How much mediocrity/substandard play does a fan have to endure before one loses hope that there will EVER be a solution? It's painful to watch teams "re-build" in a 2-3 year process while the Buccaneers spiral downward consistently for a decade plus. Even worse, a fan stops caring about the team because there are not players that one enjoys rooting for at a visceral level. Take this and add drama worthy of "General Hospital" through the coaching ranks, the administration, and the ownership, and it's easy to see why the Bucs are once again the laughingstock of the league (with Jags).
How can a team suck for eleven years in a row in the day and age of parity? Sure, we made mostly horrible choices in the draft. We never developed that franchise QB. We forced the only solid Coach we had (in the last 11 years) out the door because he did not win a playoff game after 2002. Instead, we put the team in the hands of inexperienced coaches who were in over their heads. The ownership is quieter and more hidden than Pennsylvania Amish women in their villages.
I am one of those guys who believes you have to have TALENT (extraordinary talent) to win consistently. A Peyton Manning, a Lawrence Taylor, an Adrian Peterson...so speaking of AP, I can think back to three draft choices that we HAD to make and we did not pull the trigger on...
1. In 2005, we took CADILLAC WILLIAMS with the fifth pick in the draft... Not a bad pick, but we left AARON RODGERS on the table
2. In 2007, we drafted GAINES ADAMS with the fourth pick of the draft... left ADRIAN PETERSON (who I wanted) on the table.
3. In 2010, we drafted GERALD MCCOY over DEZ BRYANT (who I wanted)
Imagine if Aaron Rodgers, AP, and Dez Bryant were drafted instead because they were clearly players in positions of need for us. Aaaaugh! With the exception of Rodgers (who I thought would not pan out), the other two were such no-brainers that even I posted here telling you who I wished for. Clearly, we missed a window of opportunity there and so go the fortunes of the team...
Back in the Bucs heyday, there were players on the team that one cared about...players so excellent that you rooted so hard for them to win it all because they were deserving of it. Nickerson, Brooks, Lynch, Alstott, Dunn, Barber, Sapp, Rice, Abraham, Kelly,...Today, despite some talent on the team, I don't have any player that I am so vested in emotionally for their excellence. Whereas I anticipated every Bucs game and expected victory every Sunday prior to 2004, now I actually just watch in a catatonic state hoping we will at least be fun to watch. It's a shame and it's embarrassing... I have not flown to Tampa for a game since 2004, and I have not seen a west coast game in four years. The team has made me stop caring... it's almost like what happened to the Dodgers...When I stopped caring about any players on the Dodgers and Angels, I stopped watching baseball
altogether... (have not returned even with the Dodgers resurgence this year). Am I headed down that path with the Bucs? How do you handle a decade of losing games and losing interest in your team's players? Losing is not what worries me, it's the lack of interest in any of the players on the team that worries me...No one on this team is a leader and lifting the others around them to excel...
Maybe we need Manziel to make this team watchable again...All I know is it is downright depressing right now...