I'm interested in hearing on how you all became buc fans

[BuccaNova]

Heh. I thought the OLD jerseys were cool. I was REALLY young. And liked orange. I had a beat-up old faded orange Gremlin, of all things --first car I bought on my own--  that I highlighted with red and white electrical tape back in the early 80s.   It didn't stick well and flapped like crazy everywhere I went. But I was flappin' the creamsicle so I didn't care. I just replaced it when it flew off. Man, I wish I had a picture of that car, that would be in my sig in a heartbeat.

[BucFanOcala1]

1997 when we changed uniforms I despised the bucs because I thought they were a bad reflection of the city I loved.First game of the year my friend begged me to watch the game because from what he said trent dilfer was going to change the bucs..Against the 49ers  sapp broke jerry rices leg and took out steve  young....The rest is history from there I was hooked ...Ive maybe not watched 5 games ever sense 1997..

[blind melon]

It's like remembering your very first girlfriend... 

Monsoon Bowl...  December 1979.

Loved the defense smothering the Chiefs and Ricky Bell's relentless running

http://www.bucpower.com/1979game16.html

Bell, Cotney, Giles and Selmon were my favorite players.

I remember being absolutely crushed when they lost to the LA Rams 0-9.

[BuccaNova]

God, I remember the monsoon game cause I was insanely nervous because all they needed was ONE win out of the last --what, three or four games?-- and they kept blowing it. Until the chiefs game. I was so freaking relieved after that. That, the SB year, and last year into this, probably three most exciting times for me as a bucs fan.

[BothBucs]

My Dad made me

[Cerious]

I became a fan shortly after the Bucs drafted Sapp and Brooks. I was a big college sposts fan when I was in high school, football and basketball specifically. I ended up watching those guys play a lot because UM, FSU and Florida were all on the TV almost weekly it seemed. Sapp and Brooks were two of my most favorite college players. So after the Bucs drafted them I became an instant fan.

[JDouble]

My dad is a Broncos fan so I grew up idolizing John Elway. To this day he is my favorite QB of all time. In 1995 the family up and moved to Cocoa Beach Florida and about that time I started to really get into football. I still watched every Broncos game with my pops, but I started following the Bucs and the brand new Jaguars. It was a great experience to watch Elway and the Broncos win back to back Super Bowls in 1998 ans 1999 with my dad, but I had already decided on the Bucs as my new team by that point. I had actually been leaning towards the Jaguars at first because they became a team the same year I moved to Florida and they had surprising success immediately. I loved the Bucs defense though, I've always been a defense guy. I loved Alstott and Dunn too. I thought Dungy was great. Once they changed uniforms in 1997 I was hooked. My only jersey was an Elway jersey but I watched more Bucs than Broncos. I remember watching the Bucs beat the Lions in the wildcard game in 1997 and I was wearing my Elway jersey....wtf? When Elway retired in 1999, I retired my Elway jersey and finally bought my first Bucs jersey.....#40. It's been all Bucs all the time ever since for me.

[BucsBay]

I was born in 1980, and the first football professional game I remember really catching my interest I listened to on the radio. We were on the way back from Orlando in January and listening to the 1991 NFC Championship game between the Giants and 49ers. I knew how good the 49ers were from watching them in previous Superbowls, and I was impressed that the Giants were able to go into San Fransisco and shut down that offense. That's when I learned defense wins championships and how awesome January football is. The next season I took an interest in the Cowboys and really enjoyed watching the game they played in Detroit in the 1992 playoffs. I remember thinking that they were a really good team even though they lost. I enjoyed watching their Superbowl run in 92-93, but then I realized how many annoying band wagon Cowboys fans there were everywhere.

Because it had been playoff football that had first caught my interest, I hadn't really taken that much notice of the Bucs. Since I was getting more interested in the sport though, I thought I should start to root for the home team. I bought a bright orange Bucs hat which all of my 13 year old friends made fun of me for, and started loosely following the team. When I really started to become a hard core fan though is when the Bucs launched the "New Day in Tampa Bay" campaign,  and then followed through with it. 1997 was a great season.

