Hope Factor Absent At Receiver
March 30th, 2010
Fans of any sport turn ugly and bitter when they believe there’s no hope for success entering a season.
It’s just how fans roll. They need to believe.
Even the overhyped New York Yankees ranked in the bottom half of the American League in attendance from 1989 to 1992. Guess what? The Yankees had crappy teams in those years.
Joe is certain that hope for the Bucs among fans is near an all-time low. It’s beyond depressing. Especially considering optimism is much easier to come by for NFL fans because of the short season and the promise a quick start can bring.
Joe, who considers himself a diehard fan and optimist, can find real hope for the Bucs in 2010 at every position, except receiver. This assumes, of course, the Bucs draft one of the defensive tackle beasts in the first round.
But even if the Bucs snag a promising wide receiver in the second round, or trade up for one, Joe just doesn’t believe that will be enough at the position to give even the most optimistic fans hope for 2010.
There’s just not enough there.
Joe aches for Josh Freeman at the thought of his receiving corps. He’ll need a miracle.
Mark Dominik can’t take this team to training camp without more juice at wide receiver and crossing his fingers. Hope is the fans’ job, not the general manger’s.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:10 am
My hope will rest on this draft and Sammie Stroughter. If Sammie earns a starting spot in the line-up, his production should jump. Hopefully he turns out to be the next Steve Smith.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:25 am
To experienced bucs fans, we have heard all this before. “Build with the draft” “Get a young QB to Grow with” (see Vinny, Trent, etc.), hope some has-beens suddenly catch fire, be patient, let the young players develop, can’t expect us to win now, We are NOT cheap even with the leagues lowest payroll, blah blah blah, blah, blah.
Sounds eerily similar to the Bennet, Perkins, Williamson, era.
This stuff might as well be coming from Mr. Hugh himself.
Us Buccaneer veterans have a keen sense when One Buc Place is blowing smoke up our butts.
And the thought makes a lot of us wanna puke.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:35 am
Can you imagine how screwed the existing players and position coaches must feel going into this season. Talk about the Titanic. The only thing missing are the violinists playing a concerta while this ship sinks!
March 30th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Eric your right. I was there for all of the Culverhouse years and there is no difference except that at one point before Man U the Glazers did spend some money and won us a Superbowl. Since then even Grudens hands were tied by their penny pinching ways. I used to think it was Gruden who did not want the high priced free agents or that Bruce Allen was the cheapskate but I should have realized they had marching orders the whole time to keep payroll low. Just think if we had spent some money after that Superbowl we might still be competitive. If you blame it entirely on poor drafting who picked out the scouting team? I think the Glazers have the responsiblity to dump scouts who do not know how to draft but it worked in their favors and now they have very few veterans to lock up with big money. I heard all of the koolaid drinkers say Antonio Bryant was not worth it which is fine as long as you have someone to replace him with and we obviously do not and never will.
March 30th, 2010 at 11:12 am
All of this talk about WR would be over if they snagged Marshall for a 2nd rounder. It probably won’t happen though.
March 30th, 2010 at 11:22 am
@2 Buc Bill
And quiet a lot of the “glazers are cheap” talk.
March 30th, 2010 at 11:29 am
“Hope is the fans’ job, not the general manger’s”.
Wow. Just reading that makes me sick but Joe is absolutely right. Dominik’s hands have to be tied because we’re going to be awful this year without a real WR and then he will be fired. And he knows that.
I love the Bucs but this sure is a hard time to be a fan.
March 30th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Nick, you are right in your post except one thing. It was the Father who spent the money and wanted to win the SuperBowl, not the Sons. Since the Father went into a Coma the 3 Scrooges have done “nothing” but take. Gruden & Allen’s hands were tied! Gruden came to work for a man that wanted to win. Can you imagine how Gruden felt when he had to call up old, or in trouble players and ask them to come here for very small salaries? But they came here and Gruden won with them! Even Bryant came here on the cheap for Gruden. Now they have hired a HC & GM that they can control a little better. Make no mistake, the 3 Scrooges are calling all the shots in FA, as well as the Draft. Don’t be surprised when they trade that 3rd pick down and put out the spin on what a good job they did!
March 30th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
@ Eric
exactly! i’ve been pretty disappointed with the direction of the team for years now, and i think that move would even turn me around…
March 30th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Are these guys really gonna play the blocking icon just beacuse they screwed up and gave him big guaranteed money?
And if they do some are still willing to believe they wanna win?
More than enough, in of itself, for everyone to throw up their hands in utter disgust.
March 30th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
You have to remember that Kellen Winslow is essentially a wide receiver.
If we get Notre Dame’s Tate or G-Tech’s Thomas, then another receiver in a later round, we could have a respectable group of receivers.
If Jeremy Stevens is a threat at catching the ball too.
March 30th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Yep, just like the old days, wishful thinking and “hope” of what “could be”.
But, I understand, pretty much all we got at this point.
March 30th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
I have to say this but I think Clayton is lazy, unmotivated, and lacks discpline. Just look at the first game he played hard then when Morris said no one question him agian he became everything I listed above. It does not help that the front office is trying to motivate him by giving him a long term contract that he does not deserve. Rudd, Jackson, Penn or Joesph deserve that contract not Clayton. Lastly tired of people saying we dont say neagative things are fan weather fans. I love the Bucs ,but If my wife is contunieing to fix me some food that is nasty should I keep lying and say I like it when I really dont. No I am going to tell her it is nasty and to fix it and prepare it in a better way so I can be happy. This is the same way I feel about what Morris and domminick are doing I dont like it and they cant force me to like it
March 30th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
“No I am going to tell her it is nasty and to fix it and prepare it in a better way so I can be happy”.
Much braver man than I.
What if she asks you “does this outfit make me look fat”?
March 30th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
yeah Domminick you look like a fat unqulified stupid GM and Morris is a diahera mouth unqulifeid coach lol
March 30th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Joe here,
TJ – Joe’s now heard it all. Calling Mark Dominik fat? That’s like calling Chucky honest and forthright.
March 30th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
@ Joe yeah he is skinny was angry typing was comparing him to my wife making something to eat I did not like. Did not mean to offend anyone
March 30th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
TJ that is funny but I would not apologize. Dominick has been called one thousand things on this website and others but FAT is probably the nicest thing anybody has called him. Let me think of some of the others… Clueless, spineless, brown nozer, talks out of both sides of his mouth, terrible at evaluating free agents, signs worst players on the team for big money, lets best players go or cuts them as a penny pincher, mouthpiece for the Glazers, idiot, cheap, arrogant, rookie learning on the job etc. etc. I guess some of those are adverbs not adjectives but you get the general idea. NO APOLOGY NECESSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!