FAB 4. Thanks, Keyshawn

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.

The Super Bowl is coming up this Sunday, and it’s not only one of the most watched television events each year, it’s also one of the most wagered on sporting events annually. So having said that, I would like to tell you about the time I bet former Bucs wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson on two Kansas State – USC college football games back in the day.

Former Bucs and USC WR Keyshawn Johnson – Photo by: Getty Images

Johnson, of course, was a proud Trojans alum, and for those of you that have followed me for quite some time, you know that I went to K-State. So when USC and Kansas State played in back to back years from 2001-02, I went up to Johnson in the locker room and asked him if he wanted to put a wager on the game. 

USC was starting to re-emerge as a national power with players like quarterback Carson Palmer and safety Troy Polamalu, and new head coach Pete Carroll.

Johnson was feeling confident about his alma mater and was up for the bet. He actually wanted to put $1,000 on the game, but I made far less money at the time, had just gotten married and had a child, and just moved into a new house. There was no way I could risk losing $1,000 if my Wildcats lost the game.

Yet I did offer to bet Keyshawn paycheck for paycheck on the game because that was a risk worth definitely worth me taking – the shot at a several hundred thousand dollars in Johnson’s weekly paycheck in exchange for barely $1,000 of my measly paycheck. Johnson laughed and said, “No way!” so we settled on $100 each year.

Bill Snyder‘s Wildcats went out to The L.A. Coliseum and won the 2001 game, 10-6, and I went to collect my winnings in open locker room the next week. Johnson reluctantly gave me the money and said I was lucky.

The next year K-State hosted the Trojans in Manhattan in a nationally televised game on TBS with Charles Davis calling the game and a young Erin Andrews as a sideline reporter along with Craig Sager.

K-State raced out to 25-6 lead over USC and held on for a 27-20 win, thanks to a sterling performance from All-American cornerback and future first-round pick Terence Newman, who scored an electrifying two-point defensive extra on a blocked extra point, in addition to 78 yards rushing and a touchdown from Wildcats sophomore running back Darren Sproles.

K-State’s stellar defense held Palmer, who would go on to win the Heisman that year and be the first overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft, to only 186 passing yards and one touchdown, and just a 39.1 percent completion percentage.

Johnson was royally ticked off that his Trojans team had lost my Wildcats two years in a row, and was in no hurry to give me my winnings. It took about two weeks for me to get Johnson to cough up the money, and he actually went in the locker next to his and took the $100 out of the player’s wallet and gave it to me. That Bucs player wasn’t at his locker at the time.

Johnson looked at me and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll pay him back.”

Former Bucs head coach Jon Gruden and WRs Keenan McCardell & Keyshawn Johnson – Photo by: Getty Images

I have no idea if Johnson ever paid that player back, and I won’t reveal which player he took the money from. But it was a defensive lineman.

During Johnson‘s time in Tampa he and I actually formed a pretty good relationship. I remember asking him for his phone number, and he gave it to me and said, “I’ll give you my number, but just because I’m giving you my number doesn’t mean I have to take your call.”

Actually it was Johnson that usually called me. He would call me about once a week in the evenings back in 2003 to vent about Jon Gruden and his lack of targets in some games. I found it to be a little startling, but cool at the same time that Johnson would confide in me that way. Johnson was actually quite lonely in Tampa, as he missed his kids back in California, in addition to tennis legend Serena Williams, who he had a relationship with during the 2003 season. I could hear it in his voice when he called.

Johnson had a tumultuous time in Tampa, from helping the Buccaneers win Super Bowl XXXVII in 2002 to being de-activated from the team by Gruden during the final seven games of the 2003 season. One of the other things I remember about Johnson was when he asked me who I was predicting to win in the 2002 NFC Championship Game the Thursday before that game.

The Bucs had lost at Philadelphia earlier that year, as well as in the playoffs up in Philly the two previous seasons. When I told Johnson that I had to pick the Eagles because I just thought that Philly had Tampa Bay’s number he was incredulous. This conversation took place after practice on the back porch at the old One Buc Place.

I remember Johnson telling me, “No way man! Gruden’s got the game plan this time. We’re going to win – we know it! Gruden’s got it figured out. We’re going to the Super Bowl!”

Legendary Bucs head coach Jon Gruden and WR Keyshawn Johnson – Photo by: Getty Images

That was a pretty cool conversation. Johnson was always confident. Cocky you might say. He was cocky in thinking his Trojans were going to beat my Wildcats twice and they didn’t. But man, Johnson was certainly right about Gruden‘s game plan in the 2002 NFC Championship Game. In that game he scored a critical touchdown in that game right before halftime to give the Bucs a 17-10 lead, which was a huge, psychological lift for Tampa Bay en route to a 27-10 victory to shut down Veterans Stadium on the way to Super Bowl XXXVII.

I took the $200 that I won from betting Johnson and bought a new grill. Every time I cooked on that grill I said to myself, “Thanks, Keyshawn. Go Wildcats.”

Stay tuned for another Bucs story from yesteryear in next week’s SR’s Fab 5. And if you missed my previous Bucs memories from the past 24 years of covering the team, click on the links below.

SR’s Bucs memories 1-of-25

SR’s Bucs memories 2-of-25