A Bond Over A Team: A Father/Daughters Sunday and Special Moment at Ray Jay

Many have gone to games since they were young. Some remember the awful days of the Bucs starting the franchise.

Me? I’ve been rocking it since birth in ’88. I remember going to the old Sombrero for a game against Warren Moon and the Vikings. I witnessed the rebrand, training camp across from UT, the Lombardi being raised, and the up’s and downs in between.

It’s a Father/Daughter Thing

But, nothing compares to taking your own kids to their first-ever regular-season game (their 1st game overall was Week 2 preseason vs Miami). The hype we had heading to our first ever WTB Tailgate. All the people they met and reacquainted themselves with from the previous game (some ever had goodie bags for them *Special Thanks to BucNutz)
After, it was off across the street to watch our team take on the Giants. The girls had an absolute thrill even though we lost. While leaving the gates, I decided to take the girls over by the player exit to see who we could see.

During that time, my youngest was lucky enough to capture a photo with her favorite player Lavonte David before he got in his car. My oldest got a picture with Jameis Winston and both were able to take a picture with Will Gholston as well.

The special moment that made a loss feel like a win

Earlier in the day, my oldest (Isabella, 6) received some beads from a friend. She hadn’t taken them off throughout the whole game. Seeing her favorite player Mike Evans leaving with his wife and daughter, she saw the look on his daughters face. She told me “she wanted to give Mike Evans’ daughter, her beads because she looked sad”.

After telling Mike the story, he graciously allowed my daughter to give the beads to him for her. The smile on her face was absolutely priceless. I saw the same look on her face and in her eyes that she had when she got her jersey signed by him at camp. The smile on my face is just an understatement of how proud I was of this little girl for thinking of someone else.
At that moment; my team may not have won the game, but my team gave us a moment that neither of us will ever forget. Go Bucs!!!