Joe came across a great Fourth of July story, that oddly enough was published July 3.

Seems as though the four-letter network is putting Chucky to work early. He’s writing a column about his experiences visiting our troops overseas protecting us from those animals that behead people and fly planes into skyscrapers.

I think sometimes people forget the role our military plays in keeping our country safe. There is the Air Force, the Navy and the Army all working together tirelessly, putting in long hours every day so far away from home. I’ll never think about military service the same way after seeing it up close this week. It’s been a life-changing experience for all of us.

Joe, like most Bucs fans, had some issues with Chucky but one of them was not the way he treated men and women in uniform. He regularly held a practice each season at MacDill for the sole benefit of our troops. Joe thought that was way cool.

And Chucky’s missive also gives us a moment to pause in-between beers and boating and diving and golfing and and grilling and gawking at the ladies on the beach and the fireworks to realize how fortunate we are.

We only need to know we live in the greatest country on Earth because it’s the only country on Earth to realize how golden football is.

Joe gets a chuckle sometimes when media types get so disconnected from bottom-line reality that they write things lacking old fashioned common sense.

Michael Lombardi penned a long column yesterday about the Glazer Boys and their changed plan for the Bucs and his admiration for said plan.

I admire the Glazers’ willingness to make a plan — and their willingness to learn, to change and to understand that in the NFL, it’s not always about spending money. It’s about spending wisely. …

It’s a plan, I’m sure, that’s based on the Glazers watching how successful teams in the NFL operate. The Glazers are the type of owners who observe and learn — they’re successful in their other businesses for a reason. They entered the NFL with an idea of how things operate, but they’ve adjusted their plan now that they’ve learned how things really operate.

Joe isn’t buying Lombardi’s whole premise: that the Glazer Boys are so obviously doing the right thing for the franchise and have a master plan in place.

Joe is much more of the mind that the Glazers are in money-saving mode, giving an unproven yet promising head coach and GM a shot before returning to their preferred path: a big name head coach.

These are the same guys who pursued Bill Parcells relentlessly, and have watched his success. And the same for Jon Gruden.

Joe, of course, is pulling for the 2009 Bucs but believes the Bucs likely would jump at the opportunity to land Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren or Mike Shanahan next season if this season goes awry, especially if Chucky returns to coaching and gets off the team payroll.

Slumping ticket sales are another factor in the equation. And the Glazer Boys know a big name coach would sell more tickets than 99 percent of the possible big free agent signings this offseason.

And that new head coach is less expensive and comes without a signing bonus.

Joe hopes everyone has a great Fourth of July! For Joe, this holiday is Christmas. Warm weather, cold beer, grilling, scantily clad lasses at The Undertow… the only thing missing is football.

Hard to believe training camp is less than a month away.

This has been floating around the internet so Joe thought he would bring it to you.

Former Bucs stud Derrick Brooks appeared on former Rams lineman D’Marco Farr’s radio show on KSGL-AM in St. Louis. As in recent interviews, Brooks said, yes, he wants to play one more year.

Brooks didn’t really say anything revealing other that to say he’s getting enough interest that he is working out and staying in shape to play another year of football, otherwise he would have announced his retirement.

And he doesn’t blame his unemployment (yet) on teams phasing out the Tampa-2.

“No it’s not because if you play defense, you play football. So from that standpoint it’s meaningless. We made that defense what it was honestly with those classic battles against the Rams. And what our primary zone defense did was Cover-2 because of the front that you had to rush the pressure. Right now, you’re not getting as many combination of rushers that can rush like we could in our heyday. You know, four to six coming out. You’re just not seeing that anymore within units. And you know, like anything else in this game, you got to change. The style of offense is more or less not running the wide open offenses that ‘The Greatest Show On Turf’ ran that forced you to play that style of defense. So it’s not necessarily that teams aren’t playing that defense; it’s offenses are changing too, so the defense has got to change with the offense that’s being run by various teams now.”

It’s difficult for Joe to believe not only is Brooks not still with the Bucs, but he’s not with anyone yet. Sure, he had slipped a little. But it’s not as if he was horrible. Besides, Brooks was playing hurt last year late in the season.

A lot of Bucs fans were geeked to learn that training camp would be at One Buc Palace as opposed to the Mouse House in Orlando. Hey, only need to drive to One Buc Palace instead of fighting that horrible Orlando traffic. What’s not to like?

