Bucs And The Hall Of Fame Game
February 18th, 2014
Canton-bound Bucs?
You know what the worst part of the NFL is? Preseason games. Joe can totally understand how paying customers throughout the continental United States feel like they got mugged on 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan when buying tickets to these games.
People are paying regular season prices to watch bad college football. Starters barely play. The vast majority of guys on the field can’t make NFL rosters. It’s not unreasonable too see a player in a preseason game deliver beer to your neighborhood watering hole a month later.
It’s really a shakedown that season ticket holders are forced to buy preseason tickets, and it’s why Joe advocates an 18-game season. That would mean two fewer preseason games.
This summer, however, Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune is starting to believe the Bucs will not just play four preseason games, but perhaps a fifth, so he Twittered late last night.
@RCummingsTBO: Hearing a lot of buzz about the Bucs possibly being in the Hall of Fame game this year. With Derrick Brooks being inducted, makes sense
Joe knows a lot of Bucs fans are already planning to head to Canton in droves to celebrate Derrick Brooks’ induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If the whispers Cummings hears are accurate, that will be icing on the cake for Bucs fans, as they can watch the Bucs play on the same weekend Brooks is honored, on the same grounds.
Though Joe understands the bitter taste preseason football leaves in the mouths of NFL fans, Bucs fans would consider such an arrangement sweet as chocolate.
February 18th, 2014 at 8:03 am
Would be willing to stomach a preseason game to see Mr. Brooks enshrined into football immortality.
February 18th, 2014 at 8:06 am
Yes to 2 pre-season games and 18 regular season games!
February 18th, 2014 at 8:07 am
At least that game would be televised nationally….too bad 55 can’t play in it also…
February 18th, 2014 at 8:10 am
I doubt we will play in the hall of fame game with a new coaching staff in place. I think this would be a bad thing, showing our game plans before we need to. One more batch of film to study our Defense and our Offense.
February 18th, 2014 at 8:15 am
Wouldn’t mind the HOF game if it was 1 of 4 instead of 1 of 5. Better yet, 1 of 2, I’m for an 18 game schedule as well.
February 18th, 2014 at 9:06 am
Preseason games do get boring but I enjoy watching our backups and 3rd stringers. Also our new players get to showcase a little.
February 18th, 2014 at 9:25 am
By the time the HOF game comes around we will need our football fix so bad we will be thrilled to see it.
February 18th, 2014 at 9:25 am
Oh well, It’s a small price to pay, if that’s what it takes to get our very own Derrick Brooks “Cantonized”
February 18th, 2014 at 9:42 am
The Bucs needs all the practice that they can get!!!
February 18th, 2014 at 9:54 am
Joe, I see a lot of benefits and only one downside.
The good things are the young Bucs get to meet a lot of Hall of Famers and can maybe learn from what they have to say and want to get there, another scrimmage against a different team, and another practice in pads.
The bad is one more game on their bodies for the year that say around for the real season
February 18th, 2014 at 10:21 am
Hope so. I’ve already booked my travel for that weekend.
February 18th, 2014 at 10:23 am
Even for not at the gate, non paying customers, the 4 preseason games suck. Hell yeah, make it 18 regular season games. The cost to watch the games on TV rises every year.
February 18th, 2014 at 10:25 am
It used to be worse as far as preseason goes. Back in the early days of the Franchise when Tampa Bay was football crazy no matter how the Bucs performed- Owner Hugh Culverhouse would play 3 preseason home games each year in Tampa Stadium and add that to the Season Ticket Package.
So from 1977 through the early 80s the Bucs season ticket base paid for 11 home games each year- even though only 8 of those games counted!
February 18th, 2014 at 10:28 am
Mr. Rhino – There wouldn’t be anything useful to study from this game. This would be about as basic as it would come. I believe that the pro bowl would have more scheme to the game plan then this game.
I’d rather play this game to have the honor of playing for DB55 than another trip to London. How often have the Bucs had the honor of putting players into the HOF much less, playing because of it?
“….who’s your favorite player? Mr. Derrick Brooks!”
February 18th, 2014 at 10:53 am
I’ve contemplated going to Canton for the enshrinement…if this game goes on, i’m definitely there.
February 18th, 2014 at 10:56 am
Being from nearby Youngstown,OH I was hoping that the bucs would play in the HOF game. What a weekend that would be!
February 18th, 2014 at 11:08 am
18 games is Awesome
Watching Brooks become a Hall of Famer is Outstanding
Watch Johnny Football play in Canton…. PRICELESS
February 18th, 2014 at 11:30 am
Went to see Sapp inducted. Very affordable trip. Stayed in New Phili about 20 mins out of Canton in the middle of Amish country. Great food and hotel is half the cost of staying in Canton. The best vacation of my life!! a MUST FOR bUCS FANS AND FOOTBALL FANS!
February 18th, 2014 at 11:47 am
Yeah, an extra opportunity for guys to get hurt while playing a meaningless game. Yippee.
February 18th, 2014 at 12:07 pm
I think it would be great if they were to play in this game. They could showcase their new pants that are no longer pewter with the disgusting sweat stains…
February 18th, 2014 at 12:08 pm
They should go to a 14 game schedule and forget the dumb preseason completely.
February 18th, 2014 at 1:27 pm
I’m in favor of a 20 game season and adding two more weeks of playoffs. Anything to get more NFL football. Players and coaches will adjust.
February 18th, 2014 at 1:43 pm
Longer season just means more injuries. The season is long enough. No expanded playoffs – that just dilutes it. The season length is fine as it is.
February 18th, 2014 at 3:57 pm
I think the NFL should make preseason games free or at least at a reduced price so all fans can see what their team looks like with added free agents and draft choices before the season starts. The games are never the same as a regular season game and the price should be redueced because of the inferior product on the field. It would be a good will gesture by the NFL to all the fans across the NFL.
February 18th, 2014 at 7:05 pm
bucstop.com Says: from 1977 through the early 80s the Bucs season ticket base paid for 11 home games
Except you’re forgetting that there were only 14 regular season games in 1977, so they only played 10 home games (7 + 3).
February 18th, 2014 at 9:27 pm
18 games? Horrible idea! Injuries already ravage an NFL roster during the year, 18 games will make some games at the end of the seasons unwatchable. Also, for terrible teams, like last season’s Bucs, that’s two more painful reminders of what horrendous teams look like. Also, NFL record books will be invalidated due to two extra games. And finally, it will hurt young players and their abilities to impress during preseason and make the squad.
There is plenty to hate about the 18/2 format… drop the ticket prices to preseason games, plain and simple. You may even have to raise regular season prices to offset, but it is worth it to not have to witness the debacle of seeing two beat up 6-11 teams playing in week 18.