A Blues Song
November 9th, 2015
Mike Evans talks blue
Anyone at the Den of Depression yesterday saw a sea of Giants fans greater than the overflow at the Buccaneers’ last playoff game following the 2007 season.
Disgusting.
But such is life in Tampa, where the Bucs don’t have a fan base passionate enough to prevent such a horror show.
Driving up to the stadium about 3:30 p.m., Joe clearly could see the masses were about half-blue clad New York types, with their ugly women, pale faces and Victor Cruz jerseys.
Inside the house that Sapp built was more of the same.
Mike Evans put a number on it.
“It was about 50-50, maybe a little more blue,” Evans said. “A lot of people from New York live here. They got a good fan base. It is what it is.”
Yes, Mike, it is what it is. Weak.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:17 am
It sucked but it did look very patriotic though.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:20 am
87
nice spin…
November 9th, 2015 at 10:22 am
It’s an embarrassment that all bucs fans in Tampa that don’t go to games are to blame for. It’s disgusting and every one of you should feel shame.
This is exactly how you know the bucs fanbase is weak and at best has a significant portion of fair-weather fans. This doesn’t happen in Pittsburgh, Green Bay and other real football cities.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:26 am
Its as if the fans think that Lovie is 1-11 at home!!!!!
November 9th, 2015 at 10:26 am
That’s what multiple Super Bowls in the past decade and competitiveness nearly every year gets you.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:29 am
Realist: irrelevant to you being a fan and supporting your team through thick and thin.
You don’t just get a divorce after one argument.
Tampa fans in general are not football-educated and are weak. That’s why people want love fired and continue the cycle of reset button every two years. That’s not how you build. That’s how you stay in the basement. And how you ruin a very promising young quarterback.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:30 am
I don’t blame Bucs fans and Tampa residents for staying away. Not in the slightest. The defense is porous so much to the point that no lead is ever safe. Our coach is a Type-B personality who plays not to lose and gets pushed around. As a resident of Tampa, there are so many better ways to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon rather than watching that abomination. This is a team that has won ONE home game since December of 2013. ONE. Is it any surprise that someone doesn’t want to waste an afternoon paying for overpriced beers and concession and fighting the TPD’s indecipherable and illogical traffic patterns?
November 9th, 2015 at 10:31 am
BFF: no, that’s what a bunch of New Yorkers who retire to Tampa and don’t have season ticket waiting lists to contend with because bucs fans don’t care looks like.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:34 am
Did big Mike have his browns jersey on when he gave that quote?
November 9th, 2015 at 10:36 am
Mort says, “You don’t just get a divorce after one argument.”
Oh yeah? we’re going on a DECADE of crap from this franchise. A SOLID DECADE.
I’m sorry if you feel that you have some kind of civic duty to “support” a franchise that really gives you nothing in return, but the fact of the matter is the Bucs are HOSING you. You call the fans weak? Fine. Then you’re not too bright because you’re blindly following the Bucs. They put out garbage after garbage performance and you have the audacity to attack the people who say, “I’m tired of looking at this crap?” YOU’RE the example that needs to be held to light as what to do?
“No no no… it doesn’t matter that they’re bad. You keep shelling out money and sit in the sun for 4 hours REGARDLESS. You watch terrible football. Why? because you’re a fan.”
I’m sorry. I’m a season ticket holder and I’m trying to soak some Cowboys fan for triple face value right now. I can make Christmas a little brighter by doing so. If the Bucs aren’t going to put any effort into a Sunday, then why should I?
November 9th, 2015 at 10:39 am
This fanbase is desperate for a winning team to go see. It’s not a chicken or the egg thing. Start winning games and playing good football. If you want to put out a discount team then charge discount prices. If you want to charge NFL prices then don’t field a team with people that shouldn’t be on an NFL team. Simple as that.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:40 am
Maybe the locals didn’t want to pay 3x to face value to go watch the Bucs play yesterday!
I’m all for letting the Giants fans get ripped off on ticket prices!
