Joe listened to quite a bit of Lee Roy Selmon’s memorial service in Tampa today live on WDAE-AM 620. Major kudos to the radio station for killing its schedule and commercials to bring the moving ceremony to all in the Bay area.

The entire Bucs team and USF Bulls football team were there, and many former Bucs and others in the football world, in addition to so many from the community. Here’s a video with some footage from Joe’s friends at WTSP, Channel 10.

It’s not uncommon for jokers to set up a Facebook account that pretends to be a professional athlete’s and carry on the charade daily.

A phony Ronde Barber was outed last year, and now a cowardly soul that takes pleasure in being LeGarrette Blount has been outed. The Detroit Free Press documents the louse and how a Bucs blogger bought into the faux Blount’s trash talking regarding Ndamukong Suh.

Earlier today, the website BucsCentral.com posted a story with a link to a Facebook page purporting to be Blount’s in which the running back allegedly wrote, “Almost game time, son! Let’s get this!! Aye Suh! Figured I should give ya a heads up and let you know I’m runnin right through you Sunday. Practice all you want but you can’t stop LGB.”

The Buccaneers said they have notified NFL social media indentity theft about the incident.

Now Joe could relate to pretending to be LeGarrette Blount if, say, some fabulous drunken hottie was convinced Joe was Blount. But outside of that, it’s pretty lame.

Joe has written this so many times, he can’t count that high.

The key to the Bucs success last year can be traced to one man: running back LeGarrette Blount.

Before Blount broke onto the scene, the Bucs had no running game to speak of and opponents knew it. Virtually every team early in the season dared the Bucs to run, and they couldn’t. Opponents simply defended the pass and the Bucs offense, to be polite, struggled.

Then came Blount. The shootout win over Arizona was proof of what Blount did for the Bucs offense. He gave the Bucs its first legitimate threat to take it to the house on each touch since Cadillac Williams was a rookie.

With a sudden explosive running games, teams had to adjust to the Bucs and focus more on the run, which opened up the passing game for Josh Freeman.

This preseason, the Bucs made a concerted effort to get Blount more involved in third down situations and from limited sample size, that effort seems to have paid off.

But all of this is not good enough for Dan Parr of ProFootballWeekly.com. In a post earlier today, he doesn’t believe Blount can be effective on every down.

We hear that the Buccaneers were hoping that LeGarrette Blount would have made more progress in becoming a better all-around back by the time the regular season started. Blount, one of the gems GM Mark Dominik plucked off waivers after roster cuts before last season, has improved as a blocker and receiver, but the lockout likely played a role in keeping him from making the kind of strides Tampa Bay wants to see. It’s not that he’s not interested in becoming a better blocker — sources say he has made it a goal to get better at it and play every down. It’s possible the Bucs will be ready to use him that way before this season is over. Earnest Graham is the third-down back for now, but the team would like to see Kregg Lumpkin fight for that job. If the Bucs are disappointed with anyone in the backfield, we hear it’s Lumpkin, who didn’t step up in the preseason.

Gee, what a shock, the Bucs were disappointed in Lumpkin. This is no surprise to Joe. Once again, the Packers were hardly loaded at running back last year and Packers backers would argue running back was their weakest position. Yet Packers general manager Ted Thompson let Lumpkin walk. That’s all Joe needed to know.

This preseason, Lumpkin, to hear Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik, was the anointed third-down back. And what did Lumpkin do with this gift? Drop it, figuratively of course.

You would think a guy given such an opportunity would have made the most of it. But before preseason was over, the Bucs turned to Earnest Graham to fill that role.

Look, Joe thinks the world of Dominik but we are all human. It appears Dominik may have been pennywise but pound foolish in letting Cadillac Williams walk.

Slur-hurling Trey Wingo, Mark Schlereth and Hugh Douglas of BSPN break down the Lions-Bucs game.

It’s time to go on the record for the 2011 season in this latest JoeBucsFan./WTSP-TV 10 NEWS poll. Results could be broadcast during an award-winning 10 NEWS broadcast.

