Author / Historian
Jason Vuic
Gold Medal Winner, Florida Book Awards
Charlton Tebeau Award Winner, Florida Historical Society
Simon and Schuster, 2016
"The Yucks is a delightful merging of terrific writer, ugly-ass uniforms, and a gathering of gridiron ineptitude only a blind scout could love. Wonderfully done."
Jeff Pearlman,
author of Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s
The Yucks!
Two Years in Tampa with the Losingest Team in NFL History
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During the 1976 and 1977 seasons, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cemented their place in football history, not with a Super Bowl win, but with the longest losing streak in the history of the NFL. The Buccaneers—affectionately and mockingly called the “The Yucks” by fans—lost their first twenty-six games. No other team in professional football has ever come close to this streak. Their on-field failures were so hilarious that Tonight Show host Johnny Carson used to joke about them in his opening monologues.
Still, the team was beloved, because even as losers they brought a sense of a collective identity to a group of Florida Gulf Coast communities now known as Tampa Bay. When they finally won their first game, 8,000 people attended a victory party at the team's headquarters, One Buc Place. When they won their next game, the final game of the 1977 season, fans tore down the goalposts.
A book about a team so outrageously bad it’s hilarious, The Yucks! flips the long tradition of celebrating great teams to give a can’t-look-away account of the team that the entire nation loved to hate—the best worst team in NFL history.
ABC's Morning Blend (Nov. 2016)
What do you think of your team's execution, coach? Read an exerpt fromThe Yucks on SB Nation's BucsNation blog!
Interview with In This Corner: Sports Writers Talk Sports Writing with John Doyle (2022)
Praise for The Yucks!
"Funny, endearing look at how the Bucs lost their way to success, cementing a region through creamsicle unis and John McKay one-liners." Sports Illustrated
"A brisk, warmhearted reminder of how professional sports can occasionally reach stunning unprofessional depths." Publishers Weekly
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"The maladroit origins of these lovable losers is given a light touch in this delightful tale of interest to all sports enthusiasts." Library Journal
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"The Yucks are back, and it's a must-read." SB Nation
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"[In The Yucks,] Vuic not only captures the hilarious moments, but also explains how the team helped secure a collective identity for Florida’s Gulf communities." Christian Science Monitor
"Vuic’s book is about bad football. And it’s very good." Tampa Bay Times
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