Who could argue against John McKay?

The Bucs’ first and iconic head coach will be the 2010 inductee into the Bucccaneers Ring of Honor, so says Tampa Tribune NFL writer eye-RAH! Kaufman. Lee Roy Selmon was the inaugural inductee last year.

After winning four national championships at Southern Cal, McKay was named to lead the 1976 expansion Bucs. He compiled a 44-88-1 record and won two division championships, developing a national reputation for his acerbic wit.

In just the fourth year of the franchise, McKay guided the 1979 Bucs to an NFC Central Division title and a playoff win against the Eagles before dropping a 9-0 decision to the Los Angeles Rams in the conference title game at the old Tampa Stadium.

The late McKay was no doubt the perfect coach for the expansion Buccaneers and deserves the accolades.

Of course, most Bucs fans have little or no recollection of McKay. So Joe is impressed that Team Glazer picked him for 2010.

Surely, a Derrick Brooks induction would have sold a heck of a lot more tickets. It’s good to see the money wasn’t that important to Team Glazer.

Bucs Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon was the inaugural member of the Bucs Ring of Honor which debuted last year when the Bucs won their first game of the season over Green Bay.

Who will be the second?

The Bucs just announced the next member of the Ring of Honor will be released Wednesday.

Joe has no idea who it is but Joe’s going to guess — nothing more than a guess — it will be Doug Williams.

Others who may get the honor:

Mike Alstott.

Scot Brantley.

John McKay.

Warren Sapp.

John Lynch.

Jimmie Giles.

Mark Cotney.

Or will the Bucs on Wednesday have a mini-ceremony of sorts where Derrick Brooks announces his retirement, and thus will be in the Ring of Honor?

OK, Joe wants to hear from Bucs fans. Who should be the next Bucs player in the Ring of Honor?

Monday is often a busy day for sports chatter in the Tampa Bay area and today.

First, the Rays can’t win in the Fruitdome and as a result, they are now tied for first with the Yankmees.

Second, the college football landscare is drastically changing before our very eyes. What ramifications will this have for the big four schools in the state of Florida.

Lastly, the Bucs are having OTAs this week. This is always a paramount topic in the Tampa Bay area.

You can be sure that the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig, will have plenty to say about all three tops. As usual, Duemig can be heard be WDAE-AM 620 from 3-6:30 p.m. today.

At 5 p.m., as usual, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, Mike Florio, will make his weekly appearance to discuss all things NFL with “The Big Dog.”

Tune in to hear “The Big Dog,” from WDAE’s website for the live audio streaming of the show.

The Bucs could sure use Kevin House about now. The former Buccaneer great will join Josh Freeman, Jeff Carlson and a great coaching staff at a youth football camp in Lakeland on Friday and Saturday.

How would you like your kid to learn football and professionalism from Josh Freeman on Saturday?

Former Buccaneers Kevin House and Jeff Carlson have teamed up with some other stellar coaches to host a youth football camp for wide receivers, quarterbacks and kickers at Lakeland Christian School in Lakeland on Friday and Saturday.

You can get the information here.

Josh Freeman is now confirmed as one of the guest coaches on Saturday.

Joe thinks it’s pretty cool that young Freeman will be sweating out in Polk County with budding young football players before surely heading over to Bucs FanFest in the evening.  

Regardless, the affordable camp is an awesome opportunity for a teenager looking to get sharp for the upcoming season. There’s nothing better than learning work habits from current and former pros.

Joe wishes this was the 80s, so he could attend.

Thanks to Jeremy Trueblood, the Bucs can lay back and take it easy.

The Tampa Bay area is experiencing a heat wave.

In June.

In the summer (for Florida that is).

Hot in Florida in the summer? Who knew?

It sure as hell beats that Midwestern-like winter we just experienced a few months ago. It was almost enough for Joe to start looking for a cheap winter home in Cuba. Joe did not move to Florida to wear winter coats in March.

So as the Bucs toiled in the heat this morning, they got a break thanks in part to Raheem the Dream.

More importantly, they got a break thanks to the hands of Jeremy Trueblood.

Seems as though, per the Bucs official Twitter feed (multimedia mastermind Scott Smith perhaps?), Raheem the Dream, taking a page from Bill Belicheat, put out a challenge to the non-skill position players: Catch a punt on the fly on the first kick, and no OTAs Tuesday.

Trueblood immediately volunteered. His teammates gasped and expected to suit up tomorrow.

But Trueblood came through for his teammates. After bobbling the punt — which forced groans from his teammates — Trueblood was able to haul in the punt without letting the ball touch the ground.

@TBBuccaneers Coach was true to his word! Trueblood caught the punt and now there is no OTA tomorrow. His teammates were worried when he bobbled it.

Bucs are off Tuesday. See ya’ Wednesday!

Joe has a hunch the Bucs will be generously helping out the local economy tonight at various local watering holes, clubs and restaurants.

Get those AMEX Gold cards ready rooks.

Joe has written time and again one could make a good argument that Donald Penn was perhaps the Bucs best player last year.

Steve White is doing just that.

The former Bucs defensive end, who Joe is humbled to have a write a weekly “Bull Rush” column for him, writes on his own blog stating the Bucs should man up and pay Penn what he is deserved.

On an offensive line that everyone seems to say underachieved he was the bell cow. Sunday after Sunday he faced teams best pass rusher and more than held his own. As a matter of fact in many games he was dominant. And lets look at some of the guys he faced last year. Demarcus Ware, Osi Umenyiora, Andre Carter, Julius Peppers, Trent Cole, Clay Matthews, Will Smith and John Abraham.

That’s what you call a murderers row of defensive ends to face in one season. And you tell me, how many bad games did he have? I don’t remember any. That’s not to say he didn’t allow any sacks all year. But it is to say at the end of most of the games last season I would say he got the better of each exchange.

The Bucs say they want to build a dynasty that will hold up over time. Well one of the essential elements of doing that is locking up your own talent long term. The reason why the Bucs were good to great from around 1997 to 20002 was the fact that they identified their outstanding players early on and locked them down with long term deals. Now, at a time when the team is close to silent in free agency, how can they possibly justify not signing one of their best and most consistent players to a long term deal?

While Joe believes Penn is worth the money, Joe’s convinced this won’t happen until a CBA with the players union is agreed upon. Whether this will be too late too soothe Penn’s hurt feelings, only time will tell.

With the possible exception of Donald Penn and Josh Freeman, the Bucs most important offensive player is back in Tampa with his team at One Buc Palace.

Bucs tight end Kellen Winslow is at OTAs this morning, fresh off (another) knee surgery, so reports Tampa Tribune Bucs beat writer Anwar Richardson of the TBO Bucs Twitter feed just moments ago. 

TE Kellen Winslow is at Bucs OTAs today, his first appearance this offseason.

This is good news on many levels to Joe. The first thing is this demonstrates Winslow’s knee is nearly healthy enough to resume workouts. Winslow also wants to be a leader and he can certainly help the Bucs rookie wide receivers, Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams.

Some eight seasons after the Bucs won their first Super Bowl, the debate rages:

Father Dungy’s devoted parishioners claim the Bucs won with Father’s Dungy’s players. This is usually uttered in hushed tones while making the sign of the cross, clasping a rosary in their left hand.

Somehow, the Father Dungy acolytes seem to conveniently forget that Father Dungy couldn’t win with Father Dungy’s players, and that Chucky had five and sometimes six different starters on offense when he led the Bucs to professional football’s Holy Grail, a Super Bowl title.

Chucky supporters, when they hear the Father Dungy followers’ chant, simply smile, point to the photos of Chucky hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft in victory, and say, “Scoreboard.”

Derrick Brooks has a slightly different take. While he deftly dodged the question from electronic sports media czar J.P. Peterrson during Sunday’s broadcast of Tampa Bay Sports Central, seen locally on WTOG-TV Channel 44, Brooks had a different view.

Try Rich McKay’s team.

Brooks actually pointed to the then-Bucs general manager as the man who should get the credit for the Super Bowl, not Father Dungy or Chucky.

“The one constant was we still had Rich McKay as our general manager. He had a lot to do with building this football team. We had the pieces here [to win when Chucky came]. People forget [McKay] kept the defensive staff.

“I don’t think it’s fair to Coach Dungy or Coach Gruden [to say whose team won the Super Bowl]. But the fact is Coach Gruden was the coach when we won. That obviously gives him the right to say it was his football team.”

Previously, Brooks lauded both Father Dungy and Chucky for making him the player he became. Per Brooks, Father Dungy challenged Brooks to be an All-Pro player. Chucky challenged Brooks to be a Hall of Fame player.

Bucs locker room funny man Donald Penn, the left tackle who has made 44 consecutive and pretty darn good starts for Tampa Bay, was in touch with Joe on Sunday.

Officially, Penn says he is “staying away from the media.” But Penn did ask that Joe relay a message to Penn’s many supporters. “Tell the fans thank you for all of their support. I really appreciate it. Go Bucs!” Penn requested of Joe.

