A few Buccaneers memories from an old school fan.

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I refuse to go quietly into this bye week!  Instead, if you will humor me, I would like to take a moment to remember some people and moments that are directly, or maybe indirectly, responsible for my life-long love of the Buccaneers.

First, my late father Raymond Kennedy and his brother Edward Kennedy.  It was that first sheet of season tickets you got back in 1976.  At $8 a seat, somehow still the best tickets in the old Sombrero that put us 14 rows up, north end zone, middle of the uprights.  As an added bonus, every time a ball would clear the net, it would fall within a few seats of ours. This was where I first learned to play the rebound, and it worked. Thanks, Bill Capiece. He was kicking for the Oilers at the time but would later become a Buccaneer.

Next, I want to thank my Aunt Mary and Uncle Sunny.  You both are now watching the Bucs games from the great owner’s box in the sky, but you were the King and Queen of the tailgate.  My uncle, a veteran of the Korean War, would whip out the Coleman grills and somehow make a breakfast that would best any restaurant in Tampa Bay at that time.

Finally, to the various memories like sneaking into the baseball stadium that sat next to the Sombrero and finding baseballs in the cages while the adults found places in the bushes outside to relieve their bladders.  To my friend Chas Beasley, who after an hour long rain delay for a game against the Vikings threw my cousin Chris over the wall and onto the field, getting us thrown into the old Sombrero jail (there was actually a cell) and then thrown out, before the game even started. I was pissed to miss the game back then, but it has made for many memorable laughs at family get-togethers since.

I am running long, so I will cut it there, but suffice to say, there are many memorable moments in my life that are responsible for my life-long love of our Buccaneers. I will hold these memories dear as I wait until next week, and the Buccaneers can help me make some more great ones.

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