TAMPA — So, hell froze over. Pigs flew. And one day before the 12th of Never, the Bucs snapped a 0-26 losing streak to start their expansion franchise and won their first game by beating the Saints 33-14.
It happened on Dec. 11, 1977. And I missed it. I would’ve been playing an amateur winter league baseball doubleheader in St. Petersburg that Sunday.
But thanks to technology, you can sit down and watch the whole game 40 years later on YouTube.
That’s what I did, and after covering the team since 1990, I can tell you that there was something very pure about that humbling birth of the Bucs.