Most Buccaneers are scheduled to take to the practice field in Bradenton today and, barring Joe keeling over from the excitement of actually seeing glorious football again, Joe will bring you all kinds of nuggets and information from camp.

Led by Josh Freeman, the Bucs’ effort today kicks off a three-day, players-only minicamp, courtesy of the asinine lockout. 

So it would be wise to check back to JoeBucsFan.com this afternoon, tonight, and all through the week. If you don’t yet follow Joe on Twitter, then this is probably a good time to start.

It’s always interesting to Joe what others outside the Tampa Bay market feel about Bucs players, partially because they are not tainted by perhaps a too cozy relationship, and because said scribes are not worried about retribution for harsh critiques.

Of the many Bucs free agents set to hit the open market when/if this asinine lockout ends, Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com isn’t all that won over by them, though he thinks Davin Joseph is the best of the lot.

26. Davin Joseph, G, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: He is a mauler in the run game who missed five games last season after breaking his foot. Joseph struggles at times with quick tackles in pass protection. He was better in 2007 and 2008 than he was the past two seasons.

Pretty solid take on Joseph. The guy is a beast run blocking and OK to fair on pass blocking. Joe believes that’s an objective assessment.

To many Bucs fans’ delight, Prisco is hardly enamoured by linebacker Barrett Ruud as so many others are. However, as Bucs fans roundly pillory Ruud for his perceived inability to muscle up and stop the run, Prisco instead believes Ruud to be a fine run-stuffer but lacking in pass protection.

38. Barrett Ruud, LB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: I had him ranked higher on an earlier list, but after evaluating him I am not as high on him. He’s a good player, not a great one. He does have a knack for getting to the football, but he sometimes isn’t as good in coverage.

This may be the first time Joe has read someone take Ruud to task for not-so-great pass defense. Interesting.

For those wondering, Prisco has linebacker Quincy Black rated No. 43.

Plenty of Bucs fans probably forgot, or never knew, that wide receiver Mike Williams was courted to play basketball for Syracuse University.

Yes, before realizing he was 100 percent football star his freshman year at Syracuse, Williams thought he might be the next Louis Orr, Billy Owens, Rafael Addison, Carmelo Anthony, or another sharpshooter from Orangemen past.

It seems Williams still has his love of hoops in tact after playing in a major 3-on-3 tournament over the weekend in Buffalo.

Still, it was a shocking sight Saturday when Williams, the star wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, fired jumpers, battled for body position and accidentally bloodied another player with an elbow during a top men’s division game with the South Buffalo Celtics.

It wasn’t planned.

Williams was supposed to be coaching the team for a friend, but when his big man failed to show up — Williams pulled a Bill Russell.

“I couldn’t leave my team hanging so I went in there,” said Williams, who caught a team-leading 11 touchdowns and averaged 14.8 yards per catch on 65 receptions as an NFL rookie in 2010. “A lot of people were screaming Mike Williams on the sidelines so it feels good to be back home.”

This kind of stuff scares the crap out of Joe. To have a guy the Bucs need on the field for opening day (hopefully) in September banging on the basketball court with an NFL-player target on his back is risky. An ankle sprain at this time of year could plague him all season.

Joe will be much more at peace seeing Williams at Josh Freeman’s minicamp tomorrow running routes and lifting weights.

He’s one of the last guys the Bucs can afford to lose to injury.

Hardly the defensive end getting Bucs fans all hot in the pants for the 2011 season, Stylez White remains firmly on the Bucs radar, so reports the “Whispers” column on ProFootballWeekly.com.

The unsourced rumor mill says the Bucs would want Stylez to return four a fifth season if they can’t re-sign Tim Crowder, who was dubbed “The King of Hustle” by Raheem Morris last year.

There’s a chance that the Buccaneers will consider re-signing DE Stylez G. White, but a source said it’s something they only would do if they were unable to re-sign the defensive end they would rather keep, Tim Crowder. It’s expected that both players will be unrestricted when free agency begins. The Bucs added two rookie defensive ends with their first two picks in the draft, but they would like to have some veteran leadership at the position, and White, who has been criticized by head coach Raheem Morris for his practice habits, might not set the example the Bucs want for rookie DEs Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers.

