Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who finally won the Super Bowl after 27 often-futile years! GO BUCS!

The Bucs overcame supposed cold weather">

2002 Super Bowl XXXVII Champions 2003 Buccaneers Super Bowl Parade Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who finally won the Super Bowl after 27 often-futile years! GO BUCS! The Bucs overcame supposed cold weather, road playoff game and offensive scoring curses by beating the Philadelphia Eagles at the last game ever played in miserable Veteran's Stadium 27-10 on January 19, 2003. Good riddance to the stadium (forever) and the insanely hateful Philadelphia fans (for this year)! The Bucs (with their #1 defense and the NFL Defensive Player of the year, Derrick Brooks) went to San Diego and beat the Oakland Raiders (with their #1 offense and 2002 NFL MVP, Rich Gannon) in Super Bowl XXXVII Yes, this is Dave and the actual Lombardi Trophy the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won by beating the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII! Hopefully, you can enjoy the thrill vicariously. I am a BIG Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan. I have been since even before they played their first game. I arrived in Tampa originally in 1966. There were not any major league sports team in the area at that time. I was an NFL fan since I was very young (think Miami Dolphins in the early 70s) and I was thrilled when Tampa Bay was finally given a franchise. I have been a loyal Buccaneers fan ever since. I was 13 years old when Tampa finally got an NFL franchise. I could not afford to go to any games until 1983. I always went to a game if the Bucs were at home while I was on leave. I did not get to see a lot of games as I did not live in Tampa from 1982-1996 but I watched the games when I could and I followed the team's  progress throughout each season. Enjoying a beverage and watching the Bucs warm-up before the Falcons/Bucs game in 2000. Ken Lynn (a coworker)  took the picture and Natasha is to my left. Though not affiliated with the Bucs, (from left) Patrick Gunter, Woodie Brewer, Patty Tessitore, Judy Colteryahn, Kristen Rossman and Wade Patterson used friendships built on the Buccaneers.com message boards to organize the charitable function My brother Doug has always been a HUGE Bucs fan. He sold programs at the games so he could attend the games for free. I even sold programs one Sunday with him so we could both get in. We sold a few hundred programs and then cheered and rooted and wore our Bucs colors proudly even though the team was losing. Doug has attended Bucs games all over the country. My brother Doug (the biggest Buc fan I know) and I at the 1st Annual Buccaneers Bulletin Board Tailgate Party for Charity (All Children's Hospital) at Fort Desoto Park on May 26, 2001. More than 150 people attended and $5000 was raised.  Doug and I got drafted to run three of the grills of hot dogs and hamburger. One of the fundraisers was a raffle. They had a ton of Buc's gear  including hats, shirts, jackets, photos, posters, etc. They had a few premium items including 3 autographed footballs, one of Mike Alstott's Purdue yearbooks, and a signed Keyshawn Johnson game jersey. Linda and I won a movie poster, Blockbuster gift certificate, a Bucs hat and an autographed football. Doug won a nice Skyway suitcase. The football Linda and I won autographed by Derrick Brooks, Shelton Quarles, Mark Royals, Mark Carrier, Jerry Wunsch, Ryan Benjamin, (and a few unidentified others). Tampa Bay's 2001 #1 draft pick Kenyatta Walker at his first Bucs press conference Tampa Bay's 2001 #1 draft pick Kenyatta Walker (OT from Florida) along with the Buccaneer's general manager Rich McKay, and the coach Tony Dungy at the first press conference introducing the rookie to the press at Raymond James Financial on April 23, 2001. I work as the VP, IT Operations at one of RJ's subsidiaries, Eagle Asset Management. I get to attend several Buccaneer related events a year. On May 9, 2001,  I attended the Raymond James Sports Day. Each major division at Raymond James had a sports themed booth and had information about what each shop does within the company. We had two Bucs players (Mike Alstott and Dave Moore) as well as several Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleaders present signing autographs. I was the last one allowed in line to get things signed. Mike Alstott and Dave Moore signing my  Bucs hat On May 4, 2002, Raymond James Stadium was opened up for Raymond James employees as one of the benefits for being the corporate sponsor for the stadium. We had more access than the public is typically allowed including the club area and the pirate ship. On board the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pirate ship Bucs hat signed by Mike Alstott and Dave Moore The Tampa Bay Buccaneers pirate ship in the North End Zone The Tampa Bay Buccaneers play on a beautiful field in a beautiful stadium Me, Linda and my brother Danny inside the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pirate ship Stadium Facts: Footprint: 1.92 acres. Building Area: 1.65 million square feet. Circumference: More than 1/2-mile walk around the main concourse surface level. Height: More than seven stories — 177'6" — to the top of the light towers. Foundation: 109,000 tons of rebar steel. Turf: Natural grass, Tifway 419 Bermuda. Lighting: Eight light racks with 90 fixtures each, 168' above the field. Field level measurement: 272' x 400' wall to wall. Tenants: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFL), University of South Florida Bulls (NCAA Football). My brother Doug, Natasha and Ken Lynn (along with a few thousand other Bucs fans) at the Buccaneers/Atlanta Falcons game Ken Lynn and I drove up to Atlanta for the game. We met a lot of fellow Bucs fans at a bar in Atlanta the night before the game. We made the 453 mile return trip in my Chrysler 300M in 5 hours and 53 minutes getting almost 27MPG.  It was the first long trip I made in the car and I came away comfortably impressed.   My brother Doug, Natasha, m y co-worker Ken Lynn and I (along with a few thousand other Bucs fans) were at the Buccaneers/Atlanta Falcons game. Doug and Natasha flew in from CT. The Bucs won and we had a great time. We had a great weekend with family, friends and fellow Bucs fans. Tailgating in Atlanta outside of the Georgia Dome   I got my first good look at Raymond James Stadium before it even opened. The Raymond James Optimist Club of Tampa Bay along with thousands of others Bucs fans, volunteered to some of the landscaping on the outside of the not-yet-finished in the spring of 1999. One of the fundraising events I participated in as a member of the Raymond James Optimist Club of Tampa Bay was the Monday Night Football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Green Bay Packers on December 7, 1998 which the Buccaneers won! The famous Pirate Ship in the north end zone of Raymond James Stadium The new community football stadium in Tampa Bay will be named the  Raymond James Stadium as announced on June 26, 1998 in a joint press conference between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Raymond James Financial One of the cool things I got to do while I was a Cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, was to attend all of the Army games at Michie Stadium. One of the highlights was getting to see Dan Marino and Hugh Green play for the University of Pittsburgh in 1980 and 1981. Then Dan went to the Miami Dolphins (my favorite AFC team) while Hugh played in Tampa Bay. Dan went about rewriting the NFL record books for passing while Hugh was a force on defense there for a while. Unfortunately, the Miami Dolphins lost  by a score of 17-3 to the New England Patriots in Foxboro, MA in the AFC wild card game.   I have to admit that I HATED the Dallas Cowboys (America's team, my ass!). But after Jimmy Johnson arrived and the Cowboys went 1-15, I was a little happier to see them knocked down. Then, when I arrived in Dallas in August of 1992, the Cowboys were back on their way up. I got to be in a Super Bowl town for a few years and I really enjoyed it. This years team left a lot to be desired. The defense played good to great throughout the year but the Dallas offense could not get on track.

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