Don’t cry because it happened. Smile because it’s over.
19 weeks of the weirdest, most confusing Buccaneers team in memory.
Wild highs like Tom Brady’s quintessential comebacks against the Saints and Rams.
Exasperating lows like the first three quarters of those games.
And now, after a loss to the Cowboys all too representative of this entire season’s frustrations, it’s done. We should all celebrate by getting an annual physical.
Clearly, this isn’t how Tampa Bay pictured this season ending with the greatest quarterback to walk the Earth coming back. But if we let all of the offseason unknowns breathe for a bit, there are some encouraging silver linings to getting our normal lives back. Be well, Bucs Nation. A new and better lifestyle is on the horizon.
No More Late-Night Primetime Games
One reason I’m hesitant to call Tom Brady all-the-way washed is that he at least holds the capacity to stay awake for four quarters of a primetime game. That’s something I can barely accomplish in my 30s. And I’m not even sure I can call it an actual accomplishment. It’s more like the Men in Black nodding off meme for the entire second half. If it’s indeed Brady’s last game with Tampa Bay—and it super feels like it is—we’d be hard-pressed to find more than one late-night game on next season’s slate. We’ll all get our Mondays and Tuesdays back as the very best versions of ourselves—untethered to the wild expectations of the Cardiac Bucs. We’ll all get promotions from knocking it out of the park with our extra time and productivity. We’ll finally purchase that dream house we’ve been staring at on Zillow for the past year. We’ll laugh and give each other fist bumps on the cover of the 2023 Forbes List. Wow, things just got great pretty fast.
Self-Care Sundays
Let’s face it, the whole “New Year, New You” thing doesn’t really pan out all that well when your Sundays are spent firing the cannons. Now? The opportunities are endless. Go for a bike ride. Have a long lunch with your family. Explore new things throughout the beautiful Tampa Bay area. Call a pass play on 2nd and 13. It’s your world again, baby. Our friends, significant others and loved ones will marvel at our extra shine. They’ll ask us how we’ve seemed so happy lately. Therapy? No, no, no. We just stopped watching football.
A Renewed Focus on the Pioneers of Champa Bay: The Tampa Bay Lightning
Our lone sports team still on the docket also happens to be our best. And the Bolts have recovered from a slow start to climb eerily close to where they slotted in last year’s playoffs. The one where they almost won their third-straight Stanley Cup Final. With a rejuvenated and refocused fanbase, the possibilities are sky-high. We’ll go on a late-season run to gain home ice throughout the playoffs. Eastern Conference teams will crumble at the mere idea of Amalie Arena at full strength. A fourth-straight Stanley Cup Final appearance suddenly feels inevitable. We’ll all meet for coffees on Davis Islands with Steven Stamkos and Pat Maroon. “Cigar, anyone?” Jon Cooper asks as he rolls up with Lord Stanley in his golf cart. The good times are coming, folks. And we owe it all to the 2022-23 Bucs.