I am a Buccaneer fan and I have all the gear to prove it! I have been a Buc fan since I moved here in 1986 in the days of Jimmy Giles, Lee Roy Selmon and Doug Williams. Calvin Maghee, Donnie Elder, Ricky Reynolds, Mark Robinson, James Evans and James Wilder were my friends. After we began N-Touch News, we had press passes and we published the coaches quotes in every issue. I was even blessed to attend the Super Bowl in San Diego. I have been there for the good times and the bad! I’m sharing all of this so you will know the Bucs are my team.
Tampa Bay had a clear win over Kansas City in Super Bowl LV. Not a touchdown was given up by the Buccaneers Defense. It was said by legendary Coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, “Defense wins championships.” While I realize the awarding of the high esteemed accolade such as MVP has its own process, N-Touch news MVP for the game is Defensive Coordinator, Todd Bowles. I had a friendly wager with a buddy of mine in Dallas, Texas for the Buccaneers to win. I was pretty confident of my bet, with Mahomes having turf toe and a few players out. However, I still gave him a disclaimer before the bet because I didn’t want to hear any excuses when we won. I knew from being Black in America, that if given a chance the ref would always rule in favor of the Buccaneers now. for a Tom Brady win. We call Tom Brady the great white hope, not to take away from his G.O.A.T. title because he is all that! This time as a Buccaneer he was in my favor.
Questionable calls will always compromise the competition. All football players and coaches aspire to the Super Bowl believing they will play a fair game on a level playing field in front of millions of witnesses. This great matchup needed no help from the referees but that didn’t stop them from interfering.
It was obvious the continuous bad calls affected the spirit of the game and the Kansas City players. The NFL has to minimize the impropriety in the officiating of the game and the appearance of cheating The bad call made against Bashaud Breeland with Mike Evans was really incidental contact but one could argue that technically it was a foul. In the regular season or the playoffs, that call would not have been made. That same officiating should carry to the Super Bowl. When Tyrone Mathieu fouled Mike Evans two plays later in the end zone, that was waaay off the mark. An uncatchable ball by anyone’s eyesight that in all likelihood would have been made during the regular season and the playoffs but not in Super Bowl LV.
I had 14 people socially distanced at my home in my backyard where we enjoyed the game on my big screen. Eight of the fourteen were Buccaneer fans and six were Chief fans. Every time a bad call was made, there was no argument amongst us that the call was bad. We were all in agreement. That says something about our integrity. Questionable calls only taint the win and the NFL is responsible for ensuring that even the appearance of partiality and cheating is minimized. It is for that reason that the NFL has to take out all suspicion of impropriety in the game calls.
One of the jokes made at my Super Bowl gathering was Patrick Mahomes and Tyrann Mathieu probably felt like filing an EEOC discrimination complaint after that game lol. ` The good news is, Tom Brady texted an apology to Tyrann after the game on another questionable call in the game. What Tom Brady represented for a lot of people over the age of 40 is that you can still be relevant in the game.
In today’s fight for justice and fairness it is incumbent to eliminate questionable calls and increase consistency in officiating games to reduce the suspicion of cheating and racism in the NFL. Brady and Gronkowski had a great game, and Brady was named MVP. Yet, a subtle feeling of white privilege still lingeries in a predominantly Black sport. His award also slightly overlooked the awesome greatness of the Buccaneer defense. Otherwise, it was a great day for Tampa Bay!