Bucs End 1985 at 2-14, 12/22/85

In 1985, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers seemed condemned to failure right from the very beginning. Few teams ever rebound from a 0-9 start, and the Bucs proved to be no exception.

Even their first victory – a 16-0 triumph at home over the St. Louis Cardinals, and only the second-ever shutout in team history – could not be enjoyed for more than a few days. The next week on the road in the Meadowlands, the Jets handed the Buccaneers one of the worst defeats in franchise history, a 62-28 spanking in which, remarkably, Tampa Bay at one point actually held a 14-0 lead.

Quarterback Steve Young provided a glimmer of hope by winning his first start the following week against the Detroit Lions, a 19-16 overtime victory. Unfortunately, the good times would not last and the Buccaneers dropped their next three games to fall to 2-12 on the season.

On December 15, the smallest crowd to ever see a Buccaneer home game – 25,577 – watched Tampa Bay fall to the almost equally dreadful Indianapolis Colts, 31-23. This set the stage for the season-finale at Tampa Stadium against the Green Bay Packers, in a game that had a considerable amount of importance for the future of the franchise.

By virtue of a league-worst 2-13 record, Tampa Bay had been guaranteed at least the second-overall pick in the 1986 draft. Their Buffalo Bills, with an identical 2-13 record, were out of the running because they had traded their first round pick in 1986 to Cleveland. Win or lose, the Buccaneers needed only a victory by the Atlanta Falcons to ensure the top pick. This meant having first-crack at the Heisman Trophy-winner from Auburn University, running back Bo Jackson.

Despite the big-picture prize that the team could earn with a loss, none of the players wearing orange and white looked at losing as an accomplishment. Jobs were at stake, after all, since few players on the team could consider their job safe going into the following season.

“You either play or you don’t have a job,” Tampa Bay head coach Leeman Bennett said prior to the game. “We want to look presentable. We are all professionals and certainly we want to play our best. It is a matter of pride to finish with a little sweeter taste than on a losing note. One win isn’t going to make everything right, but at least there will be a sweeter taste.”

More like a familiar taste. For the fourteenth time in 1986, the Buccaneers would go home a loser. As always, however, they made it interesting to the very end.

On December 22, a Tampa Stadium crowd of 33,992 came out to see the last chapter of the 1985 season. It started out well enough, with Donald Igwebuike kicking a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter to give Tampa Bay an early 3-0 lead.

The Packers went ahead later in the quarter on a 30-yard touchdown run by wide receiver Phillip Epps that came on a reverse. James Wilder got Tampa Bay back on top in the second quarter, however, scoring on a one-yard touchdown run to give the Bucs a 10-7 lead.

An Al Del Greco 24-yard field goal with just 16 seconds left in the second quarter tied the game 10-10 going into the half.

To their credit, however, the Buccaneers played hard on a day when many could understand if they’d rather be across the street doing their Christmas shopping at the Tampa Bay Center.

Trailing 13-10 going into the third quarter following another Del Greco field goal, the Buccaneers put together their best drive of the day. Quarterback Steve Young engineered a 10-play, 74-yard drive that culminated with a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jimmie Giles. Tampa Bay took 17-13 lead, but their defense would once again let them down when it mattered most.

Randy Wright, Green Bay’s third-string quarterback, answered Tampa Bay’s best offensive drive with their best of the day as well. Wright put together a 13-play, 73-yard drive that took 6:13 off the clock. The immortal Jessie Clark scored on a 6-yard run to regain the lead for Green Bay, 20-17.

Igwebuike, who on his second extra point of the game set Tampa Bay’s single-season scoring mark with 96 points, had a chance in the fourth quarter to even up the game. Instead, he pushed a 48-yard attempt wide right late in the fourth quarter – his second miss from 40+ yards on the day -- and the game would end with Tampa Bay three points short of taking the game to overtime.

On the bright side, Steve Young had his best statistical game of the season, completing 21 of 37 passes for 277 yards and one touchdown. Despite their record, Young felt optimistic about the team’s future.

“I want to be here,” Young said. “I want to have a career here. I want to help this team fill up this stadium again. James Wilder came up to me after the game and I talked to Jimmie Giles, too, and we are convinced we can do it.”

With Young at quarterback, Wilder at his familiar spot in the backfield, and Giles making big catches for Tampa Bay, Buccaneer fans could only wonder how much better the team might be with the addition of Bo Jackson through the upcoming draft. Yes, the future never looked so bright in Tampa Bay.

Bucs Fall to Bears in Finale, 12/20/80

On November 2, 1980, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sported a record of 4-4-1 with seven games remaining. A season which had seen the Bucs sandwich a five-game winless streak between two separate two-game winning streaks could still be salvaged with a strong finish.

At the same point the previous season, the Buccaneers were 7-2 and on their way to winning the NFC Central Division. Although that team would endure a mini-slump en route to clinching the division, the 1980 edition of the Buccaneers shared few similarities with their previous edition.

The defense, which had been such a strength in 1979, failed to dominate opponents or even hold leads. Many wondered if these in fact were the real Buccaneers who had simply over-achieved in 1979.

It began to look that way when Tampa Bay lost five of their next six games to drop to 5-9-1 and completely out of the playoff picture. All that remained was a final home contest against the Chicago Bears to close out the disappointing campaign.

Although they had little left to play for, the Buccaneers had a bit of unfinished business with the Bears. On October 6, the Buccaneers made their first-ever appearance on Monday Night Football at Soldier Field in Chicago. The experience turned out to be less than memorable for the Buccaneers and their national audience.

Despite only trailing 3-0 at the half, the Bucs ultimately fell to the Bears 23-0. Walter Payton rushed for 122 of his 183 total yards in the second half and the Bears sacked Doug Williams four times. Head coach John McKay famously quipped after the game that his team had "set Monday Night Football back 2,000 years."

Then there was the additional matter of a borderline shot levied on tight end Jimmie Giles by hard-hitting Chicago safety Doug Plank. Plank achieved a place in NFL lore when his jersey number -- 46 -- became the root of the so-named "46 defense" developed by Chicago defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan. It was his hit on Giles, however, that enraged Tampa Bay quarterback Doug Williams.

Although no penalty was called on the play, Williams believed that Plank had speared Giles with his helmet. For the hit, Plank earned a $750 fine from the league (roughly $1900 in today's dollars). Giles remained in the game, although some speculated that there may have been a long-term impact on his performance.

Prior to the Bears game, Giles had 12 receptions for 222 yards and three touchdowns in four games. Following the Chicago game, Giles had only 19 receptions and one touchdown in 10 games, this after leading the team in receiving with 40 catches and seven touchdowns in 1979. Still, Giles earned ultimate vindication by being named to the NFC's Pro Bowl squad.

While McKay attributed the decline to Giles drawing more attention from opposing defenders, Giles bluntly stated that the hit had nothing to do with his decrease in production.

"If I let one hit stop me or get me scared, I shouldn't be in football," Giles said. "I think I've had a great year compared to last season because I'm getting double-teamed and triple-teamed in certain situations."

While most of the Buccaneers expected that there would be no retaliation in mind towards Plank, defensive lineman David Logan knew the importance of evening the score with the Bears.

"They beat us 23-0," Logan said. "They embarrassed us. We're not just going to go out there and go through the motions and then just get out of town."

On December 20, with John Madden in the house for the nationally-televised Saturday afternoon game on CBS and a sell-out crowd of over 72,000 expected at Tampa Stadium, both the Bears (6-9) and Buccaneers (5-9-1) had plenty of reasons to not just go through the motions.

Although the actual crowd numbered closer to 55,000 fans – resulting in the greatest number of unused tickets in team history at the time -- those in attendance saw a game that epitomized the struggles of Tampa Bay's 1980 campaign. Not that they didn't have their chances, but the Bucs held true to form and self-destructed at the most important time.

Tampa Bay started off strong enough, racing to a 10-0 first quarter lead behind a 33-yard pass from Williams to Gordon Jones and a 27-yard field goal by Garo Yepremian. For the eighth time in 1980, however, the Buccaneers could not hold on to a 10-point lead.

Chicago signal-caller Vince Evans began the Bears comeback with a six-yard touchdown run at the 10:14 mark of the second quarter. He added his second of the game in the third quarter from one yard out just three plays after Tampa Bay's Jerry Eckwood fumbled at his own three-yard line.

Although the Bears held a 14-10 lead, the Buccaneers had time to mount a comeback. A Yepremian field goal from 26 yards out cut the lead to 14-13 with 10:38 left in the fourth quarter. The fun, however, was just about to begin.

