TAMPA, Fla. — One Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan and former Bucs cheerleader reminisced about the time she cheered on the sidelines the last time the Bucs went to the Super Bowl. 

Michele Betancourt has bins filled with newspaper articles. 

“I had my mom and family members save all the newspaper from that week while we were gone.”

The Tampa native remembers the day she found out vividly. “We got together with our coach, we all watched the game. So we’re watching and it was one of those moments where you’re like oh my God, we’re going to the Super Bowl and I have chills still when I think about it and we’re like in a week.” 

2003 was the last time Tampa Bay made it to the Super Bowl in San Diego — and young Michele was right there on the sidelines.

“I still can’t believe I have all this,” Michele said. Uniforms, programs, even this prized possession she said came in the biggest Tiffany’s box she’d ever seen. 

“It’s a high that you’re on, you’re dancing on the field and you’re on the sidelines, however it is.”

She said that experience of a lifetime is something the cheerleaders today won’t be able to fully get.

“Everyone was together, groups of people, you’re able to touch and hug and celebrate together and now we are all covered with a mask and it’s safe,” she told Bay News 9. “But I wish they could experience it the same way that we did.” 

Things this time around will be different for her as well, she’ll be shaking her pom-poms for the home team at home with friends and family.