Got a post-mortem season poll for the Bucs up over at Sticks of Fire regarding the team’s direction. Please head on over there to vote, kvetch and all that jazz.

The site note I have to bring up is a change to the anti-spam plugin employed here at Boltsmag. I’ve just switched to the built in anti-spam Akismet plugin for Wordpress due to a conflict inspired by Spam Karma on my other blogs. The technical mumbo jumbo shouldn’t effect many (or any) on Boltsmag but if you suddenly find your comments locked-out, please get in touch with me over the problem.

Red Tide News has been a local source for football, snark and satire regarding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NFL. It’s undergone lots of changes over the years (along with quite a few missing-in-action periods where the site founder goes… well, MIA) but it’s still out there on them fancy fangled intertubes. Recently re-designed (and if you’d like to check out previous designs and previous stories, use the Way Back Machine) and relaunched, the local granddaddy of blogs and sports satire mainstay remains a standard for hilarity.

Since 1999, Red Tide News has been one of many, many destinations on the Internets. Once a powerful beacon of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer hooligan scene, RTN has over the years transformed into a somewhat less-powerful beacon for sports fans in Tampa Bay, bored cubicle-workers in Tampa Bay, and confused marine biologists looking for information about the algal bloom commonly referred to as red tide.

You can read more on the About page or perhaps you can just dive in and check things out yourself. There isn’t so much right now, but that’s due to the switch over.

…but this is more fun. Especially after that mockery disguised as a sporting event.

Overdue, in fact… But I will support his removal (along with Bruce Allen) cuz I roll like that. No wait, it’s more like “because he’s let the defense rot and can’t do crap with the offense, is too endeared to a non-performing coaching staff and elder players past their prime on the O as well.”

But that’s just me. Ah well…

I moderated a discussion between Ski of Best Bucs Blog and Scott of BucStats this week concerning the Buccaneers upcoming season… Though we rambled quite a bit with the discussion and not all of that is included, you can check out part one now at Sticks of Fire…

…Part Two has now been published.

The whole thing was a ton of fun and I really wish we could have gone on for a while. Of course, giving questions and witty retorts to replies is easier than what Scott and Ski had to do in giving answers. Hats off to them.

Tommy sent me a story this afternoon about the Buccaneers having what is termed as the largest non-US flag now flying at their complex near Raymond James stadium.

My only thought on this was thus: I had no clue that the Buccaneers are going into the car business! Why else do you need an 80 foot by 50 foot flag like this? It seems like used car dealerships are the only ones who need them (as an attempt to grab attention).

Scott and Ski will both argue how much of a clunker this Buccaneer team will be termed as. But let me just say I don’t believe the team is legal under the Lemon Law to begin with. They could prove me wrong but I’m not holding out hope.

(hat tip to Tommy)

Still a little loopy and out of it post-op. Everyone’s seen me around of course covering the uniform situation and the like the last few days, so yes I am operating back on normal parameters… Just not physically firing on all cylinders offline.

Anyway, I have to voice a concern about something that’s gone missing in the Lightning Blogosphere (or Boltosphere to paraphrase a term Tapeleg threw out last night about the Canuck fans online).

Where the hell has Lightning Hockey Central gone?!?

My focus, as a blogger, was off for most of 2006 as I concentrated more on a volunteer gig than on covering the Lightning and what not. I didn’t get back in gear until last winter and Lightning Hockey Central was one of the sites that filled the Boltosphere void in my absence. I’ll be frank that I felt a little threatened when I first learned of the place because I was used to being the pseudo-lone Bolts blogger out there (I was aware of Bolt Prospects and the LiveJournal community which isn’t so open bloggish, I wasn’t aware of Bolts Blog or Erin’s Tampa Bay Lightning blog). But then I woke up - you gotta embrace your co-patriots and varied opinions concerning your team, not feel threatened by them. It’s like Ski and Scott with Best Bucs Blog and BucStats respectively - they may not always agree but they’ve got one central thing that matters most — the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their love for that damned franchise.

I lament for the (temporary?) loss of Lightning Hockey Central. The site hadn’t been updated since March even when it was operating but it mattered as a varying (even a more informed) voice than my own.

I also request here — through comments — that others point out other Lightning fan sites and blogs. Some I’ve been tipped off about in the past but never added to my “fan sites” blogroll due to quality issues. Others (Thunderdome News specifically) are listed where appropriate (though TDN was just moved from Message Boards to the Boltosphere as it’s taken a decidedly un-message board turn).

We’ve got a poll up over on Sticks of Fire pertaining to the local football scene in Tampa Bay. Which team will be more formidable in their respective division: The NFL’s Buccaneers or the South Florida Bulls in the Big East? Join the discussion, cast your vote.

