own reasons why. It could be that your parents loved the team and brought you up with the Bucs. You may have moved into the area and adopted them as your favorite. Or you might simply enjoy a team with a young developing nucleus.
Whatever it is, each of you have a reason why you love the Bucs. Well, on this Valentine’s Day, we decided to go round the table on this very subject. The next set of slides, each contributor to the Pewter Plank will talk about why they love the Bucs.
Let’s get started, cue the R & B music.
On the Bandwagon
Why do I love the Bucs? Let me take you back to 2002. Growing up a football fan with no team, I cheered for whoever was winning. My Dad’s favorite team was the Miami Dolphins, but who wants to cheer for the same team as their dad? Anyways, after being harassed about being a “bandwagoner” I told pops “whoever wins this will be my team”. Looking back, that may have been the most foolish thing I’ve ever said, what if the Raiders had won? I digress.
Since then my fanatical allegiance to a team on the other side of the United States has astonished most. ” How do you live in California and love the Bucs?”. The answer to that question is easy, now. The question wasn’t east to answer during the Chris Simms years or during the Josh Johnson experiment. Either way watching that’ 02 Bucs defense dominate made me love the Bucs, especially that side of the football. Those teams with Warren Sapp and company stuck it to everybody! They were the best.
That’s why I love the Bucs!
Dad Teaches the Love
My love for the Bucs hasn’t been as long as lot of other folks. It hasn’t been tried and tested by the misery of the 80s and early 90s, and even in the late 90s we were merely flirting school-kids, too nervous and afraid to approach one another. In 2002 when the Bucs won the Super Bowl the two of us were merely friends who said “Hi” to each other in the hallway.
My love for the Bucs didn’t come organically; it was instilled in me over many years by my father, the biggest Bucs fan I know. As a kid I preferred Dragon Ball Z to football, but Dad showed me how fun the game could be. Some of our best moments together have come during Bucs games, and I think that’s the core reason I’m now so passionate about the team. There is nothing like bonding with your Dad over sports.
Charles M. Schulz once said “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt”. That doesn’t really have anything to do with why I love the Bucs, but now you know I love both the Bucs and chocolate, so there’s that.
The A-Train
I love the Bucs for many reasons, but it all started back when I was born in 1996. My uncle had just moved to Tampa, where he became a fan of the team and was able to watch them first hand. Traveling back to cold Central Pennsylvania in the winter for Christmas, he would always bring gifts for me as a child… but none better than my first jersey.
The name Alstott was printed across the back, and as a young kid receiving my first NFL jersey meant a lot.. Watching Mike both through live TV and my Xbox… I fell in love with his type of play. There was, and still is no better fullback to ever play the game. His relentless bruising power was something I wanted to be like and his unquestionable work ethic is something I have adapted into myself.
At six years old I can still remember recreating his touchdown run in the Super Bowl. “A-Train up the gut.”
Why I love the Tampa Bay Bucs… is because of one man, Mike Alstott. He is the reason I love this team, he is the reason I love this organization, he is the reason why I love NFL football.
Fan Since Day One
There are so many reasons that I love the Bucs. I was born and raised in Tampa, so I’ve been watching them for as long as I can remember.
When Tampa Bay won it all, I was only four years old. I still remember where I watched the NFC title game and the Super Bowl. And, despite the fact that I didn’t get to see it, I remember being on the local news at my pre-school for a Bucs rally that we had. There I was, sporting a Tampa Bay jacket and fan mask as the team was getting set for its first Super Bowl appearance ever.
This franchise has given me some great memories and plenty of bad ones. I mean, my cousin and I were season ticket holders during the whole Lovie Smith era. Even some gut-wrenching losses and inexplicable moments haven’t taken away my enjoyment of Buccaneer football. There’s just something about complete dedication that makes everything worth it. Having an investment in the Bucs when things are going poorly is tough, but there’s always the hope that it’ll pay off in the long run.
The Bucs have always been a big part of who I am. They’re a major part of my sports fandom and they play a role in my relationships with others. I’ve bonded over the Bucs with family, friends, teachers, strangers and certainly everyone on staff here at The Pewter Plank. Something about the Bucs makes it easy to connect with people. It’s a great thing.
A Fan in the Northeast
Why do I love the Bucs? Well because I live in Connecticut there are three main fan bases, Giants, Jets, and Patriots. Growing up I never liked any of those teams. Picking a different team was not hard because I always played with the Tampa Bay Bucs for one reason, Mike Alstott. I would play Madden 2007, the one with Shaun Alexander, and start a franchise with the Bucs and gave him the ball almost every play. He’s one of a few players in Madden history to be ranked 100 overall.