November 9th, 2015 at 10:40 am
Mort
people want lovie fired because it’s clear his is not the answer. He has never won consistently in the nfl and never will. his philosophies are outdated and he is the worst game day coach in the league. It does not take a brain surgeon to go through lovie’s career record and stats to determine he will not bring the bucs back to relevance. at best bucs can hope for with lovie 8-8 and 9-7 until a winner takes over and gets to the playoffs consistently. lovie made a bad team worse and the record proves it.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:43 am
I expected it to be about half and half. I give them credit for being a fan base that travels and supports their team. However, many of them were downright disgusting human beings. They are walking up the aisles screaming F bomb after F bomb. Not one or two, but more like 15-20 times throughout the games. Different people every time. Finally my neighbor yells that there are kids present, and the lady whose face looks like she got hit in the face with a bag of coins swore back at him. There were NY fans grabbing themselves as they walk out, sticking middle fingers, and trying to fight with Bucs fans in our area. I have a serious problem with that. It’s great if you want to cheer on your team. I’m totally cool with that. More power to you. But you don’t come into a visiting stadium and act like you own the place. You don’t chant in a mocking way at our fans as we are all exiting. I’d love to see them do that sh!% in San Francisco or Oakland.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:44 am
How about winning some home games and then maybe your fans will attend the games? Is that too much to freaking ask?
At this point, spending your entire Sunday at Ray Jay is just a waste of time, money, patience and brain cells.
This team has let down the fans over, over and over. Until that changes, expect to see opposing fans or empty seats.
Can’t wait for those greasy season ticket sales people to call me again this off-season!
Siege this!
Go Sucs!
November 9th, 2015 at 10:44 am
I don’t even know what to say about Lovie with this team. Everything we thought we knew about him isn’t what we thought we were getting. He’s known for having teams with a great defense, terrible QBs and never building an offensive line. Now, we’re developing a QB very well and he’s playing solid football, our O line is one of the best assets we have and we have depth to boot, and our defense is weak and ineffective. It’s like bizzaro world. I’d almost rather it followed the script that we thought we were getting because at least that led to a perrenial contender and a Super Bowl appearance.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:49 am
For all of you “Fire Lovie” people, who are you going to get to replace him? We tried the new guy (Raheem), we tried the college guy (Schiano) and I was glad when we hired an adult (Lovie). IMHO, he is no worse than an average to above-average HC. I think Koetter is an above average to good OC. I think DC is where we could probably use some help.
We just can’t keep blowing coaches out every couple of years. Some permanence and stability has value. And let’s face it, a franchise QB can make many coaches seem really smart. Belichick was a bum before Brady, does anyone know what Tomlin could do with Bubby Brister back there, etc.?
November 9th, 2015 at 10:51 am
Do you really think all these new houses are being filled with people from Tampa? They are mostly Mass and New York. They transfer here with their company or retire here. People from Tampa move out or. have died. There are more of them them than us. And yes as long as this team has been bad even we will not fill it. Remember Winston was going to solve that. It did not work. Only wins may help . But don’t ever expect it to be over filled with Bucs fans. Sorry. Not on certain games. We are out numbered.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:52 am
The more I watch this team the more I’m convinced it’s a problem with talent, not necessarily coaching. I’m not saying Lovie hasn’t made his share of mistakes, and I certainly disagree with a lot of his game management, but we just don’t have very many good players. Add to that the fact that we are missing 3 of our top 4 targets on offense (Jackson, ASJ, Murphy), what do you really expect? It’s actually pretty amazing the rookie has been able to keep our offense respectable with all the missing pieces. You could see we just didn’t have the pieces once we got in the red zone. I doubt very highly we kick 4 field goals if #83 was there. We haven’t drafted defense in 2 years (minus one guy), so we have this patchwork defense that obviously isn’t very good.
I may be in the minority with this, but I think it is very evident we are getting better. I know that’s kind of a loser mentality because we still aren’t winning, but it’s also a realistic mentality. I feel like our offense is miles better, mostly due to having a legit OC and a rookie QB that I truly believe is going to be special. I would just be very hesitant about blowing this whole thing up, because that’s not always a good thing. Obviously if we take steps backwards I’ll feel differently, but I’m starting to feel we are on the right path.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:52 am
Ask Longoria what that feels like.
But you can thank the Glazers for that. There hasn’t been anything to take pride in this team for the past ten years.
Anyone who knew this team in the early 2000s knows what I’m talking about.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:56 am
Those same fans are the ones who wore Bucs jerseys in the 90s and early 2000s.
Just win and they’ll change their colors.
“Simple as that.”
November 9th, 2015 at 10:59 am
Fan bases are a direct reflection of their teams.
Never heard of a 12th man in Seattle before they started winning.
Never saw a Pats jersey in Florida prior to 2001.
Giants have a 2 time super bowl winning coach and play in the #1 media market in the country. Panthers had the same problem with Packer fans yesterday. Sports is much about tradition and history of winning as anything else.
Bucs for most of their existence have been awful, so the fans are awful.
November 9th, 2015 at 11:00 am
NewTampaChris
so you are saying average is ok. please raise your standards.
