As the message blared on Facebook, “the wait is finally over.”

The gods of football, angered with NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell and his ilk in the throes of this asinine lockout, have spoken: There is still something to look forward to.

The Bucs have announced their 2011 Bucs cheerleading squad.

Notable returnees are the ravishing Jaime Hanna and the underrated Holly Sellers.

Joe is confident you will enjoy the video, which includes unique angles of the girls during a grueling three-day cheerleader boot camp at One Buc Palace.

Thanks in large part to NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell, this asinine lockout continues to drag on… and on… and on… with no end in sight.

It has football fans bored to tears, if not looking to bail on the NFL as a whole.

The asinine lockout even has the number crunchers at FootballOutsiders.com a little punchy, doing things this time of the year they may never have done, such as compile a top-five list of quarterbacks per NFL team.

For the Bucs, Mike Tanier has Jeff Garcia listed as the No. 5 quarterback in Bucs history.

5. Jeff Garcia. Spent two efficient seasons doing Brad Johnson’s thing — reading Gruden’s mind, delivering the ball to the flats, throwing bombs when least expected.

Joe thinks this just goes to show that with the possible exception of Doug Williams, the Bucs never had a franchise quarterback. Otherwise, how in the world could an old man of a quarterback who only played two seasons be the fifth-best quarterback of a team’s history?

Interestingly, Tanier has Shaun King rated just above Steve Spurrier on the list.

Of course, Carmella is No. 1 in Joe’s book.

Joe knows there are several things to worry about with this asinine lockout, orchestrated by NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell, as it meanders its way through the summer.

What will the Bucs play like when it ends? How haggard will the team look? Will there be injuries due to lack of practice time?

All valid questions, but several Bucs players waive their arms in the air, dismissing such notions. To a man, who spoke with video star Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune, have any doubt: Raheem Morris will lead them out of the shadow of darkness.

“It’s kind of sad that we having an offseason where we can’t work together, but Raheem is a great coach,” Bucs left tackle Donald Penn said. “I don’t think we’re going to miss a beat when we do get back. We have a great staff.”

Morris and his staff motivated the youngest team in football to finish 10-6 after a 3-13 season in 2009. Tampa Bay narrowly missed the playoffs last year, but Morris has been unable to work with his team this offseason because of the lockout.

The Bucs players have a very salient point: Few if any sober NFL fan last year would have predicted the Bucs to have a winning season in 2010. But they did!

Many of these same prognosticators also predicted Morris would be on his way out.

Not only was Morris retained, the Bucs nearly found their way into the playoffs.

If Bucs fans have learned anything from last season, it is not to lay money against Raheem.

Hence, the Bucs have faith in Morris.

Joe had a long rant planned here but deleted it.

Frankly, the headline says it all.

In the face of the heinous lockout engineered by the fan-second NFL, replica jerseys at NFLShop.com now have jumped in price to $84.99, up from $79.99 earlier this year. The glorified, often Guatamalan-made mesh trash bag with numbers and letters on it was always overpriced anyway, but to hike jersey rates in the face of the lockout is just too much.

A few friendly phone operators on the NFL Shop telephone line confirmed the price increase on replica jerseys, and on additional official gear.

Nice job, Commissioner.

The lockout is really making Joe extremely ill.

Instead of debating undrafted free agents and all kinds of other real football chatter, Joe is reduced to sharing that Brian Price is dancing with a bunch of Lifetime watching yentas and sultry Latinas. Something called Zumba. St. Pete Times beat writer Stephen Holder delivered the news in an update on Price today.

Lynn Swann’s famous ballet lessons were one thing. At least that had a direct football application. Joe swears. If Joe learns that LeGarrette Blount is belly dancing to stay fit, Joe will go insane, or head to Vegas for a week of manly activities. …For those curious about Price’s Zumba moves, watch the video below. For Price’s sake, Joe hopes he’s got a back-row spot in his class.

Those who seem to enjoy believing/fantasizing that Team Glazer is treading water in a growing pool of red ink might find this post distasteful.

Mike Ozanian, who pours over largely boring sports business matters for Forbes, has scrutinized Team Glazer’s most recent books from their English soccer team and determined that Team Glazer is in fine financial health after shaving $76 million off its debt.