Having retired after the 2007 season I had officially chosen the Bucs as my favorite football team. Since the firing of Jon Gruden, the Bucs have had two seasons where they were a potential playoff team in the last week of the season. In 2010 when they went 10-6 and last season when they went 9-7. However, in 2011 they completely collapsed going 4-12. Many, fans including saw 2010 as a fluke season no matter how hard we wanted to believe otherwise.
This upcoming season is different, they have a quarterback and a coaching staff with experience and an edge to get things done. That’s why I love this team, even after a few years of failure they are trying to fix whatever issues they have. They have come out and stated they need speed, and they want winners. With the young nucleus of core players this team has room to grow together and become a dynasty which the Bucs fans have wanted for a long time now. That’s why I love the Bucs.
An Evolution of Fandom
A lot of us have our team affiliations tied in with our parents, but my favorite team came about in a different sort of way and you’ll find out I haven’t always been a Bucs fan.
See, my father isn’t really a fan of pro football. He’s a much bigger college fan – THE Ohio State Buckeyes to be exact – and so my allegiance to them goes back to baby picture days. This left a bit of a void in NFL representation though.
When the Carolina Panthers came around in 1995 I hitched my fan-wagon to them because, well, they had the cooler logo of the two expansion teams.
In 1996 my dad and I went to our first pro game, and it was the Tampa Bay Bucs visiting my adopted hometown Denver Broncos. Long story short, my father wasn’t a fan of a certain Broncos legend, so there we are cheering for the Bucs.
So now I have two teams. The Panthers with the cool logo and the Bucs who lost the first live NFL game I ever saw.
Then Tampa drafted my favorite college running back the next year, Mr. Warrick Dunn, and it was over. Never again would I cheer for Carolina and the Kerry Collins jersey disappeared forever.
Nowadays my life is a living “Cats in the Cradle” music video, and watching the Bucs always takes me back to that day in Mile High Stadium’s nosebleeds when I first met the franchise I’ve loved ever since.
Following Dad’s Footsteps
It goes back to the mid-to-late 90’s – 96, 97. See, as a child of the 80’s in southwest Ohio my football exposure was simply this; the laughingstock Cincinnati Bengals or the triplets of the Dallas Cowboys. Well, any kid that is learning the game of football doesn’t want to be bludgeoned over the head with the Bengals, so I was Cowboys fan. Ironically enough, it was a similar path as that of my father.
My dad, Al Yarcho, grew up a Cowboys fan. My grandad, Wayne Yarcho, actually ran in a race against “Bullet” Bob Hayes. Staubach, Dorsett, Hayes, Pearson – those were my dad’s Cowboys. When Tampa Bay got the bid for the Bucs in the 70’s, my newlywed parents were living in St. Pete so my dad adopted the Bucs as his second team. Enter Jerry Jones, exit Tom Landry, exit my father. He swore off the Cowboys and the Bucs became his only team.
Fast forward to me in elementary school, just about to head to middle school, and I became aware that there was more to football than the teams the networks shove down your throat. Like any kid, I decided I wanted to emulate my dad, so I started rooting for those orange Bucs. Just like my dad, I swore of the Cowboys and was in full-blown Bucs mode. However unlike my dad, I didn’t have to deal with an 0-26 streak.
My Bucs came with Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Mike Alstott, and John Lynch. My Bucs came with a Lombardi in 2002. My Bucs came with some swag.
As a father now, there’s very little I enjoy more than sitting down and cheering on the Buccaneers with my son who loves them every bit as much as his daddy and granddad. To have the three of us, three generations, as part of this Bucs family together is such an amazing feeling.
I love the Bucs because, to me, they’re more than a football team. They’re part of my childhood. They’re family.
Later in Life
My affinity for the Bucs has come later in life, as a writer. When watching the NFL, it is always more fun to watch a team that is on the rise. As a writer, it is even more enjoyable. Seeing a franchise quarterback develop from day one, and an exciting defense on the other side, is fun to watch and great to write about. It makes the game exciting.
That is exactly what the Bucs are. Jameis Winston is becoming a star right before our very eyes. Mike Evans is a guy that ten years from now, the world will know how blessed this team was to have him on the outside. Kwon Alexander is one of the top young linebackers to come up in this league in a very long time. Luke Kuechly might get all of the attention, but Alexander is a player that is along those same lines. Add a pass rush that is improving and the defense can be scary.
It’s not hard to be into a team that is on the rise.
Next: Alvin Kimara Scouting Report
Whatever the reason you love the team, you will all agree with this sentiment:
Why do you love the Bucs? Let us know in the comments.