Joe would like to see the Bucs bring back Crowder, who likely will be an unrestricted free agent. The guy has an unreal motor and is a big contributor on special teams. Plus he’s young (turns 26 this week) and relatively productive (6.5 sacks over past two seasons).

Now Joe also respects Stylez’s game. The guy is a far more proven backup defensive end than Crowder, and he’s durable. Say what you want about Style’s interest (or disinterest) in practice, the guy’s only missed one game in four years with 24 sacks in that time.

But Joe can’t help but remember an offbeat story in the St. Pete Times about how frugal Crowder is.

And Crowder’s frugal ways, from cutting his own hair to driving a 2003 Honda Malibu (an upgrade over his college car, a 1979 Cadillac DeVille), have earned him another label.

“Some people call me downright cheap,” Crowder said, laughing. “I just like to save my money. You never know when hard times come. It’s just how I am. It’s how I was raised.”

Considering how money-focused Crowder is, or “cheap” as he called it, maybe Crowder is simply going to jump ship to the highest bidder.

Surely the guy is going to command serious attention on the free agent market, and there’s no reason to think the Bucs will break the bank for Crowder when they’ve got alleged weed enthusiast Alex Magee, Michael Bennett, Da’Quan Bowers, Adrian Clayborn, sackless Kyle Moore and possibly Stylez to choose from.

A lot of Bucs fans have clamored for Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik to throw wads of cash at convicted felon and former inmate Plaxico Burress to play wide receiver for the Bucs.

Never mind the reason why the Steelers cut him and the Giants quickly washed their hands of him once he was arrested for packing a loaded rod in his sweat pants in a packed night club, only to have the gun discharge and leave Burress with a hole in his leg. People actually believe in a 34-year old man (he’l be 34 when the NFL begins its 2011 season) who hasn’t played a game of football in two years.

Seems BSPN blogger Pat Yasinskas thinks this — and Dominik signing other big-named veteran free agents — is a pipe dream as much as Joe, so he noted in a recent chat hosted by the four-letter.

Nick (New Hampshire)

I read you article about how the Bucs are way below the salary cap, who do you think they will try to sign once free agency starts? Do you think that they will try to get Plax?

Pat Yasinskas

Plax? Think about it — he’s a 33-year-old WR. Bucs have bunch of good young WRs. They’re in a youth movement. Plax just doesn’t fit with what they’re doing.

ike (washington, dc)

I’m confused by your repeated appeals to the Bucs’ youth movement as a reason that they won’t be interested in older veterans. Doesn’t a team want some veterans to provide some leadership and experience?

Pat Yasinskas

They’ve got Ronde Barber. They’ve also got some good young leaders, mainly Josh Freeman.

Exactly. If the Bucs were in need of a veterans to help guide the young players, last year would have been it, when the Bucs fielded the youngest team in the NFL. And what did that team do? It went out and won 10 games.

So if the Bucs were able to get by quite well without veterans on the roster last year, exactly why would Dominik do a 180 this season? He wouldn’t.

So if people think Dominik is going to throw cash in the face of players like Burress, it isn’t happening.

The fist bumping dynamic Bucs duo from TBO.com, Anwar Richardson and Roy Cummings, is back — video style — to weigh in on the lockout, Josh Freeman and more.

Why is Cummings worried about the Bucs defense? Click the arrow below and check it out. (One of these days Joe must get one of these dapper gentlemen on JoeBucsFan TV.)

Joe was planning a rage-free Sunday, but that ended early when Joe read the latest proclamation from St. Pete Times beat writer Stephen Holder.

It seems Holder has mounted a thoroughbred and is selling the concept that the Bucs owe their free agents a great-faith effort to re-sign them otherwise the owner and management are nothing more than hot air salesmen.

Whether you remain skeptical or buy every word of it, the moment of truth has arrived for the Bucs’ stated intent to lock up their up-and-coming players.

For a team that has consistently, though not wrongly, eschewed free agency and maintained that its wish is to invest in homegrown talent, the opportunity has arrived to make good on those promises.

