Letters to the Editors

A longtime fan finally is rewarded

It was the summer of 1984 when my love affair with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers began. Having just moved to the area with my parents from Destin, I had no idea the odyssey I was about to take with this team. It was the first team I saw play professionally.

When I walked into Tampa Stadium, my jaw hit the floor. There were so many people. The stadium was huge, bigger than anything I had ever seen in Destin; bigger than life. I was hooked, in love.

That game, the Bears killed us, something like 44-6. Ron Holmes was supposed to fill the shoes of Lee Roy Selmon, but looking back now, I see how big of a deal that was and I realize that nobody could ever do that.

Holmes tried, but the Bucs had the whole "Charlie Brown bad-luck syndrome" that would swallow many players' confidence and frustrate many Bucs fans for what seemed an eternity.

I think back to all the players who I watched at the old Tampa Stadium: Nathan Wonsley, (who if he would not have been injured would have been one of the greats), Hugh Green, Jeremiah Castille, Broderick Thomas, Ron Hall, Kevin House, Jimmie Giles, Scot Brantley, James Wilder, Richard Wood, Lars Tate, infamous draft pick Booker Reese, Steve DeBerg, Jack Thompson, Paul Gruber, John Cannon, Mark Robinson, Gary Anderson, Hardy Nickerson, Rod "Toast" Jones, Kerry Goode, Steve Courson, Trent Dilfer, Steve Young, Vinny Testaverde, Mark Carrier and Donald Igwebuike.

They all are part of my memories both bad and even worse, but also of a time when I learned the importance of loyalty for the team that could never put it together.

Either way, all the losing did something to us. It steeled our resolve. For we believed in our frustrated and beleaguered hearts that one day, maybe not in our lifetime, but one day, the Bucs would be winners and go to the Super Bowl.

What can I say, we were optimists. Each and every season began with wide-eyed idealism and ended with jaded realism. Then suddenly, a ray of light appeared, bringing Tony Dungy and renewed hope. He took us within viewing distance of the promised land, but like Moses, Dungy would not enter it with us.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are actually going to the Super Bowl, and nobody is laughing at us anymore. Our hope has finally become a reality. Go Bucs.
-- Kevin L. O'Connor, Largo

I would like to offer my very best wishes to Meagan Jurevicius, who has selflessly enabled her husband, Joe, to participate in what may be the highlight of his career, Super Bowl XXXVII.

As many know, it's a challenge in itself being new parents, but Joe and Meagan have added worries and concerns as their newborn son, Michael, recovers from his recent heart surgery. Meagan, by your brave actions, you may have changed the course of Buccaneer history. Congratulations on your beautiful baby boy. Go Bucs.
-- Linda Flack, Seminole