You know the NFL season has returned when we resume our weekly trip to the end zone of the NFL universe. Popular sports radio personality Adam Schein travels through football space and time outs and delivers his take on Week 1 of the 2011 NFL season. What does he say about the Bucs? “BOOM!” Consider yourself sucked in to the latest episode of Cosmic Schein!

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=dbe7ae11-3a0a-4fbe-b015-b9eff17d06f2" target="_new" title="">Cosmic Schein: Week 1</a>

Obviously, the continued growth and maturity of Josh Freeman is a key to the Bucs’ season.

How much better the guy can be after a 25-touchdown, six-interception season remains to be seen. But if Freeman truly is going to be one of the greats, then he should get even better this year all around.

Speaking today on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, former Bucs tight end and current Buccaneers Radio Network analyst Dave Moore says fans should see the Bucs let Freeman loose if Sunday’s game is a tight one.

“Expect Greg Olson and Raheem to go to that spread offense. We heard Raheem talk a little bit about that when we beat [inaudible],” Moore said. “Freeman played well in preseason, it was, when they decided to spread out, kind of like you would see New England do with [Tom] Brady.

“Spread out, have one guy in the backfield, kinda call plays as he sees the defense. I think they feel like Freeman’s at the point mentally and in his maturity that he can handle conducting the offense out of a the shotgun and spread formation, something that is difficult to do with young quarterbacks.”

Moore went on to say he expects the Bucs to pound the ball with LeGarrette Blount early in the game to keep Detroit’s big pass rush off balance. And Moore says we’ll see consistent double teams of Ndamakong Suh.

Regarding pounding the ball with Blount, Joe will believe it when he sees it. There were so many times last year when Greg Olson seemed allergic to that tactic.

Pat Kirwan and Jason Horowitz of CBSSports.com take a look at the Lions-Bucs game Sunday. Kirwan suggests Josh Freeman is “well on his way to being an elite quarterback.” Find out what else he has to say.

Yesterday, Joe brought you the heavy-hearted 7-9 Bucs season prediction of Shaun King. Now it’s former defensive tackle Brad Culpepper’s turn.

Speaking on The Dan Sileo Show on WDAE-AM 620, Culpepper said he sees an improved Buccaneers but a .500 team.

“I think they’re a better team than last year. I think they have fewer wins than last year,” Culpepper said. “Last year, they got a way with a couple that you don’t normally get away with. They had everything bounce their way in some games. Quite frankly, I don’t think they were a 10-win team last year.

“The defense is better. I think they still going to struggle on defense.”  … I think they’re offense is awesome. I love the guys on offense.”

Culpepper went on to say Gerald McCoy has yet to prove anything and “by the third or fourth game he really needs to be coming on.”

Culpepper, who started alongside Warren Sapp from 1996-1999, said Sapp didn’t have much success his first season and that left him lacking confidence. Culpepper said Sapp having success, gaining confidence from it and honing his inside moves in Year 2 led to an explosion to where he was the best defensive player in football in his third season.

The Bucs sure are racking up plenty of bulletin board/iPad material.

Sometimes, the crazies who think fantasy football 24/7 crack Joe up. If there’s a name that is a free agent these guys have heard of before, they want their favorite NFL team to pick up said player, no matter how awful he may be.

Joe remembers people with an alleged sober mind actually suggest in public the Bucs should have gone after Braylon Edwards if you can imagine such a thing.

Well, this person — Joe will keep his name confidential to protect the innocent — was one upped when Joe read a BSPN NFC South chat moderated by ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas.

A participant had the gall to suggest that the Bucs may be interested in America’s Quarterback, David Garrard.

Robert Lopezo (arlington, texas)

Hey Pat -do you see Bucs looking at David Garrard and then possiably trading Josh Johnson to the 49ers? They would have a solid veteran backup and would get something for Johnson instead of letting him walk after this season?

Pat Yasinskas

Don’t see it. The Bucs are going with youth and Garrard doesn’t fit that profile. All right, we’re rolling early.

Good Lord, Joe is in a fog trying to wrap his head around this. If the awful Jags don’t want Garrard, what makes anyone think the Bucs would want him? The guy had, what, two decent seasons?

Just because a guy is a veteran does not mean he has any value. Would you want Alex Smith on the Bucs roster? He’s a veteran!