If, as anticipated, the collective bargaining agreement being negotiated includes provisions for players with four or more years of experience to earn unrestricted free agent status, the Bucs will have many such players to make decisions on, including MLB Barrett Ruud, G Davin Joseph, LB Quincy Black, RB Cadillac Williams and OT Jeremy Trueblood.

The Bucs will make earnest attempts to re-sign them or watch them walk. The latter route would mean the Bucs would be taking a path different from the one promised since the Jon Gruden-Bruce Allen regime was still in place.

Sorry, Joe doesn’t think the Bucs would be breaking a promise if Cadillac Williams, Jeremy Trueblood, Quincy Black, Barrett Ruud, etc., are encouraged to test the free agent market and, possibly, move on.

What’s always been implied/understood in the Bucs’ stated interest in re-signing “homegrown” free agents is the simple fact that the Bucs value the players and think they’re better than whoever else might be available.

Joe doesn’t want the Bucs re-signing guys on principle; Joe wants the Bucs paying guys who have major game and are worth the money. Trueblood probably isn’t that guy. Black probably isn’t that guy. Cadillac probably is. Ruud is surely on the bubble, depending on his contract demands.

Let them all walk if the guys behind them are better or there’s another team’s free agent who’s a better fit.

This isn’t girl scouts or some lame second-grade soccer league where kids aren’t allowed to keep score and everybody has to be nice to little Jonny and play fair.

A new labor agreement will force the Bucs to spend a pile of cash. Joe expects Mark Dominik to spend in whatever way puts the Bucs in a spot to get a ring, not to live up to a media sound byte or an exact philosophy.

The Bucs' often despised owner fought his owner comrades to get games televised

You’ve all read THE PESSIMIST, who spews his Bucs-related anger like no other. But Joe brings you THE OPTIMIST. 

THE OPTIMIST is Nick Houllis, a Bucs fan and an accomplished writer whose steadfast allegiance to the team goes back to the 1970s. Houllis is the founder, creator and guru of BucStop.com, a place Joe goes to get lost in time via Houllis’ stunning video collection.

THE OPTIMIST will shine that positive light in your eyes. Some will love it. Some won’t.

Today, THE OPTIMIST serves up an intriguing history lesson exploring the positive impact of Hugh Culverhouse. Joe learned a few things. Enjoy.

Whenever anyone wants to pin blame on the old Orange Bucs’ 14 years of losing seasons, one word comes to mind: Culverhouse. That’s Hugh Culverhouse, first owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He has been accused of being cheap, racist and greedy, yet amazingly I’m going to tell you that at one time, Culverhouse was the epitome of what an NFL owner should be!

To be entirely correct, Culverhouse was not even the first owner of the Bucs, or at least he wasn’t supposed to be. Tom McCloskey, a Philadelphia builder was the original franchise winner (Imagine that, a Phily guy owning the Bucs). McCloskey took a closer look at what was involved and passed. The NFL turned to a Jacksonville tax lawyer who made millions in real estate. Culverhouse put $4 million down and bought the Bucs.

Big deal you may say, we knew he had money; but you didn’t know he spent money did you?

Big Names, Big Bucks

At that time, John McKay was like Jimmy Johnson or Steve Spurrier; an innovative coach who created the I formation and his style of the 3-4 that shut down running teams. Culverhouse lured McKay from his cushy home in Southern Californai where he was winning national championships every few years.

Before luring McKay to the Bay Area, Culverhouse got Oakland Raiders GM Ron Wolf to come to the Bucs and fill the same role. “Build a championship team like you built the Raiders.”  So in 1975, the Bucs had their architect, then he set out to develop the right look. Wolf was responsible for building a Bucs team that won a division championship faster than any other franchise ever had, in four years. Wolf would later build the 1990’s Green Bay Packers; and Culverhouse spent well for him.

Culverhouse did not want a ‘toothless pirate’ for a logo, he wanted something classy, something Errol Flynn. Bucco Bruce was born of Tampa Times and Tampa Tribune artist Lamar Sparkman. So don’t think Culverhouse wasn’t capable of conjuring up a team that was tough…at the time, the Bucs were the ONLY uniforms with a hand drawn helmet logo. He wanted it classy, and Florida Orange went over so well, 40 years later we’re celebrating it once a year.