I recently got my hands on Manchester United’s third quarter results and investor presentation (below), which are dated May 13. My conclusion: concerns over debt are overblown. … The Red Devils posted a pretax profit of $7.8 million over the nine months versus a pretax loss of  $108 million the prior year. Even though match day revenue fell 3.7% primarily because Manchester United played one less match at home, overall revenue was up 5.6% because of a 29.9% gain in commercial revenue driven by the first year of the Aon partnership.

The Glazers used the club’s cash flow to reduce debt to $819 million from $895 million. Although that is not small piece of change, that fact that it is trending lower and is reasonable relative to the $1.9 billion valuation of Manchester United tells me leverage is not a problem.

Hmmm, Team Glazer owes $819 million on its kickball team but seems to have a billion in equity in the investment. Sounds good to Joe. Plus the team is playing for the European title tomorrow, another windfall.

Joe’s not at all worried about whether Team Glazer can afford to spend big bucks on the Bucs. But, as Gary Shelton told us, this might not be their year to release the moths from the One Buc Place vault.

Now Joe understands it is still very early in the morning, a Friday morning, and many of Joe’s loyal readers likely have not had their morning jolt of caffeine yet.

But in an SI.com video below, Maggie Gray got SI.com columnist Peter King to put down his bowl of oatmeal long enough to discuss quarterbacks.

While discussing the quarterbacks drafted in the first round of the 2009, King, understandably, wonders if Matthew Stafford will every stay healthy and gave Mark Sanchez a back-handed compliment by calling him a “complementary” quarterback.

Then the subject of Josh Freeman came about. King called Freeman the best of the three quarterbacks and when pushed by Gray, King said Freeman would be headed to Canton before Sanchez or Stafford.

Not let’s settle down. As Mike North would bellow, “Take it easy! Slow down!” Freeman has only started one full season in the NFL.

That written, if last season was just a taste of what is to come, we all might be buying a weekend package 20 years from now from a Canton-area Motel 6.

Bucs second-round pick Da’Quan Bowers is running. He’s cutting. He’s making football moves.

Bowers shared this great news after emerging from his Clemson cocoon to sit down with Steve Wyche of NFL.com. You can watch the video here. At least part of the interview, perhaps more, also will air on the man channel, NFL Network, tonight during Total Access, which begins at 7 p.m.

Wyche penned a story from his chat with Bowers, as well. It seems Bowers wasn’t up to speed on the details of his January knee surgery for weeks.

» He didn’t know that his knee injury was problematic until he realized he couldn’t participate at the combine. A red flag went off in his mind, as it did with several teams.

» Bowers didn’t know the extent of his knee procedure until repeatedly hearing some of the reports about the surgery. He thought he was simply having a minor scope and even though doctors told him they had to do additional work — there was a minor micro-fracture procedure — Bowers didn’t know how serious it was.

» McCoy has called several defensive players to have their own workouts and Bowers would consider it. However, based on his rehab and the fact he’s not under contract, it’s unlikely he would participate in any physical activity.

Joe’s glad to see Bowers running — and talking. Perhaps he’ll get intimate with the local media soon, too. Though WDAE-AM 620 host Ian Beckles said he doesn’t expect Bowers to say much until he’s under contract. “If he says the wrong thing about [his knee], it’s going to cost him.” Beckles said.

Joe still doesn’t understand the scope of Bowers’ injury. And there’s no reason for the Bucs to reveal it.

All Joe cares about is whether the guy is lined up on opening day and healthy enough to get through a season. If he can, and he can produce more than sackless Kyle Moore, then the Bucs will be smiling broadly about their risky draft pick.

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NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger decided to do a sitdown (via satellite) with Bucs multimedia guru Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com for a review of all things Bucs.

Baldinger was one of the few people who predicted the Bucs would select Adrian Clayborn in the first round. He watched some of Clayborn’s games live and in person and came away impressed.

“Tampa Bay needed a defensive end. They only had 26 sacks last year. Defensive end was a glaring need.

“I saw Adrian and Iowa against Wisconsin and against Gabe Carimi, the offensive tackle who went in the first round [to Chicago]. I watched how he prepared himself in pregame warm-ups. I liked him physically. I knew he had a pretty good motor. I just thought he would be a good fit the way Tampa Bay wants to build that defensive front. I thought he would be a good fit and still think he will be a good fit.”

As Joe has stated before, all signs point to Clayborn being a helluva draft pick. He gets it. He understands it. It’s all about football, not the outside nonsense, not the Michelle Tafoya’s of the world who want to talk Clayborn’s mom knitting socks for girl scouts.