Many, many pundits believe that the steal of the draft this spring was pulled off by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik when he plucked a free-falling Da’Quan Bowers in the second round.

The Clemson defensive end may have been one of the first players selected had not rumors about his bum knee surfaced and spooked NFL teams.

While Bowers may not start, Pat Yasinskas of ESPN believes Bowers will see significant playing time, sort of a designated pass rusher, so he wrote in a recent BSPN NFC South chat.

George (Union County Boy)

You think Daquan Bowers will tear it up this season boy? I love me some Clemson!

Pat Yasinskas

We’ll see. I think they’re going to start him off as a situational pass rusher. Not a bad thing because that’s what he does best.

That’s not a bad way to bring a guy along. The Bucs now have a bit of a luxury at defensive line. Let Bowers do what he does best and slowly indoctrinate him into life in the NFL. If he’s able to swim, let him go into deeper waters.

Depth on the defensive front is a very good thing.

You could hear the agony in former Bucs quarterback Shaun King’s sullen voice today. The man even prefaced his latest prognostication with a story of how he’s rooted for the Bucs since the days of his youth in St. Petersburg when he snuck out of church to go to games because they were blacked out.

After much study, King said, he predicts a 7-9 finish for the 2011 Buccaneers.

“This is very hard for me,” King said today while co-hosting The King David Show on WQYK-AM 1010.

King said the Bucs have “no dynamic playmakers to beat some of these opponents.” And King went on to say the Bucs’ defense is not ready to hold up at a winning standard.

“I tried to get it to 8-8; I couldn’t do it,” King said of his analysis of the schedule.

For those who listen to King, this comes as a bit of a surprise. He might have been the only local media member to call a winning record for the Bucs last season at this time. Joe knows King takes his study of the Bucs seriously. And King has spoken on his show of watching coach’s tape — not DVR/VCR stuff —  of many recent Bucs games.

Joe sure wishes he could be a fly on the wall when Raheem Morris hears of this.

Just in case you were one of the few idealists thinking the less than high profile Lions were going to sell out The CITS for opening day Sunday, Joe is the bearer of bad news.

Per Nicole Darin’s Twitter feed, she of one of Joe’s proud media partners, WTSP-TV Channel 10, the Bucs were unable to meet the NFL deadline of 1 p.m. today in order to sell out The CITS, thus, the game will not be broadcast in the Tampa Bay and Orlando TV markets, nor will the game be available in the same TV markets on NFL Sunday Ticket.

However, the game will be available for free in the Tampa Bay and Orlando regions on NFL.com at midnight Sunday night via Game Rewind for a 72-hour window.

Also, NFL Sunday Ticket will have the game available at midnight Sunday via it’s “Short Cuts” format with every play included but with all dead time and commercials edited out. In this format, the games are squeezed into a 30-minute format and Joe has found it to be quite cool indeed.

If you are looking for a reason to ram your head in a toilet, get a load of this statistical mumbo jumbo from Jon Anik of BSPN concerning the Lions-Bucs game Sunday.

Players and coaches are human, so Joe’s not one to buy into all the common coachspeak that says all games are created equal.

Both Raheem Morris and Lions heat-resistant head coach Jim Schwartz aren’t billing Sunday’s season opener as a rematch, grudge match or anything with some extra kick to it, after the Lions embarrassed the Bucs at home last December in a game referees screwed up and two Bucs said the team took far too lightly.

A Detroit Free Press story today touched on a possible revenge factor for Sunday. It included this gem from Lions receiver Nate Burleson:

“They’re probably saying the opposite of what we’re saying,” Burleson said. “We’ve got to go down there and prove it wasn’t a lucky win. And they’re probably approaching it proving that it was a lucky win. So that’s why I think it’s going to be an explosive game.

“If I was the coach, I’d have them guys hyped up, intense, ready to play, ready to prove to the world that it was a fluke that the Lions beat us. So we’ve got to go out there and do the same.”

Joe hopes the Bucs come out with the extra venom and violence Burleson is referring to. Breaking the Lions’ massive road losing streak last year to a backup quarterback and Maurice Morris running wild was humiliating, especially in a December playoff chase.