Money was no object back then for Culverhouse, who spent $1.75 million on what was then a state of the art scoreboard capable of showing video tapes and animated action. This was after Culverhouse got through the lease with the Tampa Sports Authority, an 80-page document that took 14 weeks to negotiate, and is a better lease for the public that we have now with Raymond James.

Today, the Glazers keep ALL concessions. Back then, Tampa Sports Authority got some of the revenue, too. Not bad for a cheapskate.

Fighting with the Fins

Culverhouse even caught the ire of fellow owner Joe Robbie, whose Miami Dolphins teams had complained about the ongoing preseason exhibition games against the Bucs; that Tampa Bay players were taking it too seriously, and Robbie didn’t want to play the Bucs anymore.

Then there was the issue where Culverhouse single-handedly changed the blackout rule in favor of us, the Public. Culverhouse okayed the Bucs’ local TV to telecast the Bucs/Dolphins preseason game after it sold out. Robbie was old school, and dead set against this.

Back then owners did not want ANY home games — preseason or regular season — on TV; they felt that would generate last-minute ticket buyers, rather than people buying their tickets ahead of time. How wrong the owners had it, and how right and what a visionary Culverhouse was. He strong-armed Robbie into agreeing to the broadcast and the first ever preseason game was on TV.              

Culverhouse understood what it meant to finance a ‘start up’ before the phrase ever even became popular. He knew you had to spend money to make money, and he wasn’t afraid to do it. His famous phrase on the opening night public address system …”We’re here for one reason and one reason only, to bring the fans great professional football (to Tampa Bay)”…and he meant it.

Doug Williams Debacle

So what happened? Well for starters, Doug Williams.

In 1982, Doug Williams was in his fifth and final season, which saw his completion percentage increase each year. Still, when your rookie percentage is 42 percent, you have nowhere to go but up. Keep in mind though this was before the advent of the West Coast offense, back in a day when you ran the ball and took shots downfield. Williams would throw the ball away to live to throw another day; he was one of the least sacked QBs in the league back then, only going down nine times in 1979.

Then negotiations went bad; each side fired shots at the other via the media, which is why you don’t hear things anymore like this. Williams reportedly wanted $600,000 a year. Top QBs back then were Archie Manning (600k), Ken Stabler (450k), Joe Ferguson (440k) and Steve Bartkowski (410k).  Williams was not up to the level of these Quarterbacks yet, it could be argued, but Williams was a leader, a winner.

He was currently being paid $120,000, and he felt it was because of one reason; he was black. John Elway was a rookie and signed a $1 million contract, as had Dan Fouts. At some point, though, Williams request went up to $850k. Eventually the Bucs offered $600k, but it was too late. The Bucs had signed Jack Thompson, paid him $200,000, then offered Williams an ultimatum; accept the deal by the start of camp, or it’s gone.

So Williams, the Bucs’ quarterback that guided the team to the playoffs three of the past four years, was gone. After he left, the Bucs went 2-14! They traded a No.1 for Steve Deberg a year later, as Jack Thompson did not work out. The Bucs started to lose, and we all know what losing does to a fan base.

In 1986, the Bucs had the No. 1 pick, and wanted Bo Jackson, stellar running back out of Auburn; but Hugh Culverhouse and the Bucs screwed up again. They flew Bo in a private plane and ruined his final eligibility. They then gave him an ultimatum, baseball or football. Doug Williams was telling Bo what to expect from Culverhouse, and Bo chose Kansas City and baseball over Bucs and football.

IF that wasn’t enough, in 1989 Culverhouse claimed the Bucs were losing money, and had to move three home games to Orlando’s Citrus Bowl to expand the local fan base. When Culverhouse passed away, papers showed the Bucs were not only profitable but one of the MOST profitable franchises out there.

His death led to family fights for the franchise that ended with the sale of the Bucs to the highest bidders. In the end, the Culverhouse legacy was a Bucs team that did not even know if it was going to stay in Tampa Bay or not, and then along came the owners known as the Glazers who spent money on the team once again, and turned it into an eventual Super Bowl winning football team.