Fame, mountains of cash and doors will open for those who succeed. Clayborn knows he needs to succeed first on the field first, and the rest will take care of itself.

Yes, Joe knows there’s a mass of Bucs fans that craves monster money free agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha in a Tampa Bay uniform.

Joe doesn’t see that happening or that it’s necessarily in the Bucs’ best interest. However, without knowing all the details of a possible 2011 salary cap, it’s hard to make a fully sound judgement.

NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas is in love with Asomugha when it comes to the Bucs. And he seems to think that Asomugha could easily be mesmerized into signing here by the seductive general Raheem Morris.

The Bucs have one other card up the sleeve: coach Raheem Morris. Put him and Asomugha in a room, and Asomugha may sign a contract within an hour or two. Morris is charming, charismatic and a former defensive backs coach.

This would be a perfect fit for the player and team.

Now that Joe thinks about it, Raheem probably would be a very successful salesman on the free agency circuit. He’s seems to have all the skills, plus  a fantastic repuation among players. No doubt he helped close the deal on Derrick Ward, Michael Clayton, and Sean Jones, so he does have a little experience.

A hearty congratulations to Shane Vincent of Bradenton! He’s the winner of the Paradise Worldwide Transportation roundtrip limousine ride giveaway to Tropicana Field, courtesy of the great Bucs fans, Rays fans and Lightning fans at Paradise.

You remember that giveaway. Major League Baseball threw a wrench into it, but Paradise is delivering as best it can.

Shane Vincent should call Paradise Worldwide Transportation, (800) 729-4713, as soon as possible to claim his prize.  Imposters should not pretend to be Shane. Paradise is way to smart for those shenanigans.

The Bucs’ spiritual godfather joined the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio yesterday for their weekly chat on WDAE-AM 620.

Derrick Brooks and Steve Duemig kicked around all sorts of topics and, no surprise, callers wanted to pepper Brooks with comments, questions and concerns about popular punching bag Barrett Ruud.

At one point, Brooks told an anti-Ruud caller, “Look I know the defensive calls. Middle linebacker is the least aggressive position in that defense.” Brooks also explained that Ruud is dropping back initially in cover 2 and many blitz packages, essentially saying Ruud does his job.

Oh, there are so many nuances to the raging Ruud debate.

If that’s the least the aggressive position on the defense, then maybe Ruud is properly cast.

So far nothing Adrian Clayborn has said or done that would not make Joe not want to buy his jersey. The guy is learning how to be a stud NFL player at the feet of James Harrison and some Packers vets.

Now comes how locked in Clayborn gets when it comes to football. On Twitter last night — Joe’s going to guess it was a non-basketball association game of some sort — Clayborn was appalled that a player would be subject to a vapid sideline reporter.

interviewing players before the game?? TV is crazy. let that man focus

This really gets Joe pumped up. This tells Joe that whenever Clayborn steps between the white lines, he shuts the world off and is locked in on the task at hand: burying quarterbacks.

Call Clayborn a throwback. Joe can remember working in Chicago 20 years ago and hearing former Bears defensive lineman Ed O’Bradovich go crazy when he used to see defenders celebrate after a two-yard gain by an offense.

“Where’s your mind at?” O’Bradovich used to scream. “Get your head in the game!”

Seems as though Clayborn always has his mind in the game. His football field is his office and its best not to disturb him unless you are wearing a Bucs uniform as well.

Joe just loves that Clayborn loathes the empty Michele Tafoya who is Exhibit-A of the type of sideline reporters who annoy both players and viewers asking about grandma’s kidney stones or what vegetables a player grew in the family’s summer backyard garden.

Stick to the damned game!

Clayborn also later last night mocked basketball players who were moved to wear toothprotectors.

why r all these basketball players wearing mouth guards lol. its basketball. i havent wore one since freshman year in college. ive gone headed to head on the goaline with shonn greene with no mouth piece….rest my case.

Dude’s not just focused, not just learning the NFL ways through this asinine lockout fronted by NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell with Super Bowl-winning vets, but Clayborn comes across as a dude who is tough as nails as well.

Joe’s starting to get a hunch that Clayborn’s going to quickly become a fan favorite. He’s already a favorite of Joe’s.

