“It’s been a great journey thus far … we’ve worked really hard to get to this point…”

Tampa Bay Buccaneer first-year quarterback Tom Brady said those words following his team’s 31-26 victory over Green Bay Sunday in the NFC Championship game at Lambeau Field.

However, with all due respect to the greatest quarterback of all time (it isn’t even debatable at this point), the only Tom that has been on a “journey” with the Buccaneers is a middle-aged regional sports editor in Southeast Missouri, not the guy who will soon be playing in his 10th Super Bowl.

Brady hasn’t even been part of this oft-sorrowful franchise for a full year, while I have been enduring its (mostly) hardships since the Gerald Ford presidency (look the date up, millennials).

The only thing more frustrating than being a fan of the Buccaneers is having had to endure the skepticism of the past 10 months from those not believing that I actually AM a fan of the “Pirates in pewter pants.”

Since Brady signed with Tampa in March of last year, any time I sport my Buccaneer gear I inevitably am interrogated.

“Are you a fan of Brady or the Buccaneers?”

The answer is both. Now.

I have never been a Brady-hater, even when he played for New England. Like all sports franchises outside of “my teams," I’m agnostic.

I root for the Buccaneers, the Tampa Bay Lightning (proving it is my year in sports), the St. Louis Cardinals, the Indiana Pacers, Notre Dame football, and Butler basketball.

Any other team? Whatever. There is no hate on my part, only disinterest.

Young and naive

My affection for this franchise originated at the impressionable age of 10 when I laid eyes on the splendid orange-and-white uniforms and that super-suave pirate logo. I wasn’t cognizant of the fact that the team only had one good player (defensive end Lee Roy Selmon), though then-coach John McKay was.

Mired in a 26-game losing streak to open the franchise, McKay was infamously asked what he thought of his team’s execution.

“I’m all for it,” quipped the dead-pan coach.

The franchise has mostly been deplorable due to inane decision-making.

This is a team that:

* traded away Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young,

* drafted a Heisman Trophy winner (Bo Jackson), who really wanted to play baseball (imagine my pre-internet astonishment to learn that Jackson even PLAYED baseball),

* fired a Super Bowl-winning coach in Tony Dungy,

* fired a Super Bowl-winning coach in Jon Gruden

* replaced Gruden with some defensive backs coach (Raheem Morris)

* and wouldn’t give quarterback Doug Williams a contract extension, yet thought it prudent to draft Vinny Testaverde, Trent Dilfer, and Jameis Winston

In the late 1980s, my best friend (Jeff Goad) sat me down for a “sports intervention.”

“Man,” Goad said somberly, “you have to pick a new team.”

My wife wasn’t part of that “Come to Dungy” sit-down, but she too has been drug into my sports Hell.

Early in our marriage, my wife and I resided in Hilton Head Island, S.C. and we drove to nearby (relatively speaking) Florida to get some Tampa Bay gear so I could ‘rep’ my team.

We ultimately spent the weekend driving all over northern Florida desperately seeking a store – any store – that sold Buccaneer merchandise.

“Nobody likes that team,” one sales clerk stated (too) bluntly.

As if that was news to me.

Getting defensive

The similarities between the 2002 Buccaneers’ championship team and this year are eerily similar.

Tampa has packaged an experienced coach (Bruce Arians) with a veteran quarterback and features a Hall of Fame-caliber defense.

The 2020 Tampa defense certainly isn’t to the level of the 2002 group – yet - but it will be by the time these guys are finished.

Much will be made over the next two weeks of Brady’s influence on the franchise (and with good reason), however, the Buccaneer’s season would have ended last week in New Orleans if it weren’t for the defensive side of the ball.

Live in the now

The NFL is short for “Not For Long” and that applies to this team’s window of championship opportunity.

Brady is 43 years old and Tampa is a franchise that has a history of self-implosion. I’m not counting on this being anything more than an opportunity to enjoy this particular sports moment, for it very well may be fleeting.

I’m going to embrace the euphoria of the next two weeks – past travails aside - and any skeptics (there will be many) won’t be able to douse my giddiness.

Tom Davis is the Regional Sports Editor for the Southeast Missourian and Semoball.com.