Kickoff Curse Finally Gets The Boot

Published: Dec 18, 2007

Many sports franchise are said to be afflicted with "curses" and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have suffered more than most.

During much of the 1980s and early '90s, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffered one dismal season after another, they were said to be under a number of spells - they couldn't win in cold weather, they couldn't make the playoffs, they couldn't field a decent quarterback.

The Bucs through the years eventually dispelled all these curses, but one persisted: Never in the history of the franchise had a Buc returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

Sunday the Bucs banished that curse when Micheal Spurlock returned a first-quarter kick 90 yards for a touchdown at Raymond James Stadium. The fans and Spurlock's teammates went crazy and someone outside the region might understandably have asked, "What's the big deal?"

But that touchdown run took 32 seasons, 498 games, 1,865 tries and 141 different players.

It was a big deal.

We hope from now on Bucs will score on kickoffs often enough that it won't be.