The lost generation of Bucs football.
That's what we're living in, just in case you don't know.
I never thought it would happen again, that nothing would ever come close to the 1983-96 Bucs.
I was wrong.
These Bucs hit the reverse magic number Sunday in Baltimore _ that not-so elusive ninth loss, another link in the chain around their necks. For the 29th time in 43 seasons, the Bucs won't be winners. They're losers. Again. Another sinking ship.
They've lost the town the town they should own. They've maybe lost some children who might have grown up Bucs fans. It's like the kids who can't stay up for World Series games and lose touch with baseball. Except the Bucs mostly have done this in broad daylight.
When your last playoff season was 2007, and your last playoff win was Super Bowl night 2003, there are casualties.
Once upon a time in this town, playoff football, Bucs playoff football, was magic. You started getting ready for playoffs even before the regular season ended. There was a fever. You couldn't talk enough about the Bucs. You couldn't get enough of the Bucs.
Now we can't be rid of them soon enough.
The Lightning is a lock for the postseason and the Rays might be cooking something up this baseball season. The Bucs are on the sidelines. Again. They are an embarrassment. Again.
There is a human toll. And it's not just fans. Bucs players and coaches are stuck, at least until they're dumped.
Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter might soon be out of a job. The same goes for GM Jason Licht. And even for those who remain, they're part of a Bucs generation who might never know what playoffs are like.
Bucs Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy has never been on a playoff team. He might never be on one, either, at least here. Bucs linebacker Lavonte David is finishing up his seventh season and has no idea what a playoff week feels like. Bucs receiving Mike Evans is a star in his fifth season. His talents have never been on a postseason stage. That is a rotten shame.
There are a lot of good men on the Bucs, community men. The Bucs defensive line is throwing a party Monday night for local kids facing hard times. Presents and everything.
But this has also come to be an empty time of year for the Bucs.
Where on the Christmas tree of the last 11 seasons does the Josh Freeman ornament go? Careful, it's breakable glass. Where does the little Jameis and the Uber ornament go? Who hangs the MRSA ornament before Hazmat clears the room?
The Bucs aren't going anywhere. Again. They might finish dead last in the NFC South for sixth time in seven seasons, though it might depend on the season finale against Atlanta. A lot of people think the Falcons will come in with nothing left to play for. Right, like the Bucs will.
There will be no playoffs. Again. There will be firings. Again.
And some more fans will fall away, maybe never to return.
Pride will build as the Lightning approaches another try for the Stanley Cup. The Rays are probably the ones moving, but it feels like the Bucs have already left home, or that home has left them.
The lost generation marches on.
