A Real Home Field Advantage Emerged
September 29th, 2024
The Bucs are now 12-10 when Todd Bowles is their head coach at The Licht House, but that’s not the kind of advantage Joe is referring to after today’s clobbering of the Eagles.
The legendary JoeBucsFan.com photographer has been on the field for game days for roughly 10 years — home and away. This evening, he told Joe this probably was the hottest game he’s experienced.
During the FOX broadcast, it was announced that the heat index on the field was 108 degrees. Per FOX, it climbed steadily through the game and might have gone higher.
Eagles starting center Cam Jurgens left the game with cramps due to the heat, so did tough-guy defensive tackle Jalen Carter. Other Eagles left the game with cramps, too. Joe saw with his own eyes Eagles cornerback CJ Gardner-Johnson soaking in a kiddie pool filled with ice water in the tunnel near the Bucs’ locker room entrance after the game, surrounded by paramedics and trainers. NBC Philadelphia reported Gardner-Johnson finished the game in that same cold tub with an IV.
The Bucs? They were good. No debilitating heat issues.
For years, Joe has heard about how the Bucs have an edge in the extreme heat, but it hadn’t manifested.
Today it did.
The great thing is the Bucs were crushing the Eagles long before they wilted.
What a thorough and glorious beating before about 20,000 Eagles fans in the steamy stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.
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September 29th, 2024 at 5:56 pm
Good game Bucs !
September 29th, 2024 at 5:58 pm
Let me start by saying kudos to all that went to the game and sat in the stands today. Good on you for bringing the fire.
That being said, and I’ll be beating this drum all-day, the in-game RayJay experience sucks. The giant screens are the highlight of the stadium, but that’s it. If you can afford club level, yes, that’s nice as well, but enjoying the actual club doesn’t help the noise factor of the stadium either. Those that have gone to other stadiums, specifically domes, understand the difference. Even in a bad football game and/or down season it is tolerable to sit in the stands and simply enjoy the feel, noise and ambience of the stadium experience, and that’s the high prices aside.
I know we are a transient state, it’s different here, but if Buccaneers were a domed team, I think you’d have different home field advantage. Yes, Buc people would still sell their tickets, but I think there would be less. My family was born and raised in the Tampa area, they’re ticket holders, they do tail gate off of Himes, and I will tell you the heat matters. If the team struggles it really matters.
I don’t think there’s a relief coming in the near future, any retrofit like what they did at the Hardrock Stadium in Miami, almost cost as much as the stadium to build and I don’t see the Glazers, nor the city of Tampa building a new stadium any time soon. I wish technology could catchup and figure out a cost-effective way to get a bit more cover to allow for a better fan experience.
September 29th, 2024 at 6:09 pm
^ Zoocomics – it’s always been that way for the Bucs, and honestly, for pretty much all pro posts teams in Florida.
Too many transplants, not enough diehards. I used to constantly yell at the crowd around me to get up and make some goddamn noise to give us some actual homefield advantage. Even games in December when it’s not blazing hot, the crowd at RayJay is always passive and quiet.
I’ve heard Bucs fans be louder as the visiting team at other stadiums than I have at home at Ray Jay.
September 29th, 2024 at 6:10 pm
*pro sports teams
September 29th, 2024 at 6:26 pm
@ Zoocomics : Agreed a dome would be better for Tampa fans but if other teams fans are going to be here I say let’em sweat!
September 29th, 2024 at 7:06 pm
Welcome to Tampa. That’s another reason Denver shouldn’t have had a chance last week. Still gotta be ready to play in the heat too
September 29th, 2024 at 7:11 pm
I believe I’ve sat near “Unbelievable” before!
Give ‘em hell!
September 29th, 2024 at 7:11 pm
@unbelievable… Yeah, we don’t have a great example to go by, do we? Not one pro team in FL has a dome. Unless Hardrock Stadium’s home base is holding their own vs visiting teams more now than they did before they’re pseudo cover they installed.