On their next drive, Williams connected with rookie wide receiver Kevin House on a 61-yard completion to the Bears 16, but House got careless with the ball and cornerback Terry Schmidt forced a fumble. The ball then bounced down to the 4-yard line where it was recovered by Doug Plank to kill the drive.

After forcing a Chicago punt, the Bucs had another golden opportunity when Williams connected with Giles across the middle inside the Bears 20. Turning to run towards the end zone, however, Giles fumbled after a big hit by rookie linebacker Otis Wilson. Again, the Bears recovered inside their own 5 to end a potential Buccaneer scoring drive.

Tampa Bay forced another Bears punt and had one final chance to win the game, driving down to the Chicago 15. From there, Yepremian would attempt a 32-yard field goal, surely an automatic kick for one of the most accurate kickers in the NFL.

Instead, the kick never had a chance due to a high snap by George Yarno. Holder Tom Blanchard got the ball down, but Chicago's Al Harris - a 6'5" Monster of the Midway -- got his hands up and blocked the potential game-winning kick to preserve the 14-13 lead for the Bears.

The Buccaneers battled and put up a better fight than during their Monday night meltdown in Chicago, but the missed opportunities and turnovers epitomized their wasted season.
McKay, for one, could not understand how his team could be completely undone by the late fumbles.

"It is absolutely ridiculous," he said. "In professional football, when you are paid the money they are paid here, you should not drop the football. It's disgusting, ridiculous, and has no part in the game."

In short, a fitting end to the one of the most disappointing seasons in team history.

John McKay Hired in Tampa Bay, 10/31/75

By late October 1975, fans of Tampa Bay's new professional football team had to be wondering when their first head coach would be hired. With the first exhibition game just nine months out, the Buccaneers still had no players and only a hint of who would be leading the team into battle.

Speculation had been running rampant since July when Tampa Tribune columnist Tom McEwen confirmed that University of Southern California head coach John McKay had been offered the job by Buccaneer's owner Hugh Culverhouse.

A winner of four national championships with USC, McKay admitted to having interest in the Tampa Bay position and that it was the only job outside of USC he had under consideration. In other words, he would either coach the Trojans for another five to six years or become the first head coach in Buccaneer history.

"Tampa is the only place in which I am interested," McKay said. "My wife and I haven't worked this hard to get where we are to talk of going to some cold climate."

On Halloween, the announcement became official that John McKay would become vice president and head coach of the Buccaneers. Although USC made a serious play to keep McKay in Los Angeles, Culverhouse evidently lured McKay to Tampa with a five-year contract, which included a house, an insurance policy, transportation and full authority over hiring of his coaching staff.

The deal -- worth between $1.5 and $2 million ($5.9 million in today's dollars) -- represented an exorbitant amount to pay a head coach at the time. Consider that in 2009, the Sports Business Daily estimated the average salary of an NFL head coach at $2.5 million per year. McKay may have had some misgivings about leaving a comfortable situation behind, but in Tampa he had a chance at long-term financial security.

In McKay, Culverhouse seemingly had his target in mind from the beginning, never seriously considering any other coaches. The only credible name to surface other than McKay was that of his close friend, former Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian. Culverhouse and Parseghian never talked, however, and no offers were ever made.

In the weeks prior to the announcement, Culverhouse went on the record and said, "I'm not interested in anybody but John McKay. We want him and him alone. I just believe he would be perfect for the Tampa job."

Since he planned on retaining his duties at USC until the end of their season, McKay did not leave Los Angeles immediately and come to Tampa. There was also the small matter of a game that night against the University of California. Instead, his first interview with the local media came over the telephone.

In one of the first of thousands of quips to come during his time in Tampa, the notorious cigar aficionado McKay said that he "took the job because of the Tampa cigars."

He explained his decision to leave the comforts of USC as part of a desire to try something new.

"I've been a college coach, either an assistant of the head man, for 27 years now," McKay said, "and I figured that was enough. My family is grown and I thought I might enough the challenge.

Tampa Bay's Vice President of Football Operations Ron Wolf said that he could not have been happier at the chance to work with McKay.

"He gives us instant credibility," Wolf said. "He also gives you something to write about. This man coaches a team that currently has more players in the National Football League (36) than anyone else."

The reaction to McKay's hire outside of Tampa was uniformly positive.

Parseghian said that, "Tampa has itself one heckuva head coach and it makes for a beautiful marriage."

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Paul Brown described the signing a "fine start for Tampa Bay" and called McKay "a very worthy addition" to the NFL.

Denver Broncos head coach John Ralston -- who coached against McKay at Stanford -- said that the Buccaneers "just couldn't pick a more qualified person."

Dan Rooney, general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, called the Tampa Bay's signing of McKay "a step towards becoming one of the great pro franchises in the NFL."

On a day with so much excitement and optimism, nobody could have anticipated how brief a honeymoon it would be for McKay as a head coach in the NFL. He would find out soon enough that nothing in his illustrious college career could have prepared him for life as head coach of the expansion Buccaneers.

Time would certainly prove, however, that he was the right man for the job. McKay eventually orchestrated one of the most stunning turnarounds in league history, bringing Tampa Bay within one game of the Super Bowl in just the team’s fourth season. On December 5, the Buccaneers will recognize McKay’s contributions to the franchise as he becomes the team’s second Ring of Honor inductee alongside Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon.

Bucs Throw Away Win Against L.A., 10/13/85

On October 9, 1985, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers parted ways with linebacker Hugh Green, who was the team's first overall selection in the 1981 draft. The disgruntled Green -- a two-time Pro Bowler for the Buccaneers -- had recently made his unhappiness known around One Buc Place, skipping a practice and criticizing the team's defensive scheme.

Green and his agent essentially demanded that owner Hugh Culverhouse trade him to another team. Unable to swing a deal that involved two first round draft picks for Green, the Buccaneers were able to find a willing partner in the Miami Dolphins, who instead sent Tampa Bay first and second round picks in the 1986 draft.

The Green drama provided a bridge between two significant weeks in the 1985 season for Tampa Bay. The previous Sunday, the undefeated Chicago Bears shuffled into Tampa Stadium, and despite trailing 12-3 at the half, upended the winless Buccaneers, 27-19.

Tampa Bay would face another undefeated team at home the coming Sunday against the 5-0 Los Angeles Rams, but this time without one of their defensive stars.

The loss of Green -- unquestionably the team's best linebacker -- could not have come at more inopportune time as the Buccaneers had to find a way to slow down superstar running back Eric Dickerson. The owner of the league's single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards in 1984, Dickerson had an outstanding game against Tampa Bay that season with 191 yards rushing and three touchdowns in L.A.'s 34-33 victory over the Buccaneers.

Would history repeat itself against a thin Buccaneer defense? If anything, Tampa Bay's defense would rise to new heights.

On October 13 in front of just 39,607 at Tampa Stadium, the 0-5 Buccaneers gave the Rams all they could handle.

James Wilder -- the other star running back in the game -- opened the scoring for Tampa Bay with a 1-yard touchdown run. A fake field goal helped set up the score, as holder Alan Risher called an audible prior to the snap and ran 10 yards to the Tampa Bay 2 for a first down.

Trailing 7-0 after the first quarter, the Rams then scored back-to-back touchdowns to take the lead. A 23-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Duckworth from Dieter Brock evened the score at 7 a piece. A Nolan Cromwell interception of Steve DeBerg set up the next Rams score, a 6-yard run by Dickerson to give his team a 14-7 lead.

The Buccaneers would fight back, however, with 17 unanswered points to close the second quarter. Donald Igwebuike's first field goal of the day, a 34-yarder, narrowed the score to 14-10, and Chris Lindstrom's fumble recovery at the L.A. 29-yard line set the stage for a 17-yard pass from Steve DeBerg to Kevin House to give Tampa Bay a 17-14 lead.

Igwebuike later nailed a 49-yard field goal as time expired in the half to extend the lead by six, 20-14, over the undefeated Rams.

Tampa Bay had a chance to blow the game open in the third quarter when linebacker Keith Browner intercepted Brock. On his way into the end zone for a sure touchdown, Browner fumbled at the 3-yard line, however, and the ball bounced out of the end zone for a touchback, giving the Rams new life.

Los Angeles took advantage and controlled the rest of the third quarter, allowing Tampa Bay just six total yards of offense. Mike Lansford chipped in a 27-yard field goal to narrow the score to 20-17, and Carl Eckern intercepted a DeBerg pass and ran it in 33 yards for the go-ahead score.

By this point, the boo-birds were out at Tampa Stadium and calling for DeBerg's backup, Steve Young, with chants of "We Want Young!"

DeBerg responded by putting the Buccaneers back on top 1:47 into in the fourth quarter. A beautiful 13-yard pass from DeBerg to Gerald Carter gave Tampa Bay a 27-24 lead and, once again, a major upset seemed to be in the works.