The bucs ownership needs to hire a football executive to hire a new coach and staff. Not some living in the past ex player or coach either. living in the past is what created this disaster. It’s clear the glazers have no clue how to hire a coach or run an organization from a football perspective. They need to relinquish control of football operations to a qualified football guy not some dope like Lovie who has wasted 40 plus million of glazer cash on failed free agents. One could argue that McDonald is the only free agent that has worked out over 2 classes. Having patience with lovie is expensive and has long term consequences to the cap and roster. Getting rid of lovie and paying 2 coaches is cheaper than letting this fool waste time and money. his record speaks for itself.
November 9th, 2015 at 11:24 am
Walking out of the stadium to the “Let’s Go Giants” chant was the worse feeling ever. Oddly enough, I was able to put the game behind me, and I don’t feel as bad as I normally feel on Monday after a loss.
November 9th, 2015 at 11:27 am
What bugs me is that we always conflate business and sports. The owners get to look at it as business while we’re expected to simply roll over and take whatever the owners offer. Why?
The remarks about the on field lack of product and the duration of our futility and the history of the franchise are all valid.
But there are other factors at play. First of all…NYC’s metro is 20 million ours is 3 million. We have 15% of their population but we are compared to them in attendance at stadiums that hold an equal number of people. Serioiusly?
And just as important are the owners. Our’s are medicore at best. They screw the fans with excessive ticket, concession, and parking prices…yeah I know all professional teams do it…but some at least provide some vaseline.
If Jeff Vinik owned this team the passion would return. Vinik is civic minded. Yes he smart enough to know that as entertainment winning is the critical ingredient he is always looking out for the community. Lightning prices are not cheap! But the team does try to come up with creative ways to get joe lunch pail into the stadium.
The Glazers look at the fans as $$$$. But when the attendance drops all of the sudden they then view them as fans…good or bad? BS!!!!
November 9th, 2015 at 11:28 am
I do buy the fact that if we win, we will have more fans. However, we will never have the type of fans the Giants, Packers, Cowboys, etc. have. First of all, most people in Tampa don’t have the money of the fans from NY (if you just look at averages). Also, New York has such a bigger population that they are bound to have more fans. Packers and Cowboys have a history that we can never have, at least not in our lifetime. They have had great teams in different eras, so grandparents, parents, and children have all experienced winning teams. As a kid, the Bucs were horrendous. Luckily for me, my young adult life was the time when the Bucs were great. Hell, my 11 year old daughter has yet to see the Bucs win a playoff game!
If we were a winning team, a lot of the transplants that move down here would probably become fans. However, it’s really hard to embrace a team that wins about 4 games a year and plays in heat that humans probably shouldn’t have to endure for much of the season. If we start winning again, we will gain more support, but it will never be the same as the premier franchises. All that being said, I really don’t care. I’ll cheer for the Bucs as hard as any Giants, Cowboys, or Packers fan. I can’t control everyone else and I get why they feel the way they do, but I will always support this team. Go Bucs!
November 9th, 2015 at 11:58 am
Florida sports fans and California sports fans are the worst, so nothing new here. For some fans its cheaper to fly down to Tampa and get tickets to a game than it is to buy them at home. As long as this isn’t a top team, there will always be a significant road faction at games.
November 9th, 2015 at 12:17 pm
First of all I don’t pick my sports teams from the win/Loss column. I’m a fan of Tampa Bay sports teams because I’ve chosen to make my home here. I’m relatively successful at what I do.
I’m tired of fans in our area being dogged as bad fans. Newsflash: People don’t move to New York, Buffalo, Boston or Pittsburgh! You know why? Because it sucks there when you have no job skill or education. When you fall into that category, you move your loser ass to Florida where you can mow my lawn before I put you in Prison for whatever crime you are going to commit while you’re here. So Vinny and Guido, both of whom are too stupid to hold a job in NY, move here and accomplish nothing. They don’t vote, they don’t go to PTA meetings. They do nothing for this community and take as much as they can. That’s what fills RJS, Amalie and the Trop. Transplants, most of whom do nothing but suck at life.
November 9th, 2015 at 12:20 pm
Giants fans are just population overflow. You know like when the toilet is plugged and the water is rising rapidly.
November 9th, 2015 at 1:52 pm
It was even worse than going to a Rays/Yankees game because the Giants don’t come around nearly as often. I overheard this old lady as I was leaving saying they were the rudest bunch of a holes she has ever seen. Sounded accurate to me. I’m not a violent guy. I think fighting is stupid. Still, I was so tempted so say f this and go punch this one guy in particular. Maybe if everything else in my life wasn’t going so well I’d give in to impulses like that.
