“Rock Star” Mingles With The Fans
August 19th, 2013
Joe just knows he’s going to get flamed for this being some suck-up maneuver. Whatever. Joe just thinks the following is way cool.
Joe’s friend Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net, who runs a large and rabid Bucs fan club, hosted a kickoff party at a chicken wing joint in Tampa on Saturday. Derek, via e-mail, invited Joe. Though Joe is in the middle of moving (damn, you just never realize what a pain in the arse that is until you are in the middle of a move), Joe took a few minutes off to go have a couple of beers and BS with Derek and other Bucs faithful.
Well, Joe was shocked. Joe pulled up and the place was absolutely packed. Joe had to park in an alley a few blocks away. As Joe walked up to the place, none other than Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik is there chatting it up with busty former Bucs cheerleader Lauren. A bit later, Joe noticed Derek and lauded him for luring Dominik to his kickoff bash. “No,” Derek told Joe, Dominik was not invited (but very much welcome). Dominik showed up unannounced.
Seriously.
Derek, who expected a crowd, had hired Hillsborough County deputies for security. Derek offered Dominik police muscle in case some drunk got a little too handsy and Dominik waved off the suggestion. Meanwhile, Dominik easily mingled through the crowd, trying to say something kind to each and ever Bucs fan.
“I had to come out here,” Dominik said. “These fans are just great. I love their passion.”
Joe thinks it’s way cool for an NFL general manager to randomly show up at a fan party, and press the flesh and thank Bucs fans personally.
Go ahead and ask yourselves how many NFL general managers would do this? The answer: Not very many.
Football season is around the corner, folks.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:08 am
Says quite a bit about Dominik’s attitude and perspective from his GM position. Bruce Allen would never. Class move move Dominik.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:11 am
This is yet another reason why I am a fan of the Bucs. Very cool move by Dom. It also pains me greatly that I cancelled my plans to go at the last minute. (Wife got sick, so at least it’s a reasonable excuse.) I have no doubt that the party was epic.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:20 am
i love the efforts the bucs front office is making to reengage the fans. Even Schiano has put on his salesman hat a few times this off-season as well. I love the make up of this time. A lot of guys that are easy to pull for. But it’s all in the W’s at the end of the day.
I am not panicking over the preseason games yet but I am thinking Dominik needs to find a DE and TE on the scrap heap the next couple of weeks. I like Crabtree but Stocker is the offensive version of Nine Lives MyLew… Stocker has had many chances, he just can’t stay healthy. He looked lost against the patriots. The Toe has me concerned too. I am still very optimistic just think the Bowers experiment is not going to work. My only hope for Bowers is he is a “Game day” guy not a practice guy. Preseason games are practice in my opinion.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:21 am
I wonder how many times Freeman’s name came up in conversation…lol. Hope Old School gives us some feedback on his next show.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:36 am
Well if you can’t build a winning team, he better get out there and shake hands and kiss babies. His job is on the line and spiraling out of control right now. he is going to try every trick he can to salvage the gm job.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:45 am
“the_buc_realist Says:
August 19th, 2013 at 9:36 am
Well if you can’t build a winning team, he better get out there and shake hands and kiss babies. His job is on the line and spiraling out of control right now. he is going to try every trick he can to salvage the gm job.”
Couldn’t let it go, could you? Had to get snarky. Whatever, I’m sure Dom knows who he needs to keep happy, and it sure as hell isn’t you. Good on him for coming out & pressing the flesh with fans, for whatever reason.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:13 am
@ Fritz50…atleast it was an actual article about Dom. It usually doesn’t even take that for him to bash Dom.
It could be about the concession stands having too long of a wait and it would be Dom’s fault according to the realist.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:20 am
WOW! Hard to believe that neither Bay area paper reported on this news. How many wings did he eat? Does he drink Bud Light or Miller Lite? Can he hit on old Bucs cheerleaders better than he can assemble roster depth?
August 19th, 2013 at 10:26 am
@lightningbuc
He drank Ice Tea all night cause he was having trouble with the drafts. he ordered 3 high priced appetizers and only 1 was good.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:27 am
Wow, that’s inspiring. Was Joe able to get a couple of sound bites from Dom?
For all the mean spirited people out there that have disgraced Dominik as a person, F-off. Whatever small shortcomings he’s had as a NFL GM, and all the hate mail I’m sure he has received, it has not changed this man’s personality one iota. It’s easy to see why The Glazer family and Coach Schiano think so highly of him. Dominik is the perfect illustration of a “Buccaneer Man”! 🙂
August 19th, 2013 at 10:27 am
meant to say
” he was having trouble with the drafts without Schiano which ones to pick.”
August 19th, 2013 at 10:33 am
Glad you made it out Joe. It was very nice of Mark to show up and the fans who got to meet him had a great time.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:41 am
Buc’n Junkie
You got to laugh at the unwarranted and undisputable plain hate that some people have for Dom. I really don’t understand why. Dom has CLEARLY gotten better at his job every year. Unfortunately we have been plaqued by injuries, absolutely not Dom’s fault, which I think has stunted a little bit (maybe a lot?) of success.
I think Dom will be here a long time and may easily, in time, be the best GM we’ve ever had.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:42 am
And only because I am a stickler for not taking credit, my friends at our Wing Location hired the police. We have our own WTB? Security that Mark absolutely refused.
This story was nice of your to write. It was not about the team or Mark’s efficacy as a GM but about a nice gesture to a fanbase that needs to be re recruited. To not only come out but to spend as much time as he did mingling and putting up with everything from photo requests to seemingly endless babbling by some about how he just had to sign , Mark was friendly and made the night of a lot of fans.
It was fun to see the excitement in the room. It was surprising after how bad the team has looked in the first two preseason games that nobody’s spirits were crushed yet.
August 19th, 2013 at 10:48 am
Stick to the PR stuff and just stay away from picking players ever again.
August 19th, 2013 at 12:24 pm
I think it is awesome that Mark Dominik came out to mingle with the Fans!
I too have sometimes been critical of Mark, but I do believe in my heart, that he means well.
He wants to win, but things have not always gone the way he would have liked.
August 19th, 2013 at 1:50 pm
I kinda hope the “Realist” loses his fingers in a knitting accident.
August 19th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
I noticed that Dom was making the rounds in the stands at the night practice. Just walking around shootin’ the crap with random fans. He looked mobbed most of the time that he was near our section. Classiest guy Tampa has ever had in the front office other than maybe McKay.