Don’t You Dare Go Anywhere Although the losses have piled up to an embarrassing amount, I don’t shy away from the fact that I’m a Bucs fan, and you should do the same. You can bet that I’ll be wearing a Bucs Jersey this Sunday too. This Sunday is special to me because we’re playing the Jets. Although I go to school in Boston, my home is in Northern New Jersey, so there is a big Jets fan base there. My hometown also became the home to the Jets Headquarters and Training facility about three years ago, so there is Jets fever back home. I have many friends back home and also at school who are big Jets fans. Personally, I have had some Jets sightings since most of them moved to my town or close to it after the Headquarters was opened. I worked at a restaurant over the summer, and Tackle Damien Woody came into pick up food. I gave Woody his food that he was picking up and wished him the best of luck this season. The next day, however, I was frustrated because I figured that I should have taken one of his receipts that he signed. An autographed football would’ve been nice, but a signed receipt for three chicken dinners with pasta, salad, and breadsticks would have been priceless. I’ve also seen running Backs Leon Washington and Thomas Jones at the gym in my town. A person I work with over the summer said he was bench pressing once and struggling with his last rep, so Leon Washington flew over to help spot him. I’ve also seen Thomas Jones bench 350 lbs. + there. Onto the Bucs: It’s only a matter of time before talk of Raheem Morris being fired really starts to heat up. Bad Coaching was crystal clear last week (that goes for you too Olsen!). Regardless of if Morris is fired or not there will be an incredible amount of rebuilding that will take place, but hold on Bucs fans. Even if we go 1-15 this year or even 0-16 next year, hold on. Don’t be one that fleets and jumps on the bandwagon elsewhere. Real, dedicated fans stay with their team, no matter what. Real fans will be rewarded when this franchise rebuilds and wins a Super Bowl in the future. Right now, that feat looks hundreds of millions of miles away, but when they win it again, it will be that much better. Fake fans will jump on the Bucs bandwagon at that point too, but they will barely experience the sheer joy of it all. I encounter fake, bandwagon fans all the time…on a regular basis actually. Just because people go to school here in New England, they think they like the Patriots automatically. If the Patriots were 1-11 and not the team of the decade, they wouldn’t say they’re a Pats fan. It happens in every sport, and it gets worse when the championship game gets closer too. A lot of people don’t understand why someone like me is a Bucs fan. Why a team so far away and so obscure? It’s basically looked down upon. Well what, especially this season, have the Bucs ever done to their favorite team? For example, I was in my History class the other day with Bucs shorts on, and a guy sitting next to me says, “Do you know what kind of shorts you’re wearing right now?”. I said, “uh yeah, I’m pretty sure I know what kind of shorts I have on.” He later talked about how his roommate is a Bucs fan and he feels bad for him because they’re bad this year. So, I said, “I can’t like a team because they’ve only won one game right now? What sense does that make?” Then he started talking about the Patriots (remember only because he goes to school here and they’re good), so I moved my seat. I remember two years ago, when the Giants won the Super Bowl, about 60% of the people in my school back home had a Giants jersey on the day after. Some of those people definitely have never watched a football game ever in their life either. Some of the girls who had jerseys on had bootleg brands of jerseys on. Puma doesn’t make football jerseys! Some also had hand-me-downs from older brothers and it was obvious. “Hey, uh did you know that Kerry Collins hasn’t played with the Giants in about ten years?” or for people who had their dad’s old Giants jersey “A Phil Simms jersey!? Simms played back in the Vietnam days”. All in all, people like to jump on the bandwagon. My message to Bucs fans: DON’T. Be loyal. Stick these last four games out, still be supportive, and start to look at next year. Study our draft position and the prospects. Study the Free Agents and holes we have to fill. Speaking of studying those free agents, how about we sign this kid up: Click here . Don’t, for a second, think about giving up and jumping ship… jumping the pirate ship. Chris Bruno, December 2009