It seemed like such a wonderful idea back then. So what if it cost them three arms, four legs, a few brain cells and a withdrawal from one of those "little" bank accounts.

 

By all accounts the Glazer Family is worth billions, as in plural. They have to be since they are not crying poverty since dropping one of those B's on a purchase across the pond.

 

Malcom, the head of the Glazer clan, has this thing about football teams even though the word has two different meanings depending on what side of the Atlantic you are on.

 

European football, soccer to us, is part sport and mostly religion. Riots have started for the simplest of reasons, people have been trampled to death and referees have had threats on their lives. And that's all in the name of good fun.

 

If that's what they call it over there I'll stick to something a little more civil, like boxing for instance.

 

Manchester United is allegedly the crown jewel of the football world and Glazer had to have it. He spared no expense in the hostile takeover and cared less what the fans thought - a Yank owning their team.

 

It was as if Malcom stole a line from the show Damn Yankees putting his own name in the lyrics: "Whatever Malcom wants, Malcom gets. And little team, little Malcom wants you."

 

Somewhere between winning a championship with his American football team and his pursuit of MU, things have gone to hell in a handbasket on Dale Mabry Highway and that wonderful idea to pad Al Davis' bank and draft pick account back then has become a nightmare in Tampa.

 

Is the very late Hugh Culverhouse smiling yet?

 

While the patriarch of the family is being tutored on how to converse with the British, fans are wondering where he is and why the Buccaneers have fallen from grace so rapidly.

 

Jon Gruden came to town riding on his pony set on leading the bridesmaid Buccaneers to the altar. He did but it was clear it was on the back on his predecessor Tony Dungy.

 

Dungy's biggest fault? He couldn't win the big one for his owners so he was shown the door, unceremoniously, and I have this image burned into my brain the night he finished packing his Dodge Dakota at One Buc Place.

 

We don't have to revisit how the man brought class, dignity and a winning spirit to a team that was nothing short of the biggest joke this side of the NBA's Clippers with Donald T. Sterling. It is etched in stone and no one can change what he did for the Tampa Bay community both on and off the field.

 

Funny thing though. The Glazers never looked to another sport, the Atlanta Braves, who made the playoffs fourteen straight seasons which is arguably the most difficult task in any of the four major sports.

 

Bobby Cox, who oozes the same type of class as Dungy, was at the helm all of those years and came away a champion just once. The Braves hierarchy didn't fire him, in fact they kept extending him because they had a philosophy like the New York Lottery where you have to be in it to win it.

 

Cox got them in it, year after year after year. Dungy did the same without the ring but instead of being patted on the back for his accomplishments he was vilified for the only shortcoming on his resume.

 

That was part one of the current state of the Buccaneers.

 

The Glazers saw Jon Gruden as some of sort of god, an offensive guru who along with Monte Kiffin's defensive wizardry would keep the Pewter Pirates on the top for eternity.

 

He was basically given carte blanche and in a short time the other man who gave stability and credibility to the team, Rich McKay, was history and the completion of the Oakland Raiders East was fait accompli when Bruce Allen was introduced as the new GM.

 

Since that magnificent January day when the Lombardi Trophy was hoisted skyward by nearly everyone, Raymond James Stadium has become a septic tank that has been ignored by the owner.

 

And the stench is making for a lot of empty seats at the home of the Bucs.

 

The era of Gruden and Allen has officially come to an end.

 

In the four years since championship Sunday, Tampa Bay has made the postseason once and it was one and out. Under Dungy they made it four times in a half-dozen tries.

 

The Bucs are headed for their third losing season. Dungy had exactly one, his first year as head coach.

 

The Pirates are growing old faster than you can say retirement.

 

So how do you change coaches and still save face?

 

Gruden, with his boyish surfer look, would look great working for Donna Shalala at the University of Miami. The Coral Gables community would welcome him as the second coming and the contract he would get from the school would allow "Chucky" to own a half-dozen condos along the beach. The U of M would make the big splash reeling in the big fish.

 

Allen follows him out the door but is left to fend for himself unless he wants to take a position as recruiter.

 

Back in Tampa, the Glazers could get a real coach who had a proven track record in San Francisco before being sabotaged in Detroit. Steve Mariucci would be the big catch for the Glazers as much as Gruden would be in Coral Gables.

 

I don't think that anyone would argue Mariucci deserves another NFL shot. He also has the cool nickname, The Mooch, and maybe get the Italian community to forget about their football and pay more attention to our football.

 

It could happen. Really!

 

One thing for certain. Should this scenario play out, you can bet that Mariucci won't bring up the name of Matt Millen when it comes to suggestions for the vacant general manager's spot.

 

Ah, to dream.......