The Bucs First Championship: A Dozen Days in January

Tuesday January 21, 2003

There were several interesting story lines going into Super Bowl XXXVII. Today was Media Day at the Super Bowl and the media covered both the interesting and inane.

One of the big stories was Jon Gruden. The Bucs had given up high draft picks and cash to Oakland to make Gruden the Tampa Bay coach. Since he was facing his old team, some dubbed the game the "Gruden Bowl" or the "Chucky Bowl." Gruden tried, unsuccessfully, to down play the fact he was coaching the Raiders last season. "They obviously don't miss me very much," the head coach said. Gruden also talked about the publicity he was getting. "This game is all about the players. All I hope to be is a side-bar in the lower right corner of page nineteen."

There was also plenty of talk and analysis about how the game would match the league's number one defense against the league's number one offense. Simeon Rice probably got the best quote in about that fact. "I think we're just facing the Bizarro World Buccaneers. It's like they're the antithesis of what we are. They're number-one in offense, we're number-one in defense." Since he is known for good quotes, a crowd gathered around Rice. He talked about his improvement over the last couple of seasons. "In Arizona, I was marinating. Now, I'm sauteed. I'm cooked and ready to go."

When it comes to the media, and good quotes, few played to the assembled horde better than Warren Sapp. "Media day is crazy. It's like a feeding frenzy, but you have to love it." Sapp talked about the Bucs history. "We were the laughingstock of the league for a long time and we had to turn it around. Years and years of bad football take a whole make-over and that means a lot of Mary Kay. I think we were the biggest Mary Kay project you could ever find. It's great to share this with anyone who ever wore that icicle orange."

There was the story about John Lynch coming home to play in the Super Bowl. Lynch, and Michael Pittman as well, had grown up in the San Diego area. There was Martin Gramatica giving interviews to Spanish speaking reporters. There was a reporter imitating boxing promoter Dong King and asking stupid questions. It was a typical Media Day.

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