Another Ring, And Firm Modern Bucs Beliefs
June 16th, 2021
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BY IRA KAUFMAN
One of the most celebrated Buccaneers is returning to his Mississippi roots this weekend.
The first offensive player inducted into the Buc Ring of Honor, Jimmie Giles is heading to Atlanta for Saturday night’s banquet as a new member of the Black College Hall of Fame.
Legendary Bucs tight end Jimmie Giles
A two-sport star at Alcorn State (Lorman, Miss.), Giles abandoned a potential baseball career to star on the football field for the Braves.
“It’s like looking at your body of work,” Giles says of his latest honor. “Once you receive an award like this, it makes you feel good that you did it and you did it well. I didn’t cut any corners. You get this award because your peers thought enough of you to vote you in because you left everything out on the field.”
Giles, 66, was raised in Mississippi and excelled at third base for Alcorn State. He was selected by the Dodgers in the 12th round of the 1976 amateur baseball draft. During a collegiate baseball practice, his career arc changed dramatically.
“I never had a professional football career in mind until that practice,” Giles says. “The football players were running 40-yard dashes for the scouts that particular day and my football coach sent someone down to the baseball field and told me to run with the guys.”
Giles, who stood 6-foot-3 and a half and weighed 240 pounds, grabbed a pair of tennis shoes and got himself ready. When he crossed the finish line, the stopwatch read 4.4.
“That’s when all 10 or 15 scouts and coaches stopped doing what they were doing,” he says. “One of the scouts looked at me as an uncle and said. ‘Son, you will be playing in the National Football League next year.’ Those were his exact words.”
Sure enough, the Houston Oilers chose Giles in the third round of the 1977 NFL draft. He arrived in Tampa a year later in a trade and averaged 15.4 yards per catch in his 121 games as a tight end for the Bucs, also providing solid blocking in John McKay’s run-oriented offense.
From 1980-82, Giles averaged 17.8 yards per reception and he remains the only Buc to catch four TD passes in a game.
According to Giants Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor, word quickly spread throughout the NFL — Giles needs to be the focal point of every defensive game plan.
“Coach Parcells used to always say, ‘Listen up, the one guy you’re going to have to worry about is that damn Jimmie Giles,’ ” Taylor says.
Chances Rule
Jimmie Giles’ believes a Bucs tight end not named Gronkowski “can revolutionize the game.”
Still living in the Bay area, Giles was thrilled by Tampa’s Super Bowl run, aided by a veteran tight end destined for Canton.
“The first thing I look for at tight end is what are you doing to make a difference?” says Giles. “Rob Gronkowski is a complete tight end. He’s a committed blocker who enjoys what he’s doing. O.J. Howard was just beginning to come into his own when he got hurt last year. I believe he can revolutionize the game because of his talent.”
Giles is an ardent supporter of Bruce Arians.
“He’s an old-school guy,” Giles says, “and I really like the way he coaches. Players enjoy playing for him and Bruce will take chances. You can’t be conservative today and win championships. The Glazers got it right when they hired him.”
When I told Giles that Derrick Brooks and I had recently discussed a potential matchup between the 2002 Bucs and last season’s Super Bowl champions, he laughed.
“I think I know who Brooks picked,” says Giles, “and I agree with him. I wouldn’t bet against Warren Sapp. Between Brooks and Sapp, they were the keys to that fantastic defense. I’d give the edge to the 2002 team. Tom Brady could find a way to score 19 points against them, but he wouldn’t score 20.”
That 2002 defense was always going to make a big play to win the game.”
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June 16th, 2021 at 2:25 pm
Lol I guess Jimmy forgot that Warren always liked to say “Give me 17 points and we’ll make it stick.” Then the 19 Jimmy gives the Brady Bucs is enough for the win. lol 2020 Bucs ALL DAY!!!!!
June 16th, 2021 at 2:53 pm
Jimmy G. should be in the ring at the stadium !!!!!..
June 16th, 2021 at 3:25 pm
August, was thinking the same thing. Oops!
June 16th, 2021 at 3:25 pm
This bucs team is better & 100 times more fun to watch averaging 30 points a game & fantastic defense that plays multiple alignments (not the boring ass Tampa 2 Zone crap).
June 16th, 2021 at 3:41 pm
He is in the ring at the stadium….
June 16th, 2021 at 3:45 pm
Agreed! This team is much better then the 2002 Bucs.
IMHO, not even close.
June 16th, 2021 at 4:02 pm
Giles was a lone bright spot on many dismal offenses.
