Jimmie Giles Gets The Nod
July 12th, 2011
Well, Joe had a whole post scheduled to appear here now handicapping the odds of the 2011 Ring of Honor enshrinee by the Bucs. The team will make the announcement tomorrow.
But now the cat’s out of the bag. Rick Stroud of the St. Pete Times is reporting confirmation from Doug Williams that Jimmie Giles has gotten the nod.
At least Joe was on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 early this morning and named Giles as his No. 2 most likely selection. Joe thought Ricky Bell was the lead candidate to get the nod this year, as he’s a worthy choice and was one of four Bucs already honored by the team in the old Krewe of Honor at The Big Sombrero, along with Lee Roy Selmon, John McKay and Doug Williams.
Williams will get in one day, but Joe never thought Williams would get in this year simply because how could Team Glazer gamble that, if selected, the seemingly still bitter Williams would show up for the honor? Williams went public with his disgust about the team parting ways with him before this season.
Giles was good for four Pro Bowls in his creamsicle uniform (1978-1986). Surely deserving.
Joe’s got to hand it to Team Glazer for staying old school and not going for the money grab — as in ticket sales. Enshrining a modern era guy like Warren Sapp, Tony Dungy or Derrick Brooks likely would have meant huge cash and hype for a 2011 game. Sorry, but Giles won’t mean more than a teeny blip at the box office and little to the media.
Nice to see Team Glazer honoring men (perhaps forgotten by some) from a team it didn’t own. The owners seem commited to building a
meaningful Ring of Honor. They didn’t take the easy way out.
July 12th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Giles is a fine choice, James Wilder perhaps would be an even better choice.
Giles was underpublicized, underutilized, and underappreciated during his days in Tampa. Imagine how he would have done with an accurate QB at the helm that could hit him in stride when Giles attacked the seam. He was a matchup nightmare for DBs and LBs alike and if he had a better QB he may have been able to show the NFL that he was as talented as Kellen Winslow, Sr.
July 12th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
While I am old fashioned and would rather be surprised tomorrow with the announcement, I like the pick. I am fine with a ‘cooling off’ period and honoring worthy contributions in a scalar fashion from the past. Bell, Carrier, House, Wilder, (obviously Williams) would be on the list before current era guys would be in my book.
July 12th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
Very good choice! Giles was a excellent TE and a major target for Williams.
I also agree with old school that Bell, Wilder, House, Carrier (and I would add Gruber) and a favorite of mine Batman Wood, before the recent Bucs.
July 12th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Oh, did he happen to mention which game the throwbacks would be?
July 12th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
Brandon:
Jimmie Giles may have been the best blocking tight end Joe ever saw. Dude was like a pulling guard.
July 12th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Love the Giles pick, but really don’t think Bell should be making it in. He had one good year, and that’s it. Nothing else. If Bell makes it in, then why shouldn’t Michael Clayton?
July 12th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Pete I:
Per the Bucs website:
Just a wild guess: the Dallass game on a Saturday night on NFL Network.
July 12th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Sander:
Likely because Clayton’s skills didn’t diminish because he was dying of a disease.
July 12th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Love this choice, if accurate. This gives me hope for Gruber as well.
July 12th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Joe: should Gaines Adams and his enlarged heart make it in then, too? It’s absolutely tragic what happened to Ricky Bell, but that doesn’t mean he was a valuable player for the Bucs.
July 12th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
Ouch, Sandder
July 12th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
While I don’t mind Giles as the pick, at what point do the Bucs start recognizing the absolute best players in their history other than Selmon who is in – i.e. Sapp and Brooks. Will we have to wait as they progress thru the 80’s and early to mid 90’s before recognizing them?
July 12th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
Bell was huge in our first playoff win and in that great season. Not saying he should go in before Wilder, Gruber, Carrier or Nickerson, but it should weigh heavily.
BTW I would put DeBerg in the conversation at some point in the distant future.
July 12th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Bell wasn’t vaulable that ’79 Championship run? 1200+ yds, 4.5 yd avg and 9 tds! Not to mention the 140 yd, 2 td, performance in our first ever playoff win! Oh wait, maybe you’re right, no value there!
