TAMPA - What will Tony Dungy hear when he leads the Colts onto the field at Raymond James Stadium on Monday night?
Cheers or boos? Jeers or ya-hoos?
"Well, yeah, you care," Dungy said. "Everybody that I know down there, my good friends, all say they wish me luck for every game except one. I haven't had anybody that says, "I'm wishing you luck all 16 games and I hope you win.' So I think it'll be, for the most part, like the visitors get treated."
Earlier this year, when Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella returned to Seattle, the Mariners welcomed him with a video retrospective saluting his contributions to the franchise.
The NFL is a different animal. There are no plans by the Bucs to commemorate his return. But general manager Rich McKay expects the reaction to be positive.
"I would be very surprised if it wasn't 100 percent in support," McKay said. "It doesn't mean they'll go wild. But I would certainly think it'll be very positive. To the extent it wasn't, it would only be a handful a people that were too much in the spirit of Monday night football and maybe started too early in the day. People recognize what Tony did and Tony left on very good terms, as you would expect him to as a class act. I don't see it being the other way.
"Now, I don't see them cheering the Colts when they make a first down. They'll be ready for Monday night football and they'll be ready to support their team. But with Tony, I'd be very surprised if it weren't very positive."
ONE AND NOT DONE: It is a bleak streak, to be sure. And Warren Sapp was the one to point it out.
The Bucs six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle has zero sacks in his past 11 regular-season games.
Of course, Sapp had a sacks in Super Bowl XXXVII and was credited with a half-sack in the division playoff against San Francisco. Furthermore, if not for a questionable call, Sapp might have been credited with a sack of Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb and a safety.
Of course, Sapp's pass rush abilities have flushed many quarterbacks into the arms of other defenders. "He's the point guard," defensive line coach Rod Marinelli said. "He's Magic Johnson shuffling off assists. You got the one-on-one, you've got the shot. He creates a lot for everyone else. Big time.
"The thing I admire about him is he keeps coming. He just keeps coming. He's relentless about it. He keeps relentlessly coming. But I think something that's so driven for him is winning. We impact winning. That rush is still impacting the wins, getting us off the field. It doesn't show up in a stat column, but the guy is about winning, man. As a coach, you really appreciate that."
BUSHWHACKED: It seems they never promised them a rose garden. The Bucs will play at Washington next Sunday, but the world champions have no plans to visit the White House to commemorate their Super Bowl XXXVII title.
The reason for parting with tradition was unavoidable. Their original trip to the White House was canceled due to the war in Iraq.
