FAB 4. BUCS FANS NEED TO STAY UNTIL THE END
As someone who covers the Buccaneers from the covered, air-conditioned press box, I might be overstepping my bounds in this section of SR’s Fab 5, but I’m going to address the behavior I’ve seen from some of the Tampa Bay fans. You may not like what I have to say, but I’m going to say it anyways.

If you go to Raymond James Stadium you need to stay until the end of the game, especially if the Bucs are winning. It’s one thing for Tampa Bay fans to notoriously show up late (there are literally thousands of fans walking up to the security lines at kickoff, which aggravates me), but it’s another thing to leave early.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Getty Images

Tickets for Bucs games at Ray-Jay are super expensive, and if I had to pay to watch the Bucs play I would get my full money’s worth by showing up early and staying to the end.

Would you want to go to the movies 10 minutes into the show and miss the big scene that sets up the whole plot?

Would you pay to see a concert and then leave right before the last song or two and then miss the encore?

I just don’t get it.

It’s one thing if you are late because you’ve tailgated and underestimated the length of the line to get into the stadium. But once you’re in you can determine how long you stay. I suggest you stay until the end to show your appreciation for the players’ efforts win or lose – but especially when Tampa Bay wins.

Heck, it’s only happened four times over the last two and a half years!

I understand leaving early when the Bucs are getting blown out at home, such as the Thursday Night Football game against Atlanta, which the Falcons won 43-28. You’re frustrated. You’re fed up. You can’t take watching bad football anymore.

It’s understandable that fans would stay until the end of an overtime thriller like the 30-24 loss to Oakland in Week 8. But when the Bucs finally get their first home win all year against Chicago in a convincing 36-10 victory, why leave early?

Tampa Bay took control of the game in the third quarter and the outcome was no longer in doubt by the fourth quarter, yet thousands of Bucs fans joined Bears fans in heading for the exits with several minutes left. It seemed like there was barely 5,000 fans left scattered around the stadium to celebrate the first home win in 2016, and that’s a shame.

C’mon, Bucs fans. You can do better than that. Where do you have to be at 5:00 p.m. on a Sunday that you can’t stay and revel in the team’s victory with the players as they head through the tunnel and into the locker room?

For those that want to beat the post-game traffic, Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans understands.

Some Bucs fans come late, leave early – Photo by: Getty Images

“If I was a fan, I’d leave early to try to beat traffic – especially if the outcome is known,” Evans said. “If it’s close, of course fans are going to want to stay and see the outcome. I don’t mind fans trying to beat traffic. You’ve got to look at it from the outside looking in, because there is bad traffic after the game. I understand.”

Fellow Bucs receiver Russell Shepard is more indifferent to whether or not fans stay.

“To be honest with you, we’re trained to not even hear, feel or see what goes on in the stands, and I think that’s why we’ve been so successful on the road,” Shepard said. “The most important thing is that we win for them. If they want to leave early and get home because we’ve won, I’m happy we could win for them. That doesn’t bother me at all.”

Adam Humphries took a different approach towards the fans filing out early.

“At the Chicago game there was a ton of Chicago fans, too, and we were beating them pretty bad,” Humphries said. “A lot of their fans were leaving early because they were losing, but we bring our own energy as players to home games and away games. We can only control what we can control – we can’t control the atmosphere. We just try to do the best we can at home and win, and as players we would love to see the fans stick around and support us. Playing at Clemson and I know that other guys have played at big-time schools and it means a lot to us to see the fans stay.”

“I would definitely like for the fans to start until the end, but for me, I don’t really notice too much if the fans are leaving or not,” Verner said. “I might glance over there one time during the game, but I don’t really pay attention. But in general, yeah, I would love for fans to stay until the end. I’m always a proponent of having as many fans in the stands as possible from the beginning all the way to the end. Why not stay if you paid all that money for the tickets, especially if your team is winning? Wins are hard to come by. Why not stay until the end and soak it in, especially at the end of the year when these games are really going to count?”

I spoke with several other Bucs that agreed with Humphries and Verner, but chose not to go on the record.

Would you leave your son’s Pop Warner football game early? Would you leave your daughter’s recital early? Those events are probably free or just a few bucks to attend. I just can’t imagine spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to leave with five minutes left in the game rather than soaking up every minute of what have been rare wins at Ray-Jay.

Bucs WRs Mike Evans & Russell Shepard – Photo by: Getty Images

“We have to do what we do and we can’t control that at all,” Evans said. “If they do stay, that’s awesome. For some guys it boosts their confidence to know that our fans are with us, supporting us no matter what. As for me, I know that we have to do as players and that’s just focus on football.”

I hope some of my friends at 620 WDAE – namely Ronnie “Nighttrain” Lane, Tom Krasniqi, Ron Diaz and J.P. Peterson and Steve “The Big Dog” Duemig – would get behind this effort on-air and encourage their listeners to come on time and certainly stay until the end of Buccaneers victories.

I know some of you fans do stay until the very end and gather around the Bucs tunnel to cheer the players on in victory and support them through defeat.

To those fans I salute you.

To the other fans I say get your money’s worth and join them.

What say you?