False Economy in the Halls of Power Spells Troubled Waters Ahead As Bucs fans we’ve seen a few poor choices made by our franchise over the years, and this week decision to retain Raheem Morris as head coach is right up there with the best of them. Whatever the financial motivation to keep Mr Morris in charge, it is plainly the wrong move, will set the Bucs back another year and will prove a false economy when Buc fans are coming to the stadium disguised as empty seats come October 2010. The retention of Morris as head coach is quite a telling one, both for the Bucs financial position and its ambitions, or lack thereof, for the 2010 season. If everything suddenly clicks into place, “Number 5” (as the Coach irritatingly refers to Josh Freeman) develops further, Raheem suddenly turns 180 degrees and becomes a better game manager and the Bucs make some decent draft picks, then we win five games tops. A few things I think 1) Simple solution to the league-wide plague of players sitting-out to rest for the players? Dock their game-checks for non-appearance. That should get them back onto the field rather quickly and ensure the right players play all 16 games if they are physically able to. 2) I see the “season ticket waiting list” has taken two years, to completely evolve into “good seats still available” – come November we may be tarping the upper deck at RJS, it could get that ugly; it fact in many ways it already has this past week. 3) I see Byron Leftwich is due a $3m roster bonus in March. I have more chance of getting that money than he does. 4) I’ll be rooting for the Jets in the play-offs as a huge underdog. Mr Revis is worth watching himself as he takes half the field away and with that running game and defense they can play low scoring games with just about anybody. 5) Time to publicly fill out my awards ballot in the rest of this space :- Offensive Player of the Year … Cadillac Williams, my admiration for his guts and dedication in making it back playing at this level knows no bounds. Defensive Player of the Year … Tanard Jackson, he’s a decent cover guy with a nose for the ball who hits people and makes plays, in short just about everything you want in a Safety. Special Teams Player …. Micheal Spurlock, love the dramatic impact on his late season comeback. Given Clifton Smiths injury and the malaise of our Kicking games Mr Spurlock gets a nod by default. Rookie ….. Josh Freeman, can make every throw for a big man and has really quite feet allowing him to keep plays alive. Gives us real hope at the games most important position. Writer of the Year … Denis Crawford, a man who teaches you something new about the Bucs with every column. Any time spent in Denis’s company, is something to appreciate and to top it off I find out this year he’s a really nice bloke in person too. Dickhead of the Year … Ocho Cinco, a psychologist would take years to filter through his bullshit. Buccaneer of the Year … some worthy candidates this year but I’ll plump for Cadillac Williams for his amazing comeback and unlikely return from two awful injuries. NFL Player of the Year … Darrelle Revis, without him the Jets are nowhere near the play-offs as his work allows Rex Ryan’s whole scheme to operate up front. Favourite Buccaneer … this used to be an automatic Derrick Brooks vote so left me pondering before coming up with Josh Freeman who’s moxie I like, and my faith is with him. Rather than the Raiders old Commitment to Excellence mantra, perhaps a big banner with “Commitment to Mediocrity” is required on the billboards surrounding the stadium to sum up the image and feeling a lot of Bucs fans are feeling this week. The dream of a new regime under a real football coach and leader in Bill Cowher, has been replaced by a giant kick in the nether regions and the spectre of more double digit home blow-out losses, and a crowded parking lot midway through the 3rd quarter. I don’t expect my football team to win all the team, heck for the first 14 years I followed them a seven win season seemed a million miles away. However what I do want to believe is that my team are doing all they can to be competitive and to try to win in this league. Sorry Messrs Glazer, but I simply don’t believe that with this team anymore. I’ll never stop rooting for em, listening or watching in any way I can, but I can fully empathise with those fans who won’t be renewing their season tickets next year and from the sounds of it there may be quite a few of them. Going for the cheaper option at the helm of a football team is merely treading water, will set us back even further over a longer period and on so many levels is a false economy. I have nothing personally against Raheem Morris, though his consistent lack of accountability for the teams performance is an irritant, but see him merely as a guy thrust into a position way out of his depth and far too early. Mr Morris may become a good head coach in 5-10 years time, but to allow him to continue to stumble along and cut his death at the NFL level is mere folly, and we will pay a the price for it in the longer run. With a team a gazillion dollars under the salary cap, and with five of the first 99 picks in the draft, the enthusiasm and belief that things are about to get better and a new era is beginning should be there. Sadly when looking at who’s directing my team and those making the key directional choices at this vital time, this belief and faith is missing and is replaced by genuine fear of what lies ahead in the next 12 months before we look back on the 2010 season. In short, I can’t remember feeling this dispirited as a Bucs fan in a good while. We’ve had 4 different co-ordinators, three different QB’s but sadly seem stuck with the same Head Coach. Ho hum, its times like this when you focus on other things with your NFL team, like stuff we can laugh at or previous old teams who could actually play football. Have a great off-season Buc fans and let’s hope we are touched by lady luck in the draft, as that’s the best we can aim for from where I’m standing. We need to find another Lee Roy Selmon rather than unearthing the Gaines Adams of this world. What date do pitchers and catchers report? Nod of Acknowledgement to - Paul Stewart another tremendous year for this website passes and consider all the work he has put in both to the club, and for the Bucs once again during the Wembley weekend. Shit Sandwich of the Week - Bucs fans everywhere in discovering Raheem will be back well colour me unimpressed and pass me another one from the turd buffet. US Sports Story that bores me senseless - anything whatsoever dedicated to Wade Phillips job security in Dallas It’s a yearly snooze fest not worthy of attention. Twunt of the Week - The Colts again. Apparently a 16-0 season was just a stat and not important. If so, then why were Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark on the field in Buffalo last Sunday just to pad their own individual stats and achieve personal landmarks? What double-standard kind of horseshit is this? Predictions (last week 12-4, final reg season record 173-83, lock of the week is 13-2) Finished the season batting over .670 – though not exactly Di Maggio level it certainly was surprisingly credible. Now for the play-offs and for Wild Card weekend and some good match-ups let’s go with Jets, Cowboys (lock), Cheats and Cheese