How Much Juice Is Left? Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 17 November 2003 It's the type of game he loves. The type he once inhaled. The type his team won. Are there any of those left for him? For the Bucs? How much Warren Sapp do we have left? Seven weeks? The Packers are in town. Winner thinks playoffs. Loser slinks toward oblivion. No more talk. The Bucs have yet to be accountable for this 4-5 start. Always with the excuses. Always with the denial, never a hard look in the mirror. As if a repeat was their right. How arrogant. But Brett Favre is here. So is a team bent on stopping Sapp post-Chad Clifton. There's juice. How many juice games are left for Sapp in Tampa Bay? How many juice games are left for his team? Does it matter? Here's one. People questioning whether the Bucs still have it. People still wondering whether Sapp has any monster games left. He has been good this season, often better than the younger Booger McFarland, but not dominant like he once was. Has that time passed? A juice game. One for Sapp. One for the Bucs. Last stand? It's not a lock that Sapp won't be back next season. It's not a lock that he will be. There are legions of Bucs fans who can't wait to see him go. But it's a week like this, a juice week, that should remind us all of something: Sapp is one of the three most important players in Bucs history. That seems to get dismissed as we consider his future, or behavior. People now pay mere lip service to his talents. Yeah, Sapp was good, but ... Sapp was better than good. Better than even his talk. He answered when challenged. So did the Bucs. Sapp isn't what he was a few seasons ago. It's a different Sapp, but often one still worth watching. Now everyone waits for the big drop-off. We look to the sidelines when he comes out, searching for exhaustion, for signs that the old Sapp is gone for good. Seven weeks to go. We keep coming back to today. It's a juice game. The kind of call Sapp and his teammates have answered in the past. They were as good as their words. Now they're too busy making empty guarantees. Or talking about fluke finishes. Or Keyshawn is busy wanting out. Or the head coach mentions injuries, adds that they're not an excuse, then mentions injuries. The Bucs have thought up all sorts of ways to explain their slide. Their lack of panic feeds right into thoughts about complacency. Some of them actually stand there and talk about a seven-game winning streak to end the season. This from a team that hasn't won two straight yet. Now comes a juice game. Is this the last one for the Bucs this season? Is it the last one for this team as we know it? We keep thinking of Warren Sapp. Is this the curtain call? He lived for these days. He has lived up to them, too. So has his team. Now the Bucs look lost. And, yes, complacent. Here are Favre and the Packers. Here are the Bucs. And 99. Maybe he takes the lead. Maybe someone else does. No excuses. There's juice. We'll watch one more time. Maybe one last time.