June 16th, 2021 at 4:07 pm
Arguing teams and players from different eras is always fun! You can have a never-ending debate sometimes.
Muhammad Ali, who referred to himself as “The Greatest”, always said that he considered Jack Johnson the greatest heavyweight champion of all times. (Had he not said that I probably would not ever have known who Johnson was.)
June 16th, 2021 at 4:33 pm
Congrats Jimmie on going into the Black College Football HOF. He will be joining his QB Doug Williams a 2011 inductee.How about that, two Buccaneers in the BCFHOF. Team mates once again to go with that Ring of Honor at RayJay
June 16th, 2021 at 5:18 pm
Love Jimmie Giles. If he played for a real offense he’d be in the HOF.
June 16th, 2021 at 5:39 pm
If not for the Doug Williams/ Culverhouse fiasco, Giles would be in Canton today.
June 16th, 2021 at 5:42 pm
“Black College Hall of Fame”
I wonder what is wrong with society today.
June 16th, 2021 at 5:56 pm
Ira, just read that the NFL & NFLPA came out today with a list of restrictions covering what vaccinated vs unvaccinated NFL players can & can’t do. Wow. Here’s an excerpt:
“While many teams are claiming 100 percent of their front office, and support staff are fully vaccinated against the virus, the numbers for players are lagging woefully behind, estimated to be under 50 percent league-wide. These latest guidelines retain the ability for players to have freedom of choice when it comes to getting vaccinated, but not the privilege of being free from consequences. NFL players unanimously granted the NFLPA the right to bargain on their behalf when it comes to medical and disciplinary guidelines under the 2020 NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement.”
Less than 50% vaccinated? Interesting. The article gave some of the big restrictions and it was hard for me to believe that the NFLPA would go that far. I mean REALLY restrictive on unvaccinated players. We’ll see how that flies with the players I guess.
June 16th, 2021 at 7:04 pm
Re unvaccinated player restrictions-
NFL must’ve cut a deal with Big Pharma
Rules make 0 sense – you can’t eat or fly on plane with vaccinated, but you can sweat, spit , bleed and breathe all over them on game day- lol
June 16th, 2021 at 7:05 pm
“You WILL get the EGT or we WILL make your life a living hell by casting you out as an uncaring, anti-social misfit regardless of the ‘science.’ You SHALL wear the symbol of the un-EGT’d. Here-your big Yellow Star. Wear it on your left chest.”
June 16th, 2021 at 7:54 pm
Calm down little cobra boy dipping into nonsense sauce a bit too much.
June 16th, 2021 at 8:40 pm
I think Cobraboy writes like he’s a deep believer in the people he spends time listening to. Not always a good thing.
June 16th, 2021 at 10:33 pm
Nope, I am not a sheep, I an cynical when someone demands coercive behavior “or else”, and Iemploy excellent critical thinking skills.
If you want the jab, go ahead. I have had covid. I don’t need one, but detest the social pressure to comply.
June 16th, 2021 at 10:35 pm
@DR: proof positive the NFLPA has gone full PC Woke.
June 16th, 2021 at 11:10 pm
Nice to hear Mr Giles sound so erudite at age 66.
Buccaneer legend.
June 16th, 2021 at 11:17 pm
@CB and DR
New cases are now lower than they were in March of last year.
It’s over.
MSM will tell you what to be scared of next.
June 17th, 2021 at 6:51 am
Cobraboy … I didn’t know that you’ve had COVID, and I pray that there haven’t been any lasting after-effects. A close friend of mine got it; was perfectly healthy before that, recovered, but has had significant heart & lung issues ever since. It’s depressing to think of how many others in this great country will have to live with similar debilitating after-effects, many for the rest of their lives, because they contracted this largely preventable disease.
It didn’t surprise me CB that the NFL came out with that policy. What did surprise me however is that the Players’ Union signed on so easily.
I get where you’re coming from with the ‘social pressure to comply’ & dislike it maybe as much as you obviously do. And yet, I’ve come to believe over time that a certain amount of ‘standardization’ is necessary in virtually any profession, and yes, in society too. Spent my first career flying fighters & early in my career really disliked ‘standardization’ (kept getting in hot water as a result obviously). But after 2 full years in combat I realized that without a certain amount of ‘standardization’ all you had was chaos and that mission accomplishment suffered.
Spent 7 years throughout my career teaching guys how to fly those puppies, and the hardest thing to teach IMO was ‘good judgment’ (so you didn’t kill yourself & others?). Learning why this thing called ‘standardization’ existed was a part of teaching guys what ‘good judgment’ looked like I think. There’s a fine line in there it seems, and figuring out where that line is can be a real bear, and it comes with experience IMO. But as CS Lewis wrote … “Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn. My God do you learn”.
