Hank Stram

I remember his words, spoken (on TV) in the midst of another terrible Bucs season during the 80's, during another terrible game, probably coached by Leeman Bennett.

He said, "I don't know anything about football. If I did, I'd be down there on the sideline, coaching. But..."

and then, he pointed out a flaw in the reasoning of the Bucs' coach... one that was critical, a major contributing factor in another Buccaneer loss... and he left me with the feeling that he would really love a shot coaching our Bucs, that he really felt he could do a better job than Bennett or whoever was the coach at that time.

And yet, much earlier, in the 70's, after the Bucs had lost 26 teams, they finally won their first game ever. And wouldn't you know it, the coach of the losing team was none other than... him.

I'm not sure what it all means, except i can tell you what it meant to me: I wanted him to coach our team in the 80's. I thought we could win with him, and he surely would have taken the job...

Now he's gone. I feel like I knew him well, because I probably watched 100 games which featured him as color commentator. I liked him. I wanted him to coach my team.

RIP, Coach Stram.