The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have been looking for fans for the past 15 years, suddenly found millions of them this week.
As the Bucs prepare to play the Green Bay Packers tomorrow in what could be their last game in Tampa, about 60,000 are expected to show in a last-ditch show of support.
The Bucs, though, will have millions more rooting for them in New York.
In a strange twist to an already convoluted season, the New York Giants -- mired in a seven-game losing streak not so long ago -- are suddenly rooting for the Bucs.
The Giants can make the playoffs if they beat the Dallas Cowboys, who have no incentive and are likely to be without Emmitt Smith, and the Bucs upset the Green Bay Packers.
Nobody is enjoying this scenario more than Bucs coach Sam Wyche. It hasn't been a fun season for Wyche, who became virtually a lame-duck coach when owner Hugh Culverhouse died Aug. 25 and the team went up for sale a few weeks later.
But Wyche has been having fun with his new fans as he spent time talking to New York reporters about the situation.
"It would help us immensely to have the New York snowbirds down here in the stadium pulling for the Bucs and the Giants. We don't mind shared loyalty. There is an addendum to our demand: they must be wearing orange,"Wyche said.
Wyche also arranged for Giants coach Dan Reeves to call his radio show Monday, pretending Reeves was a mystery caller.
Wyche asked what team he played for. When Reeves said the Dallas Cowboys, Wyche said, "This isn't Jimmy Johnson, is it?"
Wyche also said to Reeves: "So you have to win and we have to win. Is that how it works?"
Reeves said: "I think that's correct, Sam. That's what I've been told anyway."
Wyche replied: "Well, we're going to take care of the Packers down here."
The Giants can't count on it, though. The oddsmakers aren't too impressed with the Bucs' four-game winning streak -- two of the victories were against the 2-13 Washington Redskins and another was over the 4-11 Los Angeles Rams -- and have made them 5 1/2 -point underdogs.
Wyche is trying to sell the idea that the pressure is on the Packers because they need a win to get a playoff berth. He also pointed out that the Packers have won just one road game this season.
"They have everything to lose. We have everything to gain and they haven't been very successful on the road," Wyche said.
The coach also is trying to deal with the impending sale and the distractions that go with it.
"It has gone through my mind that that this could be the last game [in Tampa], but I haven't said anything about it to the
team," Wyche said. "It's probably in the back of their minds, but the thing they've been able to do throughout this run is focus on playing and not the things going on around them."