Raise your hand if you think the Bucs are building to win a Super Bowl this season.

Joe’s guessing not a lot of hands went up.

Perhaps that attitude could change based on how aggressively the Bucs attack free agency, but with two rookie defensive ends and Gerald McCoy and Brian Price coming off major injuries, it’s a safe bet the Bucs realize 2012 is more likely their year when it comes to Super Bowl aspirations and roster-building.

Of course, Joe and every other fan will be filled with optimism once the asinine lockout is lifted, but that’s not the point here.

Yesterday evening, Joe nearly drove off US Hwy. 19 listening to NFL draft guru and noted Barrett Ruud critic Justin “Commish” Pawlowski on WDAE-AM 620. The Commish was on board with the idea of the Bucs making Ruud their franchise player in 2011, assuming the asinine lockout ends and teams are given a shot to tag a franchise player before free agency begins.

Here’s The Commish’s logic on franchising Ruud:

1) Either Mason Foster or Tyrone McKenzie is unlikely to be ready to fill Ruud’s shoes, especially with a shortened offseason. Plus there’s no guarantee Adam Hayward re-signs.
2) Ruud can mentor the young linebackers and the Bucs would only have to pay him about half the $20 million guaranteed he’s probably seeking with a long term deal.
3) The Bucs, under a new labor agreement, are likely to have to spend major cash to reach a salary cap floor in 2011. Franchising Ruud helps them get there and frees up the money in 2012.

All sound points, however Joe’s just not on the bandwagon. If the Bucs think durable, 28-year-old Ruud is their guy after watching him play for six years — Raheem’s quarterback of the defense — then they should offer him a long term deal they think he’s worth and get it over with. 

If not, they should let him walk and let the young guys McKenzie and Foster slug it out. And may the most violent, heady player win and the get the experience in 2011.

In Joe’s mind, franchising Ruud would just be a weak play that might not have a happy ending. First, if Ruud plays pretty well, then what? The Bucs will be stuck paying him more money in 2012 in a year they might really want the cap room, or be forced to let him walk.

Second, Ruud might be bitter as hell if he knows the Giants or some other team would have offered him double the guaranteed money.

Third, for those who think Ruud is softer than a 38DD rack, that means more of the same in 2011.

Joe’s confident the Bucs know exactly what they want to do with Ruud. So Joe thinks they should just do it — even if it threatens to cause riots in the streets of Tampa.

NFL Draft guru Justin Pawlowski, The Commish of WDAE-AM 620, is back today with his award-winning sometimes Saturday show, The Blitz, thanks to the good radio gods of the Clear Channel family.

Pawlowski gets behind the microphone at 1 p.m. and drives The Sports Animal bus up to 3 p.m. Joe is confident Justin will bring more talk of the Bucs potentially franching Barrett Ruud, buzz about Complete Game James Shields’ solid night last night, SRod’s strong appearance as a leadoff hitter and perhaps that Russian with the wild name the Bolts drafted in the first round.

Oh, and there’s always college football news, too!

Those chained to a computer can listen online at 620wdae.com.

Recently, ProFootballWeekly.com had a list of breakthrough offensive players for 2011 and Bucs wide receiver Arrelious Benn was among them.

Now it’s time for the defense. These same analysts brainstormed and for the Bucs on defense, the breakout player for 2011 will be second-year defensive tackle Gerald McCoy.

It took a while for McCoy to figure things out as a rookie and understand exactly how his coaches wanted him to play, but he was coming on strong before a biceps tear ended his season in Week 14. He is said to be fully recovered from surgery to repair the tear and seems determined to build off what he started late in ’10. McCoy told PFW in February that he wasn’t satisfied with how his rookie year went from a personal or team standpoint. He has dropped some weight this offseason and has impressed teammates with his intensity in workouts. It’s clear McCoy wants to get better, and some evaluators believed he was the best prospect in the 2010 draft. The Bucs will surround him with better pieces on the defensive line this season — they spent their top two draft picks on DEs Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers — and McCoy figures to become a more disruptive player at the three-technique spot.

Yeah, it took a while for GMC to figure things out because of his dopey coach. When GMC, publicly frustrated, decided to tune out Todd Wash is when GMC started making progress, significantly so.