If you’re charting a Bucs playoff appearance at home, Sunday is a must-win on many levels.

In this ProFootballTalk video, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik talks about the Bucs rushing attack and in doing so, decides to scare opposing defensive coordinators by throwing out Kregg Lumpkin’s name.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

Veteran WTSP, Ch. 10 sports anchor Dave Wirth serves up an exclusive Bucs take here for JoeBucsFan readers. Wirth offers keys to all three phases of the game and finishes the sentence, “This is a better Buccaneers team, but …”

Joe loves the final hours before opening day. The endless spinning and prognosticating by fans, pundits and the Bucs dies down, and all that matters is how the Bucs play Sunday and how the game unfolds. It’s known as real football, something fans haven’t seen in 7+ months. To celebrate the start of the season, Joe’s spitting out eight things he hated since the Super Bowl — in no particular order.

1) Media coverage of the asinine lockout: If Joe were interested in legal affairs, he’d watch TruTV, reruns of the O.J. trial and scour the Internet for swimsuit shots of Ashleigh Banfield circa 2000. But that’s not the case. However, for months Joe was all but forced to have heinous legal babble about the NFL labor talks jammed down his throat from all media angles. Yes, Mike Florio, of ProFootballTalk.com, did a masterful job boiling down the miserable nonsense, but it was still boring as all get out. Joe did his best here to create a safe haven for Bucs fans.

2) The Bucs constantly selling their plan: Joe’s not sure why Mark Dominik, Raheem Morris and even Bryan Glazer were out there  explaining/defending over and over again their plan to build the Bucs by focusing on the draft. Was any of that necessary in 2011? A form of Warren Sapp’s famous “next question” retort would have been much more appropriate and would have opened up a lot more time to talk about the stars on the Bucs. When you finish 10-6 with a young team after a masterful coaching job, there’s nothing to say other than, ‘We’re young. We’re 10-6. We’re on the rise, and that’s what every damn team in the NFL wants. We evaluate every opportunity possible to build the best team for our fans. Check the won-loss column. We’re on the right track. Next question.’

3) Aqib Talib coverage and commentary: With all the resources of the local mainstream media, and nothing much else to report about the Bucs, why was Joe the only one to have published the available public information about Talib’s case? Shameful journalism around these parts, considering this is the 21st century and every big outlet has the Web space available. Last Joe checked, the media should be interested in informing and educating the public. For those who shouted from the rooftops that the Bucs must ship Talib out of town or feel their wrath, and for those who reported the Bucs had decided to dump Talib months ago, your silence speaks volumes.

4) Gerald McCoy talking too much about being a leader and more: Derrick Brooks, speaking on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 last week, offered a fabulous, detailed take on leadership on an NFL team. You can listen here. It was as close as the classy Brooks might come to saying, ‘Shutup, McCoy, until your play defines you as a leader.’ Joe knows McCoy’s heart is in the right place. He’s just got to figure out what to say and when — and how to make some plays.

5)  Fans in disbelief over 2011 blackouts: Joe knows there are still fans reading this that don’t believe Sunday’s Bucs-Lions game will be blacked out, along with other games this season. Are there that many fans with their heads in the sand? The Bucs were 8-5 last year entering the critical December Lions game at home when only 47,692 showed up at the C.I.T.S. That was a game with massive playoff implications. Did anyone in their right mind think another 15,000 or 20,000 fans would cough up the cash and show up eight months later?

6) Cadillac Williams’ departure: Joe still doesn’t get it. The Bucs didn’t get better swapping Kregg Lumpkin for Cadillac.

7) LeGarrette Blount’s low profie: Joe gets no vibe that Blount is considered a superstar around town or nationally. This is mind-boggling to Joe. Never in a million years could Joe have imagined that a punishing rookie runner, who also hurdles defenders, could come to the Bucs and crank out 1,000+ yards in 13 games with limited carries and not be revered all across the Bay area. The man was heaven sent. Blount’s not getting the love nationally, either, especially considering his name recognition from his famous “punch.” Joe’s got to think this guy has one horrendous agent.  