Rams cornerback LeRoy Irvin, however, made the play of the game to prevent that from happening. Irvin snagged an underthrown pass from DeBerg to Theo Bell and returned it 34 yards for the game-winning touchdown.

Now trailing 31-27, DeBerg's first pass of the ensuing drive was again picked off by Ivory, sealing Tampa Bay's fate. His fourth interception of the game had cost the Buccaneers any chance of making a late comeback.

Defense made the difference on the day for the Rams, as they held Tampa Bay to 210 total yards and forced five turnovers. Wilder, who scored Tampa Bay's first touchdown, was held to 49 yards on 24 carries on the day.

The final score belied how well the Buccaneer defense played. Tampa Bay barely felt the loss of Hugh Green, sacking Dieter Brock seven times, recovering three fumbles, and essentially neutralizing Dickerson, holding him to 75 yards on 25 carries.

Critical turnovers by the offense, and the inability to open holes for Wilder to run, clearly cost the Buccaneers a chance at an upset.

There would be fewer and fewer chances as the season progressed. The Buccaneers nearly shocked the Dolphins at Miami the following week in a 41-38 loss, but Tampa Bay would fall to 0-9 before winning their first game against the St. Louis Cardinals on November 10.

Catching Up with Mark Carrier

Mark Carrier, a third round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1987, is Tampa Bay's most prolific receiver of all-time. He still owns the most 100-yard receiving games in team history (15), and the single-game receiving yardage record (212). A Buccaneer from 1987-1992, Carrier played 12 seasons in the NFL and finished his career with 8,763 yards and 48 touchdowns. Carrier can now be heard weekdays alongside Ronnie Lane on WHBO 1040-AM from 3-7 p.m. He recently took some time to talk about his Buccaneer days and his new career behind the microphone.

Q. Take us back to your rookie training camp under Ray Perkins. What was that like?

A. It was a camp that I never expected. Prior to coming into the league and watching football, or seeing depictions of football practices on television, I had a different expectation. Once I got here, I guess reality set in. I was dumbfounded, and found myself thinking, "This is not what I saw on television!" It was a rude awakening for me.

It was his first year, my first year, and I want to say we had something like 20 draft picks that year. I truly believe his goal was to rebuild the team from scratch and get guys in place who he felt fit his plan. If they didn't fit his plan, he was going to do anything in his power to keep them off the team. I think the three-a-day training camp was how he felt he could see who was mentally and physically tough enough to go through it.

Q. How did you personally adapt to the rigors of camp?

A. It was tough for me, but I think I was able to adapt quicker because I wasn't one of the veterans who had been exposed to a different camp. Therefore, it was a culture-shock for them. For me, being accustomed to working hard I was able to deal with it better. Being young helped of course, and I didn't know truly what to expect. It was a tough camp, a tough season, it was the year of the strike. A lot of things were going on that first season.

Q. What kind of impact did the strike have on you as a rookie?

A. To be honest with you, after going through the grueling three-a-days of camp, the one advantage of the strike was my body getting a chance to rest a little bit. With all the hard work in that heat, my body was tired. It was brutal. If I could take anything positive from that strike, it gave me the chance to rejuvenate my body.

Other than that, it was particularly tough as a rookie coming into the league when you've not been exposed to what the strike is all about. It was the veteran players who knew what was going on, and had a better idea of why were striking. We as rookies had to learn as we went from what we had heard and read. It was eye-opening for me. Veteran players who had been in the league nine or ten years were talking about the things they wanted for the future, knowing their careers were ending in the next year or two. I could not appreciate it as much back then because they had gone through some of the things I had not been exposed to yet.

Q. That season you had a breakout game against New Orleans, setting a team-record for receiving yards (212) in a game. That had to be extra special coming in your home state of Louisiana.

A. I can't remember if I bought 30 or 40 tickets for that game, but it was my first time returning home. I grew up in Louisiana, went to school in Louisiana, cheered for the Saints as a child, even during the bad days of Archie Manning and Chuck Muncie. Quite frankly, anybody who grows up playing football in Louisiana would love to play football for the Saints. That's the nature of the beast out there. I was trying to put on a show for my family and friends who had come to the game, but also for the New Orleans Saints who had not drafted me. I went to school an hour away, but they chose to go in a different direction. I wanted to show them what they passed up.

Q. You came in as a rookie alongside Vinny Testaverde, and would play with him again later in Cleveland. Can you talk about how your careers intertwined?

A. One of the things that happened by getting drafted together is that we developed a chemistry. The coaches knew they weren't going to start him right away, but still we got in a lot of work together during training camp. That New Orleans game was actually his first game as a starter. All of the stuff we had been working on came together that day. It got to the point where I could depend on him, and he could depend on me. We were able to be successful and put up good numbers from then on.

As far as Cleveland goes, it wasn't planned out. It just happened to be that way and worked out to where we were able to hook up together for a couple more years.

Q. 1989 seems to be the defining year of your career, getting named to the Pro Bowl and being named the team MVP. How did it all come together for you that season?

A. That was a season where everything fell into place. I felt comfortable with the system, comfortable with Vinny, and more secure with my role and what my expectations were. I had the opportunity to make plays, and the coaches began to believe in me. The confidence built in me from them. Vinny and I had been playing together for three years by them, so we knew each other like the backs of our hands.

Q. That season the team finished 5-11, and if not for a couple of last-minute losses, could have had a winning record. What do you recall as the difference that year?

A. That was so long ago and so many losses ago. (laughs) I think back then, we were still trying to learn how to win and I think we were on the edge for a lot of games, but we could never get to the point where we could close out games. Like you said, we were 5-11, but we weren't a 5-11 team.

When you get into a habit of losing, it's hard to sometimes get out of those ruts, so to speak. Just like it seems when you are winning, the ball bounces the right way. When you're losing, it's just the opposite. It seems to be contagious and goes from one week to another.

Q. Going to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl had to make up for some of the disappointment, right?

A. That is probably one of my best memories. I ended up having a great year. 86 catches, I think. Initially, I wasn't going to go to the Pro Bowl because they had voted in John Taylor from San Francisco. He had 26 less catches and a few hundred less yards. But when you look at San Francisco and you see them every week them on television, it becomes a popularity contest. I understood the nature of the business. As it happened, he could not go. I was the first alternate, so I was able to take his place. It was gratifying because all of the hard work that I put in had paid off. It's one thing to play against the caliber of some of those guys, but to then go to practicing with and playing with them was a thrill for me.

Q. You came within one game of a Super Bowl in 1996 as a member of the Panthers. After all the losing years in Tampa, how special was that season for you?

A. Well, my second season in Cleveland we made the playoffs. That was my first-ever experience in the playoffs. I tell these young guys all the time that it took me eight years to get to the playoffs. Some guys come into the league and get into the playoffs their first or second year. That's very rare and shouldn't be taken for granted. Just getting a taste of the playoffs was great.

With Carolina, that was a season unlike any other. It was only our second year of existence. It reminds me of that Sylvester Stallone movie "The Expendables" because we were a group of older guys that came from different teams. We were either left unprotected or released by our former teams and then taken by the Panthers. We were The Expendables. We came together and were actually a game away from hosting the NFC Championship Game. If Green Bay had lost in the divisional round, we'd have had the championship game at home which would have made a world of difference. Going up to play in Green Bay seemed like it was 20 degrees below zero. I viewed that as the coldest day in the history of the world for me. It really was. Fighting those elements, never getting on track as a team, and finding ourselves in a hole right away kind of spoiled our chances. But just the experience of getting there was gratifying for me.

Q. How did you get involved with your new radio show?

A. It's by freak accident that it happened. About two months ago, I was very blessed and fortunate to be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. I'm flying back to Tampa from the ceremony, and at the airport I run into Ronnie Lane. We talked for a few minutes, and he told me he was back in town trying to get a new radio show going. Then he asked if I would be interested in joining him. I said sure, and that's how it came together.

It's a new experience. I'm still feeling my way a little bit, but with each passing day I get more comfortable and relaxed. I've always been on the other side of the mic! So it's been interesting. As a sports fanatic, I like the fact that now I can talk about sports all day. Being able to do that is a piece of cake, really.

Bucs' Comeback Falls Short, 9/28/80

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers opened their season two weeks ago with a victory at home over the Cleveland Browns. After going winless against the Browns between 1976 and 1995, the Buccaneers have now won three straight against Cleveland.

The second all-time meeting between these two teams occurred 30 years ago, when the Browns came to Tampa for a late-September contest at Tampa Stadium.

Coming off the fantastic 1979 campaign, the Buccaneers had high expectations for 1980. The season started off promising enough, with victories on the road against Cincinnati and at home against the Los Angeles Rams in a rematch of the NFC Championship game.

