The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Story

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were left without a single win in their first season, but they did not lose hope. In 2003, the Bucs defeated the Oakland Raiders 48-21 claiming their first Super Bowl victory! Follow the BucsÕ highs and lows in this book about underdogs for beginning readers.

"Middle grade football fans are introduced to the extraordinary history of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a photo-laden narrative of their greatest successes and losses"--

Presents the history of the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, surveying the franchise's biggest stars and most memorable moments from its inaugural season in 1976 to today.

Each National Football League team has a unique story. The My First NFL Book series introduces readers to the 32 NFL teams. Each title explores an NFL team’s major records, stars, stadium, history, statistics and more.

Friday Night Lights meets The Bad News Bears in “a brisk, warmhearted reminder of how professional sports can occasionally reach stunning unprofessional depths” (Publishers Weekly): the first two seasons with the worst team in NFL history, the hapless, hilarious, and hopelessly winless 1976­–1977 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Long before their first Super Bowl victory in 2003, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did something no NFL team had ever done before and that none will ever likely do again: They lost twenty-six games in a row. This was no ordinary streak. Along with their ridiculous mascot and uniforms, which were known as “the Creamsicles,” the Yucks were a national punch line and personnel purgatory. Owned by the miserly and bulbous-nosed Hugh Culverhouse, the team was the end of the line for Heisman Trophy winner and University of Florida hero Steve Spurrier, and a banishment for former Cowboy defensive end Pat Toomay after he wrote a tell-all book about his time on “America’s Team.” Many players on the Bucs had been out of football for years, and it wasn’t uncommon for them to have to introduce themselves in the huddle. They were coached by the ever-quotable college great John McKay. “We can’t win at home and we can’t win on the road,” he said. “What we need is a neutral site.” But the Bucs were a part of something bigger, too. They were a gambit by promoters, journalists, and civic boosters to create a shared identity for a region that didn’t exist—Tampa Bay. Before the Yucks, “the Bay” was a body of water, and even the worst team in memory transformed Florida’s Gulf communities into a single region with a common cause. The Yucks is “a funny, endearing look at how the Bucs lost their way to success, cementing a region through creamsicle unis and John McKay one-liners” (Sports Illustrated).

Traces the history of the team from its beginnings through 2002.

This title examines the history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, telling the story of the franchise and its top players, greatest games, and most thrilling moments. This book includes informative sidebars, high-energy photos, a timeline, a team file, and a glossary. SportsZone is an imprint of Abdo Publishing Company.

WITH A FOREWORD BY COACH BRUCE ARIANS The extraordinary behind-the-scenes story of how Coach Bruce Arians, Tom Brady, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came together to deliver one of the most improbable Super Bowl victories in NFL history. The pursuit was so shrouded in secrecy that it was referred to within the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ organization by codename: Operation Shoeless Joe Jackson. Indeed, the prospect of Tom Brady, six-time Super Bowl champion and widely-acknowledged greatest football player ever, joining the Bucs, a historically hapless franchise that hadn’t made the playoffs in more than a decade, seemed about as likely as Jackson emerging out of an Iowa cornfield in the movie Field of Dreams. But come Brady did. At age forty-three, pushing the boundaries of football mortality and without Bill Belichick by his side for the first time in his NFL career, this would be the ultimate test for the ultimate football legacy. Brady’s new coach, Bruce Arians, also had much to prove. One of the great offensive minds of his generation, Arians returned to coaching in 2018, at the age of 65, in search of the one achievement that had eluded him throughout his illustrious career: a Super Bowl championship. Together, like so many aged snowbirds, Brady and Arians had decamped to Florida to make the most of their remaining years. Renowned sports journalist Lars Anderson was granted extraordinary access to the inner workings of the Bucs’ organization. The result is a remarkable work of sports journalism, peppered with wild inside stories and new insights into Brady, Arians, and the Bucs. From the practice facility to the team plane, from the garage where Brady treats his footballs to the huddle on gameday, Anderson captures the rhythms of perhaps the strangest NFL season ever, turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. In his telling, the Bucs’ quest for one glorious season in the sun becomes a riveting sports epic.

Students will love learning about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in this high-interest title! Text covers the team's history, memorable wins, star players, and important coaches. Readers are left with an introductory background of the NFL and the Buccaneers. Features include table of contents, fun facts, team stats, timeline, quiz, glossary, and index. Aligned to Common Core standards and correlated to state standards. Big Buddy Books is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

This title focuses on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and gives information related to the team's origin in the NFL, their journey through the decades, and highlighting their Hall of Fame players. This hi-lo title is complete with vibrant photographs, simple text, a glossary, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Fly! is an imprint of Abdo Zoom, a division of ABDO.