8) London decision: Joe gets the upside of the Bucs giving up a home game and running off to London to play the Bears in October, but there is no escaping that losing a true home-field advantage in that game could easily hurt the Bucs’ chances of scoring a critical victory. When your team finishes 10-6 and a sniff from the playoffs, that’s just not a cool move to make.

UPDATE: Thursday, 3:35 p.m.: The Blackout Tour is sold out. Those who are in will get a reminder email on Friday.

Every Bucs fan hopes opening day against Detroit is sold out Sunday. But the reality is that it will take a minor miracle for that to happen 72 hours before kickoff in order to get the game on local TV.

So Joe has revived the Blackout Tour for the home opener to give Bucs fans an opportunity to watch the game live on HD-TV outside the blackout zone in Fort Myers at Lee Roy Selmon’s, if they can’t swing getting to the game in Tampa.

Joe ran the Blackout Tour last season with his great partners at Paradise Worldwide Transportation. And this year the price has dropped and there will be stops in Tampa (Lee Roy Selmon’s near International Plaza) and at Derby Lane in St. Petersburg for the chauffeured luxury bus that will take fans fans to Fort Myers.

The cost is only $22.95 per person, which includes roundtrip transportation and a FREE draft beer and a FREE plate of wings at Lee Roy Selmon’s in Fort Myers, plus free soft drinks on the bus.

Yes, you can bring your own alcohol on the bus.

Joe is pleased to offer this stunning deal. The Blackout Tour was a blast last year and is a fun, affordable way to catch the game. Visit BlackoutTour.com to grab your seat and get all the details. The luxury bus will sell out and another bus will NOT be added.

Rockstar Bucs general manager Mark Dominik enlightened NFL fans across the country today via a long chat on ProFootballTalk Live with Mike Florio.

There were interesting nuggets but nothing too revealing from Dominik. You can hear the entire interview here.

Answering a question about available salary cap space, Dominik said “in time” the Bucs will sit down “with a couple of our players and talk about a contract extension.”

Also, Dominik said “you’ll see a little bit more of a committee approach” at running back in 2011, explaining that LeGarrette Blount was impressive in a third down role during preseason but Earnest Graham and Kregg Lumpkin will their share of action.

Joe’s not seeing Lumpkin getting many carries, but perhaps that’s just wishful thinking.

Sunday’s hyped showdown between Aqib Talib and some guy named Megatron sure will be fun to watch. Joe expects the Lions will show Talib no respect and come right after him.

Esteemed NFL writer eye-RAH! Kaufman, of The Tampa Tribune, says the edge goes to Megatron, so he told Dan Sileo on WDAE-AM 620 today. Kaufman had a chat with Talib yesterday.

{“Talib] wanted to play against the Skins last week. I think he realized he needed to be in football shape. …Raheem shut him down, Kaufman said. “Talib said he’s 98.5 percent healthy — ‘98.5, baby.’ I don’t think that’s good enough for Sunday.”

If Joe had to lay money, he’d bet against Talib as well. Joe’s focus is on stopping the run. The Bucs can’t let Lions running back Maurice Morris (or any other RB)  run wild on them like he did in December.

Nothing like an arrogant, foolish Yankee to underestimate what a tropical climate is all about, and what it takes to throw on football pads with a 100 degree heat index.

Lions head coach Jim Schwartz scoffs at the notion he should care about game conditions when preparing for the Bucs or any other opponent. It seems Schwartz’s undergarments got all bunched up when asked about dealing with the heat and humidity in Tampa by a Detriot Free Press reporter.

Rather than crank up the heat and practice indoors Monday, the Lions spent the morning working outside on their back practice field in crisp, low-60-degree weather.

“That’s foolishness,” Schwartz said when asked about practicing inside the climate-controlled facility. “We don’t pipe in crowd noise, and we don’t open up the doors and make it cold, and we don’t try to smoke the team out. It’s just a bunch of foolishness.”

Looking at Schwartz’s bio, he doesn’t seem to have spent any work time in Florida. This is a nice edge for the Bucs. Let the Lions keep running around this week in the Michigan autumn and think the heat won’t be so bad.

What a shrewd head coach.