Nostalgia is a heck of a drug.
Once blamed for the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ early struggles in the 1970s, the team’s erstwhile ‘Bucco Bruce’ logo will be reintroduced this season with its infamous road ‘Creamsicle’ uniforms in Week 3.
The team unveiled the alternate threads online Tuesday as fans offered their overwhelming support for a color scheme traditionally likened to an orange-flavored frozen treat or cocktail.
‘Creamsicles are a sweet throwback,’ one fan wrote.
‘Just make the damn things permanent,’ another added. ‘Would anyone object?’
The question is a bit curious, considering the history of the creamsicle uniforms the Bucs wore from their inception in 1976 until 1997. Tampa Bay dropped its first 26 games in those jerseys, which became a symbol of the team’s ineptitude.
The Bucs announced the return of the throwback uniforms online on Tuesday
John McKay, the Bucs first coach, joked in 1997 that Bucco Bruce was to blame for the losses
The Bucco Bruce logo features a winking pirate holding a knife between his teeth
‘If [Bucco Bruce] is the guy who’s in charge of losing, let’s get rid of him,’ the team’s first coach, John McKay, said of his former team in 1997.
Tampa Bay went 10-6 that season and reached the playoffs, snapping a streak of 14 straight losing campaigns.
But as the years have ticked by and the Bucs’ frustrations have been eased by two Super Bowl victories, the disdain for the Bucco Bruce uniforms has withered away. Now fans fatigued by Nike’s modern uniform aesthetics are openly embracing a flamboyant color scheme that’s suddenly become foreign in the NFL.
‘Spectacular,’ former Houston Texas great JJ Watt wrote on X.
‘Is this the best helmet in the NFL?’ asked Riddell Sports’ account of the winking Bucco Bruce logo.
‘Perfection,’ one fan wrote. ‘A rare 10/10 complete uniform.’
The Bucs will continue using their modern logo and color scheme throughout the 2025 season but will adopt the once-divisive throwbacks on September 21 when Tampa hosts the New York Jets.
Tampa Bay brought back the orange creamsicle home uniforms in 2023 but will be wearing their white road jerseys in Week 3 this time around.
