A dream so sweet goes sour

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By HUBERT MIZELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 30, 2000

ATLANTA -- It seems so long ago, that Bucs near-miss Sunday in St. Louis, but as Super Bowl XXXIV kickoff nears, my Tampa Bay eyes and ears atuned to Atlanta goings on, I so easily imagine what might've been.

All week, what could've been, maybe even should've been, was Tony Dungy speaking at NFL lecterns, and not Dick Vermeil, addressing worldly media on behalf of his NFC champions.

Pardon me, Rams.

Kurt Warner's captivating life story has become a near-miniseries on Super Bowl week television, afloat with ESPN and CNN/SI and ABC. With a slight twist of NFC championship fate, the networks might've spent the past seven days inflating the fame of Bucs rookie Shaun King.

You see Kevin Carter, Todd Lyght and D'Marco Farr spouting compliments for their St. Louis defense as cameras roll, tape recorders whirr and notebooks scribble. Taking deep breaths, restricting my senses, I could visualize it being Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Warren Sapp.

Sour grapes? Perhaps.

Think of the strong Bucs story lines that were lost. Dungy would have cracked a social barrier, becoming the first African-American head coach in an NFL final, including 34 seasons of the Super Bowl and, before that, the league's half century of existence.

Remember the loud commentaries and heavy headlines when Doug Williams, a former Buccaneer, became the Super Bowl's first black quarterback with the Washington Redskins? He threw for four touchdowns and was voted MVP. There's not been another QB of color in the Super Bowl until now, with Steve McNair of Tennessee. How close we were to seeing two black quarterbacks as today's starters, the Titans fellow along with Tampa Bay's King. Right here in Atlanta, a city so diverse it gave us both Martin Luther King Jr. and John Rocker.

In my job, I fight hard to not be syrupy provincial. Frankly, it's easy to be a homer. Easier but professionally wrong. Please don't pelt me, St. Louis, for I'm not saying your Rams are frauds who should not have made it to Atlanta. Nah, I'm dealing in ifs. What could've been, frankly from the Tampa Bay perspective.

We're just hours before Super Bowl kickoff and I'm still hearing comments about a devastating (for the Bucs) instant-replay reversal of a Bert Emanuel catch against the Rams. I've kept count. So far, 34 journalists and 17 coaches/players/executives from other NFL franchises have expressed opinions within my earshot. Nobody has come close to suggesting the overturning in the TWA Dome was justified.

What do you think? Wouldn't it have been fun as well as a pulsating ego bounce for the Tampa Bay community, if America's dominant news/sports outlets, both print and broadcast, had been yapping all through Super Bowl week about Mike Alstott, Hardy Nickerson, Warrick Dunn and Dungy, rather than Orlando Pace, Marshall Faulk, London Fletcher and Vermeil?

Do I hear a big T.B. amen?

Squeeze those sour grapes.

My feelings are quite different from 20 years ago, when Bucs of John McKay's coaching time took an NFC championship tumble, coming within one plateau of Super Bowl XIV, ironically losing to Ray Malavasi-coached Rams from Los Angeles.

This time, the Super Bowl quest seemed so much more legitimate. Tampa Bay wasn't about to climax that 1979 season by winning a Lombardi Trophy. McKay's Bucs would've been smacked by a Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty, just as were the Rams.

This time, they could've . . .

If the Bucs had scored just one touchdown in St. Louis, knocking aside Vermeil's guys, I'm convinced Tampa Bay would've had matchup advantages and would have handled the Tennessee Titans. Soaring off today's Georgia Dome stage as NFL champion.

Tampa Bay is drowning in ifs.

This is my 30th Super Bowl. Haven't missed one since the Bucs, if ineptly so, began playing in 1976. Working the frigid Atlanta landscape since Monday, among a huge clatter of reporters, like at all the previous Super Bowl sites. Never have I heard such volumes of positive comments about the Bucs.

Most seasons, through all the Bennett/Perkins/Wyche coaching stints, I've heard Bucs jokes from media peers. Some nasty and degrading. Most true. But on the 12-6 season that subsided a week ago in St. Louis, the feedback is predominantly golden on Tampa Bay's team.

"They showed us that nobody, not even an exceptional offense like ours, runs wild against a defense so great as the Bucs," Rams rookie receiver Torry Holt said. "No opponent has come close to harnessing us on our home turf. We couldn't beat Tampa Bay's defense, we could only survive it."

Vermeil was oversold. "Tampa Bay's defense socks you in the mouth, dares your receivers to come crossing the field and never lets up," the St. Louis coach said.

Notice a pattern in plaudits for the Bucs? Defense. Always defense. You didn't hear Rams players or coaches saying anything about Tampa Bay's offense. It doesn't take Madame Maude to pluck their thoughts, revealing what we already know. There is leaguewide respect for some individuals in the Bucs offense, but zip for the unit's total impact.

Oh, what might've been . . .

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