Joe’s hardly surprised that Penn hears the loud rumblings among fans and some media who question why a Bucs team committed to a youth movement is not locking down a reliable, well above average and young left tackle. Penn has gotten it done for three seasons, and he’s 27 years old.

While Joe understands Team Glazer’s likely hesitation to sign anyone to a market-value contract given the NFL labor situation, it surely can’t be good business to risk losing Penn to free agency, or to risk having him miss all of training camp or more in 2010, before returning to the Bucs.

At the end of the day, Penn protects Josh Freeman. So if the Bucs truly are commited to Freeman, they won’t play risky games with their left tackle position.

Remember, Joel Glazer told the world that “money will never be an issue” when it comes to building the Bucs into a winner.

Every day Penn remains a restricted free agent angling for a new deal, that comment becomes harder and harder to believe.

"Those reporters don't understand me."

Those camera loving Tampa Tribune/TBO.com guys are at it again in another edition of their video blog.

This time they’re talking all things Sabby The Goat.

Anwar Richardson and Woody Cummings are caught up arguing about whether Sabby The Goat is “one of Raheem’s boys,” versus handpicked free agent (the only free agent) Sean Jones.

Funny stuff in this video. Interesting how neither seems to think Sabby The Goat had a halfway decent season in 2009.

"Damn it, I can work with people! You think it's easy having to put up with Jaws passing gas for three hours every Monday night?"

Interesting piece of information shared by Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune recently. Seems as though when Team Glazer decided it wanted to build from the draft and go young, the biggest stumbling block was not the front office nor the scouting department.

The problem was Chucky, so noted Cummings in a TBO.com Bucs question-and-answer feature.

Q: Besides turning the team into a professional college team, what are the bucs doing different than Jon Gruden? From what I read and seen they running the same style offence as him and the same defense under Kiffen. Why couldn’t they fire bruce allen and get a GM/VP that Gruden couldn’t run over like Miami and Cleveland?

Jarrid, Spring Hill

A: The Bucs tried it once with a GM other than Bruce Allen, and it didn’t work. The other issue that led to Gruden’s and Allen’s firing has to do with their refusal to build through the draft and put a younger, faster team on the field. Both preferred using older players, which resulted in the Bucs constantly turning over their roster. In the eyes of the owners, they were never going to build a solid base. The difference now is that the Bucs are a younger, more talented team. They’re also a very inexperienced team, but the hope is that in a year or two the Bucs will have a team that will stay together and compete for a championship for a stretch of 5-10 years.

— Roy Cummings

— Woody Cummings

Joe had heard that after Team Glazer came to the decision to jettison Chucky, it called Bruce Almighty in and told him to fire Chucky. Bruce Almighty refused, falling on his sword. He was then summarily fired and then Team Glazer got their hands dirty with Chucky.

Joe was unaware, but had a pretty good idea, that Chucky had the show and that Bruce Almighty was pretty much just his figurehead.

Joe always thought that Chucky would do well with a strong-armed owner such as Jerry Jones in Dallass or Little Lord Fauntleroy in Washington. Chucky is a helluva Xs and Os coach, but he needs someone above him to keep him in check.

Target of outrage by Bucs fans, Adam Schein has already spoken out about his belief the Bucs will struggle this season. But could Herm Edwards join Schein in the pantheon of Bucs fans loathing?

The former Bucs secondary coach took a step towards that end this morning as he Twittered that the Bucs will have another awful season.

@timmybrownlee: how does the nfc south finish up next season?

@HermEdwardsESPN: I like the atl /no/car/bucs.

So from a former Bucs coach and an NFL savant, the Bucs will finish in the basement of the NFC South this season. Again.

Joe hopes Bucs fans have plenty of Caybrew stocked up for this fall. It’s going to be a long season apparently.

Never one for not exposing the dirty side of the rock, Tom Balog, ever so deftly, explained why the Bucs are infatuated with free agent wide receiver Preston Parker.

The Bucs beat writer for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune believes the Bucs like Parker as much for his affordability as they do his talent.

The Bucs love to mine potential gold nuggets like Parker, without having to pay the guaranteed signing bonus money they will have to shell out to their high-round rookie wide receivers, Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams.

Parker’s 102 catches in 2007-08 were the most at FSU since Warrick’s 132 receptions in 1998-99.

“I probably would have been drafted, first, second, third round,” Parker said. “But I’m here. It probably happened for a reason. I know it happened for a reason. I’m just going the way that God led me to.”

