TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Today, at least, Bucs fans are finally backing a winner

Staff photo by JOSEPH BROWN III

You can't overstate how much the community needed the win. The Bucs are no longer chasing infamy.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 9, 2009

TAMPA - So this is what it feels like.

We'd nearly forgotten.

We'd nearly forgotten what it was like to live in a football town that's in love with its football team.

Nobody is going out and pricing rings or anything, but Tampa Bay and its Buccaneers are in love again, finally.

At least they are today.

Sunday, the Bucs could do no wrong, even when they did wrong.

Suddenly, they're hot, they're on a roll.

Never mind that this team hadn't won a game in nearly a year.

That doesn't matter today.

One desperately needed win later, and the sun came out.

One win and, for one day at least, maybe for an entire week, we forget all the lunacy of the last few months.

Instead, we see a rookie quarterback with real poise, with real future.

We see a head coach drenched after an ice-bucket shower. Raheem Morris gambled on fourth down and won Sunday, won on the arm of Josh Freeman.

He looked good in that drenched shirt after his first NFL win as a head coach.

Who wouldn't?

Today, the Bucs have the greatest pass rush in history. Stylez G. White looks like Reggie White.

Today, Aqib Talib and Tanard Jackson look like the wing men on the return to Bucs' defensive greatness.

Today, the offensive line that protected Freeman looks like blocks of granite.

Today, Kellen Winslow was worth the money.

Today, Sammie Stroughter has a fan club.

Today, Geno Hayes has one, too.

Today, Ronde Barber has never looked younger.

Today, you love this team, Tampa Bay.

Today, those orange throwback uniforms looked very, very cool.

Face it: The Bucs would have looked good in wedding dresses, so long as they won.

You can't overstate how much this team, this town, needed this W.

It might be the first of, well, a few more.

Or this might be it for the entire season.

We're still talking about a high draft pick.

But we're no longer talking about a matchup box with the winless 2008 Detroit Lions – or the 1976 Bucs.

The 2009 Bucs are no longer chasing their tails – or infamy.

They're chasing a winning streak, beginning this Sunday at Miami.

And all it took was one sunny day in early November.

Who knows how long it will last, Bucs fans.

Today, does it really matter?

You're finally backing a winner.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT