London Calling
July 19th, 2011
There was a silver lining to this asinine lockout that continues to drag on… and on… and on…
The longer this asinine lockout lasted, for every day it stretched, it was one day closer to the Aug. 1 deadline that would render the Bucs playing a “home” game in London moot.
It’s T-minus 13 days to hit the deadline. But the NFL doesn’t believe that will happen.
Per creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, Mike Florio, he received word that the NFL’s office in London is telling all the soccer hooligans (Joe has never been to London. Shoot, he’s never been to Europe, for that matter Joe has never had a passport — hell, he’s never even been to New York. Yet Sunday while trying to enjoy a cold adult beverage while watching the Pirates-Astros, Joe felt as if he was in some foreign land with people watching kickball instead. In America no less! The last time Joe felt this out of place, he was at Innisbrook.) they can instead watch real football.
(Clarification: Joe is not a soccer hater. Hardly. Joe just finds it demoralizing anyone would watch soccer over a good baseball game.)
In short, that means the Bucs and a handful of fans better pack their bags for London this October.
“Negotiating teams from the NFL owners and players will resume talks aimed at getting a new Collective Bargaining Agreement agreed, which would end the four-month labour dispute and guarantee a fifth consecutive International Series game at Wembley Stadium… ”
Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, despite knowing the Bucs would have a home field advantage playing at The CITS in October, has already moaned about playing in London.
Instead of the Bears sweating it out in October, they will have close to Bear weather in London.
So much for the home field advantage.
July 19th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Yeah, but you know, watching any sport other than football feels like I’m cheating on my true love… so I don’t do that. All I care about 365 days a year is football… and yeah, I watch a ton of college football, but only because I’m interested in seeing the future NFL prospects in action… it’s a freaking sickness… but seriously, baseball? I’d rather take a nap… of course watching baseball might aid me in that pursuit.
July 19th, 2011 at 1:34 pm
Breaking news just in:
The Glazers have shown there must passionate involvement to date (since arguing zealously against a hard salary cap floor) to get the deal finalized before August 1 so that their fan base (London) doesn’t lose it’s home game.
Rumor also has it that a last roadblock to a deal was created by the Glazers when they tried to make the bucs a permanent fixture in the London game.
July 19th, 2011 at 1:36 pm
This game times out very well for me in my travels to see my kiddies in the UK.
I’m down. 😉
July 19th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
Aside from Americal Football, there is no other spot that immerses you in as much as Soccer does. Baseball is not even close.
July 19th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Soccer sucks. Why does that lawn fairy “sport” keep creeping up on this Bucs football blog. And why do its cheerleaders keep jumping for joy over it in the comments
July 19th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
homefield advantage didnt do too much for us last year.
July 19th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
Baseball is really not that much more interesting than Soccer. You can make a case for hockey, football, and polo though. 🙂
July 19th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
London has a team, the Sillynannies!
July 19th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Customs official: Anything to declare?
Cousin Avi: Yeah. Don’t go to England.
July 19th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Well Joe, at least you got to reference a great song.
July 19th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Joe, I’ve heard you mention Steve Smith (CAR) as a potential candidate to be a possible free agent veteran acquisition that could help stretch the defense.
What do you think about Santana Moss? I believe he’s a FA (who knows with the new CBA pending) and he had a little over 1,100 yards 6 tds last year. He still looks as fast as ever. He’s 32 so that’s a bit of a concern, but Smith is 32 as well.
I’m not so sure we need a veteran WR with all the young guys we have. Someone would have to hit the PUP/IR early in training camp for us to make that move.
July 19th, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Joe here,
@HireGregOlson — Steve Smith is not a free agent. He’s under contract but has implied he might want out of Carolina. Joe only pointed out that secondary coach Jimmy Lake went out of his way to say Smith is a top 3 wideout in the league.
July 19th, 2011 at 3:43 pm
I personally love to watch soccer during the world cup. The best of the best playing soccer is awesome to see.
I’d rather watch soccer than baseball, which bores me to death. I’d rather watch Hockey over soccer. And I’d rather watch Football over ANYTHING.
Hell, I’ll take the XFL over baseball. I just don’t like baseball 🙂
July 20th, 2011 at 12:36 am
Not a soccer fan either. But, given the World Cup final (men or women) with the USA playing versus a meaningless baseball game that is 1/162nd of the season, yeah, I’ll watch the soccer thank you… That’s what’s so great about the NFL, every game is so meaningful in the standings. If you think about it, one football games has the meaning of 10 baseball games. I’m so glad I quit watching MLB after the canceled World Series in ’94. I don’t miss it at all and I have way more time to devote to more important things like JoeBucsFan.com.
July 20th, 2011 at 10:47 am
The TAMPA BAY Buccaneers have NO business playing TWO freaking “home” games over the course of the last three years.
I still cannot see how this is acceptable to anyone or why our team was singled out for this ASININE decision.
I vent, we vent, and are ignored. Fans do not matter one iota to the NFL unless we simply stay home and watch TCM on Sundays. That won’t happen and the bastards know it.
July 20th, 2011 at 10:59 am
The TAMPA BAY Buccaneers have NO business playing TWO freaking “home” games IN LONDON ENGLAND over the course of the last three years.
I still cannot see how this is acceptable to anyone or why our team was singled out for this ASININE decision.
I vent, we vent, and are ignored. Fans do not matter one iota to the NFL unless we simply stay home and watch TCM on Sundays. That won’t happen and the bastards know it.
July 20th, 2011 at 11:30 am
It’s the world cup championship game.Pirates/Astros is just another baseball meaningless game
July 20th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Patrick:
Uuummm… Pirates are in a pennant race. Hardly meaningless.
July 21st, 2011 at 7:45 am
I honestly don’t see what the problem is here – the Bucs are presently playing in a half-empty stadium at home, and the public who can’t be bothered to go and watch their team live can’t even watch it on TV.
The Bucs come to London, they get a nice payday, not to mention a nice atmosphere playing in front of 80,000 people who actually want to see them play and don’t think they’re a bunch of no-good thugs etc, and the fickle, ungrateful, local fans get a chance to watch ‘their’ team on TV for an extra game in the season.
Makes perfect sense to me. But then I’ll be sat in Wembley, enjoying it with 80-odd thousand other UK NFL fans.
If you can’t play with your toys nicely, don’t be surprised if your mom takes it away from you, and if the Bay Area football fan population can’t be bothered to get behind their team, then they’ll go and play in front of people who can. Simple.