In our new summer series, we’ll take a look at several topics surrounding the Bucks this coming season and explore them from a unique perspective.
The first topic is what would happen if the Bucs wore orange pants this year for the nostalgia cream ball game.
Inspired by Marvel’s “What If…?” comics and the Marvel animated series, let’s take a look at some different possible outcomes for an intriguing Tampa Bay storyline that no one could have predicted. To be clear, this is not a topical series that The Pewter Report believes or expects to happen. Tampa Bay fans, use your imagination and prepare for surprises.
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Former Buccaneers linebackers Hardy Nickerson and Derrick Brooks – Photo: Cliff Welch/PR
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise is unique in that the team Florida’s orange, red and white uniforms. These uniforms featured a white helmet and a logo of a winking pirate named “Bucko Blues” holding a dagger in his mouth, modeled after the Australian actor Errol Flynn, who was famous for playing daredevil pirate roles in films in the 1930s and 1940s.
Tampa Bay’s uniform consisted of orange jerseys, white jerseys, and white pants until 1992, when head coach Sam Wyche adopted orange pants. Due to Tampa’s tropical climate, the Buccaneers often wore white jerseys at home, but later in the season, as the heat and humidity subsided, the team began wearing orange jerseys.
As a result, Tampa Bay primarily wears white jerseys and white pants or white jerseys and orange pants at home. Tampa Bay typically wears orange jerseys for only a few games per year, and under Coach Wyche, the white jersey and orange pants combination he helped introduce was the most commonly worn.
What if the Bucks wore orange pants for the Creamsicle game?
Buccaneers DTs Vita Via and Kalija Kanci – Photo: Cliff Welch/PR
When the Glazer family took over as owners of the team in 1995, they recognized that the orange-and-white look and winking pirate logo had become synonymous with losing. Tampa Bay I just had Three Seasons The franchise had a winning record in the 21 years it wore its creamsicle uniforms, including one strike-shortened season in 1982. In 1982, the Buccaneers finished the season with a 5-4 record and made the playoffs for the third time in franchise history. Tampa Bay, however, went 1-4 in their first playoff appearance in the orange and white uniforms.
In 1997, the Glazers rebranded the Buccaneers with new red and pewter uniforms, new pewter helmets, and a new logo (a red battle flag with a skull, crossed swords, and orange football) that paid homage to the old look. Tampa Bay quickly won that season, finishing 10-6 and beating Detroit in a wild-card playoff at home.
A few years later, in 2002, the Buccaneers won their first Super Bowl championship, but in a nostalgic nod to nostalgia, the Glazers introduced the Creamsicle Throwback Game in 2009, with the team donning orange jerseys and white pants, along with the Buccaneers’ blues helmets, for the first time since 1996.
It was a big hit with fans, and the team continued the nostalgic tradition every year until the NFL instituted a new rule in 2013 that allowed players to only wear one helmet per season to reduce the chance of concussions. The league rescinded that rule in 2022, and 10 years later, the Glazers once again brought back the Creamsicle Game last year.
But whenever the team plays a retrospective game, it has worn orange jerseys and white pants. That was the case from 2009 to 2012. Last year’s nostalgic game, This happened in Week 6 against Detroit.
What if the team decided to switch things up and wear the old orange pants for a throwback game? Tampa Bay legends like Mike Alstott, John Lynch, Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp were more likely to start their careers in white jerseys and orange pants than the orange jersey and white pants uniform combination.
The Buccaneers recently held a photoshoot in which the team’s stars once again donned orange jerseys and white pants, meaning the Creamsicle Game will likely feature that combination for at least another year.
But what about the future of Creamsicle games? Would you like to see the orange-pants wearing Pewter People return? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Other articles in Scott Reynolds’ “What If?” summer series:
What would have happened if Joe Tryon Soyinka had led the Buccaneers in sacks?
