Fan Blackout – What was the point?

Some time ago I made an impassioned plea for the fan base to speak out to the franchise that I love. The situation with Josh had become ludicrous, regardless of what ‘side’ you chose. The handling of the MRSA outbreak and Lawrence Tynes contract had become a spectacle. Simple things like the captaincy vote (while circulating around Josh) became a daily embarrassment.

The team I loved was a joke and I lived through that too many times before.

Losing sucks but being beaten by better teams is part of the game. Beating yourself through incompetence, crap communication and a seemingly blind leadership team is unacceptable. The interesting thing about this is that none of it; not one bit of it, was the problem of the players on the field. So while voting with my wallet may make sense, I still loved the team.

I had started to despise the franchise.

The approach I took was that until steps were taken to ‘right the ship,’ I would not be wearing any Buccanneers logo gear to the games and instead, I would wear simply plain black as a subtle protest. I would black out their brand while still cheering for the team I love. I asked others who felt the same to do the same if they were so inclined.

I never said not doing so made you an idiot, bad fan, schmuck or anything else derogatory. I even mentioned that it may not do a single thing to address the concern. It might just be cathartic.

Well, soon thereafter, the Bucs did what I think was the right thing and released Josh.

Do I think this is related? No. (I’m arrogant but not that arrogant.)

Are there still issues? Sure.

Are we the headline on ESPN every day for another bullshit squabble between our former franchise QB and management? No.

This is tremendous progress. It is embarrassing to me that this got to this point and that it took this long to resolve. That said, it is resolved and that makes me happy.

Do I still think there is some flat out shady shit going on at 1 Buc Place?

Yes. Is that based on firsthand knowledge? Nope.

It is conjecture and speculation which, if we learned anything yet this year, is all stories need nowadays to qualify as news.

This week I will have my Pink gear on. I will choose to wear black for this game and show no logos. Will I do it again? Not sure.

As a fan I am still upset with the franchise. That said, they took a big step by closing this ugly chapter. I hope the march continues and I hope they remind us fans what it is like to win.