Well, how about limited access?

Per Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune, the Bucs won’t completely have an open door policy. In fact, unless you join a specific “club,” via Buccaneers.com, you might get shut out.

The team’s three-week camp is shifting from Orlando to the team’s state-of-the-art facility in Tampa. And though practices remain free and open to the public, attendance will be limited to about 4,000 people each day.

The team, which announced the full camp schedule today, is encouraging fans wishing to attend to join One Buc Club, members of which will have the first opportunity to receive complimentary tickets. Camp tickets will be available on-site the day of practices, provided the day is not “sold out” through advance orders from One Buc Club members

In short, if you don’t cough up your address and home phone number so that the Bucs ticket sales crowd can hound you, getting to watch a Bucs practice might be little more than a pipe dream.

Shady events at a Tampa IHOP in October dragged former Bucs Michael Bennett and Anthony Davis into the civil court system. Bennett has now settled the suit that accused him of beating a man and threatening him with a holstered gun.

By Steve Isbitts
Executive Editor
JoeBucsFan.com

Former Bucs running back Michael Bennett called the civil suit against him that alleged he beat a man at a Tampa IHOP restaurant and threatened him there with a holstered gun in October “a bunch of hocus pocus.”

Now it seems all that hocus pocus might have cost Bennett a tidy payoff to make the case disappear.

The plaintiff, Brian Gordon, has accepted a settlement offer from Bennett in the case, said the plaintiff’s Tampa attorney, Jeffrey “Jack” Gordon, a partner in the local firm Maney-Gordon. Terms of the settlement are confidential, Gordon said.

Hillsborough County court records indicate the case was closed on Tuesday.

Jack Gordon said he was satisfied with the outcome.

“A very fair result was able to be achieved,” he said. “Mr. Bennett proved to be a class act; his attorney–Dan Lahrsen–proved to be an excellent advocate and a stand up guy. I’m pleased that Bennett can put this behind him; and I’m pleased that the plaintiff can focus his energies and attentions on the primary tortfeasors involved.”

(Gotta love the use of the word “tortfeasors.” That reminded Joe he’s not smart enough to be an attorney).

The suit alleged Bennett and former Bucs offensive lineman Anthony Davis — who the Bucs cut days after the IHOP incident - seriously beat the plaintiff in the early a.m. hours after a confrontation.

A Tampa police report states Bennett was not identified in two photo lineups by witnesses at the scene.

One witness interviewed by police said a man wearing a green outfit punched the plaintiff in the jaw, according to the report, and Bennett later told police he was wearing “a green hat and green longsleeve shirt with a white undershirt.”

No charges were filed by police. Per police records, Bucs officials were aware of the investigation and assisted with it.

After being cut by the Bucs and landing with the San Diego Chargers, Bennett told the San Diego Union Tribune in January he was “the peacekeeper” at IHOP, where Davis was enraged and out of control.

As for Davis, now on the New Orleans Saints roster, his civil case continues. And it doesn’t look promising for the big offensive lineman.

Numerous affirmative defenses filed by Davis were stricken by Circuit Court Judge Sam Pendino earlier this month.

As anyone with a thimble full of football common sense will state, OTAs are hardly a barometer to judge players. Let Joe be blunt, it’s barely flag football with guys in shirts and shorts.

The closest thing to contact the players had was when helmet-wielding Aqib Talib decided to try to rearrange some of his teammates’ faces.

When the pads begin cracking is when Joe starts grading players.

That written, Steve Wyche of NFL.com typed a column that includes quarterback bust-in-waiting Josh Freeman as one of a handful of NFL rookies that impressed their coaches.

Freeman was viewed by some as the most gifted of the trio of first-round quarterbacks that included top overall pick Matthew Stafford (Detroit) and No. 5 selection Mark Sanchez (New York Jets). However, he was seen as the biggest project of the three and was expected to spend his rookie season, if not longer, developing behind Byron Leftwich or Luke McCown.

His offseason workouts might have changed some of those projections. Although Leftwich and McCown may be ahead of him on the depth chart, Freeman has thrust himself into the thick of the competition to be the starter and how each performs in preseason will chart the course for Freeman’s future.

“Josh did a good job understanding his role,” Buccaneers GM Mark Dominik said. “He showed good leadership and he understands our playbook. We are excited about his progress. He’s come in and represented himself well and showed why he was taken in the first round.”

