The weather was supposed to be miserable, but I brought my camera in case it cleared up. I was able to get some photos of pre-game warm ups, but then it started raining and did not stop the rest of the day and it was freezing cold as well.
I have not been to an NFL game since September 14, 2003. I remember it well. A crushing Bucs home loss to the Panthers (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/15/sports/pro-football-panthers-obstruct-the-bucs-path-to-victory.html), also known as the beginning of the end of Martin Gramatica's career. It's funny, there were a lot of similarities between that game and the game on Sunday (except the game in Tampa was like 95 degrees and people were passing out left and right.) After getting two field goals blocked, the Bucs came back from down 6 and scored a touchdown as time expired in the 4th. The extra point got blocked which tied the game at 9-9. Carolina won in OT 12-9. Yesterday, the Redskins missed two easy field goals early. Then, down 17-10, they scored a touchdown with :06 left. All they had to do was make the extra point to force overtime. It's funny, when the Skins scored to make it 16-17, everyone was halfheartedly cheering, knowing that they still depended on the kicker, Graham Gano, to tie the game. The guy in front of me stole the words right out of my mouth when he says, half-joking, half grimly serious, "Well, we still need to make the extra point". Everyone kind of laughed but knew that it was no guarantee considering how awful Gano had been up to this point.
The entire stadium stood quietly and still as they lined up for the PAT. The ball was snapped, and sure enough, the ball sails over Hunter Smith's head. I and a few other Tampa Bay fans held our hands up in relief as everyone else watched incredulously. Then everyone kind of laughed a little bit, turned around and left.
I'll take the win.
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