In Week 3, the Buccaneers dropped a winnable game on the road against Dallas. After leading 17-7, Tampa Bay surrendered 21 unanswered points in a 28-17 loss to the Cowboys.

Still, at 2-1 the Buccaneers seemed poised to have another fine year. The Browns came into the game having struggled their first two weeks -- dropping meetings against New England and Houston – while rebounding for a win in Week 3 against Kansas City.

Prior to the game, Tampa Bay head coach John McKay warned of taking the 1-2 Browns for granted.

“The key word for Cleveland is that they play in a very tough division,” McKay said of the AFC Central Division. “Take them lightly and they can tear us apart. It could be worse than Dallas.”

Prophetic words from McKay, as the Browns indeed had their way with a suddenly porous Buccaneer defense.

On September 28, 1980, in front of crowd of 65,540, the Browns and Bucs did their best to light up the stadium scoreboard.

After taking an early 6-0 lead on a pair of field goals by Garo Yepremian, Tampa Bay’s defense came back to reality after holding Cleveland to only five yards in the first quarter.

Momentum seemed to turn when Tampa Bay passed on a 27-yard field goal attempt, instead going for it on fourth-and-two. The gambit failed and Cleveland marched down the field for their first points of the game, a 35-yard field goal by Don Cockroft to cut the lead in half.

The Buccaneers answered right back, however, on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Doug Williams to Gordon Jones to extend their lead to 13-3. The joy from this scoring drive would prove short-lived.

The league’s top-ranked defense in 1979, Tampa Bay struggled mightily for the rest of the afternoon against a Cleveland passing attack led by quarterback Brian Sipe.

Sipe caught fire in the second quarter, at one point reeling off a Cleveland-record 13-consecutive pass completions, and 18 out of 19 passes overall.

“To be truthful,” Tampa Bay cornerback Danny Reece said after the game, “a lot of those passes were little passes, passes to the backs. But you must give him credit, he found the open spots.”

The comeback began with an 8-yard touchdown run by Charles White to narrow Tampa Bay’s lead to three. On their next offensive possession, Sipe hit running back Calvin Hill for a 3-yard touchdown pass to put the Browns in the lead, 17-13.

More misery for the Buccaneers in the second half, as Sipe continued to have plenty of time in the pocket, while his receivers continued to find holes in the Tampa Bay secondary.

Receiver Ricky Feacher, a graduate of Brooksville-Hernando High School, caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Sipe in the third quarter, and Calvin Hill added his second touchdown reception in the fourth quarter – this time a 43-yarder – to give Cleveland a commanding 31-13 lead.

As fans started streaming out of Tampa Stadium, however, the Buccaneers began fighting their way back into the game behind the arm of Doug Williams. Although somewhat overshadowed by Sipe’s day, Williams had quite a day of his own. For the second consecutive week, Williams passed for over 300 yards and put Tampa Bay in position for an improbable comeback.

Williams hit Gordon Jones for his second touchdown of the day on a 3-yard pass to cut the lead to 31-20. The Browns added a 36-yard field goal to make it a two-touchdown game, 34-20. Then the dramatics began.

With 45 seconds left in the game, Williams hit running back Jerry Eckwood on a 7-yard touchdown pass to bring Tampa Bay within a touchdown.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Buccaneers successfully recovered an onsides kick attempt by Yepremian to earn one last chance.

With no time outs remaining and already in Cleveland territory, Williams passed the ball over the middle to tight end Jimmie Giles at the Browns’ 20. Giles was immediately met by two Cleveland defenders, and the Buccaneers were unable to run another play. The clock expired and any hopes for a miraculous comeback were dashed as the Browns held on in a 34-27 victory.

After the game, there was plenty of blame to go around the Tama Bay locker room. The defense, for getting carved up by Sipe, and the offense, for botching the final play of the game, shared equal blame in the eyes of their head coach.

“A statement,” said John McKay in his post-game comments. “Our offense was inept and our defense was terrible. It was hard to tell which was worse. Our pass defense was horrible. We looked like we were playing in cement.”

McKay lofted several more bon mots, calling the decision on the final play “idiotic,” saying in reference to Sipe that “he was lofting balloons to start the game and we were acting like they were guided missiles,” and in an overall assessment of his team’s state of mind, “I think it is manure that we are a team that continually makes mental errors.”

While both teams left Tampa Stadium with matching 2-2 records, they were clearly headed in different directions.

Cleveland would win nine of their next twelve games en route to the playoffs, while the Buccaneers could look forward to a total of three more victories the rest of the season, a disappointing follow-up to the magical season of 1979.

Redskins Win One for Lombardi, 9/5/70

Recently there has been much debate about the merit of adding two additional games to the NFL’s 16-game regular season schedule. Proponents of this idea say this could be done by reducing the preseason by two games. The preseason, they say, is already too long with four and sometimes five games scheduled, and the risk of injury too great for an essentially meaningless game.

It was not that long ago, however, when the preseason consisted of six games and the regular season of only 14. Professional football had not yet become the year-round business it is today, nor had contracts escalated to the point where owners had to worry about paying guaranteed money to an injured player.

Today, there are more risks than rewards to be had in playing exhibition football, but 40 years ago this week the Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins threw caution to the wind just like 24 other teams and prepared for their fifth of six preseason games.

The Redskins came to town sporting a 3-1 record, while the Dolphins, under first-year head coach Don Shula, were a perfect 4-0.

The main storyline leading up to the game in Tampa, however, focused less on the teams than on the health of ailing Washington Redskins head coach Vince Lombardi. After stepping down as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers following the 1967 season, Lombardi spent a season as the team’s general manager before taking over as the head coach of the Redskins. He promptly turned around a franchise that had not finished above .500 since 1955, going 7-5-2 in his first season with the team

Then in June 1970, doctors diagnosed Lombardi with cancer. It did not take long to realize that he would no longer be able to coach his team. As the preseason progressed, Lombardi’s conditioned worsened. Bill Austin, Lombardi’s protégé of nearly 14 years, took over the head coaching duties.

While Austin prepared his team for the game in Tampa against the Dolphins, Lombardi fell into a coma while on his death bed at Georgetown University Hospital. On September 3, 1970, Lombardi died at the age of 57, just two months since his diagnosis.

“He had a covenant with greatness, more than any man I have ever known,” said Redskins President Edward Bennett Williams. “He was committed to excellence in everything he attempted.”

Don Shula, who in many ways was Lombardi’s heir apparent, called his death “a great loss to pro football. I feel it has been a real privilege to have been on the same field coaching against him.”

The upcoming game on September 5 – at a time of mourning not just for Redskin fans or Packer fans, but for any fan of football – took on secondary importance, even by preseason standards. Still, there was vital work to be done on the field and Lombardi would not have wanted it any other way.

In front of a surprisingly pro-Washington crowd of 37,151, the Dolphins and Redskins showed up at Tampa Stadium practically in mid-season form. Miami, in particular, played especially sharp in the early-going.

Third-year fullback Larry Csonka scored two rushing touchdowns for Miami in the first four minutes of the game to give the Dolphins a 14-0 lead.

Following a pair of field goals that narrowed Miami’s lead to 14-6, the Redskins wrestled momentum away from Miami by intercepting former University of Tampa quarterback Jesse Kaye twice in the second quarter. The second pick led to a nine-yard touchdown run by Charley Harraway to cut the lead to 14-13 at the half.

A fake punt at midfield by Dolphin punter Larry Seiple led to Miami’s next touchdown. After Seiple raced 33 yards to the 17, it took only three plays before quarterback Bob Griese ran it in from one yard out, extending Miami’s lead to 21-13.

This would be the extent of Miami’s scoring, however, as the rest of the game belonged to Washington.

A 47-yard field goal by Curt Knight cut the lead to 21-16 with 1:35 left in the third quarter. Quarterback Sonny Jurgensen, who played the entire game for Washington, engineered a game-winning, 52-yard drive with 8:40 remaining in the contest. Larry Brown capped the drive with a punishing 10-yard run for the score, giving Washington their first lead of the day, 23-21.
A late 10-yard field goal following Griese’s first interception of the preseason sealed the game and gave Washington a 26-21 victory.

The Redskins dedicated their win to Lombardi and Bill Austin saved the game ball for his widow, Marie. Jurgensen said after that it wasn’t enough for the team to just play the game in Lombardi’s honor.

“He would have wanted us to win it.”

It was Lombardi, after all, who famously said, “If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?

Spurrier Headlines at Tampa Stadium, 8/15/70

In mid-August 1970, the Tampa Bay area prepared to host the first of two National Football League exhibition games held at Tampa Stadium that summer.

