#ItsABucsLife

We have a president's birthday tomorrow, the only one in September. And since Taft gets a blog, I figure I'd catch up on everything we've been up to the last few days. 

*Sigh* Ok, first, let's start with the good. 

It's a new NFL season! And we were so excited. We woke up to news of a Tampa Bay sellout. Which, is great. The only other time you hear about stuff like that was when we played like the Steelers, or the Saints, or the Eagles. You know that sellout isn't because of Bucs fans. But us, against the Titans? It was going to be a RayJay full of Bucs fans! A new quarterback, drafter first overall and you could feel the optimism around the stadium. Everyone was SO excited. It was such a departure from last year. 

We didn't even mind that we had to tailgate twice as far away from the stadium. We thought it was because of the sell out, but turns out it was just because of the rain we had earlier in the day flooding half the park and closing off parking sections. 

We had lunch, tossed around the football, and were thankful for the sprinkles and the clouds. It just meant it wasn't going to be hot. And you guys, there are no words for how hot it is sitting mid-day in September, in the 300 section in Ray Jay with zero shade for hours. 

But, by the time we got to the stadium, the sun was out, for the first time in days. Luckily, the Bucs actually had a REALLY awesome and thoughtful giveaway: cooling towels! 

We got our unlimited popcorn.. 

...and our unlimited refills cup.. 

..and found our very familiar spot. 

We even got parachuters AND a fly over! 

The stadium was crazy. Everyone was SO excited. Not that we had to win or anything, we just wanted to see better than last year. 

And famous Jameis came out, and it was awesome. (Even if I was always on the draft Mariota train). 

It was hot, like always (cloud cover, come back!) But, nobody seemed to mind all that much. 

The feeling was so optimistic. I mean this was the Sports section on Sunday. 

But then, in less than THREE minutes we were down by 14-0. It was the same old same old. And the stadium was quiet. It was like the wind had been knocked out of it. Because everyone in it had seen this show before. 

Look, I get it, it's just football. But, over the past three years, we've only seen the Bucs win a handful of times. (We've paid an average of $1,000 per win.) And that isn't ok. They haven't won at home since 2013, it didn't happen ONCE last year.  Yes, nobody forced us to buy our season tickets again, but it's annoying to pay all of that for a bad team. And not even that, bad teams seem to attract bad refs. What's even worse is nobody talks about terrible calls against them, because it's just the Bucs, so who cares. Last night the Giants get a bad PI call against them, and it's like world-wide news. We're not the most popular fan base, I get it. People move from up north down here an they stay loyal to their old home state team. But, to me this IS my hometown, and I want to see them do well. And I paid money in the hopes to see them do well. So yes, it isn't the end of the world, and I will get over it. I'll go to more games, and we will probably have fun. It's just one game and we COULD do better next time. But, when things stop being as much fun as they used to be, maybe it's time to do something else. Like, support the Bucs from the comfort of my own living room. Let's just cross our fingers things get better. They can't get much worse, right? RIGHT? 

Anyway, Things went from bad to worse. (We lost like 40something to 14, it was bad you guys!)  And nobody was too interested in watching the game anymore. But really, as annoyed as I might be, we're kind of numb to the losses at this point. 

But really, our faces say it all. 

Hayden's the only one who doesn't really care one way or other. Why is he so happy in this picture? Because we decided we were going to go home at halftime, and he was happy he was going to be getting out of the heat. 

Our first year, we sat through EVERY. SINGLE. GAME. to the VERY. LAST. SECOND. Our second year, we sold some games (when we played popular teams) just to get some of our money back. This year, we decided if it wasn't fun, we weren't going to subject ourselves through sitting there "just because we paid for the seats".  I'd say 75% of the stadium agreed. The parking lots and traffic out of the stadium at halftime were just like they'd be after the game. It was sad. And we've already decided to sell our seats when we play the Cowboys and the Giants, because we'll probably get about twice what we paid for them. I no longer have shame that Giants or Cowboys fans will be sitting in my seats. Sorry seat, neighbors. 

We got home, and dinner was waiting for us in the slow cooker. Asa made me a bunch of homemade fries to go with the BBQ chicken sandwiches. (Asa's fries are the BEST, really better than anything I've ever had before, and his BBQ sauce is also pretty amazing.) At least we got to sit at home and see the end of the game on TV with fries, sandwiches, and tequila. Lots and lots of tequila. 

So, beyond our football misery, we haven't been up to much. Hayden made some dragon ball Z puppets. 

And then converted a rootbeer box into a holder for them. The imagination on this kid, I tell ya. 

We celebrated Maybel's 2nd birthday. She got a box, with paper in it, her FAVORITE! 

We had a lizard in the house, just chillin on the stove top. I think he liked the warm burners. 

Calib FINALLY unpacked his backpack from his first trip to Ohio, and found he still had $52 in his wallet, he had forgotten about. Oh to be young. 

He immediately rushed out to get Madden, so him and Asa could start new franchises. 

Our neighbors, Lonnie and Jan,  brought us over some homemade raisins to try (they were REALLY, REALLY good!) 

James was here late Friday until early Sunday, on the way back from his cruise. He'll be back in a couple weeks to stay for the whole week and do the Food and Wine Festival. 

Oh, and I killed it on some couponing trips, which I know I haven't shared in awhile. But, I spent $52 at Target and saved $71. Then I went to Publix and got all of this for $12.90 

Then on another trip to Publix, I got all of this for $17. I thought it was impressive. 

We had planned on the zoo today, but we had a late start and we all opted to do the zoo on another day off next week or the week after, and just hit the pool today. We had it pretty much all to ourselves. There was just one couple lounging by the pool, but they never actually got in. 

I think we have plans for some board games, and football watching tonight. But I also have to take down our August presidents, and put up Septembers, since tomorrow is a birthday. 

Next Up: Happy Birthday to our president from Porkopolis!