As for Giles, Im ok with it. And, agree with Derek and others on the rest! Im old school too, so I can wait on the others Brooks, Sapp, etc.
July 12th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Although I would have chosen Wilder before him, I certainly have no problem with Jimmie Giles being on the ROH.
I look forward to that game and his induction!
July 12th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
And “Sander?” Ricky Bell was an extremely valuable player during the Buccaneers first run at and into the playoffs. Obviously you were not around or you would not be comparing him to Gaines Adams or anyone else.
Ricky was a force before his illness, the student body right (or left) that made the offense work. The man who not only got the necessary yards but also rested that great defense of many years ago. Trust me, he gets in one day and rightfully so IMO.
July 12th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Gary
Exactly!
July 12th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Sander:
Two things:
1) Bell was valuable — Joe remembers watching him. The Bucs in 1979 were a run-first offense, much like Dungy’s offenses. Without Bell they don’t win a division.
2) Bell — unlike Adams — had his skills erode because of his degenerative disease. Bell’s career — and life — was cut short because of a disease. Not a good analogy there man.
July 12th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Joe, OAR, Garv:
Ricky Bell had exactly one good year. Yes, he lost effectiveness because of a disease, but that doesn’t make his career with the Bucs any better. Brad Johnson was more valuable to the franchise, and no one wants him in the Ring of Honor. How many players had one good year and couldn’t replicate it because of injury? Is that that different from suffering a disease? Does Caddy get in because he had one good year as a runner, two (or more) good years as a third-down back because we say “Well he blew out his knees, otherwise he would’ve been awesome.”
The Ring of Honor should be the place where people who were important to this franchise over a long period of time make it. Not people who had one year of good play, no matter the reason for their diminished effectiveness.
I’m not saying Bell doesn’t deserve some accolades, or that he wasn’t a valuable player in 1979. But I am saying that being valuable one year is not enough to make it in.
Joe: an enlarged heart affects stamina.
July 12th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Yes, especially when said disease killed a guy who would have been a star for years.
Actually, the Ring of Honor is whatever Team Glazer deems it to be.
Not saying Ricky Bell should or should not be in the Ring of Honor, just that — from having watched the guy with Joe’s own eyes — he was valuable before stricken down by a disease.
Gaines Adams was nothing more than a role player and if his enlarged heart did in fact effect his stamina, where was he in the first quarter of games?
July 12th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
I would think the RIng of Honor should be for people that helped shape and or changed trhe face of the Bucs. Bell should be in in my opinion, but eventually so should Brad Johnson. Think about this, many non Bucs fans and just about anyBucs fan know who Bell was and the great athlete he was. You stgill see people wearing his jersey on throw back day. Bell is a Bucs icon, regardless of the length of his career. Most other one year wonders would not fit the bill, because in thirty years no one will remember Clayton, but people will still know about Bell. Just my two cents.
July 12th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
That’s tragic, as I said, but there are dozens of tragic stories. Tragic stories don’t make players’ production on the field any better, and I think it’s a disservice to several better players from that era, like Richard ‘Batman’ Wood, James Wilder, Dewey Selmon, Dave Logan, Cecil Johnson, Dave Lewis, Mark Cotney and others.
I know the Ring of Honor is what the Glazers want it to be. They could put in Derrick Ward if they wanted to. But that doesn’t mean I need to agree that that’s what it should be.
July 12th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Joe:
That is not Jimmie Giles in the picture (way too skinny and not his skin tone)! Could be Mark Carrier. But definitely not Jimmie G. For a Ring of Honor, we need a good stock photo. Scoring in the SW corner of the old stadium against the Eagles would be a good photo to start with.
July 12th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
I think that pic is of Mark Carrier who also wore 88 but its the thought that counts. Jimmy was a bigger bruiser than whats in that pic.
July 12th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Sander, I bet those guys would love for Bell to be in the ring…He is a Bucs icon. They should all be there as well.
July 12th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Fixed the picture guys. Thanks.
July 12th, 2011 at 5:16 pm
hey Sander:
Not having Ricky Bell in the Ring of Honor would be like leaving out John McKay. You claim Bell only had one good season. Who cares? Have you seen the W-L record of McKay while in Tampa?