A lot of Bucs fans were angry if not outraged that, after seemingly courting HBO to be featured on “Hard Knocks,” where HBO would document the team’s each and every move in training camp, the Bucs declined the offer.

For those who were upset by the move, don’t count coffee-slurping, popcorn-shoveling, fried chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving Peter King of Sports Illustrated as an ally.

The long-time NFL scribe Twittered this morning that Team Glazer made a sound decision not to be on HBO this fall.

@gclark3434: If camps happen, you agree Bucs made good decision turning down Hard Knocks?

@SI_PeterKing Yes. Young team could get too full of self.

First, Joe has to compliment King on being able to multitask so well. He Twitters like a mad man whenever he is co-hosting “The Opening Drive” as he did this morning with Ross Tucker, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

But King makes a valid point. This is a very young team. Let’s get the players a year or two more under their belt, make the playoffs (how’s that for a novel concept?) and then, let the team be featured on “Hard Knocks.”

There are enough distractions with this heinous lockout fronted by NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell. No need to pile on the distractions.

In one of the more bizarre and largely afterthought developments of the Bucs offseason, Raheem Morris fired his old pal offensive line coach Pete Mangurian and the Bucs hired Greg Olson pal Pat Morris to replace him.

Maybe it’s not that strange, except Mangurian obviously did a stout job developing and having ready to play Ted Larsen, Derek Hardman and James Lee, who all started a pile of games. Plus, Mangurian went way back with Raheem.

Office politics aside, when Joe chatted with Lee recently, Joe asked Lee about the difference between Mangurian and near legendary offensive line coach Bill Muir from the Chucky era. Lee played for both, but said there was little if any difference in what they taught, only a radical difference in their demeanor.

“With Bill, man, I think Bill was just a different type of coach, more laid back but very demanding at the same time. He made sure everything you did and everything you represent had to be the right way every time,” Lee said. ” Pete was a great overall coach but on our butt every day, from the smallest to the biggest. He didn’t care who you were or your time in the league, every time had to be right, and he’d get on you, all over you. Most of it was the same coaching techniques between the two.”

Lee went on to say he has had no contact with Pat Morris on any level, even when the lockout was briefly lifted.

It’ll be interesting to see how the offensive linemen respond to their new coach in an extraordinarily competitive environment. If the Bucs don’t re-sign Davin Joseph, every starting position but left tackle could be up for grabs.

"Damnit, I never said I was Mel Kiper. I'm a quarterback guru. Look what I did for Gradkowski!"

The reason why former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Chucky is watching football games and not coaching the Bucs is simple: His drafts were simply horrid.

Recently USA Today went through the Bucs 2008 draft with Chucky and it is simply frightening to look at. So much so Nate Davis gave Chucky a D+.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: First-round CB Aqib Talib is long on ability but may be short on chances in Tampa; he had off-field issues before he was drafted, and his latest arrest may lead to his release after the lockout. The Bucs took a chance on Appalachian State WR Dexter Jackson in Round 2; he never caught a pass before getting pink-slipped. Fifth-round T/G Jeremy Zuttah has started 30 games while undersized sixth-round LB Geno Hayes managed to lock up the starting weak side job.

Let’s take a quick gander at that draft:

1. Aqib Talib, CB: Troubled.
2. Dexter Jackson, WR: Pppfffttt!
3. Jeremy Zuttah, OG: Not bad, could start on the right side if Davin Joseph is not re-signed.
4. Dre Moore, DT: Pppfffttt! Joe remembers hearing a member of the Bucs press corps claim the Bucs front office was not crying Monte Kiffin left the team because he wouldn’t play Dre Moore. Gee, Joe wonders why?
5. Josh Johnson, QB: Solid “career backup.”
6a. Geno Hayes, LB: Joe loves Geno but let’s be honest, his play has been, well, inconsistent.
6b. traded to Kansas City in 2007 for RB Michael Bennett
7a. traded to Denver in 2007 for QB Jake Plummer
7b. Cory Boyd, RB: Boyd will forever be known as the guy who threw down with Talib at a rookie symposium about finances, a harbinger of things to come.

Any reason why Chucky’s not prowling the sidelines at The CITS?

When someone is hiding, that generally means someone is hiding something.

Call Joe a cynic, but that’s pretty much been his experience as an award-winning journalist. People without something to hide generally don’t hide because they have no reason to hide.

