The atmosphere at Raymond James Stadium this Thursday night, when the Bucs take on the Redskins, will be nothing like a regular season game. The stands will feel less like a viewing section for a professional football game and more like a parent-organized dance, with a spiked punch bowl, for all the kids who didn't get asked to prom.
The play on the field should be intense though. These guys (on both teams) are competing for their lives out there. By Saturday, of the current 75 man rosters around the league, only 53 will make their respective teams. That makes this, the Bucs’ last preseason game of 2014, the finishing chance for many of the fringe players suiting up on Thursday night to turn their NFL dreams into reality.
The atmosphere in the stands won’t quite reflect this drama though. And that’s OK.
I was at the Bucs’ last home preseason game — the game against the Dolphins two weeks ago, the 16-20 loss. It was a docile show, from the play on the field to the attitude in the stands — but I loved it. I didn't miss the drunken, screaming fan in the Sherbert-orange Derrick Brooks jersey whose entire existence depends upon each successful passage of sewn pigskin from beneath the ass of one man into the awaiting hands of another. Hanging out at a roomy Raymond James Stadium with a few lackadaisical fans — people who worked all week and just want (need) to get out of the house; fathers with kids too young to know the difference between preseason and regular season football; tail-gate go-hards; and people who won free tickets as part of a work promotion — was a nice way to take in a game.
There were no lines for beers or bathrooms. No one was belligerent or too serious. You could sit wherever you wanted by halftime, check out a few big-name rookies, like Mike Evans (who fumbled near the end zone during a pretty crucial possession) and actually hear what the person next to you was saying. It was easy to sit back and just take it all in — the crowd, the stadium view, the game, the summer air. I have to say — I'd recommend the experience. I just wonder whether I'll remember any of the jersey numbers of any of the players whose dreams will be dashed come 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, when final cuts are made. I felt no drama on the field while they were playing, so I doubt I'll feel any of it when I read the cuts. Maybe later on though, down the road, at the end of the season, I'll take a look at a few of the players who weren't supposed to have made the team and marvel at how close they were to defeat, playing for their professional livelihood in the final preseason game of the year, only to be born into the role of budding-superstar. I guarantee there will be a few come season's end.
The Bucs final preseason game is Thursday, Aug 28, at 7:30 p.m. For tickets and information visit buccaneers.com