Inside The Huskies

Super Bowl Celebration Doesn't Stop for Ex-Husky Vita Vea

The huge defensive tackle seems to be enjoying himself after reaching football's pinnacle.
Dan Raley|
Super Bowl Celebration Doesn't Stop for Ex-Husky Vita Vea
Super Bowl Celebration Doesn't Stop for Ex-Husky Vita Vea

They love Vita Vea in the NFL.

He's huge, funny and a good comeback story.

After returning from a broken ankle to win a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Vea has been front and center in the celebration that doesn't want to end anytime soon.

He showered Bucs coach Bruce Arians with a Gatorade bath as the game came to a close and poured water on him following the Tampa victory parade.

A mountain of a man at 6-foot-4 and 346 pounds, the former University of Washington defensive tackle comically beat on a drum as everyone in that Florida city paid homage to his team.

Vea rode on a yacht, smoked a cigar and cradled the Super Bowl championship trophy like an infant. 

Most recently, the affable guy appeared on NFL Networks' Good Morning Football show and had everyone laughing for a 10-minute interview. You can watch it here, tweeted out by GMFB and retweeted by the UW athletic department:

The GMFB team had a Husky connection to it in Nate Burleson, son of one-time standout UW defensive back Al Burleson and, of course, he's a former wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks. 

Burleson was one guy, with his Seattle address and UW bloodlines, the Huskies  seriously goofed on. They passed on him, sending him to Nevada to play his college football. 

They got it right with Vea.

Vita described how teammate and fellow defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh shared how he got injured but battled back to play in a Super Bowl, giving Vea inspiration.

He was shown micced up in a previous game, wishing for hug from Tom Brady.

It came on the field in the aftermath of the Super Bowl while Vea was taking photos and bumped into his quarterback. 

The GMFB crew also resurrected high school footage of him carrying the football and bemoaned the fact that he didn't get a Super Bowl touchdown. He lined up in the backfield and blocked for the Bucs, but he didn't carry the ball.

So what's next?

Can Vea and the Bucs do it again?

"We've got a young team," he said, conveniently excusing the 42-year-old Brady from the equation. "Everybody's hungry."

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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