You’ve missed the point of the Ring of Honor. Its to honor past Buccaneers who’ve shaped the history of the franchise. The Bucs wouldn’t be what they are today without McKay and that historic ’79 team wouldn’t have been as great as they were without Bell.
Bell deserves in at some point. No question.
July 12th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Snnok…You hit the nail on the head.
July 12th, 2011 at 9:32 pm
I’m sorry, but I understand Sander’s perspective.
McKay was the first coach…clearly an important part of Buccaneers History.
Selmon was key in the team reaching the playoffs for the first time and obviously was important to the team for a number of years.
Ricky Bell, even though without the disease he would have been fantastic for the Bucs, was not important to the history of the team. That isn’t to say he shouldn’t be respected and mourned after, and remembered. But he should not be in the Ring of Honor.
Giles? I think he is a valid choice.
Ironically, I also think Brad Johnson should be there. He led the team to the Superbowl for the first time, and I cannot see how that would not be important to the team history.
But then, the same could be said for Rick McKay, Jon Gruden and every player on the team during that year.
Another person I think should be there…Monte Kiffin. He defined the Tampa 2 here…and gave this team an identity. So did Dungy.
On Doug Williams
Joe, I listened to your comments this morning. It was a good interview.
But I’m not so sure that the Bucs would have held anything against Williams. Dom is not the type, and Morris would have nothing to do with the decision.
Not to mention it was Williams who let the cat out of the bag, so clearly he is on speaking terms with someone.
No…I think they chose Giles because it was just time to do so. I could even see a scenario where the Bucs might have asked Williams his thoughts on it as well.
July 12th, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Also…if the HAD chosen Williams, it would have been one heck of an olive branch.
July 12th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
Not so. The Bucs had 22 losing seasons straight. I fail to see how anything that happened beforehand shaped the team, unless it was in a negative way.
Because they went on to lose.
The real change came with Sapp, Brooks and Lynch…along with Dungy and Monte.
July 12th, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Joe here,
@Pete Dutcher — Don’t the Bucs are holding anything, per se, against Williams. But there’s an awful lot of planning that has to go into the Ring of Honor day, and if Williams has been cold to the organization and there’s any question about his attitude, then it’s better to wait until there’s obvious healing from both sides.
July 13th, 2011 at 9:38 am
Congrats Mr. Giles!!! Absolutely deserving to be there. It was great fun watching you play the game. You became the prototype for TEs for years to follow. It will be a pleasure and an honor watching you join the legends on the ring! We appreciate what you did here, and you’ll always be Family in Tampa!
July 13th, 2011 at 11:38 am
McBuc Says:
“I would think the Ring of Honor should be for people that helped shape and or changed the face of the Bucs.”
If that were the criteria for selection, I would nominate Booker Reese or Bo Jackson. Those player’s selection as number one draft picks certainly helped shape the Bucs for years. Saved Culverhouse millions, I might add.
Not choosing Doug Williams is a slap in the face to every longtime, loyal Buc fan. Doug should be honored for his historical contribution to a team that did not want to win. The team was built to maximize profits and when Doug’s salary did not conform to that basic principle, he was unceremoniously let go without any compensation or draft picks.
July 13th, 2011 at 11:51 am
Gringo Dave:
That’s not going to happen for a while. There are still raw nerves, mostly from Doug Williams’ side, over his second less-than amicable departure from the team.
Perhaps after Raheem and Dominik leave the club — which the way Dominik is going may be quite a while — Williams will get his due honor. It’s quite possible Williams is so hacked off right now that he doesn’t even want the honor.
July 13th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Gringo…Good point, but you took it to an extreme. I meant shaped the team in a posative way.
July 13th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Love the selection. I had my parents put a red 88 on my plastic Bucs helmet as a kid.
Wilder’s publicized non-payment of child support may be a factor in his delayed entry into the ring of honor.
July 13th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Booker Reese = One of the biggest Bucs draft bust! Funny they almost drafted him in the first round, if not for a communication misstake!
Bo Jackson = Baseball or the Bucs? He choose the former and the rest is history!