The Bucs First Championship: A Dozen Days in January

Friday January 17, 2003

It was a Friday afternoon, which is always the best time of the work week. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were leaving for the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia. Several thousand fans were at One Buc Place to see the team off. Many more were watching the team leave on television.

I sat in my office and watched the Bucs head off to the third conference championship game in team history. The TV announcers were talking about how focused the Bucs looked and a co-worker, who isn't that big of a football fan, walked in and said "This is kind of exciting."

The media was doing its part to hype the game and even the most casual football fan in the Tampa Bay area knew something big was happening on Sunday. Die hards got caught up in it too. You wanted to believe that things would be different under Gruden than Dungy, but the past failures at Philadelphia were lurking in the shadows.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished a team record 12-4. They had won the first ever South Division title. A new head coach had energized the team and the community. The Bucs had an impressive 31-6 victory over San Francisco in the first playoff game. There was still history to consider.

Never in franchise history had the Bucs won a playoff game on the road. The last two seasons had ended in miserable efforts at Philadelphia. The Bucs lost 20-10 at Philly in October and the team's only touchdown came on a Derrick Brooks interception return. The 2001 season ended with a 31-9 loss to the Eagles. Three field goals and Tony Dungy was fired. The 2000 season had ended just as painfully with a 21-3 defeat, only one field goal this time, at Philadelphia. If the Bucs would have been able to score a touchdown in the 1999 NFC Championship Game, they could have headed to the Super Bowl instead of St. Louis. Fans bemoaned the Bert Emanuel "catch," which indeed was a terrible call by the officials, but the offense was inept in that 11-6 loss too.

Head coach Jon Gruden talked about the upcoming game in Philadelphia. "We realize we have our hands full. We're going to get on the plane and we're going to play any place. Whether it's in the Vet or on the Walt Whitman bridge. We're going to be there."

The big win against the 49ers had given fans hope and when your team is playing in the conference championship game, even if it meant another trip to Philadelphia, it's hard not to get caught up in the excitement.

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