THE LEICESTERSHIRE LEAPER? Modesty forbids me from acknowledging publicly the excellent catch made by a certain Bucs fan from Leicestershire as reported by John Davies in the last edition of TANY, but suffice to say, the T shirt fits very well. Not many US Airforce T shirts worn around these parts you know!! John, in his article basically said it all regarding the game against Chicago. They deserved to win and we didn’t. The result stopped my winning streak at 7, and my record watching live is now 7 – 4. Despite the result, I had a fantastic time as always, and thanks must go again to Phil for organising such great seat in RayJay. Any seat in the lower tiers and not the “nose bleed” seats will do for me. I took with me on this trip a colleague from work. There were meant to be 3 of us, but one chickened out at the last minute. Can’t imagine why, but then it takes more than some twat with a beard to stop me watching the Bucs (Ed- you talking about Bin Laden or Geoffrey Hall?!) Simon, my colleague from work also came with me last year and had such a great time that he couldn’t wait to go again. Nothing to do with the Bucs, the attractions in the “Mons Venus” were far more appealing. Now if you have not been to Tampa, make sure you visit the “Mons”. Take lots of money and leave the wife back in the hotel. All I can say is “If easily offended, do not go”. You will see more naked flesh there than on any beach in Benidorm. What those girls can do with a pole has got to be seen to be believed. We only had the weekend in Tampa, but enough time to spend a wonderful 3 hours in “The Palm Pavilion” bar on Clearwater Beach and a few more in the delightful company of Bill and Linda Thompson eating them out of house and home in the process. I know they serve big portions over there, but the steak Bill served up could have contained enough foot and mouth to wipe out half of Cumbria. The real business of the trip came on Saturday night with a visit to the Mons Venus. If you go, then I do not recommend a “dance “ with Chloe, she is a bit of a dog, but Amanda or Kia, now you are talking! Sunday of course is game day. With the kick off put back to 4.15 to accommodate TV, (what else!!) we had all day to soak up the atmosphere. As ever though, we paid a visit to the Tampa Bay Mall directly opposite the Stadium. Now this used to be a must as it contained just about the best sports shop I have been in, The Fan Attic, but the mall is now like a ghost town with every shop shut except Sears, and that moves next year. Now this posed something of a dilemma, given all the various sports paraphernalia I had promised to bring back for people. A radical rethink was called for here, and that last visit to the Mons on Tuesday morning had to be cancelled in favour of driving around every other sports shop in the area. The mall being closed at least gave us more time to wait by the players entrance, and as usual most of the players didn’t disappoint. Mike Alstott signed every autograph in sight, including mine and Simon’s. Derrick Brooks did likewise. Marcus Jones greeted his fan club with a big hug for each person. I got in line but chickened out because I didn’t fancy the French kiss that went with it. Warren Sapp had come straight from the OXFAM shop where he had bought his sweater. I thought it looked hideous but told him how great it looked on him. Brad Johnson surprised me though. Rather than sign any autographs, he handed out pre-signed photographs to anyone that wanted one. He obviously didn’t want to sprain his wrist signing any now. The game itself has been well documented by now. We should have won and we could have won, but those future hall-of-famers Miller and Booker ensured that we did not. To be honest, to come back like we did in the 4th quarter was a fantastic achievement, and of course we would have gone into overtime had Marteen Erracticas field goal attempt been an inch to the left. They always said that this was a game of inches, now I believe them. (The spell check has just picked up on “Erractica”, and suggested “Erotica” as an alternative. Very apt.) If the result wasn’t enough, to have it rammed down your throat by a bunch of Bears fans at the local Sam Seltzers restaurant after the game was to much to put up with, so another trip to the Mons was called for. My only reply to them was that they only have to travel at most a couple of thousand miles to see their team lose. I have to travel 4500 miles to see mine lose. Monday was spent with a trip to my favourite place in the whole world, with the exception of the Mons Venus, Sea World. Latest addition to the park is the most amazing roller coaster called “Kraken”. Shamu had to wait until we had frightened the crap out of ourselves numerous times riding that. So a great time was had by all. If any of you have not been out to Tampa yet, then you really must make the effort to go. If you are worried about flying, don’t be. Scientists have worked out that you are more likely to be killed by a tea shirt fired from a cannon, than you are by flying. Now, did I tell you all about the Mons Venus??………… ED – The editorial team of There’s Always Next Year would like to put in writing, that we do not condone club members visiting The Mons Venus in any way. And besides, Baby Dolls or Gaslight is much better anyway! Gary Botteley January 2002