Memories of the USFL, Bandits and what could have been

An old newspaper reporter learns, whether you like to watch or not, to turn the TV on every now and then just to keep up with the world. Over the weekend. Just out of habit. Click.

Only on this day, I had to sit down for a minute. It turned into 30 minutes. It turned into some time thinking about what I'd just watched. It wasn't anything really big to a lot of people. But it was to some.

It was 1985. Steve Spurrier was the coach of the Tampa Bay Bandits. John Bassett, the owner, was fighting cancer. The United States Football League was trying to find its place in the world. They showed guys like Herschel Walker running for touchdowns for the New Jersey Generals, Jim Kelly pitching touchdowns for the Houston Gamblers.

In the summer.

And I was there, scratching my head while still trying to figure out why the rain would show up so suddenly, and what a hurricane was just months into a new job. It was wild.

The Clearwater Sun is gone now. Probably 10 years ago, I pulled into the old parking lot, got out and peeked into the building. A security guard was sitting there. No idea if the place still stands, never went back.

Back in reality, I watched as the TV highlights rolled, the interviews kept going.

In Spurrier's first head coaching job, he led a team that threw the ball all over the old Tampa Stadium. Fans packed the place despite the summer heat. The USFL is long gone but certainly has gone down in history as one of the most interesting and entertaining times in professional sports.

New to the area, one of my first assignments after baseball's spring training was the Bandits. And it was wild. The whole league was wild. I'd already covered my share of NFL games but arriving in Florida, had never seen anything like this.

You laughed when so many characters strolled into, then out of, your life. It was a league where just about anything was OK in promotions. The Bandits were one of the most successful circus acts in pro football. Bassett had a plan. Down the street, the NFL's Bucs were simply awful and watched through the blinds with a nervous twitch.

The Bucs were losing, the Bandits were winning big.

With a plan swirling to move the USFL to the fall in 1986, largely in front of the push supploed by New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump, things were about to get very interesting. Little did anyone realize at the time it would actually be the end of a neat idea, the USFL filing a lawsuit against the NFL and winning . . . one dollar.

The day of the legal decision, Bandits officials packed a building just a short walk from the old stadium. When the decision came down, it was like a funeral. The crazy league was suddenly gone.

But, we all had a summer to remember in 1985. At the end of the season, the Bandits were within a win of advancing to the semifinals of the league championship, traveling to Oakland to take on the Invaders. Oakland won on a field goal and the bizarre atmosphere in the locker room was one of disappointment but hope for the future.

On June 30, 1985, no one had any idea that the league that so many loved would be gone soon, Bassett would lose his battle with cancer, Steve would move on to be the head coach at Duke and after a little more than four years, the Clearwater Sun would be buried with everything else.

And then you blink. Today is exactly 30 years after the Bandits’ last game. And I still have to wonder what could have been.

For all of us. It could have been fun.

Contact Jones at djones@floridatoday.com or follow on Twitter: @DaveJonesSports