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Bisaccia Has More Than Football To Celebrate

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 23, 2007

TAMPA - 'Tis the season to make Visa and MasterCard rich, foolishly battle the guy with a gun rack in his truck for that premier parking space, and contemplate how much giving your wife a rice cooker shows true love.

Ah, the holidays.

This week I spoke with Buccaneers special teams coach Richard Bisaccia, who received an early Christmas gift when Micheal Spurlock returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown last week, becoming the first player in team history to do so. Bisaccia's early gift was conducting his first line of questioning that did not involve Tampa Bay's kickoff touchdown drought.

Anwar: What kind of Christmas gift will you buy Micheal Spurlock for returning that kick?

Richard: A double mouthpiece, top and bottom, to cover all them teeth.

Anwar: What's the worst Christmas gift you ever received?

Richard: Christmas is my favorite holiday. Every gift is a good gift. I've never had a bad gift.

Anwar: Have you ever purchased a gift that did not go over too well?

Richard: I'm sure I have. My wife's Jeanne birthday is on the 21st and it's so close to Christmas I always worry about messing that up.

Anwar: Do you ever combine her birthday and Christmas gifts?

Richard: No, you can't do that. Your birthday is your birthday. But I tell you, the worst Christmas gift I ever received was my dad passing away on Dec. 14 two years ago. I actually lost my mom and dad on same day four years apart - my mom in 2001 and my dad in 2005. That would be my worst Christmas gift.

Anwar: Is Christmas hard for you to celebrate now?

Richard: No, because it's a celebration of life. It's Christmas and the birth. When someone passes away, you try to celebrate the life they had. I have four kids, so Christmas is a big deal in my house.

Anwar: So what is on your kids' Christmas list?

Richard: Thank God I have a great wife and I don't have to worry about it.

Anwar: Does Santa bring the gifts in your house or Mommy and Daddy?

Richard: Mom and Dad bring some on the night before Christmas and Santa always delivers the morning of.

Anwar: If Santa comes down a chimney, how does he deliver presents to people who live in apartments?

Richard: Santa enables himself to become this really small round ball and he can get himself really flat like Play-Doh and so he can slip right underneath the door, get flattened out, and come right back out the door.

Anwar: Nice! OK, tell me what is your favorite Christmas movie?

Richard: "It's a Wonderful Life."

Anwar: Really? Why?

Richard: A lot of us don't ever realize how many hands you actually touch, or paths you actually cross, until it's too late. I think that movie gives us a chance to look into our own path a little bit and hopefully not mess up the future.

Anwar: What's your favorite Christmas song?

Richard: Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."

Anwar: What's your best Christmas memory?

Richard: When I was a kid, my mom and dad gave me a New York Giants football set with Fran Tarkenton's blue No. 10 jersey and a shiny helmet. That is the one I will always remember the most.

Anwar: Do you like the taste of fruitcake?

Richard: No. I'm a cheesecake guy.

Anwar: Have you ever seen seven swans-a-swimming?

Richard: No, I can't say that I have.

Anwar: How about six geese-a-laying?

Richard: I'd rather not talk about that.

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