No need to feel defensive about supporting the Buccaneers

Two moments define the history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Both involve interceptions returned for touchdowns. They happened a week apart in 2002. One got the Bucs to the Super Bowl. The other helped win it.

It's only fitting that a team forged on defense could call those crushing plays its signature moments. Defense has led the way for the Bucs ever since the team joined the National Football League in 1976.

The good ol' days weren't exactly great - the Bucs lost their first 26 games as a professional franchise. Better times followed because of a suffocating defense led by future Hall of Fame defensive end Lee Roy Selmon.

Defense led the Bucs to the 1979 NFC title game, where they lost to the Rams and promptly dropped back into mediocrity for almost two decades - right up to the hiring of Tony Dungy as head coach in 1996.

Dungy made his reputation as a defensive coordinator and he made sure his new organization's focus was on defense from the start, drafting players such as Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, John Lynch and Ronde Barber.

It wasn't until Dungy was replaced by current head coach Jon Gruden in 2002 that the offense caught up with the defense. But as the Bucs rolled toward a world championship that year, the defense continued to lead the way.

Barber, a cornerback, returned an interception 92 yards late in the fourth quarter for the final points in a 27-10 victory over Philadelphia in the NFC Championship. The image of Barber running down the sideline is etched in the memory of every Bucs fan.

The following Sunday, it was Brooks, a linebacker, returning another interception 44 yards for a touchdown in a 48-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego.

The sight of Brooks crying as he returned to the sideline summed up the feeling for the Bucs, their coaches and their fans - from a team that couldn't win to a franchise that won it all.

The bar was raised high with the Super Bowl victory, and now the Bucs expect to win every season. They consistently sell out Raymond James Stadium, which opened in 1998. The stadium is recognized as one of the best in the NFL, and its signature pirate ship, a 103-foot long replica of an early 1800s vessel, sits in Buccaneers Cove in the north end zone and fires its cannons whenever the home team scores.

The stadium also is the site of the Outback Bowl, played on New Year's Day between teams from the Southeastern and Big 10 conferences, and is the home for the University of South Florida, Tampa's Division I football program.

The stadium has hosted three Super Bowls and will entertain a fourth in 2009. As usual, the Bucs have designs on playing in that game.

If they make it, you can bet the defense led the way.