Posted 6:58 AM by Bonnie

My Tampa Bay Bucs! It was bad enough when the Bucs management decided it was a good idea to fire Tony Dungy. After all, all he ever did for them was to take a losing team, a team that was the laughing stock of the NFL, and took them to the Super Bowl! But they didn't win, so the management in their infinite wisdom said he had not done enough and fired him. The John Gruden comes in, gets the great team Dungy built and wins the 2003 Super Bowl. But, Chucky, as he is affectionately? called because he resembles the Chucky doll, started getting rid of key players and the team lost it's momentum.

But now! Now they have cut me to the bone! They didn't renew my man, Warren Sapp's, contract! How dare they! This man was the heart of the team! The motivator! The one who when things looked the bleakest could spark the team and the fans with so much enthusiasm they could pull a win out of what looked like a sure loss.

He is now with the Oakland Raiders and who do they play this weekend? Yep, Oakland hosts The Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

"It's the hype that becomes bigger than anything else," Sapp said Wednesday. "The game's still played 11 on 11, bone on bone, first and second down, third down. You've got to bottle your emotions and go out and do what you're supposed to do.

"It'll be no different. I got no friends on offence. All my dogs play defence. I'm not going against them."

But he admits this one is for bragging rights. It also will be an emotional rematch of the 2003 Super Bowl, won 48-21 by the Bucs, who are led by former Raiders coach Jon Gruden.

Sapp, a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, agreed to a seven-year, $36.6 million US free agent contract with the Raiders in March.

Earlier this year, Sapp was optimistic about re-signing with the Bucs. But Tampa Bay general manager Bruce Allen - Al Davis' longtime senior assistant who left the Raiders in January - never made Sapp an offer.



The team just isn't the same with you Warren! So who's next? My beloved Martin Grammatica?

Oh and this season, without Warren Sapp, The Redskins beat the Bucs 16-10 and The Seahawks beat the Bucs 10-6. Good going Buccaneer management! You sure know how to take a winning team and turn them into a bunch of losers.