Super Bucs, Enjoy it Tampa Bay!
(January 27, 2003)

Enjoy it Tampa Bay! The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are Super Bowl champions! The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are world champions! The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII 48-21 over the Oakland Raiders last night. How 'bout them Bucs!

In the near future, it is likely this site will feature an article about what happened on the field during Super Bowl XXXVII. We might even have something summarizing all the associated celebrations. A good name for that piece might be "Tampa Bay Bucs Fans - Ten Days in January." It has crazy since the Bucs won the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia. A bookend to this chapter, following a big welcome home party tonight at Raymond James Stadium, will be a victory parade on tomorrow.

Enjoy it Tampa Bay! We have every right to cherish the first major sports championship in the area's history. The Storm has won four Arena Bowl championships and years ago the Rowdies won a soccer title, but that cannot compare. The Bucs are champions of America's number one sport. They are the kings of football in a place where football is king.

Enjoy it Tampa Bay! After the game last night, fans began to congregate at RJS. Cars jammed Dale Mabry Highway, but the Tampa Police wanted no part of that. In the interest of safety, they pretty much cordoned off the stadium area. Fans in Ybor City poured into the blocked off streets to party. All over Tampa Bay, in neighborhoods large and small, fans took to the streets. It was time to yell and scream, light off fireworks, and erase 27 years of suffering.

The number twenty-seven seems to come up quite a bit when talking about this franchise. They were named the league's 27th franchise in 1974. It took 27 games for them to post a victory. They earned their first NFC Championship with a 27-10 victory. They posted a 27 point victory in the Super Bowl. You might want to include the number 27 in any lotto pick this week.

Enjoy it Tampa Bay! The confetti was still floating in the Qualcomm Stadium air, when reporters were asking about next year. How are the Bucs going to manage the salary cap? What type of players will be brought in next year and which positions will you concentrate on? How will it be playing next season as defending champions? Soon enough the Bucs will be opening next preseason in Japan.

Enjoy it Tampa Bay! Super Bowl championships do not come easy, or often. The Green Bay Packer won Super Bowls I & II, then took 29 years to get back to the big game. Kansas City won Super Bowl IV, and the Colts won Super Bowl V, and neither team has been back since. The Raiders won in Tampa in 1984 and did not go again until this season. The 1985 Chicago Bears were thought to be building a dynasty, but the team did not returned. The winners of the last three Super Bowls, St. Louis, Baltimore and New England probably will not be Super Bowl favorites any time soon.

Enjoy it Tampa Bay! Who knows what next season will bring. This is not the time to discuss all that. The Bucs are the champs. We have bragging rights for an entire year. Who knows when we will pass this way again.

Enjoy it Tampa Bay!