The story is a great read and Joe strongly recommends clicking on the link above. Parker talked about how playing last year at Division-II North Alabama was akin to living in “the slums.”

Wondering why you haven’t heard much buzz about Bucs third-round pick Myron Lewis?

Well, Ronde Barber’s eventual replacement has been busy babysitting his tweeked hamstring for weeks as a precaution, so says Backwards Hat, aka Lakeland Ledger beat writer Rick Brown.

Thankfully, Lewis is a hungry rookie and not happy about missing the sweatfest OTAs.

“It does suck not being able to go out there and not prove yourself out on the field. I’m just taking mental reps and hopefully … carry it out on the field,” Lewis said.

Joe enjoyed reading Lewis’ many quotes. He’s definitely got a cocky side to him that Joe hadn’t seen revealed previously.

“I love getting my hands on a receiver,” he said. “Once I get my hands on a receiver, it’s over. Playing cover-2, I get to put my hands on a receiver again, so that’s another advantage for me. …”

Joe’s drooling at the thought of Lewis possibly being as good as helmet-wielding Aqib Talib. That might almost be enough to overcome a goat starting at safety.

Joe wrote earlier this week about Derrick Brooks opening up like never before during a TV interview on Tampa Bay Sports Central, hosted by electronic media czar J.P. Peterson.

Today’s the day Bucs fans get to hear Brooks’ comments.

Part I of the interview airs on WTOG-CW44 at 11:30 a.m. So set your VCRs, DVRs and alarm clocks. Part 2 with Brooks airs next Sunday.

Yesterday, when the Bucs new media relations honcho, a former GOP operative, issued a statement trying to shoot down the inference from a dubious BBC report that Team Glazer is so choked with debt it cannot run the Bucs, Adam Schein was not moved.

The co-host of “The Blitz” with Rich Gannon heard exclusively of Sirius NFL Radio, and no fan of the Bucs, Schein scoffed at the statement Monday and seemed to put more credence into the BBC report that Team Glazer is so underwater, fish are swimming over their heads.

Schein read the statement in its entirely then had this to say:

“If this is the case [that Team Glazer is flush with cash], why is Reggie Brown the big ticket item in the offseason? If this is the case, why are you relying on neophytes at the wide receiver position?

“T’is the season for optimism. Where is the optimism in Tampa Bay? Where is the talent? Where is the spending? I look at Tampa, where is the hope? Seriously. Where is the optimism? How can you create any scenario where they do not finish last in the division? They will throw a parade in Tampa if they go 6-10.

“I have to give them credit on the draft, but there is no chance for Tampa Bay this season.”

Joe cannot really argue with anything Schein said. That written, color Joe skeptical of that report. As Joe pointed out yesterday, Andy Green, described in the BBC article as a “disgruntled Manchester United supporter,” was the one who uncovered the damning financial information. He is a noted rival of Team Glazer and is trying to help facilitate a purchase of the kickball team from Team Glazer.

Can anyone say “conflict of interest?”

At every turn young Josh Freeman seems like an extraordinary high character guy. This impresses Joe to no end, especially since at Freeman’s age Joe was doing little more than chasing women to the wee hours as a full-time job and sleeping it off while on his day job the next morning.

Freeman says all the right things. He lives with his little brother in Tampa. And the guy is obviously extraordinarily self-motivated.

Of course, Joe recognizes Freeman could be mingling with a throng of nasty, tequila-pounding strippers every night, but that sure seems unlikely.

Settled into the community now, Freeman is launching his inaugural Tampa football camp in July. On Friday, he expained to The Fabulous Sports Babe on 1040 AM that he wants to get involved at all levels of football in the Bay area.

 “I’m really excited to get in touch with another side of Tampa’s football,” Freeman said. “You know I got to meet a few USF guys, but I’m somewhat oblivious to the high school football game around here because I’ve only been here for a year. But I’d like to get to know a lot of these guys.”

What other NFL quarterbacks want to get to know high school players and help impact their games and lives?

Joe’s very impressed by Freeman. If he can stop throwing interceptions and stay healthy, he could become an unmatched local icon.

It will be a stretch to expect Gerald McCoy and his fellow rookie starters to be studs this season.

Joe knows NFL.com reporter Steve Wyche was recently in Tampa to attend a Bucs OTA session.

Joe also knows that it’s summer in Florida and for (current) California boys not used to the Florida summer since they moved away (Wyche once worked at the Miami Herald), it can cause a slight case of dementia.

