I'd like to start by saying that as a long-suffering Eagles fan, I shed no tears for those of you over in Bucs Nation. Now, that that's out of the way...
The Yucks!: Two Years in Tampa with the Losingest Team in NFL History by Jason Vuic
On Sale August 30, 2016
Published by Simon and Schuster
Rating: ★★★★
Perhaps no professional sports team has been so ubiquitous for being so bad than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They became a national joke, regularly featuring as the punchline on Johnny Caron's Tonight Show. They wore uniforms lovingly mocked as being creamsicle in color, and their winking, effeminate mascot was out of place in the testosterone driven world of the 1970s National Football League. Of course none of that would have mattered had they won. But they lost. Badly.
Starting in 1976, the Bucs would go on to lose their first 26 regular season games, some games failing to put up a single point on the board. Their owner was a notorious cheapskate who painted the team facility walls white so that he wouldn't have to buy a projection screen for reviewing game tape. His refusal to pay players would ultimately cost him Bo Jackson and super-bowl winning quarterback Doug Williams. The coach, John McKay, was a 1970s and more likable version of Chip Kelly. He exhausted his players with two-a-day practices in the triple digit heat, and his roster became a revolving door. It wasn't uncommon for a player to join the Bucs on a Monday and be gone by Wednesday. At one point, they tried out their Coke delivery man because they thought he might be able to kick balls. McKay became more famous for his one-liners than his coaching skill. When asked how he felt about his team's execution, he notoriously answered: "I'm all for it."
I'm a huge football fan. I would not recommend this book for people who aren't. If you don't know game terminology, you won't get a lot out of this book. For fans, however, both of the team and the sport, this book is a bit of fun to get you ready for the upcoming season.
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