T-Jack’s Weekly "Unhealthy Addiction"

It is an exciting day for all of us here at Bucs Nation. The introduction of a new group of writers, new members of Bucs Nation coming in all the time, and new perspectives and opinions on topics that will probably exhaust themselves while this blasted lockout remains in place.

So in keeping with the theme of shiny new things on our beloved Bucs Nation website, it is with great pleasure that I introduce to you the newest weekly column, T-Jack’s Weekly "Unhealthy Addiction". No, the name of the column isn’t indicative of the content that will appear each week, I just though it was very appropriate given my username on Bucs Nation and all of our passions for football. Each and every week this column will appear for you guys and will feature a scintillating mix of staunch opinions, undeniable facts, wild rumors, and a little humor sprinkled throughout. If anyone follows Mike Silver on Yahoo Sports, I modeled this column after his "Gameface" series.

So without further ado I give you the first ever Unhealthy Addiction!

It was reported recently by Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times that the Buccaneers would be releasing Aqib Talib as soon as the lockout was lifted. My gut reaction to that news was to strongly agree with the decision. With Talib’s track record and the very serious charges he’s facing I felt that aside from poorly representing his team, he was at the point now of becoming a distraction which could derail our young team.

As time has gone on and now that the draft is in our rear-view mirror I find myself trying to find reasons to justify Talib’s behavior and continued tenure with the Bucs. Because at the end of the day no matter how terrible he is off the field he is just such a great player ON the field. He is a game changer, and right now although we have several solid guys on our defense there aren’t any game changers. Our young defensive line could take up that mantle in the coming season provided everyone is healthy and works hard while this lockout drags on however as of this moment, none of them have earned the title of game changer.

A few days ago Raheem Morris was on WHBO-AM in Tampa and when asked if Talib was a goner, he simply stated," No. We have not talked about that."

This got the old cogs turning once again. You haven’t talked about it? If that is the truth, which I highly suspect is not the case, then Raheem Morris and Mark Domink have severely disappointed me. As the custodians of the current regime in Tampa these 2 men have a responsibility not only to the players and fans of today, but to uphold the legacy that was left for them by our former players and coaches.

Talib has repeatedly put himself in bad situations and proven himself an untrustworthy person. It is for this reason that I believe the Bucs have to let him go. Despite his tremendous talent I feel that for us to build a successful franchise that will rival that of the great teams like Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Green Bay we have to be willing to let go of a player that doesn’t uphold his responsibility to his team both on and off the field.

This is not uncommon in the league as it is today. I call it the T.O. effect. He is the perfect example of too much talent and not enough common sense. There is a reason he got booted from 5 different teams in the last 7 years despite his overwhelming talent. In a different way I think Talib has reached that point with the Buccaneers. I would wish him well in his future endeavors however I think it’s time to move on and focus on the men who know and respect their importance and responsibility to their team and their fans.

In this section of the column each week you will find wild rumors that have no basis in fact that will be submitted by different members of you guys here on Bucs Nation with the sole intention of stirring up debate. An example would be:

"I heard Connor Barth got busted for wearing a special cleat in practice that will allow him to kick the ball into the end zone on kick-offs now!"

As you can see absolutely no factual information in that whatsoever however it does bring up 2 good topics for conversation. Are there any types of cleats that are banned for kickers? And does Barth’s inability to kick it deep enough for a touchback really hurt the Bucs at all? So if you have a wild rumor you’d like to get posted in the next column then drop me a line and I’ll try to work it in!

Here is where I will post the best quote from either a player or coach of the Buccaneers each week. The quote can be from press conferences, interviews, radio shows, etc. I will be looking for these each week however if you see one you think should be shared then send it on over! This week’s quote is the one I used in the above article from head coach Raheem Morris when asked if Aqib Talib is a goner once the lockout is lifted.

In this section each week I will pick out the funniest, wittiest, or just overall best comment I see posted on Bucs Nation by one of our members and post it here. So if you want your comments to potentially be included in the article then just post around the various articles on Bucs Nation.

This week the honors go to Kilgore. His comment was on the Bucs Draft Isn’t Over: Undrafted Free Agent- Running Backs article written by Sander.

"No offense, gradschoolnole

Really. But I’m nominating your previous post for Gayest Subject Line 2011.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that"

Well put sir, and hats off to gradschoolnole who provided great comment fodder!

Rookie Repertoire

In this area I want to highlight the performances of our rookies. They are the future of our team so I think it’s important to follow their achievements and struggles from week to week. This section won’t really have much until the season starts so we’ll start with a profile of the drafted player beginning next week with our 1^st round pick Adrian Clayborn.

Yo Rah!!!

Finally we’ll round out each week with the Yo Rah section. Every week there always seems to be something that makes us want to yell and scream at our coaches and say what the heck are you doing???? So in this section of the column we’ll take a minute to say Yo Rah!!!! And we’ll get to let him know our beef. Will he ever read this? Probably not but will we feel better collectively? I suspect so. One rule about this one though… Keep it clean folks. So if you send me your beef I’ll be sure to post it on here. Not all of them will get posted but I’ll try to get as many as I can within reason. Oh and your beef does not have to be with Raheem Morris in particular. Any football related issue is acceptable!

You can e-mail with your nominations, comments, suggestions, etc, at phoenixsong85@yahoo.com or catch me on Twitter @RyanSmith56