Hopefully we as individuals and we as a nation have gained some valuable ‘experience’ in dealing with this pandemic. Stay strong & stay safe.
June 17th, 2021 at 7:23 am
DR-
The “standardization” you eloquently spoke of is NOT being currently applied to the distribution of the Covid vaccines. Vaccines have historically had 3-5 years of testing before FDA approval. The adverse effects from this vaccine are not being reported by the MSM and is understandably making some hesitant to take the jab. Also, personal responsibility for nutrition, exercise, and vitamin supplements which all enhance the immune system receive minimal coverage.
When standardization becomes indoctrination – critical thinking and more investigation is warranted.
June 17th, 2021 at 7:56 am
Alanbucsfan … “The “standardization” you eloquently spoke of is NOT being currently applied to the distribution of the Covid vaccines.”
Agree 100%. No one seems to have a clue where that ‘fine line’ is, and so far too many are just trying to draw it with a very broad brush.
June 17th, 2021 at 8:24 am
@DR: I had covid in December 2020.
June 17th, 2021 at 8:50 am
@DR: flying and teaching flying (FTR: I have a CPL/inst/multi, and owned an FBO & Part 141 Flight Training Center at PIE for a number of years) and “standardizing” an Experimental Gene Therapy are non-sequiturs.
Critical thinking and examining the totality of the entire covid universe, especially in light of recent facts made public, says the jury is out on the safety, efficacy & effectiveness of the EGT. NOT ONE legitimate, peer-reviewed, blind random study has been made public on the EGT. Not one. But we DO have numerous peer-reviewed, double-blind studies on the false security of masks, social distancing by the asymptomatic, HCQ for early treatment, and ivermectin for late treatment, all of which are largely ignored by the progressive MSM who sing only one tune: “get the jab or live an unbearable life.”
But we DO know that many tens of thousands—that we know of—have suffered and in over 6000 cases have died from “the jab.” Almost daily we hear of a prominent person’s death within a couple of weeks after the jab. On a personal note, a close colleagues’ 80-ish grandparents got sick within one week after their jab, the husband died and his wife in critical care in NYC as I type. I think their mistake was the Moderna flavor.
Remember, in 1975, the CDC & FDA pulled the H1N1 vaccine off the market when 54 people died from it. 54. As an old dude, I remember that well, the absolute panic in those who got their shot, and the stock market tanking of the producers.
We have absolutely no idea the long-term effect of the EGT. None. But many, many immunologists, vaccine experts, physicians, and scientists are ringing the klaxons about the potential devastation of a future immune storm after the jab.
That all said, I would agree that if you are over 60, grossly obese (BMI>41), and have two comorbidities, especially diabetes I or II, hypertension and/or chronic anemia, you don’t have a lot to lose with the jab, since you have one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel in the first place. THOSE are the humans at most risk. Covid to the rest of us—as I found out personally—is an annoyance, similar to a seasonal flu.
What the NFLPA—and leftist society in general—has said is “you can’t play with us unless you sacrifice your body by our dictate on the altar of the Progressive Covid Overlord Gods.”
So am I surprised the NFLPA agreed to those terms? Not at all. As I said, the NFLPA is just another PC Woke organization. And I will stand by that comment.
June 17th, 2021 at 9:21 am
One more point about the causal relationship between “the jab” and declining covid cases.
Fact: the PCR for a person with “the jab” is tested at 24 cycles, per CDC requirements. A person without “the jab” has their PCR tested at 41 cycles.
Fact: per the inventor of the PCR, at 41 cycles, the PCR generates 97% false-positive results.
At 41 cycles, a person who tested positive is considered “asymptomatic” for which not one double-blind, peer-reviewed study shows they can transmit the virus. Not. One.
The best way for covid to go away is for ALL PCR tests to be at 24 cycles. Poof! Gone!
June 17th, 2021 at 9:44 am
How about this standardization: NO MEDICAL TYRANNY.
Fauci himself authored a study that concluded that most of the deaths from the Spanish Flu resulted from people breathing their our own funk–as in bacterial pneumonia BECAUSE OF THE MASKS . Now he wants everyone to wear two. Hmmmm.
Fauci owns at least four vaccine patents. Wonder what he wants us to do…
Use your freaking heads!
June 17th, 2021 at 11:54 am
@SB, you should visit the Black College Football HOF in ATL. Maybe you would realize why it exist, why black colleges needed to exist – sometimes society makes you create your own opportunity that is born out of oppression.