[dbrooks55]

I grew up a Raider fan (due to my dad)...and a dare I say it Bo Jackson fan  I live in PA. In the early 90's I was about in 5th grade and he took me to a Raiders/Eagles game. We sat in the 700 level of the Vet, what a mistake for a little kid to see. Guys fighting, peeing in sinks having to stand in pee waiting for the bathroom....I vowed not to watch the NFL again after that game (I was young) lol. But I didn't NFL games much for about 5-6 years. My dad was also a big Florida State Seminoles fan, so I latched onto college football for that time. When Derrick Brooks was drafted I would watch to see highlights of him, then when Warrick Dunn came I was hooked. How could anyone not if you were a fan of the FSU, UF, Miami rivalries....it was like an All-Star team of players who played in them, with Brooks, Sapp, Dunn, R. Anthony, J. Green...and I'm sure I'm missing a few!

[bucs63]

Living in SFla, I refused to be a Dolphin fan and when the Bucs started I tried to follow them a little. I moved to Tampa in '78 to attend USF and they've been my team since, no matter where I've lived. And I had been subject to ridicule for it for many years.

[BucsGuru]

I'm a product of the 70's and the Steelers were my favorite team...hated the Cowboys, still don't care for them.  The Bucs were the closest to Lakeland and that's where we lived.  My dad and I started watching them and the rest is history.  I moved to Virginia in 1980 but continued to be a fan there as I am now in Georgia. 

[JDog]

. And I had been subject to ridicule for it for many years.

Only the long time fans know how that felt.   

[Tron]

I became a Buc fan in 76.    There was nothing mentioned in the thread about when or how people stopped being a Buc fan.

....Just admitted he's not a fan and has whined about anything Buc related. Again.

If he's not out of here soon, I will be. Sad too, because others will follow or already have left and aren't coming back. JoeBucsfan I hate, but I would rather spend my time there, than to deal with Java's whining no matter how good PR is "supposed" to be.

Seeing how you are NOT a fan, please don't respond to this thread. I don't care if you dislike the Bucs, I'm just completely sick of your endless prattling and mocking of anything related. You've beaten that dead horse back from the dead.

You don't have to like the playcalls Java. You don't have to like the coach or specific players. But his IS a BIAS site, one that is "supposed" to be upheld by people who actually support THIS team. Therefore, if you don't LIKE the team in general, you should not be allowed to post your views. If PR doesn't understand that, I welcome their own self destruction.

If you or anyone else leaves this site because you can't tell that practically everything Java says is with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, I wouldn't say that's PR's fault.  Imagine the drudgery around here, especially because of the lockout, if there weren't people constantly trying to bring Java "back into the light" or "prove" that he's an ass.  He's saying stuff that wildly unpopular, and generally contrary to the facts which makes for an entertaining back and forth between himself and some other posters.  Why would anyone want to put an end to that?

On the topic:

I grew up right outside Orlando and decided to go to UF right after (before?) the Bucs drafted Reidel Anthony and then Jacquez Green.  It felt a bit like the Bucs were the University of Florida at Tampa Bay.  Didn't hurt that they also had future hall of famers at DT, LB, SS and CB (I hope), and Alstott and Dunn.

[blind melon]

The only time I see the spew is when someone quotes him.

Attention Ho 101:   Ignore them.  Anything else is a win for the other team. 

Really - how hard is that to do?

/pardon the interruption.


 

[JDog]

If you or anyone else leaves this site because you can't tell that practically everything Java says is with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, I wouldn't say that's PR's fault.  Imagine the drudgery around here, especially because of the lockout, if there weren't people constantly trying to bring Java "back into the light" or "prove" that he's an ass.  He's saying stuff that wildly unpopular, and generally contrary to the facts which makes for an entertaining back and forth between himself and some other posters.  Why would anyone want to put an end to that?

I'd be willing to bet that Java is one of the main topics at the forum get-togethers.   Why?   Because he's intelligent and provides interesting points of view.