They came from down in Gator Country
They were the pride of Tampa Bay.
They played football and were called the Bandits
And they thought they're brand of ball was here to stay (kind of wrong)
Looked out world there came the Bandits
Running proud and standing tall
Come on folks let's catch the fever,
be a BanditBall believer
We believe you're gonna love Bandit Ball!!
Thirty years ago today, the Tampa Bay Bandits beat the Boston Breakers 21-15 in their first game. It was at home at Tampa Stadium, where a very very young and profane Steve Spurrier started the game with an onside kick. For the next three years, I had the most fun watching football I ever had.
Wouldn't it be a lot more fun to be watching football than the combine right now?
Rest in Peace, John Bassett, and the Bandits. Their slogan was all the fun the law allows, and at least for me, they lived up to it.
They came from down in Gator Country
They were the pride of Tampa Bay.
They played football and were called the Bandits
And they thought they're brand of ball was here to stay (kind of wrong)
Looked out world there came the Bandits
Running proud and standing tall
Come on folks let's catch the fever,
be a BanditBall believer
We believe you're gonna love Bandit Ball!!
Thirty years ago today, the Tampa Bay Bandits beat the Boston Breakers 21-15 in their first game. It was at home at Tampa Stadium, where a very very young and profane Steve Spurrier started the game with an onside kick. For the next three years, I had the most fun watching football I ever had.
Wouldn't it be a lot more fun to be watching football than the combine right now?
Rest in Peace, John Bassett, and the Bandits. Their slogan was all the fun the law allows, and at least for me, they lived up to it.
Yeah. those were fun days indeed. Sorry, arena football just doesn't do it for me.
But you had to wait a year to watch Jerry Goldstein tear it up, or watch Reggie Collier run run run.
Hey, but franchise tags are fun to talk about, too.
It's just amazing that when football is talked about all year round -- when UF and Bama and Texas and OSU and Oregon can bring thousands of people to a stadium for a spring game that people don't think Spring Football would work. My buddy and I were talking about it -- if you brought back JV College football and let them play in the summer, they'd get 50K to games.
Football is just more fun than basketball or baseball Wish we had more of it.
I was there. There's a great documentary called "The Final Season" that details Basset's cancer, the locker room fights about Eric Truvillion's lack of desire to play and the last days of the Bandits.
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__________________ "Fredo, you're my older brother and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever."
-- Michael Corleone, "The Godfather"
I saw that movie when it came out -- had to drive from Gainesville to St. Pete to watch it.
The only thing I didn't like about it was that they didn't have the rights to the songs -- so the BanditBall theme wasn't in it, which stunk. Nole or not, the whole Burt Reynolds, Loni Anderson, Dom Deluise, Jerry Reed thing was a big part of that marketing and that team. They had a store at the mall right down the street from the stadium where you could buy everything, including game jerseys. I think I bought four or five. They knew how to make the college fan a part of that team -- Gator coach, a famous Nole and Georgia colors. Out of the whole USFL, only they and Birmingham really understood how to make it work. The rest lost money because they didn't understand how to market. In a town like Denver, for example, the Gold led the league in attendance. Until they said they were going to go head to head with the beloved Broncos -- then attendance died.
I also remember that Steve was very very profane in that movie -- it's funny because just before it came out, he really got on ... maybe Chris Harry (who was at the Trib then) for saying he had said "Goddamn." And then you see the movie with him cussing up a storm.
The 85 season was the worst of the three -- there were the battles with Orlando's nascent franchise, and mostly the whole idea that it was fading away. Once Bassett was gone, the whole thing fell apart pretty quick. And Bassett had gone slightly crazy at the end -- if he hadn't died, it would have lasted. I don't know how long, but it would have lasted.
About ET -- I saw him in the stands once that season, and asked him when he was coming back. He just smiled.
Thanks, I seldom think of the Bandits any more but they were a lot of fun while they lasted. It doesn't seem like a million or even thirty years to me, seems like just the other day.
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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
You're right. The Bandits were a fun team to watch. Too bad the league didn't last longer.
__________________ Saturday, May 18, 2013. Armed Forces Day U.S.A. Always thankful for the magnificent Men and Women who have served, and are serving, in the U.S. Military.
We lived in the Tampa area during those years. The games were so much fun...much more entertaining than the Bucs. When the league folded a LOT of USFL players ended up in the NFL.
The league was rich in future NFL quarterbacks with Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Doug Williams, Doug Flutie, Brian Sipe and Bobby Hebert. Three consecutive Heisman winners signed with the league.
__________________
Learn about my daughter's Ugandan home for orphans with AIDS at www.africaourownhome.org
If you really want to know what the USFL was like, this 30 for 30 special captures it perfectly. While it is themed around Trump's lawsuit, they tell the history of the league with lots of highlights and interviews. Rick Neuheisel, a QB in the league, gives a hilarious interview about playing for a team a little short on cash.
__________________
Learn about my daughter's Ugandan home for orphans with AIDS at www.africaourownhome.org
My dad used to take me to the Bulls games. Some of my first football memories came from those. Even at age 7 I thought the league was a bit funny when the Bulls owner ran on the field to argue with the refs.
I was there. There's a great documentary called "The Final Season" that details Basset's cancer, the locker room fights about Eric Truvillion's lack of desire to play and the last days of the Bandits.
They came from down in Gator Country
They were the pride of Tampa Bay.
They played football and were called the Bandits
And they thought they're brand of ball was here to stay (kind of wrong)
Looked out world there came the Bandits
Running proud and standing tall
Come on folks let's catch the fever,
be a BanditBall believer
We believe you're gonna love Bandit Ball!!
