LAKE BUENA VISTA - The sequel begins where the original left off.
The little blond guy weaved in and out of his players, yelling and gesturing, directing and conducting. Jon Gruden, once again, was surfing the energy of his team, boosting the power, shaking up the dead moments that turn training camp into drudgery.
Gruden moved as if he were alive again. His team is once more on a field, a season is once more in his sights and, hey, does anyone else hear that clock ticking?
It was, oh, about 117 degrees, one of those mornings you could break off the air in chunks, but Gruden didn't seem to notice. He wore long sleeves because, well, that way it's easier to keep something up there. Besides, with Gruden, the heat always flows outward.
And there, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason the Bucs just might repeat as Super Bowl champions, after all.
Oh, you can talk about the odds all you want. Talk about how salary caps alter chemistry, how big money breeds complacency, how egos overtake competitiveness. Talk about how tough it is to win the Lotto once, let alone win it twice in a row. Talk about the Rams and the Falcons and the Eagles.
Done?
Now consider this: Yes, the Bucs can win it again.
Look at the team that began practice Saturday morning. The defense remains dominant. The offense will be better. The scheme is more familiar.
Oh, and there is this, too.
Gruden is on the prowl again.
When you are talking about the reasons the Bucs have a shot at becoming the first team since the Broncos to repeat, that's where you start. Because as long as Gruden lives here, complacency won't.
There is an old line in sports: It's hard to wake up hungry when you sleep in silk pajamas. If you noticed anything at all about Gruden in his first season with the Bucs, however, you know that won't happen. This team will not grow mentally fat.
"He won't allow it to happen," safety John Lynch said. "He'd challenge it. He'd say flat out that's what he was seeing."
Said quarterback Brad Johnson: "He'll never be satisfied, and he won't allow anyone else to be, either."
Before Gruden, this wasn't always the case. The Bucs had a great year in 1997, then backslid in '98. They had a great year in '99, then backslid the next two years.
Along the way, there were little, maddening inconsistencies. Every one of those seasons, the Bucs had a four-game stretch in which they lost at least three games. Not last year. Last year, the Bucs were 3-1 each quarter of the season.
Put it this way: Does anyone still want to trade him for Steve Spurrier? For Bill Parcells? For Tony Dungy?
Perhaps Gruden's biggest strength is that he can he take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile. (It worked for Mary Tyler Moore, too.) He can take a sore, tired football player on a dreary Tuesday before the Bengals game, and he can somehow convince that player this, of all days, is the most important day he ever slipped pads over his head. Then he can do it again tomorrow.
"He knows how to punch your ticket," Johnson said.
"He will not allow this team to get off-center for one hour, let alone for one game," general manager Rich McKay said.
It will be Gruden's job, then, to make sure his players think about the job to come, not the one they completed. Can you imagine the little barbs he'll make to his players as they come by? How many Hollywood Squares jibes can Warren Sapp endure? How many cracks about Campbell's Soup are headed in Lynch's direction?
That's the way this team operates. For instance, on Friday night, before the meeting, the defensive players of the Bucs sat down to watch a film. The Super Bowl win over the Raiders? Nope. The NFC title victory over the Eagles? No. It was a reel of blown plays, of missed tackles and lost coverages.
The message was clear to the players.
Yes, they can get better.
(Later, the coaches showed the Super Bowl video and, sure enough, the Bucs won it again.)
As far as Gruden goes, this should be considered. He is in much better position to coach the Bucs this year than he was last.
A year ago Gruden brought a great reputation, but his players didn't really know what they were getting. Now every word he speaks has the credibility of a championship.
A year ago, Gruden was still struggling to learn his players, their strengths and weaknesses and, oh yeah, their names.
A year ago, the players had no clue what language the playbook was printed in. It might as well have been a Rorschach test. You expected one guy to say, "In this inkblot, I see a rabbit on a bicycle. What does that mean, doctor?"
Despite it all, the Bucs won the Super Bowl. Despite a weak offensive line, absent a great running back, with limited speed from its receivers, with new offensive coaches, they won.
How tough is that? Ask Monte Kiffin, the defensive coordinator.
When Kiffin arrived in Tampa Bay in '96, Derrick Brooks, Sapp and Lynch were here already. The defensive staff instilled the scheme that would dominate defensive play for years to come. But, yes, it took a while.
"The first nine games we played, a back rushed for more than 100 yards on us," Kiffin said. "For nine games."
In other words, you have every right to expect the Bucs offense to be better this year. Kiffin does.
"Look at that offense in the playoffs," he said. "To me, it was the best offense going then."
Of course, there are reasons casino owners live in big houses. It is tough to repeat. Twenty-nine of the first 36 Super Bowl winners couldn't pull it off. Sometimes, players were injured. Sometimes, coaches left. Sometimes, the teams weren't good enough.
Still, the notion the Bucs can't win this Super Bowl mainly because they won the last one seems a little silly.
Imagine, for a moment, if the Bucs hadn't won the Super Bowl. Imagine they had lost a close game to the Raiders, or an overtime game to the Eagles. In that case, a lot of prognosticators might see the Bucs' late-season offensive improvement as an omen, and they'd be an easy team to pick.
It has Brooks. It has Sapp. It has Brad. It has Key. It has Rice. It has a few dozen other names you could mention.
If you want to list the reasons this team has an excellent chance to repeat, however, start at the top.
It has Gruden. That's him, the gun on the field, looking at his watch.
