Sports Then and Now

Josh Freeman made his first start a memorable one as the Buccaneers rallied to defeat the Packers.

On a day when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers brought back their original orange creamsicle uniforms, first year head coach Raheem Morris and first time starting quarterback Josh Freeman got the Bucs in the win column for the first time this season with an improbable 38-28 comeback victory against the Green Bay Packers.

Tampa Bay wore the uniforms that they regularly donned from 1976-1996 to honor the 1979 Buccaneers, which were the first playoff team in franchise history. They also honored LeRoy Selmon, the first member of the Bucs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, by making him their initial honoree in the teams’ Ring of Honor.

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Just so you know, I love baseball and I love the major championships for tennis and golf and I love NASCAR (except when Jeff Burton is struggling like he is this year) and I’m somewhat infatuated with the NBA Playoffs, but I really LOVE football season.

So, you can imagine just how happy I am that the football season has finally started. For a while I wasn’t sure if it would ever start.

Before We Get Started
Since today marks the eighth anniversary of a tragic day in the history of our country and world, I would be remiss if I didn’t start my column with an acknowledgement that sports are wonderful, but in the larger scheme they are only games and entertainment. It is days like today when we must remember what is more important, family, friends, country, values, relationships and all the other things that we hold dear.

You will see on this site a couple articles that were submitted by regular contributors to this site. These are heartfelt stories and I hope you will read them with as much interest as any game story or player feature.

I especially encourage you to take a minute to read the amazing story written by Julia Civin, the 18-year old daughter of talented writer Todd Civin. You can see that his writing talent has not skipped a generation as she penned an amazing story called “When The World Decided To Share My Birthday” that is a must-read. It truly illustrates how the events of September 11 forever changed the world, even for a then-10-year-old girl.

Okay, now back to the sports.
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