Now, without the menace of Wash and with Warren Sapp’s own hand-picked defensive line coach Keith Millard, Joe believes the ProFootballWeekly.com gang is correct. Don’t be shocked if GMC blows up this year, which will give commenter Thomas 2.2 a severe, prolonged case of irritable bowel syndrome.

Joe just had to laugh at this, not that he agrees or disagrees with it.

Short of troubled Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib, there is no Bucs player that draws anger and ire out of Bucs fans like Barrett Ruud, while NFL insiders heap praise on the linebacker at the same time.

The laudatory chorus of kudos continued on the Man’s Channel, the NFL Network, when former Bucs great and future Hall of Famer Warren Sapp joined former NFLer Brian Baldinger to discuss the most valuable defensive players available on the free agent market for players with four or more years of service.

When discussing his top five players, Baldinger rated Ruud No. 3, behind only cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and defensive lineman Cullen Jenkins.

“He’s the quarterback of the Bucs defense,” Baldinger said.

Joe just chuckles. It’s near impossible to find an NFL insider who thinks Ruud is the feminine product so many Bucs fans believe him to be. But if Joe were to ask the average Bucs fan on the street about Ruud, the curse words would flow like ice cold beer from a bottle on a hot Friday afternoon.

Speaking of a cold beer on a hot Friday afternoon, Joe hears his siren song.

The mountain of cash the Bucs would have to spend to reach the salary cap floor mandated by a new labor agreement is just fiction/fantasy at this point, as the asinine lockout continues. But more and more it looks like Mark Dominik will be under pressure to dish out huge checks.

That would be interesting and unprecedented pressure for the general manager considering the Bucs don’t exactly have much cash committed for 2011 player salaries.

NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas, of BSPN.com, tapped into his team of statistical gremlins and coughed up figures yesterday. Yasinskas writes that numbers floating around the rumor mill say the Bucs might have to spend $50 million+ more in 2011 to meet league rules.

So let’s take a look at some salary-cap figures as we look forward to free agency. Some of the reports about the possible deal have pegged that 2011 salary cap right about $120 million.

In terms of money already committed toward a 2011 cap (rookie contracts aren’t a factor yet because teams haven’t even been allowed to negotiate with draft picks), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the lowest figure in the league. They’re sitting at $63.8 million. In recent years, the Bucs spent well below the cap and had the league’s lowest payroll in the uncapped 2010 season.

Joe’s intrigued by the potential pressure on Dominik. What if Davin Joseph or Barrett Ruud leave town? That’s means one less guy the Bucs might have paid big money won’t be around. What if guys who could command mid-level free agent money, like Cadillac Williams and Jeremy Trueblood, opt to move on?

What if there’s a rookie salary scale? That means less money for the draft picks.

As Joe reported the other day, ProFootballTalk.com creator and guru Mike Florio says the Bucs won’t dive into free agency and will opt to pour money into seemingly creative contract extensions for young players by midseason to meet new spending demands.

Talk about massive incentive for a young team if Dominik goes that route. Imagine it’s October and everyone knows Dominik is sitting on a pile of cash he’ll all but have to soon spend on current players.

The lovely and talented Sarah Tyson peppers Joe with questions about Aqib Talib’s future.

Yes, it’s another edition of the sometimes award-winning, rarely predictable JoeBucsFan TV.

Just 37 days.

If only the NFLPA or the NFL owners can hold out 37 more days, this nonsense about the Bucs playing the Bears in London won’t happen. That’s the deadline the NFL has given all parties.

Should the lockout remain in place on Aug. 1, the Bucs will host the Bears Oct. 23.

Joe cannot find any Bucs fan who is in favor of the Bucs playing in England, short of the Bucs fans in the Tampa Bay or Orlando area that want other people to spend their money so he/she can watch the game at home under a sellout.

Well, one can add Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher to those disgruntled Bucs fans who are irritated about this home game overseas.

Appearing with Tom Waddle and Marc Silverman on WMVP-AM in Chicago, Urlacher went off on playing the Bucs in London rather than The CITS.

