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About the Author: Scott Reynolds
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FAB 4. For The Love Of The Game
The year 2020 marks my 25th season covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for you, the loyal PewterReport.com reader. As I begin this milestone season, I’m going to spend the next 25 weeks telling some never-before-told Bucs stories and recalling some of my most memorable moments in my professional journey.
It’s Valentine’s Day so it’s only appropriate for me to talk about my love for football and when it began. Although growing up with a father and a stepfather, it was actually my mother, Judy, who introduced me to football and nurtured my love for game.
Growing up as an only child in the 1950’s, my mother wanted a way to connect with her father, who was a big sports fan. Living in the Washington, D.C. area, my grandfather, Claude, was an avid Redskins fan, and as a child my mom would slip into the parlor, hop up on his lap and watch the games on TV to spend time with him. She would ask questions and learn about the game of football from my grandfather.
NFL mini-helmets
In the late 1970’s and early 80’s I became a football fan myself and would ask my mom those same questions to learn about the game. Whenever we would go to the store, she would buy me the little plastic football helmets it came out of the gum machines, and would later buy me a subscription to Sports Illustrated to further my interest in the sport. My mother and I would fight to read the sports section of the newspaper first every morning.
The first team I latched onto was the Philadelphia Eagles in 1980 because of their running back Wilbert Montgomery (I liked his name) and their giant wide receiver Harold Carmichael (I liked his 6-foot-8 frame). I also liked the name Ron Jaworski, who was the quarterback, especially his nickname “Jaws.” Liking players because of their names was kind of kid-fashioned.
When my mom discovered my love for the Eagles when I was watching Super Bowl XV she was quite upset and practically forced me to like the Redskins. It wasn’t hard because the Redskins were a fun team to watch, and my favorite player soon became power back John Riggins, otherwise known as “The Diesel.” Later in my 20s when I started covering the Buccaneers, I would find out that Bucs legend Mike Alstott also loved Riggins.
The Redskins had “The Hogs” up front on the offensive line, as well as a great defensive line featuring nose tackle Dave Butz (another great name), Daryl Grant, Charles Mann, and my favorite player on defense – pass rusher Dexter Manley. When I moved to Florida in the 1990s I got a dog and named him Manley. What a great dog.
When my family moved to Kansas City in the early 1980s I latched onto the Chiefs, and my parents would take me to a game each year. If you’ve read the last couple of SR’s Fab 5 columns I discussed how I became a follower of the Buccaneers, so I won’t tell those stories again.
Yours truly with parents, Judy and Jim in Kansas
While living in the Kansas City area, I remember my stepfather, Jim, coming home from work as an inspector of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). My stepfather really hated his job, but it put food on the table and it was a good-paying job. Yet it was one of those jobs where he couldn’t wait until 5:00 p.m. to clock out every day and race home.
I remember him telling me often at the dinner table, “Scott you’ve got to find a job that you love – one that you’re passionate about.” Football was something I loved and was passionate about, in addition to writing. I spent years merging the two in college, honing my craft covering the Kansas State Wildcats football team for the school paper and an independent fan magazine called Purple Pride. Thanks to my parents I found my career path.
When I started covering the Buccaneers in 1995, it was like a whole new world opened up to me in terms of learning about the game. If I had any football questions I could actually go right to the source – real NFL players, coaches, scouts and general managers – and get the answers, and learn more about the game that I loved.
What do they call this?
Oh yeah, I know.
It’s called a dream job.
I take pride in learning new things about the game of football and passing those tidbits of information onto my readers. Through the years I become an expert on the Buccaneers, and I still get a thrill learning different aspects of the game that I love.
Scott Reynolds and Jon Gruden
I remember having a pre-draft lunch with Jon Gruden in 2005. He respected me, and PewterReport.com, and snuck away from One Buccaneer Place to talk some football and about the 2005 NFL Draft. Gruden gave me the highest compliment I could ever receive in my profession at that lunch.
He said: “You love football and it shows. You sit in the front row and you take it all in. When I’m talking I see your eyes light up and that excites me, man. I look at some of the other writers and the looks on their faces, and they’re just miserable, man. Not all of them, but some of them. They just don’t want to be there, but it’s clear that you do.”
It’s kind of ironic because I know the ones Gruden was talking about, and they no longer cover the team.
It was funny at that meeting, which took place at the old Champps sports bar at International Plaza across the street from the old One Buccaneer Place, about halfway through our lunch, general manager Bruce Allen walked in, which kind of caught both of us by surprise. Allen had a look on his face that a dad would have catching his underage kids in the liquor cabinet.
He smirked and said, “Hi, Jon. Hi, Scott.”
Then he reached over to Gruden’s cell phone on the table and said, “Jon, these things work better when they’re turned on.” Allen had been trying to reach Gruden via text about a waiver wire pick up, and Gruden had turned his phone off. Gruden was a bit embarrassed and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Gruden and I probably didn’t have the closest relationship in terms of regular communication, but there was plenty of mutual respect between us. Gruden would later help me break one of the biggest stories of my career covering the Buccaneers when he revealed to me in the most-read SR’s Fab 5 in history that he was going to return to coaching in 2018. Trevor Sikkema and I had gone to interview Gruden at his FFCA (Fired Football Coaches of America) headquarters in Tampa right before the start of training camp in 2017, and he allowed me to break the story, which went national.
Scott Reynolds and Jon Gruden – Photo by: Trevor Sikkema/PR
In my 25 years of serving you, the readers of PewterReport.com, I have not won a single award when it comes to sports journalism. At the same time, I have not entered any of my articles for submission with the hope of winning any awards, either – and I really don’t care. That’s not what I’m in the business for.
I don’t need any awards to stroke my ego. The Buccaneers gave me a nice framed No. 20 jersey five years ago to celebrate my 20th year covering the team, which was an amazing gesture from Brian Ford and Jason Licht. It was extra special because Ronde Barber is my favorite Buccaneer of all-time.
The real awards I get that mean the most to me are our web traffic reports that show me how much you love PewterReport.com and the team of Pewter Reporters and contributors we have assembled. To see our web traffic grow each year by leaps and bounds, and have true football professionals like Gruden recognize my love for the game is the only recognition I need.
Like you, I love football. It’s my passion, and in some ways it’s always been my first love, dating back to my childhood. I’m glad I listened to my stepfather and found a career that I love – one that I’m passionate about. And I wholeheartedly thank you, the loyal PewterReport.com reader, for showing me the love by visiting this awesome website on a daily basis.
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