Beginning in August 1968, the stadium had played host to three NFL exhibition games – two in 1969 – and a regular-season American Football League game between the Miami Dolphins and Boston Patriots in November 1969. All were well-attended affairs – averaging 35,214 fans per game -- with only the AFL contest drawing fewer than 30,000.

The goal for the showdown Aug. 15, 1970 between the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers was to exceed the attendance high of 40,915 set in 1968. In the days leading up to the game, it appeared by all calculations that it would be a reality.

The games, organized by local promoter and Tampa Jaycees president Bill Marcum, were showcases intended to highlight the viability of the Tampa Bay area as a pro market. Healthy attendance figures were obviously a source of pride, and Marcum hoped San Francisco and Cleveland would help fill Tampa Stadium’s benches.

Although this would certainly not be the case today, at the time the 49ers and Browns were actually a compelling matchup. The two franchises were originally members of the All-American Pro Football Conference from 1946-49 before being absorbed by the NFL in 1950.

Under third-year coach Dick Nolan, the 49ers were thought of as somewhat of an up-and-coming team. The Browns, meanwhile, were one of the most-successful franchises in football, winning NFL titles in 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964. Since joining the NFL, the Browns sported a record of 180-71-7, a .717 winning percentage. In fact, the team had only one losing season in its entire history, going 5-7 in 1956. In other words, the Browns of 1970 were still considered a marquee draw.

The contest featured some local rooting interest as well. The 49ers had two starters with Tampa roots – center Forest Blue of Chamberlain High School and defensive tackle Earl Edwards of Blake High School – while the Browns featured another Chamberlain product and Florida State University standout, tight end Chip Glass.

The game’s biggest draw, however, was University of Florida product and 1966 Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier. The 49ers drafted the quarterback in the first round of the 1967 entry draft, but Spurrier spent the majority of his time as the punter and second-string quarterback behind John Brodie. Spurrier started at quarterback in only six games during his first three seasons as a professional.

The game in Tampa would mark Spurrier’s first time playing in Florida as a pro. Despite the obvious preference of local football fans, Spurrier would once again serve as Brodie’s backup, but split equal time throughout the contest.

Despite voluminous pregame rain and horrendous traffic jams on Dale Mabry Highway and Himes Avenue, a near-record crowd of 41,851 fans made it into the stadium.

An unforeseen accident at 6 p.m. on the Interstate 4 (now I-275 South) exit ramp at Dale Mabry involved police officers on their way to help control traffic. This inadvertently contributed to the massive gridlock, and many motorists simply decided to park by the interstate and walk to the Stadium.

Despite the problems outside the stadium with traffic and backed-up parking lot entrances, fans were treated to a pretty good overall product on the field.

Anyone who came to see Spurrier play could not have left disappointed. After sitting out the first half, Spurrier played throughout the entire second half of the game. He completed 12 of 19 passes for 175 yards, and played well enough to help the 49ers win the game. His offense, however, left too many points on the field. The 49ers committed critical turnovers – a fumble by Bill Tucker, and interceptions by Spurrier and running back Larry Schrieber – that snuffed out three potential scoring drives.

The Tucker fumble came at the worst time, as the 49ers were driving down the field with time running out and trailing 17-10. On fourth-and-seven at the Cleveland 17, Spurrier found Tucker for a nine-yard gain – good enough for the first down – but Cleveland forced a fumble and recovered the ball at the seven yard line, effectively ending the game.

Despite a solid statistical performance, Spurrier expressed his frustration after the game at not being able to convert drives into points.

“I don’t feel good at all,” Spurrier said. “Any time you get inside the 10 yard line three or four times and can’t get points, something is wrong.”

San Francisco owner Lou Spadia came away extremely impressed with Tampa, calling it “football country” and the “best non-league football city in our experience.”

Cleveland owner Art Modell praised Tampa for the excellent turnout despite the inclement weather, noting that the city remained well on the NFL’s expansion radar.

“What a tribute to the community,” Modell said. “What a stadium. You’re high on the highest plateau as an expansion city for a franchise when it happens.”

Marcum, meanwhile, lamented the loss in revenue due to the inclement pregame weather and parking problems outside the stadium.

“We’d have sold out, “Marcum said afterward, “if only it hadn’t rained.”

Tampa Stadium, August 7, 1971

This photograph, taken on August 7, 1971, shows a then-record crowd of 51,214 at Tampa Stadium for a National Football League exhibition game between the New York Jets and Detroit Lions.

Detroit ended up defeating New York 28-24, but the game is best remembered for an injury to New York’s Joe Namath. Following a fumble by New York’s Lee White, Namath attempted to tackle the Detroit linebacker – Mike Lucci -- who made the recovery. While Lucci would go on to score a 29-yard touchdown, Namath tore ligaments in his left knee on the second quarter play, and the injury would keep him sidelined for all but four games in the 1971 season. The suddenly injury-prone former MVP of the American Football League had played in only five games the previous season due to a broken wrist.

For Tampa football fans, the game was the sixth in a series of exhibition games from 1968-1975 designed to highlight the area’s viability as a market for professional football. Unlike most years when the stadium played host to two games, this would be the only game scheduled at Tampa Stadium during the 1971 exhibition season.

Grudge Match at Tampa Stadium, 5/26/85

Due to the brief history of the league, few rivalries were truly able to take hold in the USFL. Between expansion, relocation, and owners swapping franchises, the familiarity between teams that breeds contempt was hard to find.

There were two teams, however, who were exceptions to the rule: the Tampa Bay Bandits and the New Jersey Generals.

New Jersey running back Herschel Walker explained it as such: “There is no love lost between these two teams. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because they’re from the South, and we’re from the North. Plus, the owners don’t like each other.”

In 1983, the Bandits won the first USFL game played at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a 32-9 victory over the Generals. The Bandits were able to hold Walker to 39 yards on 19 carries. A year later Tampa Bay again defeated New Jersey, this time 40-14 in a laugher at Tampa Stadium.

Tampa Bay nearly pulled out a third win in their first of two meetings in 1985. Although quarterback John Reaves passed for 410 yards, the Bandits blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost to the Generals, 28-24, behind a rushing touchdown by Walker with 24 seconds left.

"Of all the games we have lost in three yeas," head coach Steve Spurrier said, "that hurt the most because we gave it away."

By the time of the rematch on May 26, 1985, the Bandits had won two lopsided contests and suffered one heartbreaking defeat to the Generals. If the competition felt heated on the field, by this point some serious competition had already taken place off the field between New Jersey owner Donald Trump and Tampa Bay owner John Bassett.

It is well known that Trump garnered the most headlines and attracted the most attention during his two seasons as owner of the Generals. He led the charge among USFL owners to move from the spring to the fall and compete head-to-head against the NFL.

Standing in direct opposition to him was Bassett, who believed that the USFL could only succeed as a spring alternative to the NFL. When USFL owners decided on April 29 to officially move to the fall, Bassett announced his intention to break away from the USFL and form his own spring league.

The two clearly had major philosophical differences on the future of the USFL, and while many fans and media members might have liked to view the game as a grudge match between Bassett and Trump, in actuality neither owner even planned on attending in person. While Trump watched the game from his weekend home in Connecticut, Bassett recuperated in his Toronto-area home from radiation treatments for his brain tumors.

On the field, the Bandits would have their hands plenty full containing Herschel Walker without also having the weight of league matters on their shoulders. Walker came into the game having rushed for over 100 yards in seven consecutive games. If the Bandits could control Walker -- who happened to be both New Jersey's leading rusher and receiver -- they could force quarterback Doug Flutie to beat them, and Flutie had yet to become anything more than a deft scrambler and mediocre passer in his rookie season.

Without the services of star nose guard Fred Nordgren, who had been lost for the season due to a broken leg, the task of stopping Walker may have been too much to expect.

Still, anyone hoping to see a good game did not leave Tampa Stadium disappointed. In fact, the estimated crowd of 35,000 may have witnessed one of the most exciting games in Bandit history.

A first half duel between Walker, and Tampa Bay's own rushing star Gary Anderson, set the tone for the game.

Walker started the scoring late in the first quarter with a 12-yard rushing touchdown to give New Jersey a 7-0 lead. Anderson answered back less than three minutes later on an 8-yard pass from John Reaves to nod the game 7-7.

Both Walker and Anderson added second quarter rushing touchdowns and the teams headed into the locker room tied 14-14.

Midway through the third quarter, Reaves found tight end Marvin Harvey on a 21-yard strike to give the Bandits a seven-point lead. Walker and the Generals would not go away, however, and the running back notched his third rushing touchdown of the day early in the fourth quarter to once again even up the contest.

