About that ring of honor....

Mike Alstott will be announcing his retirement Thursday morning and the A-Train will finally reach the end of the tracks.

The question I have now is, will this finally be the player who forces the Bucs to find a way to recognize their history? As someone close to the organization pointed out to me this week, among all the many portraits hung on walls at One Buc Place, there's maybe one image that even dares show a player in creamsicle (even though I certainly can't recall ever seeing it).

The Bucs have retired just one number (Lee Roy Selmon's No. 63) and have no ring of honor type of tribute to former players or teams.

It's something the franchise has struggled with since its reinvention in the 1990s. But it's okay to bring up the past even though much of it isn't all that memorable.

In Miami, there's a statue of Dan Marino in front of Dolphin Stadium. In Green Bay, the Packers have their own hall of fame. Shouldn't something in Raymond James Stadium invoke memories of Selmon or Hardy Nickerson, maybe even Jimmie Giles -- a four-time Pro Bowl selection. Put it this way: even the Cardinals have a ring of honor, folks.

If anyone can make the Bucs nostalgic, I suppose it's Alstott. As that aforementioned individual said to me, "don't forget where you come from."

Sometimes, it seems that's exactly what the Bucs do.

Comments

[Jay]

Honestly, I don't think a Ring of Honor is going to cut it. You've got a franchise that languished in the NFL basement for decades, under terrible ownership and worse management, but their meteoric rise is the kind of story that belongs in a museum. If the Glazers can drop the money on a training facility at the old mall site, they can damn sure drop the money (and would get funding from the city no doubt) for a Tampa Bay Buccaneers Museum of Football. You can put it on that vacant land on the south side of the stadium (by the Publix sign) and connect it. It's just open grass land for overflow parking anyway. Sorry tailgaters...

Hell, they could build it 5 stories high and offer atrium seats overlooking the endzone. I don't care how they make it or market it, but give the players of the past their respect due. Retire some jerseys, honor some of the influential players, coaches, personell, and give this area a lasting reason to be proud of their team.

[Tom]

I love the Bucs but their history may not warrant a "Ring of Honor". This was one of the laughing stocks of ALL professional sports for a long time. How about a "Ring of Dishonor"? My nominations would be Charles McCrae, Jack Thompson, Broderick "Bland Man" Thomas, Rod "Toast" Jones, Leeman Bennett, etc. LOL!

[ValricoRick]

I have a hard time understanding why so called "fans" are so embarrassed of the Bucs that they have to take swipes at them every chance they get. It's as if they are afraid to say they have believed in something. When the Bucs came into the league there wasn't any free agency and the allocation draft was a joke, but yet McKay got them within one game of the Super Bowl. I saw the blur that was Leroy Selmon, and I saw the heart that was Ricky Bell. I saw a great Buc's quarterback named Doug Williams win a Super Bowl for another team, and then another one named Steve Young win another Super Bowl. I watched James Wilder carry a team, and Ray Perkins lose his grip. I watched them draft Bo Jackson anyway, and I did the whirlybird behind Sam Wyche's bench and helped make him lose his grip. Then I saw something new. I saw a commitment to winning instead of profit margin. I saw a world-class defense being built one player at a time. I was sure it was a dream when Barber picked off McNabb in Philly, and the Bucs soon after became a member of the elite NFL. Atlanta, Carolina, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Detroit, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, Minnesota, Tennessee, Seattle, San Diego, Arizona, have never won a Super Bowl, and some have never even been to one. That's half the league. I am not sure what it takes for a "fan" to speak in positive terms about his team, but I will tell you I am proud that I am, and always have been a Buc's fan.

[E.O.]

BRAVO!!!!! Well written/said, Rick!

And another thing...why NOT wear the orange jerseys again on a throwback day??? As bad as some of those TEAMS were, there were some truley great players scattered about on them over the years.

My suggestion is the Bucs wear the throwbacks on the 30th anniversary of the '79 team...and for that one game only, our starters wear the jersey numbers of the 'best' Buc players to ever play their position...in other words, whoever our starting RB is that day wears 32 (Wilder), the TE wears 88 (Giles), the LT wears 74 (Gruber), etc, etc...

[Bruce]

If the City or County paid for it, I'm sure the Bucs would be all for it. But there ain't no way the Glazers are gonna spend money on something like this.

