Violence
October 8th, 2011
Sabby the Goat showed plenty of emotion when he played for the Bucs.
Joe admits he has a disconnect with some fans. Joe doesn’t do fantasy football and when he owned season tickets he rarely stood up during games. Why? If Joe stood up, did that mean there was a less of a chance Kenyatta Walker would hold a defensive player?
A fan recently wrote in to TBO.com’s Bucs Question-and-Answer feature wanting to know why players don’t dance through opponents’ warm-ups (an illegal act now by the way) and do all sorts of other nonsense to make it look like they are badasses.
Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune believed the Bucs do possess enough of an attitude.
Q: I have been to every home game so far this season, and I continue to notice a lack of attitude/anger in the Bucs players. It seems like they are more interested in shaking hands and smiling rather than taking the heads off the other team. I used to watch Sapp come out of the locker room and skip across the other teams practice just to let them know he was there. This type of attitude is what I feel needs to get back in Tampa. Do you think this is more of a coaching issue, or the individual players just lacking that type of attitude?
Tony Ulrich, Jr., Riverview
A: I don’t think it’s an issue at all. The line coaches on both sides of the ball are definitely encouraging their players to play with a mean streak. In fact, it’s demanded of them. And coach Raheem Morris has gone so far as to ask his players to be “violent” and to play a “border-line illegal” brand of football. As far as the results go, there was little question the Bucs played mean on the defensive side of the ball. And I’d say their 3-1 record is an indication that their approach, whatever it may be, is working.
– Roy Cummings
Joe believes all this is BS. When was the last time anyone saw Ronde Barber jump around like a banshee? He’s as professional as they get and should be a Hall of Famer.
Joe will end this discussion with one last example. In recent years, no Bucs player jumped around and showed emotion more than Sabby the Goat.
Yeah, it looks cool. But Joe’s more into results, not schtick.
October 8th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Nothing got the crowd whipped into a frenzy more than sapp showing his opponents no respect by bounding through their warm ups.
It did show a swagger that he had earned himself over the years. Hopefully over time some of these ‘youngry’ will have half the bad ass reputation he had.
October 8th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
Joe, you rarely stood up at games? Really? I can’t relate to that.
October 8th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
Sapp was one of a kind. As long as they are mean between the whistles all is good. Except for Trueblood he needs no encouraging to be a bad ass and rack up unsportsmanlike penalties.
October 8th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Totally agree with you, Joe. Look, I loved Sapp as a player, not so much as a person. But you never saw Derrick Brooks skip through the opponent’s pre-game workouts. Or Ronde Barber or John Lynch or Mike Alstott . Does that mean they didn’t have attitude? Of course not. One of my favorite football sayings is “Act like you’ve been there before.” Then go clean their clock!
Also agree with you on Fantasy Football. OMG, what a waste of time!! It’s Dungeons & Dragons for the jockstrap nerds. The closest thing to fantasy & football for me is Rachael Watson!
October 8th, 2011 at 11:10 pm
kind of a contradicting? one minute its a artcile “crowds into the game, hyped up, 12th man ect.” next its Joe dont stand up? regardless of of class or if i look like an a$$ i’d stand up to rep my team and my swagger is that of mick jaggers im ready to go, steam rolling the 49ers
October 8th, 2011 at 11:46 pm
Are you kidding me? As I sat in my seats while the Colts were warming up (and before the 4 smoking hot Colts chickies sat next to me) I was wondering… why the funk, is there not a single ninja in our locker room that has the ballistics to walk through the warm ups of the Colts??? Have they never done this before? Do these ladies still need to grow the balls and wait til they drop? Has Warren Sapp not shown these 9 down-lineman what it takes to be a Buc??? If so, shame Warren.
Ronde wouldn’t do it… cuz Ronde isn’t Warren Sapp… cuz Ronde isn’t an in-the-trenches, i’m-gonna-eat-your-mother type of player… however, I stand and cheer when Ronde *feels* his way to a pick… or deflection.
Yes, I stand, I cheer, I also laugh and then ask questions to YOU BUMS who sit while it’s 3rd and 7, 4:37 to go in the 4th and we’re up by 5… go the fraud home… the red seats you sit in deserve better. Empty is a start.
Run through their warm ups, slap that helmet sitting on the 30… laugh as their team (and apparently some of you soccer moms) forget for a minute that this is the NFL… THE NFL.
Leave the mom and sisters at home sweetheart.
Come back 1997-2003 crowd PLEASE… I can’t stand these fake, phony ass people… it’s always their first game. Seemingly.
Warrrrren, Warrrrren, Warrrrrren, Warrrrren, Warrrrren, Warrrrren…
October 9th, 2011 at 12:35 am
I stand and jump up and down because when I get excited, that is what I do. No other reason. If Joe doesn’t, why is that a bad thing? how is paying a ticket and standing and paying a ticket and sitting a sign of a “better fan” than the other? Get a grip, people.
How many of you “real fans” who stand up during the games and bitch about the sitting “fake, phony ass… mom and sister… BUMS” dedicate 40-50 hours a week running a Buccaneers fansite that uploads roughly 5-10 posts every single day??????
I didn’t think so. GTFOH with that nonsense.
October 9th, 2011 at 1:33 am
oh. also bucs dont run through their warmups anymore James because as joe said ‘an illegal act now btw’ learn to read. They dont because they cant anymore. now stop whining with your elitism. Let people get caught up in the emotion and do what they feel. not like you who forces it for show. talk about fraud. showing emotion because its expected? grow up.
October 9th, 2011 at 7:06 am
It’s illegal as in the player will get fined. I personally don’t care if somebody runs through another team’s warmups. I recall Sapp nearly getting jumped by the Steelers before a game where the entire Bucs team got jumped by the Steelers.
Having attitude and being a pain in the ass are two separate things. Having an attitude usually starts with the defensive front 7, then it is reinforced or further amped up by the offensive line and RBs. That’s where attitude comes from, if a team plays physical, plays fast, and delivers the blows, re-establishes the line of scrimmage, no amount of dancing or prancing through a warm-up can give somebody attitude.
As for Sabby, for those of you that thought he fell off the earth, he’s starting for the Chiefs in place of Eric Berry and playing decently. In the Chiefs first win last week, he had tight coverage on 4th down and made a nice play to help the Chiefs seal the victory. I always thought that Sabby’s best position might have been as a CB because when he played man-to-man at S he was very good, but when he played in zone or had to play in space, he struggled. At CB he would not have his poor instincts exposed.