Bucs Dream Season Ends In Glory.

They did it! They actually did it! The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are Super Bowl champions once again. After an eighteen year wait for another playoff victory, Tom Brady has not only returned the Bucs to their winning ways; he guided them to a second Vince Lombardi trophy.

When it was announced that Tom Brady was signing with the Bucs, I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was a dream at first, but then reality set in. It’s been very hard to be optimistic about the Bucs after so many years of futility, so I kept my expectations low for the season. Well, Tom Brady and the rest of the well assembled team have by far exceeded my expectations and the sweet taste of victory will be savored for a long time.

While the regular season was a bumpy ride, Tom Brady and the Bucs had their first winning season and clinched a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2007. The odds on the Bucs winning the Super Bowl in their own backyard was against them, but they defied the odds and made history by becoming the first NFL team win the Super Bowl in their own stadium. After the Lightning winning the Stanley Cup, the city of Tampa now has two champions to celebrate and the nicknames of Champa Bay and Tompa Bay are flying rampant in the community, and I couldn’t be happier.

The journey to glory had its doubts, with many questioning if Tom Brady could still deliver at his age. Fortunately, Father Time sat the playoffs out as Brady and the Bucs went on their magical run. However, they did get a helping hand from Lady Luck. It began with the Eagles playing not to win against Washington Football Team which meant that Washington would win the NFC East, and not the Giants, who have a good history against Brady in the postseason. Thus, the Bucs’ first playoffs opponents were Washington whose quarterback was starting his first ever NFL game. Next up were the New Orleans Saints with their quarterback Drew Brees who lacked any arm strength. Those factors were significant in those victories.

The NFC title game was in hollowed Lambeau Field against the Packers and the Bucs benefitted from the poor decision making and play calling from the Packers such as their defensive formation on Brady’s 39 yard TD throw to Scott Miller with one second left in the first half. The Packers then botched their attempt to take the lead when Aaron Rogers decided to pass the ball instead of running into the endzone and then Packers coach Matt Lafluer decided to kick a field goal instead of going for it on 4^th down. Finally, Lady Luck shined one last time when Chiefs’ offensive line were short two starters and followed that with quarterback Patrick Mahomes picking up an injury early into the Super Bowl, which meant he couldn’t terrorize the Bucs defense with his mobility and scrambling.

So, my Bucs are champions again after they ended the season on a hot streak and followed it up with a superb run in the playoffs. Tom Brady and the main core of the players are coming back for next season so can they repeat? Hopefully lightning will strike twice and the Tampa Bay area fans will enjoy more victory parades from their local teams. Now if only the Rays can join the party and win a World Series.

Time for UEFA to convert the Champions League into the Super League.

It’s time for UEFA to be proactive and convert the Champions League and make it become the Super League that most clubs so desperately seek. The big European clubs keep discussing creating a Super League and UEFA needs to realize they must to satisfy the needs of both clubs and the fans. UEFA has to embrace the idea and embrace it quick, because failure to do so will be costly.

The Champions League was launched by UEFA in 1955 as the European Champion Clubs' Cup, although everyone called it the European Cup before taking on its current name in 1992. It was only open to the European domestic league champions until deciding to expand to include runner ups in 1997 before expanding to include clubs who finished 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th in the big leagues. With so many non-champions competing in the Champions League, it doesn’t justify carrying its current name anymore. Nevertheless, UEFA made changes to its most prized tournament to satisfy the European elite clubs.

The last time UEFA tweaked the Champions League format was in 2003 after they dropped the awful second group stage. Now, UEFA has to revamp the Champions League again and turn it into the Super League. It should remain a 32 club competition with the 8 groups of 4 teams, but without allowing the smaller clubs, the minnows, of Europe in it. As much as we love a good underdog Cinderella story, i.e. APOEL FC reaching the Quarter-Finals in 2012, nowadays we look at Ajax and Atalanta advancing to the knock out stages as the Cinderella clubs. Regrettably, the likes of Midtjylland, Ferencváros, Cluj, Plzeň, Molde, Malmo, and BATE belong in the Europa League and not in the Champions League where the competition gets watered down with their presence.

UEFA’s revamp of the Champions League should be simple. As a I previously mentioned, keep the number of participating clubs to 32, but what needs to be changed is who gets to compete in the Champions League. UEFA should keep it the way it is with 8 groups of 4 clubs. These proposed ideas of having one big league of 32 teams or groups with 10+ teams would be a mistake because it will not be entertaining once you’re halfway through the competition and have teams already eliminated with plenty of games to be played with no interest for those clubs and their fans.

      Final 16 of the 2020-2021 UEFA Champions League consisting of teams from La Liga, Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1,                        and Primeira Liga.

As part of the restructuring, UEFA should grant the top five clubs from Spain, England, Italy and Germany automatic qualification to the group stages. If a big club can’t crack the top five, then that’s their problem. UEFA should also continue awarding a spot to the Europa League winner, thus giving those clubs an incentive to win the Europa League, and to make it even more interesting, why not award an additional spot to the league that the winning club belongs to. UEFA should also award two spots for the French, Dutch and Portuguese leagues, which would leave us with just 4 slots left for the remaining clubs from Russia, Turkey, Scotland, and whoever is eligible based on UEFA’s coefficient. It’s far from the fairest or the perfect plan but this new revamp would essentially make every group be a group of death, and not what we commonly see with groups with two big clubs coupled with two minnows, such as FC Barcelona and Juventus with Dynamo Kiev, and Borussia Dortmund and Lazio coupled with Club Brugge and Zenit Saint Petersburg. Even the qualifiers would become more competitive and entertaining for the fans.

Let’s face it, money talks and this is why the big clubs want the Super League; for more money. A product on television has to be entertaining to be a cash cow. At the moment, the Champions League is mostly entertaining during the knockout stages. But when every group is a group of death, then that would ensure that all groups matches would be competitive, and also entertaining must see TV, which in return would allow UEFA to charge networks more for the rights of these games. More money for UEFA means more money for the clubs, which will make everyone happy, except the non-elite European clubs.