Nothing is forever.

Even the longest streaks of futility eventually come to an end.  I refer not to the Dolphins beating Baltimore to end their winless season, but rather an NFL drought that lasted over thirty years.

This Sunday, when Michael Spurlock returned an Atlanta Falcon kick all the way to pay dirt, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ceremoniously put an end to their ineffective kick-off return streak.

Never before in franchise history had a Buccaneer player returned a kick-off for a touchdown.  The stretch lasted 512 games and over 1800 attempts.  141 opposing players had run back kicks against the Bucs in the same time frame.  It hung over the franchise like a dirty secret.  Local radio broadcasters would announce it prior to every kickoff, almost laughingly assuming it could never happened.  They can now remove that spiel from their radio format.  Spurlock will go down in the local history books, as should his special teams coaches, who if you look carefully, were sprinting along the sidelines ecstatically at nearly the same pace.

Every single fan among the 65,000+ at Raymond James (including myself) knew it was about to happen when Spurlock broke an early tackle mid-field, then found a hole along the right sideline.  The return was nearly as exciting as, and set the precedent for, the Buccaneer’s third division title under head coach John Gruden.

So sleep easy tonight, Cubs fans, for all bad things must come to an end.