With the score tied and time winding down, the Bandits marched 63 yards on 11 plays to set up a potential game-winning field goal by Zenon Andrusyshyn with 1:36 left in the game. The kicker known as "Z" to his teammates nailed a 29-yarder to give Tampa Bay a 24-21 lead. Still, the fireworks in this game were just getting started.

A hallmark of his collegiate and 21-year professional career, staging late comebacks was simply Doug Flutie's specialty. Despite only pedestrian statistics to that point (5 completions for 68 yards), Flutie would go on to produce the finest comeback of his rookie season.

Working with no timeouts and the Bandits running a prevent defense, Flutie completed five passes for 44 yards while driving the Generals 51 yards in 1:32 to set up a game-tying field goal. With just four seconds left in regulation, Roger Ruzek split the uprights from 40 yards out to send the game into overtime.

Tampa Bay punted after their first possession of overtimes, setting the stage for Flutie to cap the comeback. It didn't take long, as he connected on a much-disputed 49-yard strike to receiver Clarence Collins.

One referee ruled offensive pass interference on the play, which would have nullified the catch. He then changed his mind, calling defensive pass interference on corner Warren Hanna. Safety Marcus Quinn disputed that Collins even made a catch, saying that the ball hit the ground. A second referee ruled the pass a catch, but said that he did not see any interference on the play.

"It was a real mess," Quinn said after the game.

The "catch" and declined pass interference call set New Jersey up at the Tampa Bay 18-yard line, almost certainly guaranteeing a Ruzek field goal attempt to win the game.

With 11:07 remaining in overtime, the Generals lined up for the game-winning kick. Punter Rick Patridge, on for the hold, fumbled the snap. Instead of dropping on the ball -- which because the play came on second down would have given New Jersey another chance to kick -- Patridge scooped up the football and made a break for the end zone. Diving towards the pylon, Patridge became the unlikeliest of heroes as his nine-yard rushing touchdown delivered New Jersey to victory.

It was a stunning end to another late-game collapse against New Jersey. The defeat cost the Bandits a chance to clinch a berth in the playoffs. The defense, which had kept Tampa Bay in the game despite a three-touchdown, 166 yard rushing performance by Walker, simply could not stop Flutie when it mattered most.

Defensive end Mike Clark called the game a "tough loss."

"It's going to be kind of tough to get over this one for the whole team."

Indeed, if the next few games were any indication, it may have been a loss from which the franchise never truly recovered.

Catching Up With Mark Robinson

Mark Robinson, a graduate of Penn State, played for seven seasons as a safety in the NFL. Originally a fourth round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1984, Robinson came to Tampa Bay via trade in 1988. He spent three seasons as a Buccaneer, eventually becoming a leader in the secondary and a team captain. Today, Robinson can be seen analyzing football on Bright House Sports Network and heard on the radio providing color commentary for University of South Florida football games. Robinson recently took some time to reflect on his football career and some memorable moments here in Tampa.

Q. What are your memories of the national championship game against Georgia in January 1983?

A. That game -- the Sugar Bowl -- was one of the most mentally draining games I ever played. Because of the amount of buildup and pressure surrounding a game of that magnitude, it really did help keep things in perspective. I remember sitting in front of my locker afterwards and there were reporters sticking microphones in my face. I was so tired that I couldn't even talk. It allowed me down the line to remember how far that you could push yourself physically and mentally, which you need to do to make that big play in a situation when you can win it all.

It's funny, a lot of people get into pressure situations -- even on the pro level -- and they are scared to make a play. You'd be surprised. I can remember standing in a huddle, it we're going up against John Elway in the fourth quarter. He's driving down the field and a couple of the guys are looking around like, "I hope he doesn't pass it my way" or "I hope they don't run it at me." It really flabbergasted me. As an athlete, you prepare your whole life for those moments. Those are the times you want to see how you measure up and put your best foot forward.

Before the game, one of our coaches came into the locker room, telling us how we were going to stop Herschel Walker. He said that we were going to make him bounce to the outside. Then he looked me in the eyes and said, "Robbie, clean him up!"

I was so stoked and excited because he put it in my lap. I was glad to have been given that opportunity.

Q. Given your experience playing big games in college, did you find yourself prepared for the NFL?

A. I thought I was, but you don't realize the drastic difference going from college to the pros. That's why I a lot of great college players don't make it in the NFL. Think of Archie Griffin, for example. A two-time Heisman Trophy winner and what did he ever do in the pros? It took me a while to figure out how to be a student of the game.

I was one of those players who worked hard. I'd come in to practice early and I would give you 160%, but when it's time to go, it's time to go. After practice, I'd shower and be one of the first people out of the locker room. One day I started thinking, "Why am I not starting?" So I started watching safety Deron Cherry after practice to see what he did. He'd shower up and then go into the meeting room. I was like, "He's watching film and they're not even asking him to watch film?" (laughs) I didn't quite understand it. Then I started paying attention, and even when I got into the meeting room I didn't know what he was looking for, but I picked up on it. I learned so much from Deron. Did he take me under his wing? Not really, but eventually he understood that I had to come in the game as a nickel back and contribute. He needed me to play at a high level. Eventually that's how you win respect. Then, they start to help you. Many veterans will turn away from you if you're not willing to put in the effort.

Q. Were you shocked to be traded to the Buccaneers in 1988?

A. Oh, without a doubt. My wife and I had just poured the foundation for our new house on March 31. The next day, I went to work out and got called into the head coach's office. He says, "Mark, we've traded you to Tampa." I'm like, it's April 1st. (laughs) Frank Gansz was a motivator, but he was kind of a jokester too, so I thought it had to be an April Fool's joke. No, it was real. I got traded for Steve DeBerg. Kansas City needed a quarterback. Then I came and met Mr. Ray Perkins. (laughs) And he was a piece of work. Oh man.

Q. Talk about your first experience in one of his infamous training camps.

A. It was grueling or whatever you want to say about three-a-day practices out in the heat. Coach Perkins was a hard worker. The first thing I say about him is that you've got to respect the time he put into his profession. If I ever faulted Coach Perkins, I would say that he wasn't flexible. Some coaches are just that way.

I remember one time at camp we were on the field running gassers in groups. Gassers are running drills when you run from the end zone out to the 10 yard line, touch the line and come back, then out to the 20, touch the line and come back, and so on. I was one of those players who'd run and touch just past the yard line. After our second one of these, I’ll never forget, Coach Perkins said, "Alright, line up and run it again. Robinson missed the line." I looked at him with this scowl because I didn't want to be called out in front of my peers. That lowered him in my book because I knew I did it right. We ended up running four or five gassers, and I remember after practice I wanted to take my equipment off and quit. I'd already earned a graduate degree, and I didn't want to put myself through something like this. Don't lie about me in front of my peers. My buddy, Harry Hamilton, looked at me and said, "Robbie, I know you touched the line. Don't even think twice about it. Don't let him pull you down as a professional." That's something I'll never forget at a time in my career when I was trying to make my name with a new team.

Q. The Buccaneers had a tough season in 1989, finishing with a 5-11 record, but two of the wins came against Chicago. How great did that feel to knock off the Bears twice in one season and record an interception in both games?

A. The Bears were a special team, one that you always marked with an asterisk on the schedule. I remember the interception against them in Tampa Stadium because it came on a broken play. I was all the way on the other side of the field. Their quarterback, Mike Tomczak, started scrambling, and as a defensive back when that happens, you're looking to match up. He was rolling to his right, and, looking from his vantage point, I was on the left side of the field. I can't remember his name, but I saw the wide receiver cutting across the field. A lot of times when a quarterback scrambles like that, he’s looking to throw the ball towards the sidelines. They figure if they throw it to the middle of the field, it's probably going to get intercepted. I dropped my coverage on the other and said, "There it is. That's it."
I started running across the field, and Tomczak doesn't realize where I am. The other safety had gone deep to take away the long ball, but I started running across anticipating where the throw was going. I cut in front of the receiver and I picked it off on the sideline. It was one of those moments that are a big play in the game. We ended up winning 42-35. I have a color picture that the team photographers took of that play. He printed up a bunch of those and I've been using them when I autograph pictures.

Q. You've been with the USF Bulls radio broadcast crew since 1997. With all the changes around the program, what do you expect out of the team in 2010?

A. Well, the new coach Skip Holtz is a dynamic guy. We share similar philosophies in football. He came into this situation with an open mind. He didn't come in and try to force the players into a new system. He wanted to see their strengths first and coach to those strengths before making up his mind. That's the perfect thing to do. In this day and age, you've got to be able to look at talent and put guys in position to make plays.

B.J. Daniels is going to be a great quarterback. He has tremendous arm strength and as he improves, his decision making process will get even better. He understands the game, he understands coverages, and could have a very special year. They have a good young program and I'm really excited about the coming season.