I just keep telling myself, they just live here because they weren’t fortunate enough to be born here. They were unfortunate enough to be born in a region far less desirable and that fact, along with being around others bred from the same attitudes, have turned them into what I saw last night.
November 9th, 2015 at 1:55 pm
@ Rob
Well put sir
November 9th, 2015 at 2:26 pm
Well maybe if the Bucs were to catch more balls thrown to them and score a few more touchdowns maybe it would not have been a sea of blue.
November 9th, 2015 at 2:29 pm
It’ll be worse next week.
November 9th, 2015 at 2:36 pm
I have been a Bucs fan my whole life and I buy my season passes every year and sit my ass in the seat from start to finish of every game. All these so called bucs fans around here make me fu**ing sick! Worst than having to deal with all the asshole ny fans yesterday was the disgusting display of blue jerseys with season passes around their neck. People wonder why we cant win at home and want to blame Lovie, Maybe all the fans that sold their tickets to Giants fans and the lazy assholes who can’t get their fat asses off the couch should look in the mirror. only way we can take back our home field advantage is to fill the seats in red. I hope it will be different next week but im doubtful
November 9th, 2015 at 2:49 pm
Thanks Espo. It’s something that probably shouldn’t bother me in the grand scheme of things, but really gets under my skin. Kind of like inviting someone over for dinner and they do nothing but complain about the food, your house, how much better his house was, and how much better his food was.
November 9th, 2015 at 2:54 pm
No problems with the giant fans chanting in the stadium before, during or after, It was awesome hollering TAMPA! and hearing BAY! from around the stadium as we exit onto the patio outside after the Win against the birds last week.. Foul language use is way over used nation wide to me. While yeah the four of us where LOUD (read VERY LOUD!!) all game but nothing foul came out of our mouth why? I got offered several rides south on 75.. some even free.. to bad we need to go north on 85. I had great seats section 307 we meet some fun life long bird fans.. some who cursed like crazy.
Wins put fans in the seats, as a former south St. Pete resident 75-80 I went to to games where the stands had more of their fans than ours. It sucked but what can you do, when losing was not working.
Go Bucs!
November 9th, 2015 at 3:12 pm
Doesn’t bother me. We went from averaging 59000 fans to like 61000 fans. Not to far from bigger markets like Chicago. I’m guessing Dallas will sell out. I’m a Bucs fan, I wanna see a full stadium. To bad our fans are mostly front runners.
November 9th, 2015 at 3:45 pm
Such a stupid argument from fans in major markets like NY. Let’s see, your a city of more than 10 million people and have had a franchise for as long as there has been professional football. Your team has been successful with quality ownership for a very long period of time. So…the fact that you can fill a stadium anywhere is completely unimpressive to me.
Try living here and being a Bucs fan since 76 and gain some perspective about a fan base. I would actually argue that our fan base is much more intelligent about football than most markets. Hell, this area alone puts out more quality football players than NY ever thought of. The fact is we know quality when we see it and this ain’t it. The good news is that we keep most of quality football players in state so we can watch our major universities kick the hell out of yours on a yearly basis. It’s called a free market and I’d rather spend my hard earned cash watching football at programs that seem to give a damn about the product they put on the field.
November 9th, 2015 at 4:15 pm
There are plent of small markets that out sell our fan base: buffalo, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Jacksonville, San Diego. While I agree it’s easier for bigger markets to sell tickets were a front running fan base. We had waiting lists when we were winning big. Also, were in a warm weather state with a lot of beaches and outdoor things to do.
November 9th, 2015 at 4:33 pm
Obviously airing all the games on TV was more important than a full stadium of Bucs fans.
November 9th, 2015 at 8:26 pm
Wonder if Evans knows with Jameis here, all he has to is catch the focking ball and it will very soon be a lot less that 50-50. He’s gotten to that point with me. No matter what he says it’ll piss me off just because it comes from him. Catching the ball will fix THAT very quickly too! And not running straight out of bounds when your 8 yards away would help too. But it’s easier to catch than it is to suddenly grow a pair so I won’t ask for too much
November 10th, 2015 at 9:32 am
So the team is 3-4 in the playoff hunt if they win this game would be one game out of final wild card spot. Bucs fans have so many excuses it’s ridiculous. If your a true bucs fan you stay with your team for example look at Cleveland Browns their fans always supports them thick and thin. Just say you don’t go to the games because you don’t have the money or your not a true bucs fan. I mean I understand. I had to come to the realization that most bandwagon fans anyways.
November 11th, 2015 at 12:05 pm
I love the bucs but i wish they would move. Tampa doesn’t deserve a team.