The way Da’Quan Bowers has been kept under wraps by his agent Joe Flanagan, it raises all sorts of red flags with Joe.

Most of the new Bucs are out there to talk with the local pen and mic club. How does Joe know this? Because he’s dealt with many of them through Twitter if not spoken to them personally; cool guys all.

But Bowers is one of the few who — though he has several Twitter posts throughout the day — never responds. Maybe once a week he’ll do something as vapid as retweet a request from a Bucs fan.

(For Twitter newbies, a retweet is basically an acknowledgement that you read one’s Twitter post without responding.)

After numerous attempts, Bowers has not responded to any of Joe’s requests for an interview, not even a “yeah, sure.” Hey, that’s OK with Joe. If the guy doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t want to talk. This, despite the fact Bowers sure is chatty on Twitter, informing people of his daily routine.

Joe’s not the only one who is getting the cold shoulder from Bowers. Joe knows a prominent local sports radio personality that has tried time and again not only to get Bowers to talk, but just to get Flanagan to talk on the air.

This gentleman in question has had as much luck as Joe.

So yesterday Joe read good guy Stephen Holder’s article about Bowers and his recovery from whatever ails his knee in the St. Petersburg Times. Curiously, Holder, a solid reporter, was unable to get Bowers to talk.

Naturally, Bowers’ agent said everything you’d expect an agent to say before reading one word of Holder’s article: that Bowers is ready to roll for training camp and all the kvetching over his knee is simply hogwash and paranoia.

Again, this is coming from Bowers’ agent. What do you expect an agent to say, that Bowers is a near-cripple and drags his leg like Ygor in Young Frankenstein?

Initially, Joe was ready to use Holder’s feature as an example of how dead it is during this asinine lockout, fronted by NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell and his devious, anti-football, fan-unfriendly tactics.

No, there is something much more afoot than reporters desperate for any morsel of real-football information. Bower’s agent is hiding him, it’s pretty clear. But why?

For example, there’s a reason troubled Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib isn’t talking, except to his lawyer and Texas police authorities for these many months. He could be on the verge of being jettisoned by the Bucs if not sentenced to prison.

Talib has a reason to hide. So just what is the reason Flanagan is hiding Bowers?

Surely it couldn’t be Bowers’ knee. Could it?

Sigh. Since Joe brought up Young Frankenstein, in an effort to start the morning in a little lighter mood, enjoy one of the great comedic scenes in film history from Young Frankenstein.

The same old stuff from Barrett Ruud in 2011 would be a good thing, so says former Bucs tight end Anthony Becht.

Speaking on WHBO-AM 1040 Monday, Becht essentially explained that Ruud’s upside outweighs his downside and that the defensive line limits Ruud’s effectiveness.

“Keeping Barrett Ruud would be a positive thing for them, but he’s not going to be coming downhill with the young defensive line being pushed back. … And people aren’t going to like that, ” Becht said.

So is that what would turn Ruud into a Pro Bowler? A better defensive line?

Of course, the Ruud saga will continue to rage on at least until he signs with a team, and likely a lot longer if that team is the Bucs.

Joe surely has written enough about Ruud’s perceived value, but Joe still hasn’t found anyone who thinks Ruud is as good as he was through much of the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

Football dominates Joe’s life. If he isn’t working on this site he’s watching the real man channel, the NFL Network, or listening to SiriusXM NFL Radio, or he is surfing for football news in the wee hours of the morning in between private moments of pining for that knock on the door from a cold, shivering, drenched Rachel Watson.

It was one of these moments — no, not a Rachel Watson moment — where Joe came up with some cool news.

Twittering at 1 a.m. Joe came across a post from Bucs first round draft pick Adrian Clayborn. He seemed bored from Arizona and was asking if there were any Bucs fans awake on the east coast. So Joe asked him who he was working out with.

Mere moments later, Clayborn responded.

a bunch of vets….james harrison, couple packs, rams guys, alot of guys to name.

So Clayborn is working out with Harrison and a couple of Packers? As Charlie Sheen would say, “Winning!” The fact that Clayborn is working out with Harrison gets Joe totally fired up.

There may not be a better guy for Clayborn to bond with. Harrison was an undrafted free agent with the Steelers and three times he was cut from the Steelers practice squad. But through hard work, sweat and toil, he is now the game’s best outside linebacker, a guy who should be lauded and held up as a standard for all NFL players by the suits in Manhattan.