USFL Votes to End Spring Football, 4/29/85

In the recent ESPN documentary “Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL,” director Mike Tollin postulates that the demise of the league came about by the hands of Donald Trump.

It was Trump, Tollin says, who led the effort to move the USFL to the fall and engage in head-to-head competition with the NFL, rather than remain a spring league. Trump, who viewed spring football as “small potatoes,” believed the only way to achieve lasting success would be to directly challenge the NFL.

This week 25 years ago, Trump and almost every other owner in the USFL got their wish and decided to leave spring behind and begin playing fall football in 1986. One owner in particular – the Tampa Bay Bandits managing general partner John Bassett – decided early on that he would not be joining them.

By April 29, 1985, when the owners voted to move to the fall, Bassett had long since made up his mind about keeping the USFL a spring league. And if the USFL did not want to remain in the spring, well then, Bassett was fully prepared to start a new league that would.

“If I have to,” he said, “I will form that new spring league. We will play as we do now, except when baseball starts we will always play in the evenings, mostly Friday and Saturday nights. There will be no live TV in a town with a home team playing and all away games will be televised back to the home town, like we wanted originally.”

Television proved to be both a blessing and a curse to the USFL. In the summer of 1982, ABC helped create the USFL as a way to satisfy America’s craving for football, as well as to fill some programming during the spring and early summer months. The league and ABC were joined at the hip, as the network provided operating capital to owners to make sure the league stayed afloat. Ratings were good at first, but by the league’s third and final year in 1985, ABC had shown signs that they would not be on board with the USFL whether it remained in the spring or moved to the fall.

This would have left ESPN -- which in 1985 had not yet become the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” it is today – as the league’s lone broadcast outlet.

Also hurting the league were rules mandated by both ABC and ESPN prohibiting blackouts of local games. In other words, whether 5,000 or 55,000 fans showed up to watch a game at Los Angeles Coliseum, the L.A. Express would be televised locally. Despite having a glut of future NFL talent spread throughout the league, attendance suffered in many of the USFL’s major markets and several franchises were more concerned with meeting payroll than wins or losses.

The Bandits, however, were the exception to the rule. Under Bassett, the Bandits were a model franchise on and off the field. Buoyed by a competitive and exciting product, the Bandits were consistently at the top of the league in attendance and fan support. Between 1983 and 1984, their co-tenant at Tampa Stadium, the Buccaneers, won a total of eight games. During their existence from 1983 to 1985, the Tampa Bay Bandits won 35 games and made two playoff appearances.

Fans fell in love with a winner and the Bandits found a comfortable niche in the spring. In this pre-Lightning, pre-Rays market, the Bandits shared the stage with only the Rowdies, who by then had begun their slide into mediocrity. Moving the USFL to the fall, Bassett argued, would put the Bandits in direct competition with high school, college and professional football.

“Who in their right mind would put another team in Tampa? I wouldn’t,” Bassett said. “You’d have to be a raving lunatic to do that.”

Other owners who did not share in Bassett’s success story felt no particular allegiance to the idea of spring football. The Bandits, for all of their successes, were not making money, and the majority of teams in the USFL were not breaking even.

For owners who spent money like drunken sailors in ill-advised bidding wars against the NFL for top-flight collegiate talent – the names Herschel Walker, Doug Flutie and Steve Young come to mind -- moving to the fall represented a chance to make some real money. Filing an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL – which enjoyed broadcast contracts with all three major networks -- would supposedly clear the way for the USFL to land a lucrative network deal of their own. For proponents of the move, in an ideal world the USFL would never play a down of football in the fall. The NFL would simply make their wildest dreams come true by merging with the USFL and absorbing several teams, making everyone very wealthy in the process.

Bassett believed none of this would ever happen, and along with Denver Gold owner Doug Spedding, vowed to vote against the move to fall. In a 12-2 vote on April 29, the USFL upheld their intention to play fall football beginning in September 1986. For his part, Bassett vowed to start a new spring football league with his Bandits as the flagship franchise.

The USFL, however, claimed that they owned the Bandits logo and that its roster was an “asset of the league.” If Bassett truly wanted to make a go of a new league, which he envisioned as an international league with teams in Mexico City and London, he would have to leave “Banditball” behind and start over. Few USFL owners believed his league had any chance of happening, much less succeeding.

With football stadiums across America sitting empty, a $1.7 billion antitrust lawsuit filed by the USFL against the NFL reached federal court in spring 1986. In July, a jury concluded that the NFL was, in fact, a “duly adjudicated illegal monopoly” and guilty of using predatory tactics. The jury, however, also concluded that the USFL’s own mismanagement, not the NFL, forced the league off television, and that the USFL changed its original business plan to directly compete with the NFL and force a merger. Finally, the jury awarded the USFL $1 in damages, which was later tripled, with interest, to $3.76 - that's right, three dollars and 76 cents.

Despite the merging of franchises in preparation for a fall season that would never come, the USFL essentially ceased to exist after the trial.

While Bassett’s predictions for the USFL’s fate were ultimately realized, sadly he did not live long enough to see the result. In failing health, he sold his stake in the Bandits and gave up plans for a new spring league. Bassett died in May 1986, after a nearly year-long battle with brain cancer.

Bandits Monday Night Showdown, 4/15/85

Through seven weeks of the 1985 USFL campaign, the Tampa Bay Bandits were one of the league’s hottest teams with a 5-2 record. Since their 50-28 defeat to the Houston Gamblers in Week 2, the Tampa Bay Bandits had reeled off four wins in five games. In their only loss of that stretch -- a 4-point setback to the New Jersey Generals -- Tampa Bay quarterback John Reaves threw for over 400 yards, but a Herschel Walker touchdown with just 24 seconds left gave New Jersey the victory.

Coming to town to try and slow down the Bandits would be the Denver Gold, who were also 5-2 and likewise known for their offensive prowess. Led by Head Coach “Mouse” Davis, considered the “godfather” of the run-and-shoot offense, the Gold presented an opportunity at redemption for Tampa Bay, whose defense struggled facing the run-and-shoot earlier in the year against Houston. They also presented an opportunity for more frustration, as the Gold put up nearly 500 yards of total offense a week earlier against the Arizona Outlaws, owners of the top-ranked defense in the league.

In the meantime, Steve Spurrier’s high-flying offense had been hitting on all cylinders, averaging a league-high 28.5 points per game. Spurrier, who seemed skeptical of the run-and-shoot, scoffed at the idea of his top-ranked offense taking a backseat to anyone.

“Mouse and his people think the only way to stop it (their offense) is to stop themselves,” he said. “We think the same way about our offense.”

Never one to mince words, Spurrier described the run-and-shoot as a boring offense, saying that he didn’t know if “the fans really want to see a team throw every down.”

He added, “I like to see a Gary Anderson run the sweep play, watch the offensive lineman block and see play-action passes and those things.”

Davis naturally disagreed with Spurrier’s assessment of his offense, saying, “Different strokes for different folks. People get more excited about it, and the fact that it is also very productive.”

Making their only Monday night appearance of the season, on April 15, 1985, the Bandits played to a season-high crowd of 54,267 at Tampa Stadium. The Bandits, who in previous weeks seemed to score at will, initially struggled against Denver’s defense. After Tampa Bay’s first possession resulted in a punt, the Gold capitalized with a 22-yard field goal just 3:54 into the game to take a 3-0 lead.

Surprisingly, this score would hold up for the rest of the first quarter.
The Bandits answered with a field goal of their own by Zenon Andrusyshyn just over a minute into the second quarter to tie the game, 3-3.

Following a missed field goal attempt by Denver, Tampa Bay finally got their offense untracked. The Bandits marched 63 yards in 12 plays, taking 6:41 off the clock, en route to a one-yard touchdown plunge by Gary Anderson. For Anderson, it was his 14th touchdown of the season and seventh in three games. Unfortunately for Anderson and the Bandits, he would suffer a sprained right foot late in the first half and be unavailable for the rest of the game.

Leading 10-3, the Bandits stifled Denver’s next possession, intercepting quarterback Vince Evans in the end zone. Adding injury to insult, Evans dislocated the ring finger on his throwing hand and would not return to action.

Tampa Bay took two plays to capitalize on the turnover, as Reaves found wide receiver Spencer Jackson on a 61-yard touchdown strike to give the Bandits a 17-3 lead with 29 seconds remaining in the half.

On the ensuing kickoff, Tampa Bay forced a fumble by Lonnie Turner and recovered the ball at the Denver 30. Andrusyshyn kicked a 24-yard field goal as time expired to give Tampa Bay a 20-3 lead after one half.

