At Buc 'Em, we have decided to start the offseason with biographies of the staff. Using a secret formula, I was selected as the first to post his backstory. Unfortunately, I don't have a great "Lost" flashback full of angst, hoping for redemption. Rather, my story begins in the 8th grade....find out how I became a Bucs fan after the jump.
My father, a career military non-commissioned officer, retired to a suburb of Tampa as I entered the eighth grade. Unbeknownst to me, this Pennsylvania native had always wanted a hometown team to support. A very unselfish man, he treated himself to one thing upon moving to Tampa, a season ticket to the Buccaneers, as we could not afford more. While he attended games, my friends and I would listen to Gene Deckerhoff call games on the radio while we lifted weights in my garage. I may not have seen many games, but I was totally ripped, in a flat-chested skinny junior high kind of way. At any rate, we were hooked. Of course, this was the early nineties when the Dallas Cowboys dominated the NFL. Thus, my brother, notorious bandwagon jumper, was an enormous Cowboys fan, at least until the Patriots drafted Tom Brady. Just kidding, rooting for the Buccaneers became a family affair. Life proceeded to send us to different parts of the world, as I attended college in New York and served in the Army for five years while my brother attended college in Daytona and still serves in the Army today.
I eventually left the military for a civilian career and settled in Louisville, Kentucky, my wife's hometown. Our agreement specified that in exchange for living in Louisville, I could get DirectTV and the NFL Sunday Ticket. What I did not factor in to this deal was that I am a tremendous tightwad (I prefer the term frugal), and have never forked over the cash for DirectTV, so I watch Bucs games at the local Beef O'Brady's. I have two children, a seven year-old boy and a three year-old girl. As of yet, I haven't turned them into Bucs fans, but I'm working on that.
Most of my pieces are comical in nature. Well, at least they are meant to be comical in nature, as I may be the only one laughing much of the time. I will probably post every other week in the offseason, and twice a week during the season. Of course, if I have nothing interesting to say, I don't write. Maybe I still need to learn a lot about blogging. So, I look forward to writing this year. Keep the posts coming and let us know what you would like to see covered in the future. Year two of the Raheem Morris era begins in eight months.....