Columnist Dean Juipe: Jumping on the Bucs’ bandwagon

Dean Juipe

Monday, Jan. 13, 2003 | 9:13 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Allegiance to a particular sports team takes a number of forms, from purchasing tickets to its games to sitting transfixed and studying its box scores.

There's also the option, and a well-worn one at that, of buying apparel with the team's name or logo or, sometimes, catch phrase plastered across it.

The latter is an unmistakable sign of commitment and one the T-shirt, sweatshirt, cap or jacket wearer does not take lightly.

For instance, you do not wear a shirt promoting a rival or a team that leaves you indifferent. With a person judged by the company he or she keeps, one wouldn't wish to be associated with the Denver Broncos if they lived in Kansas City and pulled religiously for the Chiefs.

As such, the bond between sports teams and their fans is almost always regional and based primarily on geographic considerations. In my case, I have clothing items with the names Lions, Tigers, Red Wings, Astros and Rockets prominently displayed, having lived in the Detroit and Houston areas before coming here. I also have a Las Vegas Stars jacket, as outdated as that seems today with the Stars having given way to the 51s.

And, as of a couple of weeks ago, I have added a Tampa Bay Buccaneers sweatshirt to my clothing repertoire, courtesy of relatives on my wife's side who live in that Florida city.

As I took possession of it, my thoughts drifted. "The Bucs?" I said to myself. "I like the shirt's comfy feel and bright-red color scheme, but how badly do I want to be known as a Bucs fan?"

The answer: More and more each day.

While the notion of being a blatant front-runner is repulsive, there is something to be said for hitching your wagon to a team on a hot streak or with something to prove to the nation -- and the Bucs right now are both.

Thanks to a surprisingly one-sided 31-6 victory over San Francisco on Sunday, Tampa Bay is in the NFC championship game and is one tough win at Philadelphia away from its first Super Bowl berth. The ascension has its noteworthy elements: The Bucs are the only team in the league that has been in the playoffs the past four seasons; they mortgaged a portion of their future to acquire their present coach, Jon Gruden, from the Oakland Raiders last year; and, of course, this is a franchise that not only hasn't been to a Super Bowl but is one that still holds the NFL record for consecutive losses, having dropped the first 26 games it played (in 1976-77).

These factors and others entitle a Bucs fan to be both driven and compassionate, having been largely shortchanged in a legacy that mixes outright despondency with some recent near misses. A Bucs fan's emotional barometer doesn't swing between elation and disappointment so much as it varies only in degrees of misery.

Even the team's best seasons have ended in ruin.

And this one might, too, although the Bucs have shown they can win in cold weather (which was once a sticking point) and that their defensive unit is as good as any in the game. They're an underdog to the Eagles, but, as bettors here and elsewhere know, that means next to nothing.

There's no cheering in the press box, so this will remain a quiet vigil. Yet it's one made easier by believing I've always looked good in red.