While a team that traded up and spent a first round pick for a player might get overly giddy about said player looking sharp in shorts and shirts, Joe sincerely hopes Freeman barely sees the light of day during the 2009 season.

In Freeman’s development, patience is very much a virtue.

Joe has long beat the drum about what a quality channel the NFL Network is. There isn’t a day that goes by that Joe doesn’t watch the NFL Network.

Joe just can’t understand how someone who calls himself a football fan would not have the NFL Network. This is unbelievable to Joe.

Wisely, the powers that be at the NFL Network are starting to put more of the network’s content online. One of the features the NFL Network has is “Top Ten,” where experts pick and discuss the top 10 of a variety of NFL subjects. It’s one of the few times when Joe actually puts his remote down.

One of the subjects is “Top Ten Motivational Coaches.” In it, Chucky was No. 3.

His facial contortions earned him the nickname “Chucky,” but Jon Gruden’s intense motivational style helped Tampa Bay finally win a Super Bowl.

In the story are links to Chucky’s segment of the show and, as a bonus, a clip of the Bucs Super Bowl highlights which only seem like yesterday.

In the Chucky clip, Chris Harry of the Orlando Sentinel calls Chucky leading the Bucs to the Super Bowl win as Chucky’s “finest moment.”

After you watch Chucky’s segment and you get a taste of the NFL Network, if your cable company rhymes with “Out House Networks” and you don’t call them to tell them to go to hell, then you are not only not a football fan, Joe suspects you are not even a man.

Joe cannot fathom how anyone would stay with a company that so blatantly spits in the face of football fans, yet crams every shopping channel known to mankind down subscribers’ throats, among other worthless channels.

(“Hey, what’s the temperature?”

“Same as it was nine minutes ago.”)

As René Descartes would say, “I have NFL Network, therefore I am a man.”

Joe is guessing Bucs general manager Mark Domink wasn't exactly laughing when he read Ross Tucker's column today on SI.com.

For the most part, Joe has been pleased with the work Mark Dominik has done as the new Bucs general manager, though Joe does have some pointed irritants.

So when Joe appeared with his good friend Justin Pawlowski on WDAE-AM 620 during a segment of “The Blitz,” broadcast live from Fan Fest, Joe was not totally surprised when Dominik, upon learning who Joe was, glared at Joe so bad that Joe has scars from the holes burned into his head.

So Joe can only imagine the stares former NFL player Ross Tucker will receive when he next meets Dominik. Writing for SI.com, Tucker absolutely barbecued Dominik for his moves since becoming the Bucs general manager. In discussing the best and worst moves of the NFL offseason, Tucker led off the list of “worst” with the Bucs and pulled no punches on Dominik.

Worst offseasons
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
The Bad … Where do I start? The Bucs started the offseason by firing a proven winner and Super Bowl champion in head coach Jon Gruden, as well as a general manager in Bruce Allen who single-handedly got the team from salary-cap purgatory to an enviable financial situation — while generally fielding competitive teams in the process. Those two were replaced by a guy who has never called signals in the NFL, Raheem Morris, and an executive, Mark Dominik, whose initial financial decisions have been dubious at best. Among the duo’s first transactions was the release of all-time favorites and role models for younger players like Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn.

Dominik’s financial acumen must be called into question considering the moves he has made thus far. He gave $10.5 million in guaranteed money to wide receiver Michael Clayton, who hasn’t been a legitimate receiving threat since his rookie season. I thought this was a production-oriented business. Then he gave a contract extension totaling $20 million in guarantees to Kellen Winslow shortly after acquiring him from the Cleveland Browns. The money given to a player with known knee issues is not nearly as concerning as the fact the pact was signed even though Winslow still had two years remaining on his rookie contract. What message does that send to guys like Barrett Ruud and Donald Penn? All they’ve done for the past three seasons is everything asked of them by the organization, yet no new contract is in the offing for either one — despite Ruud having only one year remaining on his rookie deal and Penn being a restricted free agent.

Tucker did give Domink praise for signing Derrick Ward. But after the aforementioned barbs, it was almost a backhanded compliment.

Bucs tight end Kellen Winslow talks with BSPN’s vodka-swilling Dana Jacobson about how he is adjusting to being a Bucs leader and the Bucs in general.