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Hubert Mizell, The St.Petersburg Times, published 26 December 1994
Bah, humBuc! A rare sold-out, playoff-quality air embraced Tampa Stadium. Prodigal fans flooded home on Christmas Eve. There was open-armed eagerness. Locals, it seemed, were exemplifying a deep, full-of-concern love for NFL football. They were anxious to be re-romanced by the Bucs, so many having been chased away by repetitious Tampa Bay franchise ineptitudes. Then the Bucs kicked off ...
Electricity in the Big Sombrero would rapidly dim, as though some Scrooge had unplugged a tree of promise. Green Bay played with championship skills. Brett Favre quarterbacked beautifully, Sterling Sharpe torturing Tampa Bay's secondary for three quick touchdown catches. The Bucs stumbled backward into a 28-6 halftime chasm. Bah, humBuc!
Suddenly, a month of victorious Sundays against the Vikings, Redskins, Rams and Redskins seemed so far away. These Bucs wind up winning six but losing 10. Ten! Again! They fought it off with the late-season, 4-0 flurry, but Saturday brought the inevitable. A 12th consecutive, post-Doug Williams, double-digit-loss season.
Green Bay lollygagged through the second half. With every Bucs possession that didn't result in a touchdown, the audience thinned notably. Egress traffic was heavy by mid third quarter. When the 34-19 Packers stroll ended, the 65,076 had shrunk to maybe 15,076, at least half of them Green Bay rooters wearing Packer-green clothing and smiling faces.
Had the Bucs excelled, even in defeat, they could've made it a little easier for hometown investors to pay $175-million or so to buy the team. Had they excelled, it would've made it just a little easier to push through a $50-million Tampa Stadium refitting, or even a new arena for $150-million-plus. Saturday didn't help much.
In the Bucs' locker room, embattled head coach Sam Wyche opened his customary post-game media conference by facing the most obvious of questions. A reporter asked if Saturday's biggest letdown hadn't been the Bucs doing so poorly despite drawing their first sellout crowd of the season, a gathering that had created the upbeat, high-voltage atmosphere any head coach would crave.
The question had been carefully, properly and professionally phrased. I was planning to ask it much the same. Wyche refused to answer. He wheeled around, asking for questions "that make sense." All season, Wyche has been pretending to be a journalism professor, among other things. Damn, Sam ...
I wonder, how many of Saturday's ticket buyers at Tampa Stadium might've asked the same question, some with far less tact. Later, Wyche chose to call the reporter a vulgar name. Look, it has been a rough season for the Bucs. Some extraordinary bedevilment, like franchise owner Hugh Culverhouse dying, the franchise then going up for sale, with Baltimore carpetbagger Peter Angelos threatening to steal Tampa Bay's team.
But with the pregame energy, Saturday was poised to, just maybe, leave a rather sweet taste. Instead, bitterness would instantly arise. An opportunity was flubbed. It's hardly the first time in our NFL franchise's 19-season history.
The good folks of Tampa Bay deserve far better. Remember those dozen downbeat post-Doug Williams seasons. This is another one.
Sure, some promising players were discovered. Sure, some promising players were discovered. Sure, the Bucs of 1995 should be in a position to build further, having no excuse not to escalate to an 8-8 record or better. But are locals supposed to stand and blindly cheer a 6-10 record? Are reporters supposed to back off, accepting anything the head coach says as some sort of gospel of promise? I think not. I know not. Bah, humBuc!
More wins would unquestionably create more sellouts. Prospective Bucs owners with Tampa Bay loyalties should not be heavily deterred by Saturday's misfires. This is a franchise worth saving. Worth changing for the better. Worth some attitude adjustments. Worth ridding of its Culverhouse stigma. Worth a future on Florida's left coast.
When 74,301 spend more than $2-million in search of three hours of sporting entertainment, they absolutely expect a good deal more than Sam's Bucs delivered on Christmas Eve. No question about that.
Last game at the Big Sombrero? Lots of people were asking that question, even if not of Sam Wyche. I still think the Bucs are staying. I'm optimistic, even if Sam chose Saturday to paint local media as "pessimists."
Realists, perhaps. Had the Bucs given it a more efficient push against a superior bunch, instead of swimming in troubled waters from the opening minute, the Tampa Bay community might be feeling a little more gifted on this Christmas morning. I'm not sure how long Wyche will be around as head coach, but I want to be there - and for you to be there - when 74,000 spend a season getting more than their money's worth at Tampa Stadium. It's been a long, long time.
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