There were so many things different about the year the Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII. There was usually a two-week period between the AFC/NFC Championship games and the Super Bowl, but in 2002, there was only one. If your squad won the game like ours did, you said it didn’t allow any time to overthink. If you lost as the Raiders did—who we kidding, the Buccaneers were going to kick their behinds no matter what. Bucs fans were just finishing welcoming our team back from the NFC Championship victory closing down the old Vet in Philadelphia, and then we were turning right around and sending our boys across the country to San Diego to secure the Lombardi Trophy and history.
Many have made comparisons about how great the 2002 Buccaneer defense was next to the ‘85 Chicago Bears and 2000 Baltimore Ravens. I feel pretty darned secure in saying that from front to back, the 2002 Buccaneer defense was the fastest defense I have ever seen. After watching our players, coaches, and owners celebrating on the field at Qualcom Stadium, it was time for them to bring that celebration home to Tampa Bay, and this is where my story actually starts.
For all of you who went over, you remember they opened the gates to Raymond James Stadium so we could all shuffle in and get ready for our hero’s flight to arrive next door at Tampa International Airport. My wife and I got great seats, right on the wall. There were over forty-five thousand in that stadium, and more were funneling in by the minute. We were singing and watching clips of the Super Bowl game played over and over again, loving every minute of it. Then, at just about the time the plane carrying the Bucs was due to arrive, the public address announcer informed everybody in the stadium that the captain of the plane flying our team had requested and been granted special permission by the FAA to fly in over the stadium and turn the plane so that the players could see all of us anxiously awaiting their arrival. That was a teary-eyed moment for me, but hey, I’m a teary-eyed kind of guy.
The players paraded in about half an hour later, and everybody took turns kissing the Lombardi Trophy. There were speeches and tears and lots of celebration. Afterward, as my wife and I were leaving, we cut through the area between where the players parked and the stadium. We were walking along, and we passed this nice guy with great smile who said hello to us, and we responded in kind with a hello. It wasn’t until he got about twenty yards past us that we realized he was carrying the super bowl MVP trophy. It was Dexter Jackson, and honestly, our passing smile, his politeness, our happiness—he just looked like a guy who was ready to get home and relax.
Here’s the moral to my story for all of you Buccaneer fans out there. It is the struggles through the losing that will make the sweet taste of success all the better. Let’s keep our composure, enjoy every Sunday like it’s the last, and let’s celebrate together the successes our team will bring us. Oh yeah, and if you’re ever walking outside a stadium after a Super Bowl champion team returns and you see somebody carrying hardware, make sure it’s not the super bowl MVP trophy. I would’ve liked to get a picture with Dexter Jackson that night, but I thank him just the same. Definitely one of the greats.