But no! NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell is doing his very best to tear apart the very fabric of the NFL, a game we have all grown to love, treasure and covet.

Harrison is public enemy No. 1 in Goodell’s eyes. Harrison plays relentless football, physical football, football where men wince when crossing the line of scrimmage, football that quarterbacks have acid reflux over, football that is played through the whistle the way we were all taught to play football. The right way to play football, the correct way to play football.

Football that is America!

But this is just the opposite of what Goodell strives for. It’s almost as if secretly he wants there not to be a 2011 season, that’s the only logical reason for this utter nonsense that he fronts for his employers and this asinine lockout.

Not just that, if Goodell has his sinister way, the NFL will turn into a “game” that only drag queens from New Orleans and Fidel Castro worshippers in Greenwich Village with their dumbarse argyle sweaters, who hang in some low-rent coffeehouse listening to some two-bit, unemployed poet whine about the potato famine, will take a liking to.

If Joe wanted to watch flag football, he’d watch flag football!

Back to Clayborn, just thinking of him working with Harrison, there can be nothing bad coming out of that. Throw in working with some Packers who can bestow upon Clayborn the art of winning playoff games, this is just great stuff.

No, no eastern European hotties for Clayborn. He’s doing man’s work with real men, much to the chagrin of Goodell, who Joe is starting to believe is a wine-sipper.

THE PESSIMIST is a diehard Bucs fan whose negative writings appear occasionally on JoeBucsFan.com. His views surely do not necessarily reflect those of Joe. However, Joe sure gets a kick out of them.

Timeout.

Our beloved Buccaneers ripped a home game from local fans and the stadium they paid to build in the name of marketing the team in England and getting more exposure for the young club. That was the company line.

Yet now, a handful of weeks later, the Bucs have turned down the offer to be on HBO’s Hard Knocks series and captivate the entire United States and legions of casual Bucs fans around Tampa. Those same fans that haven’t watched a Bucs home game on TV since Tampa Bay was clobbered routinely in 2009.

Something stinks worse than the Angelo Crowell signing. (Oh, wait, the Bucs braintrust knows knee injuries).

THE PESSIMIST can’t be the only one sniffing this Hard Knocks pile of garbage. The Bucs went from scratching and clawing for the spotlight, even swimming across the Atlantic, and now they’re running away from it faster than Aqib Talib speed dials his lawyer.

The Bucs may call themselves fan-friendly, but taking away a home game and denying fans access on Hard Knocks aren’t pro-fan moves.

What’s next? Fewer training camp dates open to the public?

THE PESSMIST wants to know exactly what the Bucs were afraid of when it came to Hard Knocks. What does the team so eager for recognition and attention think third-year coach Raheem Morris couldn’t handle?

Of course, THE PESSMIST won’t get an answer, just the comfort of watching a nation of soccer fans tailgate while he can’t.

In between “grunting” with fellow iPhone types and working out at Saddlebrook Resort in Pasco County, Bucs (?) middle linebacker Barrettt Ruud is lost.

He’s supposed to be a free agent. But NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell and his horribly short-sighted employers are hellbent on destroying the NFL as we know it with this lockout nonsense. Have you ever heard of a company that rakes in cash hand over fist actually going to court in order to shut itself down? Can you imagine?

Shoot, Ruud doesn’t even know if the Bucs want him back or not. So like an expatriate is a man without a country, Ruud is a linebacker without a team.

After working out with the Eastern European tennis hotties of the WTA at Saddlebrook — smart move Mr. Ruud, very smart — Ruud took time out to discuss his status with eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

“I keep hoping something will get done with this lockout,” Ruud said. “There’s been about five times when I thought something was going to get done, but here we are. It’s pretty frustrating. Even if there’s an agreement, nobody knows what’s going to happen with free agency … we could be playing under 2010 rules.”

The way Joe sees it, Ruud will be employed somewhere. He may very well be back with the Bucs in 2011 — provided there is a 2011 season — for a rate less than he expected or he may just go elsewhere such as the New York Giants.

Look, there are plenty of people who need to worry about their futures. There are cancer-ridden souls and those out of a job with no idea how they are going to pay rent much less food for their children. There are people who cannot afford proper healthcare.

Working out with the scantily-attired, spandex-laced Eastern European tennis babes in a plush, gated resort isn’t exactly what Joe would call worrisome.