[Muffled laugh] “No, I’m not excited to go to London,” Urlacher said. Traveling to Tampa “is a good trip, it’s fun. [The Bucs] are less excited about this than we are. It takes away a home game for them. They are tough at home. Plus it will be hot. I don’t understand why they do that. I am not excited to go to London, I will say that.”

Joe understands how the NFL owners want to grow the game, but damn, grow the game where there is some interest or appreciation like Germany or Mexico or Canada. You don’t see that used car salesman Bud Bad Hair Selig try to play baseball games in London, do you?

Yeah, Wembley Stadium is sold out for this each year but the vast number of fans in the stands are American expatriates who come from throughout Europe for the game and fans who fly in from the states as part of a vacation.

England is the country for bad food and kickball. Just give it up.

The boring world of asinine lockout chatter, which has been uplifting fans with much needed hope lately, has turned to alleged player-owner discussions of a rookie salary cap.

Essentially, the discussion centers around rookies no longer scoring tens of millions of guaranteed money before playing a down of NFL football. (Gerald McCoy was granted about $40 million guaranteed in his first contract.) Rookies would have to earn their way to beastly money after possibly two or three years of service.

In Joe’s eyes it makes a world of sense.

However, Bucs 2011 first-round pick Adrian Clayborn doesn’t seem to be on board. But at least he sees the humor and irony in him likely entering the league a year too late. Clayborn, an impressive, fun Twitterer, chimed in on Twitter last night.

@AJaClay – think its funny vets like the rookie wage scale. of course you do…NOW!

The NBA long ago realized that churning out massive guaranteed contracts to rookies was foolish and unnecessary. It’s not a tough concept to grasp.

Joe would love to see a scenario in which NFL teams can better reward and keep their accomplished players.

Joe can only imagine how giddy Chucky would be to have such a policy in the NFL. With all that extra money to sign ancient veterans, the guy might never sleep in the offseason.

One of Joe’s favorite Sunday pregame rituals is checking out BucStop.com. Getting lost in the videos there is a great way to get pumped up for all things Bucs.

In fact, Joe knows of no better way to get fired up for a road game, other than waking up to Bucs cheerleaders knocking on Joe’s door demanding to dance in his living room and sit on his lap during the game.

Joe’s friend THE OPTIMIST is the curator and creator over at BucStop.com, and he’s looking for writing help. All the information is here. There is no pay other than the promise of fame. Good luck to those who dare.

Donald Penn may not be Jenny Craig when it comes to diet advice, but the Bucs’ stud left tackle doesn’t hesitate to teach young offensive linemen the ropes.

Speaking on the Ron and Ian Show today on WDAE-AM 620, Bucs guard James Lee said his time backing up Penn in previous seasons got him on track to jump in and make everyone forget about Jeremy Trueblood in 2010.

“Being behind Donald Penn for the first two years, he kind of prepped me,” Lee said. “I learned a lot from him. My situation is somewhat that we were in the same situation. He told me just, ‘Every week you have to prepare like you’re going to start. You never know. Something may happen Saturday night or Sunday morning.’ … If you do [start], hey, that’s the bonus. But, you know, it’s all in the preparation. Each week I prepare to start. It so happened in that [Rams] game I didn’t start but I ended up going in. It’s just a blessing. And Donald, he helped me prepare for that moment.”

Hearing this got Joe thinking about when Penn explained to Joe that he sacrificed his game for the sake of covering for Ted Larsen, when he was thrust into the Bucs’ starting lineup last year.

Joe’s hopes Penn can run his consecutive game streak to 76 this season. Joe trembles thinking of what might happen if Penn went down.

For Bucs fans outside the Tampa Bay area who were pained watching Bucs home games last year — it has to be those outside the Tampa Bay area since all of last season’s Bucs games were blacked out in the Tampa Bay and Orlando TV markets — many began pointing fingers at the proletariat in the region for not coughing up cash to go to games, irresponsibly dismissing how the area is hurting so terribly financially.

But cool cat Bob Papa has a different take: the rich are too soft.

This morning with his co-host Ross Tucker on “The Opening Drive,” heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, the subject of Bucs home games on TV came up.