[JayBuc]

Well said Rick. I think it has to do with the fact that the Tampa Bay area is a transplant area, where it seems the majority of the people come from somewhere else. There are few people native to the area that understand what it meant for the Bucs to come here in the first place. Yes, due to the NFL's stupidity this team suffered through 0 and forever, and due to Culverhouse's greed we endured the Yuccaneers, but they are OUR team. Support the team that just won the NFC South and is poised to get better with younger players. For all of you transplants: root for the Bucs or go back to whatever freezing hellhole you crawled out of.

[Larry]

Yeah Bruce I can see how "cheap" the Glazers are. Inadequate training facilities - possibly the most boring, "vanilla" stadium with virtually nothing added to generate fun, etc..... Cheap owners!

[Tom]

ValricoRick,
You need to relax, dude. I've watched this team since 1978 when I moved here as a child. I just bought 10 more years of seats in the West Club. So don't question my Fanhood!!LOL!

However, if you can't laugh at the joke that was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers then you're way too serious. This was a team that didn't have a winning record for over 12 years! Their overall record is 202-312. That means if the Bucs were to be 10-6 for the next 27 years straight, they would finally be .500!! Tell me that you can find a whole lot of players that deserves to be in a Ring of Honor with a history like that.

If we did have one, the obvious would be Lee Roy Selmon and Derrick Brooks.

[Florida Native]

Start a Ring of Honor NOW with these:

Lee Roy Selmon
Ricky Bell
James Wilder
Paul Gruber
Mike Alstott

Future adds (IF they finish their careers in TB):
Derrick Brooks
Ronde Barber

[tb1fan]

Does no one want to see #99 in that Ring of Honor? Sapp will probably be in the Hall of Fame sooner than Brooks (no disrespect intended, only that he just retired.) Defensive player of the year, multiple Pro bowls, #2 on francise sack list at the Defensive tackle position? Sapp surely deserves a spot.

Also, I cant really consider the rinf serious if it doesn't have Doug Williams in it.

[Lynch fan]

It's nice to see some fans mention Paul Gruber. He is a definite member of whatever way they choose to honor the great Bucs.

[steve]

We have plenty of great players ho have worn the bucs colors and settled in our community. It is time to honor them. The people who disagree on this blog are really the green bay, chicago or fans who live here and put the bucs colors away when the team from thier birth place comes to town. These fair weather fans are not bucs fans and could care less. You know who you are and so do us real Bucs fans. Go back up north PLEASE!!

[Kevin]

Some recognition of the former players mentioned is definitely due. I'd like to add Ricky Bell to the list. Even though he didn't have a long career, I believe he would have been one of the great ones if illness hadn't cut short his career and life.

[Gy De]

Here's a low cost twist, a Flag of Honor. In place of the current Buc Flags that are mounted on the east and west roofs of the RJ stadium, place extra large Flags with the Players number and name. In addition, mount flag poles at the main entrance of RJ stadium with medium size Flags of Honor and place a pewter bust of the player at the base of the flag pole. Concur with wearing the Orange Bruce uniforms during the throwback weeks.
Semper Fi Bucs

[Buc Fan]

No one has mentioned Eric Rhett. The greatest Buc player of all time! (Well, at least that's what HIS agent told him!)
Seriously, your history is your history. Good, bad or indifferent. I don't think a "Hall" is the answer but it would be great to see some of our history around the stadium. I never liked the orange uniforms but I am all for putting them on once in a while. It allows so of us long-time fans to remember the days back when! It wasn't all bad. So we had some bad teams. There we still many great individual players and staff. If you are a true fan, you should support your team no matter what the record. Just because you buy season tickets does not make you a true fan. It just means you can afford to go to a sporting event. A fan is one who wheres the colors, who sits through the WHOLE game no matter the score or weather.

[Florida Native]

"Does no one want to see #99 in that Ring of Honor?"

No, and same for Doug Williams...Ring of Honor should be reserved for career-long Bucs. I might be persuaded to reconsider Williams on the generally meritorious argument that it was more Culvernose driving him away than it was his personal choice, but of the names I listed above, I think we need to stick with great Bucs who never wore another team's colors.

[Tom]

Eric Curry, Ray Perkins, Tim Wansley, Jacquez Green and Keith McCants could also make it to the Ring of Dishonor. Throw in Bo Jackson for doing whatever he could to not play for the Buccaneers.

How about a statue of Steve Young with a face full of snow and dirt like he got in Lambeau?

[John]

It was nice to see the different names of the old players, I thought they had been forgotten, one of my favorites that I did not see and was a career Buc is Mark Cotney #33 10 years and never missed a game until his career ending injury. If you like hard hitting defensive players he was the first.