Bucs fans robbed of a home game

Regular readers of this blog know how I feel about the push to make the NFL international. Preseason games in Tokyo and Mexico City. The last two years, a regular season game in mid October played at Wembley Stadium in London. I don't like this games played abroad during the regular season. 2 years ago, Miami played the New York Giants and this year on October 26th, the New Orleans Saints played the San Diego Chargers.

Just announced today, next years game will be played on October 25th and will feature none other than the Bucs playing the Patriots. The game will be considered as a Bucs "home game" thus, season ticket holders which are already screwed by having to pay full price for 2 pre-season games, will now lose a home game. Seeing that the Bucs are 6-0 so far at home this year, I don't like this move at all. I knew we had the AFC East on our schedule next year and was hoping we'd have the Patriots at RayJay.

October in England is dismal. The past two games played there resulted in nothing more than a heavy downpour of rain and the field turning to mud. The field in Wembley Stadium was not built for NFL football, rather some mindless sport involving a round black and white ball, requiring men to run up and down the field for 90 minutes resulting in a exciting score usually of 1-0. Upon the end of the game, the fans then proceed to beat the crap out each other, and occasionally the bleachers will collapse, crushing other fans. Man that sounds like a great sport.

I hate this move. Roger Goodell, stop worrying about making the team owners more money by spreading the NFL brand around the world and start worrying about the behavior of the players already on US NFL teams. Plaxico Buress comes to mind.