Glazers Have Orangegasm

October 16, 2008 at 09:33am by Scott   •  5 Comments »

After twelve years of being in pewter and refusing to acknowledge Buccaneer history with a ring of honor or at least a throwback game, the Glazers have decided to unveil both in 2009.

The Bucs plan to introduce a Ring of Honor for the franchise next year as part of a 30th anniversary celebration of the 1979 Bucs, who went 10-6 and advanced to within one victory of a Super Bowl berth in only their fourth NFL season.

The organization also intends to play at least one game during the 2009 season wearing Tampa Bay’s throwback orange jerseys, according to an NFL source.

The Ring of Honor is long overdue and I hope they don’t just concentrate on the Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden eras. I realize they were the most successful for the team and that the majority of players selected will (and should) be selected from those periods, but the Bucs had other great players that got stuck playing for shitty teams. James Wilder comes to mind as a guy who would have thrived in a different system. Jimmie Giles, David Logan, Richard Wood… all of them should be locks. And the poor guys who suffered in both uniforms and then retired before the big Super Bowl payoff like Paul Gruber and Tony Mayberry and Hardy Nickerson should also get their consolation prize of having their names in huge letters at Ray Jay. Of course, if Lee Roy Selmon isn’t the first player enshrined, the whole thing is a sham.

But the bigger surprise is the announcement of a (*sniff*… I’m getting choked up…) throwback game next year. The Glazers have been adamant about not participating in the throwback weekends because of the stank stigma that surrounds Bucco Bruce. I understand it to a degree. It’s impossible to separate the team’s new success in the 90s from their new uniforms, even if it’s just a superficial association. But the fans who endured such disappointment in the orange and white for so many years have a sentimental attachment to it. It’s their badge of honor and every now and then they want to wear it on their sleeves literally. “You were in Iraq? Pffft… I was a Buccaneer fan in the 80s.” The rest of the league has at least one throwback game a year — the Bucs were the only team to completely ignore it year after year. But not next year, and I hope they make it an annual tradition. Derrick Brooks is the only player currently on the team to wear the orange, and he has been a supporter of the throwback for years. He may hold off retirement one more year just to be able to play in that game.

I’m just… I’m just so happy.