My good buddy Tommy Duncan at Sticks of Fire took the time Monday to break the news to me that over the weekend the Philadelphia Phillies became the first American pro sports franchise to reach 10,000 losses.

“Lets put a new poll up on Sticks of Fire asking who’s gonna’ be the next sports team to lose 10,000 games,” Tommy suggested, and include all of Tampa Bay’s pro sports teams as answers.

“That poll doesn’t make sense,” I told Tommy. “Only one local team even has an outside shot at it and it’ll take about 100 years.”

“You’re too damned serious,” Tommy retorted.

“I’m not being serious,” I told him. “I’m being logical. The Rays play 162 games in a season. The Bucs play 16. The Lightning play 82. Who do you vote for with that knowledge? Do the math.”

Now, any long time local sports aficionado can tell you that it feels like Tampa Bay teams have lost over 10,000 games already. The Bucs had 14 straight double-digit losing seasons before 1996, the Lightning had back-to-back-to-back 50 loss seasons, and the Devil Rays… are the Devil Rays. In honesty, the Bucs are 193-304-1 (.388) in the team’s 30 year history, the Lightning are 415-553-113-38 (.384) in 14 seasons, and the Devil Rays are 615-932 (.398) in 9+ seasons. For those of you with no calculator, that equals 1,223 wins and 1,789 losses (including OTL), and 39 ties.

Grudgingly, Tommy conceded the point (but I swear, I could hear him mumble “party pooper” under his breath), but his poll concept gave me an idea of my own: What is the next major feat to be accomplished in Tampa Bay sports?

The poll is currently posted on Sticks of Fire, have a look will ya?

Mentioning the Bucs kickoff-return-for-a-touchdown drought was a no-brainer to begin. The Buccaneers are oh-fer the franchise (that means the team has scored a grand total of zero (0) times on kickoff returns), making it the most renowned non-accomplishment in Tampa Bay sports.

The Rays winning their division seemed like the next choice as the team has yet to win more than 70 games in a season, let alone challenge for anything more than 4th place in Major League Baseball’s AL East.

From there it got murky. The Lightning have won the Stanley Cup, they’ve had the league MVP, they’ve had the league scoring leader… They’ve even had the most gentlemanly player in the league! What the hell could their next challenge be? Well, seeing it took the New York Rangers 54 years between Stanley Cup championships and the current longest drought in the NHL is 40 years (held by those crazy kids in Toronto, East Canucklestan) having the Lightning win the Stanley Cup a second time seemed like a good choice.

Speaking of franchises, will Tampa Bay get an NBA team before any of the aforementioned goals are reached? What about a new Major League Soccer team? Heck, there are so many feats to add to the list that we’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments.

John asked for my thoughts on the draft this weekend in regards to the Buccaneers. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I am simply sour on the local ball team ever since they won Super Bowl XXXVII. Here’s my roundabout way of expressing that:

John: Are you another Calvin Johnson acolyte or do you actually have some thoughts on things that we need instead of want?

Tommy: When Tony Dungy & Rich McKay were running things, i knew what they would do in the draft, and if i DINT know what they would do, I had complete confidence in their abilities to get the right piece of the puzzle.

Since then is another story. I can never tell what Gruden is thinking. And even afterward, i’m scratching my head on his picks. In addition, the end result is generally just average. They haven’t done a horrible job, but haven’t had any picks pan into a WOW, either.

So….

In summary, I’m just not gonna guess anymore, and will try not to be surprised at what they do.

It’s just not easy to get excited about the team with Bruce Allen and Jon Gruden running the show - I don’t understand the way they think. I’m wondering if the rest of the Tampa Bay is starting to feel like this?

My opinion and expectations of the Buccaneers are at their lowest level since 1994… I don’t say this because of simply the flip between winning and losing seasons but I do mean overall direction of the franchise and it’s decent into mediocrity.

That being said, I’m not going to go into talking draft stuff. No sir, there are two great Buccaneer blogs that will have the bases covered for you come Saturday when the Bucs screw up make their selection.

Make sure you check out Buc’Em which has ongoing draft coverage as well as a poll about who should be the Bucs #1 pick. And if you need more and want a little more razz, snark and color — make sure you drop in on ski and his Best Bucs Blog with in depth discussion of mock drafts, in depth mocking of past drafts, etc…

And of course if you want no seriousness whatsoever and like your Satire well done concerning the Buccaneers — get toxic with the Red Tide News. It may not be up to date or up to the minute but Toe and company keep you laughing and have so for years now.

And where would I be without making a plug for FanHome’s NFL Entry Draft thread and Rumors and Draft discussion forum?