The Bandits had to feel good about their chances, holding the league’s fifth-ranked offense to a field goal and knocking their starting quarterback out of the game. Denver responded, however, under backup quarterback Bob “The Goose” Gagliano. It only took two offensive drives to get Denver right back in the game.

Gagliano led the Gold on an eight-play, 78-yard drive to open the half, which culminated in a 7-yard touchdown pass to Marc Lewis to cut Tampa Bay’s lead in half.

A fumble by John Reaves on Tampa Bay’s following possession quickly turned into seven more points for Denver. Capitalizing on the turnover, Bill Johnson scored on a 23-yard run to cap a 62-yard drive, narrowing Tampa Bay’s lead to 20-17.

With momentum clearly in hand, Denver had another golden opportunity when Reaves threw his only pick of the game on Tampa Bay’s next possession. Brian Speelman could have tied the game for Denver with 12 seconds left in the third quarter, but his miss of a 39-yard field goal attempt re-energized the Bandits.

An 11-play, 78-yard drive by Tampa Bay followed the missed goal, capped by fullback Greg Boone’s first touchdown of the season. His 12-yard run helped extend Tampa Bay’s lead to a more comfortable 27-17.

The Gold put up a late rally, but Dwayne Anderson forced a Denver fumble deep in Bandit territory to snuff out a potential scoring drive with 6:52 left in the game. The Bandits basically ran out the clock the rest of the way, adding a rushing touchdown by Ricky Williams with :48 seconds left, to ice the game, 33-17.

Despite the win and having held Denver’s vaunted offense to under 400 total net yards, Spurrier felt less than pleased with what he called his team’s lack of killer instinct in letting Denver creep back into the game.

“Mediocre teams let up and we hope not to be mediocre,” he said. “We’ve still got a long way to go as a championship team. We can’t put anybody away.”

Still, at 6-2 the Bandits were riding high atop the USFL standings. Few people, except perhaps their naturally cautious head coach, could have anticipated the pitfalls awaiting this team in the final 10 weeks of the season.

Catching Up With John Cannon, Part III

John Cannon, a native of Long Branch, New Jersey, joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the team's 4th overall draft pick in the 3rd round of the 1982 draft. The defensive end out of William & Mary recorded 22 sacks in 9 seasons with Tampa Bay. Cannon retired following the 1990 season, but has remained a fixture in the community. Currently a firefighter and paramedic for Tampa Fire Rescue in downtown Tampa, Cannon recently took some time to reflect on his memorable playing career. The following is the last in a three-part interview with John Cannon.

Q. How did you reach the decision to retire from the NFL?

A. It started with Coach Ray Perkins getting fired during the 1990 season. I can remember it like it was yesterday. After he was let go, I got the phone call. All during the Perkins era, I was the team's chapel leader. Actually, he asked me after his first year if I would be so kind to head up the team chapel on Sundays before games. We had a good Christian following on the team and had a weekly Bible study at different players' homes. So I was honored by that. It kind of put me in a leadership role as well.

So I was very fond of Coach Perkins. Myself and Randy Grimes -- also known as "Bubba" Grimes -- went over to his house in Avila just to console him, you know. It was emotional because we didn't feel he was given enough time and we wanted to show our support.

In the interim, Coach Williamson took over. We struggled and morale wasn't that good. I had suffered some injuries throughout my career and by 1990 I had become a special teams player and a backup. I fully accepted that. There were some younger guys who were bigger, stronger, faster. I don’t know if they were smarter. I know they didn't work any harder. After a long career, the body can only take so much. For a defense that was on the field quite a bit, and for a player who played whistle to whistle and threw his body around, I was beat up. It was time to say goodbye to that chapter of my life and open up another chapter. Not an easy decision, by any stretch of the imagination.

I knew I wanted to remain in Tampa and had entertained the option of playing somewhere else, but I decided it was time to hang them up. Looking back, you always say, "I wish I could have played a few more years." If I did, I might not have been able to do the things I did in retirement. I took some time off, then went into financial planning with Robert W. Baird & Co. and had a nice career there. After my body healed, I was able to find something else to compete in and that was triathlons.

Q. How did you choose to get involved in triathlons?

A. I grew up as a swimmer, doing that competitively until I was ten years old. Part of the healing process was for me to get back into the pool and swim some laps to help my neck and shoulders. I was pretty banged up, so swimming was a great exercise to help me get on track physically. I met someone at the YMCA who asked if I ever did any biking, and if I was interested to come out to Davis Islands for their bike group on Wednesday nights. I showed up with my bike and got laughed at by a couple seasoned bike riders, or roadies as they call them, but that inspired me to work hard and got proficient at that.

The running part was something I'd always enjoyed and before you knew it, a buddy talked me into doing my first triathlon. I ended up winning my first triathlon in the Clydesdale division, which is the heavyweight division. That feeling of winning after being around a losing football program after nine seasons was exhilarating. It became very addicting, too. It was competitive, it was something I could do as a supplement to my career and I met some great people. Had I tried to play football a couple more years, I might not have been able to have endured. My body might not have recovered enough to experience the triathlon world.

Q. And ending your career when you did enables you to do the job you have now.

A. Absolutely. Obviously you have to be in good physical condition to be a fireman. Staying in shape as an older person afforded me the opportunity to get this job. I was 44 when I was hired as a rookie, one of, if not the oldest rookies, the department has ever hired. The primary reason I got the job is because I kept myself in great physical shape.

My old high school recently had a ceremony to retire my jersey. In my little dog and pony speech, I told the head football coach that all his training -- and he was an advocate of running hills after practice -- has paid off even today when I'm running up the flights of stairs in the Bank of America building. I can see him at the top of the stairs blowing his whistle. I said, "Thanks for making me run a little faster and making me more determined to run to the top." That training which we had 35 years ago, has helped me excel as a stair-climber with Tampa Fire Rescue.

Q. Going back to your playing days, one of the most memorable games of your career came against the Green Bay Packers in 1985, a game know as "The Snow Bowl." What do you remember about that experience?

A. I remember it was cold. (laughs) We got our butts kicked, 21-0. It was hard to see. There was even an Alka-Seltzer commercial made using shots from that game of Steve Young getting slammed into the turf and coming up with snow caked to his facemask. (laughs) I certainly remember that. I remember the wind blowing so hard across the field into our bench that looking over at the bench, some of the players literally had their backs to the field and were huddled around the heaters, not even watching the game. When we were on the field, we couldn't even see the defensive signals coming from our coach on the sidelines.

After the game, the showers ran out of hot water. The only good thing was I didn't sweat a heck of a lot because it was so darned cold. The last thing I recall about that trip was just getting out of town. We had an escort because all the highways were closed due to the snow. The airport is closed, because it's snowing like the dickens. We load up on the airplane and the captain comes on and says they are plowing the runways, deicing the wings, and believe it or not conditions are favorable for us taking off even though the airport is closed and we're under blizzard-like conditions. We were like, "What? What is he talking about?"

I don't know if this is fact or not, but I believe one player opted to get off the plane and spend the night. He just didn't feel like it was safe to take off. I think that happened, I don't know proof positive, but believe me it crossed all of our minds. When we took off, I've never heard a commercial or chartered airline so quiet, or a group of people so quiet, as I did during that takeoff. It's still snowing and it's dark outside, so you couldn't see anything. All you could do was pray. It seemed like it took us a long time to get to a safe ceiling. Once we finally did and the captain came on to tell us we were clear, everyone started clapping.

Q. Last question. Is there anyone in your career who you played against -- a Walter Payton, a Joe Montana, a Dan Marino -- who you look back at now and say, "I was really lucky to play against this guy, or it was really fun to play against that guy."

A. Great question. I'm going to start this by saying I feel so fortunate and extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to have experience competing with and against so many incredibly talented NFL players. It still to me is almost surreal. I can't name just one player. I've been fortunate to play against so many good ones.

Walter Payton, God rest his soul. Probably the best overall running back ever to play the game. Joe Montana, a tremendous talent. Barry Sanders, incredible talent. It's safe to say that I probably made his highlight film once or twice. There were many a time he'd juke me out of my jockstrap in the backfield. The guy could change direction and speed on a dime.

Then you have Jim McMahon, Joe Theismann, John Riggins and Earl Campbell, holy smokes. I played against Earl my rookie year in a preseason game, and I went to hit him, and ended up five yards away on my back. He just ran over me. The list goes on and on.

But I think more important than the names I named, without a doubt is being blessed and being grateful for the opportunity to play with, and get to know, the many players of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I have the utmost respect for each and every one of my teammates. That truly is what kept me waking up in the morning and having a positive attitude going to work. There were a lot of guys there that I believed in and enjoyed playing with who helped motivate me, and keep me motivated, throughout my career.