In his recent rankings of NFL teams, Wyche ranks the Bucs among the bottom of the NFL, which is not surprising. However, Wyche qualified his ranking as claiming the Bucs could surprise a lot of people.

22. Buccaneers — Tampa Bay could be this season’s sleeper team — if the rookies all step up. That’s asking a lot. They should be a lot better, especially on offense, but not quite yet.

This suggests to Joe that Wyche may have been out in the sun a bit too long. While he is accurate in that expecting so many rookies to shine is asking a lot, that should have been the tip off right there for Wyche.

Nothing would make Joe happier than if Gerald McCoy, Brian Price, Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams all proved to be studs this season. Expecting four starting rookies to shine is, in Joe’s eyes, biting off more than one can chew.

Apparently, the latest casualty of the Bucs’ veteran purge, Chris Hovan, doesn’t walk like he used to.

Scary.

Hovan, one of the newest members of the St. Louis Lambs, told the Post-Dispatch that his body has taken a beating over his 10 NFL seasons.

Ten years in the trenches of the NFL have taken their toll, new Rams defensive tackle Chris Hovan conceded. “I’m not walking right anymore,” he said.

His enthusiasm hasn’t suffered similarly, though. “I’m still blessed to be playing football,” he said. “I do still have a passion for this game, and I have two or three years left in this old body.”

Joe finds it interesting that Rams head coach and defensive guru Steve Spagnuolo sees the value in having a worn down veteran on his roster, a growing rarity in today’s NFL. Considering Hovan’s public comments, it’s obvious that Spagnuolo is looking to Hovan for off-the-field impact as much as he is sacks and tackles.

Joe wishes Hovan well, and it’ll be interesting to see what he can contribute. But perhaps it’s time he steps away if he’s having those kinds of physical issues already. Another couple of seasons might not be worth the money.

Perhaps he could become a makeup artist?

At the risk of setting himself up for scorn and ridicule, Joe will confess that he likely didn’t have much of a shot at landing a scholarship at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Joe was pretty good at English, humbly admits he was outstanding in history, had to work to get decent grades in science and biology (yet somehow in college got a B in anatomy) and was simply atrocious at math.

If Joe had to take algebra in college, he’d still be in college. Thank God journalism majors don’t need to count much (man’s greatest invention sans the Internet, DirecTV and the remote control was the calculator).

But when it comes to football math, Joe can find the solution to a riddle. Joe wonders how many of his readers can as well.

Yesterday, Joe transcribed a local radio interview where Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman appeared on a show with a Yiddish-sounding name and spoke about his receivers, in particular Mark Bradley, Reggie Brown, the rookies (Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams) as well as rookie free agent wide receivers.

In a TBO.com article typed by Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune, Richardson rattled off the names of Bucs receivers Freeman is giddy about throwing to this fall.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman cannot wait to air it out this season.

Freeman’s eyes light up when talking about throwing deep passes to rookies Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn. He speaks constantly about Maurice Stovall and Sammie Stroughter’s ability to get open. It is almost as if Freeman envisions Greg Olson’s playbook as a joystick on Madden 2010.

While the NFL is a pass happy league, Tampa Bay cannot win consistently without committing to the run this season.

In a radio interview on “The Blitz” in April, with co-hosts Adam Schein and Rich Gannon heard exclusively on Sirius NFL Radio, Bucs general manager Mark Dominik spoke at length about the Bucs wide receivers mentioning by name Reggie Brown, Mark Bradley, Mo Stovall, Sammie Stroughter, Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams.

In a total of three different interviews in three different mediums, the Bucs general manager and the Bucs franchise quarterback never mentioned a certain wide receiver.

Can any of Joe’s readers decipher the missing receiver?

Once you come to the conclusion, anyone want to guess why said receiver’s name has never been mentioned when discussing the 2010 season?

Joe’s glad to hear Kellen Winslow is feeling good after his routine maintenance knee surgery this offseason.

But on the other hand, it doesn’t sit well with Joe to know Winslow is chilling somewhere in California when his teammates are sweating their butts off in Tampa.

Responding to a question from the media hounds yesterday, Raheem The Dream went out of his way to talk about how hard Winslow is working — on his own.

“He’s getting back. He’s going fast. He’s training. He’s doing a bunch of things,” Raheem The Dream said. “He sends me a bunch of notes. He’s in constant communication with Todd, our trainer. He’s in constant communication with his coach, Alfredo Roberts. And we hope to see him soon as well, too.”

Joe gets that Winslow is fragile and OTAs are voluntary. But it’s still weak that he’s 3,000 miles from his team.

Either you’re 100 percent committed or you’re not.