Well first things first, I'm from Wales, which is in the UK, which you've probably noticed is a fair old distance away from the Tampa Bay area, but still I eat, sleep and breathe everything Tampa Bay Bucs and have since I was 17,

So how the hell did a kid from a little mining village in South Wales become a fan of one of the least popular teams in the NFL? Well...

The NFL never got much attention in the UK in the 90s, the only game that would be shown on non-pay-TV was the Superbowl, and that was on at like 1am. So while I knew about the NFL, I never watched it, didnt know the rules and frankly I didn't care.

Then as I got older I started watching the Superbowl from time to time, thought it was pretty cool, but that was that. Then, my parents got Sky TV, and all of a sudden the NFL was being beamed into my house every weekend, and I decided to give it a go.

So on a cold Sunday night in January 2002 I flicked on my TV, deciding to watch a game, not knowing who was playing, or frankly anything about it. I noticed one of the teams was Tampa Bay, a place where I'd visited on family holidays several times as kid and held a great deal of affection for, plus I thought the white and pewter jerseys were cool, and hey, pirates, who doesn't like pirates right?

So with my allegiance established I watched the game. I hardly understood half the things that were going on, but it didnt start well, the Bucs got behind early doors, but they came back into it and then when things were looking tense towards the end, this guy named Barber picked off a pass and ran it back 92 yards for a touchdown.

I was hooked. Two weeks later, the Bucs were Superbowl Champions, I couldn't believe my luck. Since then theres been a few ups and a helluva lot of downs, but hey, thats life in Pewter and Red for you...