Thirty years ago today, the Tampa Bay Bandits beat the Boston Breakers 21-15 in their first game. It was at home at Tampa Stadium, where a very very young and profane Steve Spurrier started the game with an onside kick. For the next three years, I had the most fun watching football I ever had.
Wouldn't it be a lot more fun to be watching football than the combine right now?
Rest in Peace, John Bassett, and the Bandits. Their slogan was all the fun the law allows, and at least for me, they lived up to it.
Biggest break in SOS's life, IMO. I've always wondered what SOS's take was on Bassett and the chance he gave him. OC at Duke to HC of a Professional (not NFL, but closer than a lot believe) football team and with the power to run his offense the way he wanted.
That, folks, was the real birth of the FnG. Not sure we even hire him in 1990 without those Bandit years.
Also, who would believe that Burt and Spurs would have made such good bedfellows.
We lived in the Tampa area during those years. The games were so much fun...much more entertaining than the Bucs. When the league folded a LOT of USFL players ended up in the NFL.
The league was rich in future NFL quarterbacks with Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Doug Williams, Doug Flutie, Brian Sipe and Bobby Hebert. Three consecutive Heisman winners signed with the league.
Don't forget Reggie White, Hershel, Mike Rozier and a crapload of others. Wasn't Bruce Smith also a USFL alum?
Biggest break in SOS's life, IMO. I've always wondered what SOS's take was on Bassett and the chance he gave him. OC at Duke to HC of a Professional (not NFL, but closer than a lot believe) football team and with the power to run his offense the way he wanted.
That, folks, was the real birth of the FnG. Not sure we even hire him in 1990 without those Bandit years.
Great point- never thought of it that way but you are probably right.
Great point- never thought of it that way but you are probably right.
It was huge, IMO. Also interesting, IMO, is that I believe Burt had a major role in targeting Spurrier. For some of the younger members, that's why SOS is the King Gator (sorry Sid). At that time, he was one of the biggest names in the state when it came to football. My grandmother (LSU grad from Miss, FSU fan and big southern football fan) talked of him back then with the kind of reverence she reserved for Archie Manning, Stabler, Namath and Burt Jones. I think Burt knew SOS would sell tickets because of both his name and style. Great move for the Bandits and Spurrier.
One of those interesting crossroad moments in time, IMO, that effected a lot of folks. Who knows, if he stays at Duke, perhaps he saves the then coach's job and has to go to somewhere like Utah for his first HC gig. Perhaps that doesn't go well and he's not as prized as he was in 1990 and we hire Schnellenberger. Hell, we may have still won, but we certainly wouldn't have had the Camelot years of 1990-2001.
It was huge, IMO. Also interesting, IMO, is that I believe Burt had a major role in targeting Spurrier. For some of the younger members, that's why SOS is the King Gator (sorry Sid). At that time, he was one of the biggest names in the state when it came to football. My grandmother (LSU grad from Miss, FSU fan and big southern football fan) talked of him back then with the kind of reverence she reserved for Archie Manning, Stabler, Namath and Burt Jones. I think Burt knew SOS would sell tickets because of both his name and style. Great move for the Bandits and Spurrier.
One of those interesting crossroad moments in time, IMO, that effected a lot of folks. Who knows, if he stays at Duke, perhaps he saves the then coach's job and has to go to somewhere like Utah for his first HC gig. Perhaps that doesn't go well and he's not as prized as he was in 1990 and we hire Schnellenberger. Hell, we may have still won, but we certainly wouldn't have had the Camelot years of 1990-2001.
Re: Burt Reynolds and Spurrier- Probably tough for the young ones to believe but FSU/ UF were not bitter enemies in the mid 80s. We were obsessed by the Poodles. FSU and UF were almost friendly rivals so Burt probably thought of Spurrier as "one of us." Plus the state of Florida was a CFB backwater (esp in 1966) and Reynolds was probably grateful for the attention to the state.
Re: 1990 coaching hire. The rumor was we were going to hire Mike Archer. Then Duke won the ACC in 89 and Archer became an afterthought. I'm no insider but that was my impression.
They came from down in Gator Country
They were the pride of Tampa Bay.
They played football and were called the Bandits
And they thought they're brand of ball was here to stay (kind of wrong)
Looked out world there came the Bandits
Running proud and standing tall
Come on folks let's catch the fever,
be a BanditBall believer
We believe you're gonna love Bandit Ball!!
Thirty years ago today, the Tampa Bay Bandits beat the Boston Breakers 21-15 in their first game. It was at home at Tampa Stadium, where a very very young and profane Steve Spurrier started the game with an onside kick. For the next three years, I had the most fun watching football I ever had.
Wouldn't it be a lot more fun to be watching football than the combine right now?
Rest in Peace, John Bassett, and the Bandits. Their slogan was all the fun the law allows, and at least for me, they lived up to it.
I was a kid growing up in Sarasota. I remember when Doug Williams left the Bucs to go play for the the Arizona/Oklahoma Outlaws. He came back to play the Bandits. My dad and I sat right under the scoreboard. About 50,000 showed up and ruthlessly boooood Williams all night. I loved the Bandits. They would have beaten the Bucs and sometimes outdrew them.
"The Donald" ruined the leagu and probably cost us year round football.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tablet using Gator Country
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UNCovered SCUMmy ViOLatiOnS rUnning amUcK For SUre
30 years ago today -- I am a million years old
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