Speaking of Diehard fans…dude, we spend a lot of times on these JBF boards, and other boards, and Facebook boards, I like to think I’m a diehard fan, I feel like I know more about this team, it’s players, coaches, schemes than many people I know that go to the game. I’m not a Tampa resident, but I’m a commute away and I get to a couple of games a year and did my first away game in Minnesota last season. I don’t hold it against anyone that chooses to stay home vs going to the stadium. I guess an argument can be made for diehard for those fans that sit in the boiling heat for the first half of the season, home game-in and home game-out screaming away, whether we are winning or losing… can we use the word masochist for these fans?
@Anyhony…like I said, if we’re in dome, it’s different especially if we’re putting a “watchable” product on the field. I think you’d see less scalping and more ticket holders showing up. Just a feel and opinion I get from being around the Tampa community when I’m there.
September 29th, 2024 at 7:36 pm
The real advantage I believe was finally jumping out to a big early lead. Had we done that against Denver last week they might’ve folded too. Speaking of the Broncos, maybe our loss to them wasn’t so bad. Their defense did a number on a HOF QB today not giving up a TD.
September 29th, 2024 at 7:44 pm
unbelievable – Wasn’t always like that. I used to go to games all the time, even had season tickets at the old stadium, and went nearly every week during when RayJay opened through the SB years. Then I moved so I wasn’t right near the stadium, and attended less and less, and frankly the home experience is amazing, in particular if you got a theater room like I do.
But, yeah, when I go to games now, it’s remarkable how quiet the crowds are in general. Now I do sit in the fancy pants club seating when I go, but you still hear everything, but it’s nothing like the late 90s and early 00s, that’s for certain. I mean it’s like 1/5th the volume, and I really don’t think that’s exaggerating. Go on YouTube and watch that Bucs-Rams 2000 MNF game, and the stadium was insane, and it came across on TV when the cameras are all shaking, etc.
I think it has to do with everyone having a camera in their pocket and wanting to snitch on everyone all the time. So basically all the fun trash talking is gone because everyone knows if they’re the least bit funny or entertaining, someone will take offense and try to get them fired, so they just keep their mouth shut. It’s really takes away from the stadium experience. In the 80s and 90s, you had chicks in the crowd that always flashed people, and the crowd would go wild, now there’s none of that, if they did it, they’d probably get arrested instead of free beer. It’s really kind of a dull experience for those of us that remember how it used to be.
September 29th, 2024 at 7:46 pm
Zoocomics Says:
September 29th, 2024 at 7:11 pm
@unbelievable… Yeah, we don’t have a great example to go by, do we? Not one pro team in FL has a dome.
———-
Domes are terrible. Just look at how bad the environment is a the trop, it’s so boring.
Although, I will say, old Tampa Bay Storm and Lightning games in that place rocked – that place was insane during for those games, so maybe the dome isn’t the issue, it’s the god awful boring baseball at fault.
September 29th, 2024 at 8:43 pm
I was dying In the stands today it was sooo freaking hot. I got mad at some dude who told me to sit down while we were on defense 😡😡😡😤 . The stadium needs more shade
September 29th, 2024 at 8:45 pm
@Rod – you might be right about that, I never went to games at the Old Sombrero.
I saw most of my Bucs games at Ray Jay probably between 2003 – 2010, and the crowds just always seemed so quiet and weak. Went to the Bucs-Chargers game out here in San Diego before they left for LA, and I swear that us Bucs fans in attendance at that game were way louder there than I had ever heard the crowd be at Ray Jay.
I’m gonna try to make the trip up to LA for when we play them later this season is December, but dang, the tickets for SoFi are so outrageously priced. Even nosebleed, which are insanely far away at that stadium.
September 29th, 2024 at 9:01 pm
Rod Munch
Game days are NOTHING like the 90s and early 2000s. (Season Ticket Holder)
After working for the Bucs from 2017 – 2022. I assure you, it was LAME.
Granted, if not for the China Virus. it might have been different once Brady got here. Although I doubt it. The fans are built different now. Mostly just boys trying to birth babies themselves if you ask me.
September 30th, 2024 at 12:52 pm
The Eagles have more problems than wussies on their team that can’t handle the heat. Hurts is turning the ball over at an alarming rate, and they now have Devin White doing Devin White things. Shall I say more lol 😏