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Not only did they haunt the seas of the Caribbean and Pacific, pillaging ships and sailing malevolently away with the loot, the maritime marauders often robbed settlements as well.
There were no buccaneers in ruffled lace at the Tampa Bay-Seattle NFL game Sunday, even though the first-year Florida club answers to that moniker.
There were, however, a band of robbers in striped shirts and while they didnt take anybody's life, or booty, they plundered the expansion bowl of its excitement and vitality. If the United Nations had supplied the flags for this game, the officials would have run out before halftime. By the time all the penalties had been stepped off, it could easily have been midnight—in Tennessee.
One referee threw his flag 21 yards. Another rifled his through the face mask of Seattle defensive back Dave Brown, who was subsequently treated for a swollen eye.
Author Mario Puwo popularized the ultimatum "I'll make you an offer you can't refuse" in The Godfather. Sunday's officials have a new one: "I'll give you a penalty you can't refuse."
Never mind that only 35 infractions — two shy of the NFL record — were marched off. The two bewildered teams were penalized on the same play at least half a dozen other times. The Tampa Bay Scoreboard, trying to tell the fans what a Buccaneer player's thoughts were after being flagged one of 20 times read "Sorry about that." It should have read "String him up."
The torrent of penalties destroyed whatever the two expansion teams fighting for their first win could muster. Momentum was a joke, not a factor.
"It got to be we weren't so much concerned with blocking and tackling, but just looking to see who the penalty was on," said Seattle coach Jack Patera. "It reminded me more of an officials clinic than a football game," observed Seahawk defensive coordinator Sam Baghosian.
Seattle offensive guard John Demarie said he thought the major reason for the rash of fouls was a recent demand by (NFL commissioner) Pete Rozelle that the officials crack down on
holding. In fairness to the referees, Seahawk linebacker Mike Curtis was glad to see so many yellow hankies fly. "It's the first time I've ever been in a ball game where the officials called the way they were supposed to," the 12-year pro claimed.
It is not this corner's contention that officials should sacrifice rules for the sake of continuity.
But, by the same token, they should not disrupt a game in nuch a manner the participants operate in conscious fear of being penalized play after play. Thai's the way it was Sunday, and now, come to think of it, those buccaneers in stripes did steal something from the 50,000 fans in Tampa:
The money they shelled but to see what could have been a good football game.
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