There will never be a doubt of exactly what Tom Brady brought to the Buccaneers. Respectability, accountability, championship accessibility. A team that hadn’t sniffed the postseason in 13 years, goes on the most beautiful, historic run and wins it all.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Champa Bay.
What’s next?
The pandemic continues to wind down. The magnificent hangover of being world champions is starting to subside. The gang is back for another title run. The season-ticket waiting list has returned to Tampa Bay.
That’s right. It appears that 2021 will see multitudes of Buccaneers fans maneuvering the turnstiles at Raymond James Stadium. The excitement for a packed house -something that wasn’t allowed in 2020- is at full throttle.
Large scale attendance for Bucs games. A waiting list for a team that struggled with attendance for over a decade. Just a couple of the Super Bowl aftereffects that the Bucs and their fans will continue to see over the next few months.
Don’t go that far
Sure, there should be a waiting list to see the NFL champion Buccaneers, and this isn’t even taking into account the inability to have been there in person last season. The most exciting team in the entire league; a fan base as rabid as any other. A team as strong on defense as it is on offense.
Who wouldn’t want to be there?
But read a little deeper. All 22 offensive and defensive starters are back in the fold. A new Lombardi trophy in the case. The chance to see No. 12 all up close and personal. All true. Insinuating that this good will and team success will last only as long as Tom Brady’s career does.
That’s a bridge over Tompa Bay, too far.
Your talking out of your a…
There will come a day when this team reinvents itself. The good teams always do. You don’t just replace a Tom Brady. Just ask the Patriots. Buccaneer fans realize just how good they have it. There are no misconceptions that this historic journey the Buccaneers are on lasts forever. It just doesn’t work that way.
Just don’t tell us how there will be an instant regression to the team that existed pre-TB12. That’s preposterous. To say that happy days are here for as long as No. 12 straps it on. That takes away from the championship caliber-team Jason Licht has put together here in Tampa Bay. Saying that this team returns to an extended stay in the NFC South cellar because one player hangs them up? That is attempting to simplify a complicated equation.
Does No. 12 make this team the best it can be? Yes. Is this team built by one player? Absolutely not. There truly is no “I” in team. But there are two in the word “idiocy”. Which is what the belief of this team suddenly falling apart is.
That, and a side of lunacy.