Tucker was waxing poetic about how its a jewel watching NFL games on HD at home except the Bucs, which he claimed had the feel of high school football from The CITS.

“It’s great to watch NFL games on the couch, relax, fire up the HD, and then you turn on a Bucs game with all the empty seats, it’s like you are watching a Class C state championship.”

Papa had an interesting take: The empty seats in the background are, in part, people with money are too soft.

“Stadiums are so nice that you get a hint of bad weather [Papa whistles], people are gone,’ Papa said. “Why are you going to the seats? The stadiums are so nice, people are staying in the club section [lounge] where they have microbrews and the air conditioning and the instant replays.”

Joe thinks Papa hit an absolute nail on the head. When watching football games on TV from The CITS, the background is rarely if ever the upper deck, it’s the club seats, the most expensive seats. If it’s hot outside, soft money people are more inclined to retreat to the air conditioned club lounge where they sip cocktails and talk about stock dividends and the flowers the servants planted in the backyard while watching the game on HD screens the size of a Sam’s Club.

Shoot, two years ago Joe and one of Joe’s best friends had club seats for the Outback Bowl when Auburn and Northwestern played a classic, offensive shootout that went into overtime. It was horrible weather. Cold, rainy. Joe would much rather roast in the sun in the 90s than be cold much less cold and wet. So as great of a game that Outback Bowl was, Joe and his friend retreated to the club lounge and watched the game on TV.

So when Bucs fans (outside the area) gripe about the sterile viewing atmosphere a Bucs game may have on TV if a game is not sold out, don’t mock the blue collar Bucs fan. Mock the rich!

Hey Rays fans in Tampa, take advantage of the the $9.95 roundtrip luxury bus to Tropicana Field all through July!

Wake the heck up! Gas is nearly $4.00 a gallon. Parking is expensive. This is a stunning freaking deal!

It’s the No Excuses Tour to Tropicana Field, which takes Rays fans via luxury bus from Lee Roy Selmon’s restaurants in New Tampa and South Tampa to home Rays games. And you can bring your own food and beer, and travel in style courtesy of Paradise Worldwide Transportation.

It’s only $9.95 per person, and the chauffeured bus is sticking around for select postgame concerts.

Visit NoExcusesTour.com to get ALL the details and buy tickets.
And don’t forget to watch the No Excuses Tour video below:

Rather than sign off on the $15 million or $20 million of guaranteed money (much more non-guranteed) it might cost to re-sign Barrett Ruud, one Bucs beat writer says the Bucs will strongly consider slapping the franchise tag on Ruud at the end of the lockout.

That would put a roughly $10 million, one-year 2011 windfall the middle linebacker’s pocket and make him a free agent in 2012.

Speaking on 1040 AM yesterday, Stephen Holder of the St. Pete Times says franchising Ruud could be a best-of-both-worlds scenario for the Bucs.

“This is going to be a consideration. Because if you think about it, if they are in fact convinced they need Barrett Ruud on their football team, but maybe they’re not convinced they’re willing to give him a contract of five years and X millions of dollars.  Maybe they’re not convinced of that but they want him on the football team. Well the way you do it is you tag him with the franchise tag,” Holder said. “It’s a guaranteed contract for [just] this year for him. He may not like it, but it’s certainly a big boost [financially] from where he was. So it kind of gives you the best of both worlds.

“So that’s one scenario where I could see the Bucs doing it. … Linebacker is a franchise [player contract] number is pretty manageable number. … You’re not talking about crazy, crazy money. And so I just think something like that could appeal to the Bucs. And you franchise tag Barrett Ruud, you keep him on your team, and that way you don’t have to worry about the guys you have waiting in the wings can fill his shoes. Regardless of how people feel about him, he is valuable to the team.” 

Joe’s not buying the franchise tag for Ruud. After six seasons, Joe thinks the Bucs are completely sure of what they want to do with Ruud and know what kind of long term deal they want to put in front of him — or whether they’re prepared to let him walk.

The guy doesn’t miss games. There’s a ton of film on him. And the Bucs know he’s in his prime — good or bad depending on your perspective. Joe’s confident Mark Dominik has a number, and if Ruud doesn’t like it the door will hit him in the ass.