If new Bucs general manager Mark Dominik does nothing else before the NFL draft, he needs to make sure unrestricted free agent wide receiver Antonio Bryant does not get away.

Thursday was the first day NFL teams could slap an unrestricted free agent with a franchise tag, thereby blocking said player from leaving.

The Patriots wasted little time yesterday by slapping quarterback Matt Cassel with the franchise tag. The Bucs have until Feb. 19 to make a move on Antonio Bryant.

How long before Bryant joins Cassel as a franchise player?

Joe has no doubt the brightest light to an otherwise dark season was the play of current unrestricted free agent wide receiver Antonio Bryant. No matter who the Bucs quarterback may be next season, Bryant easily makes the Bucs passing attack significantly better.

Carmella and Jeff Garcia are wasting no team leaving their cozy South Tampa home

All season long Joe brought you the colorful, insightful writings of Bob Garcia, Jeff Garcia’s dad. The ex-football coach wrote a blog for the Gilroy Dispatch, his hometown newspaper in California.

In the final edition this week the elder Garcia was asked about Jeff. He revealed that Jeff and his glorious pregnant wife Carmella are moving to Southern California.

Josh Koehn: So, I guess Jeff is still winding down from the season?
Bob Garcia: Yeah, he had a number of appearances at the Super Bowl he was quite happy with. And now they’re just coming back and re-establishing their home in Manhattan Beach. But I think they’re trying to move toward San Diego.
K: Oh, really?
G: Yeah, Manhattan Beach is a great little community, three or four blocks from the ocean, a healthy atmosphere, a lot of outdoor cafes and restaurants, and so on. Everybody is riding a bike, You go down to the beach, they’re walking and running, and volleyball all over the place, people surfing. And the thing about it, you think LA, but it’s not a lot like LA. There’s not the traffic. You get onto those little off streets and it’s a lot like Gilroy. Everything is close by. But the homes are so close together there’s no space. … There’s no room for kids. For kids to play, they’re saying, ‘We need some room.’ And they have a couple dogs.

Joe brings you this bit of gossip for two reasons: First, Joe takes every opportunity to publish a picture of Carmella Garcia. Second, it seems to reveal that Jeff Garcia has little intention of returning to the Bucs if he’s house-hunting 3,000 miles away. Of course, there’s no reason to think he couldn’t change his plans.

Nothing new here from Mel Kiper of BSPN. He still likes the Bucs to take Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman with their first round pick (No. 19).

Kiper, who can’t hold Justin Pawlowski’s jock when it comes to the NFL Draft, looks at potential NFC South selections in this video.

 By JEFF CARLSON

Jeff Carlson is a former Bucs quarterback. He trains QB’s of all ages with America’s Best Quarterback. You can catch Carlson weekly as co-host of The Game on 1040 AM, Sundays at 11 a.m.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson says the Steelers-Cardinals Super Bowl illustrated how much the Bucs need to improve

I was excited for the Super Bowl matchup of offense versus defense with both teams playing at the top of their games. Watching the game depressed me because I saw the Steelers and Cardinals playing in the Buccaneers’ stadium and it was obvious that the Bucs aren’t close to competing for a championship.

Where would the Bucs look to attack the Steelers’ defense? Do you think the Steelers could bottle up Antonio Bryant easier than Larry Fitzgerald? Could the Bucs pass-block against that confusing 3-4 or could Donald Penn handle James Harrison any better than Mike Gandy?

 On a defense that fell apart down the stretch here in Tampa, could the defensive front muster any rush on Kurt Warner to create problems? Could it slow down Edgerin James on draws or off-tackle? What would it do trying to cover Fitzgerald, Boldin and Breaston all at the same time?

 Both the Cardinals and Steelers had top-notch quarterbacks leading their clubs to a great finish and the Bucs have Brian Griese and Josh Johnson under contract.

 Need I say more.

The Dream has added a second defensive line coach, Robert Nunn. Joe agrees with The Dream; the line needs extra help.

Joe is intrigued by the Bucs’ newly-hired defensive line coach, Robert Nunn.

Not that Nunn is such an exciting name, nor did he set the world on fire with his coaching skills at his last gig in Green Bay. But, says Pewter Report, Nunn will be defensive line coach WITH Todd Wash, the D-line coach last year.

While Nunn is new a D-line coach in Tampa Bay, Todd Wash has been retained, giving Tampa Bay two defensive line coaches under new defensive coordinator Jim Bates. It is believed one coach will handle the defensive tackles while the other oversees the defensive ends.

This move is a telling acknowledgement by Raheem The Dream. He apparently saw what Joe and everyone else did last season. The D-line was a major weakness and needs extra help.

Whether it was a lack of talent and/or beef on the line, The Dream is clearly saying with this non-traditional coaching move that he is determined to get the absolute most he can from Gaines Adams, Chris Hovan, Jovan Haye, Greg White and Julius Peppers.

Did Joe just say Julius Peppers? Hey, it’s February. A guy can dream a little.

Joe is also getting a gut feeling the Bucs will run a 4-3 defense.

When you’re the NFL team with a dusty pile of salary cap money, no legitimate quarterback and at least reasonably close to being a playoff team, that qualifies you to make the Brett Favre rumor list.

Add to that you courted the guy last year and your new offensive coordinator worked with him previously, you jump to the top of the list.

With each passing day, Favre is less likely to stay with the New York Jets. After the season, he said he’d wait a month to make his decision on retirement. We’re still waiting.

The Bucs haven’t made even a rumble about re-signing Jeff Garcia or Luke McCown. And the love for Favre around the Meadowlands is wearing thing. Columnists are asking him to leave town.

If the Bucs plan to draft a QB, Joe has to wonder whether Favre for a year makes some sense. He’s still better than most, and the Bucs have a brutal schedule in 2009.

There are those who believe the Glazers are hurting for cash. Favre guarantees a windfall.

And The Dream is the coach who said the Bucs will “Stay the Course.” That course, like it or not, has largely been to run with a veteran quarterback.

In a Kansas City sports radio interview, disgruntled Chiefs RB Larry Johnson claims former Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil tried to trade Johnson to the Bucs.

Stunning news from Kansas City.

It’s no secret that Chiefs running back Larry Johnson has wanted out of Kansas City for some time. Usually when players don’t get their way with that type of wish, they try to make life miserable for the organization so the powers that be wish the player was off the roster.

One way to accomplish this is to piss and moan to the fourth estate, which Johnson has chosen to do.

In an interview with KCSP-AM 610 in Kansas City, Johnson unloaded, even dropping a mini-bombshell that he nearly became a Bucs running back. Apparently this trade nearly came about when Dick Vermeil was coach.

Quickly checking some references Joe finds that Vermeil coached the Chiefs from 2001-05. Joe finds it difficult to believe the Bucs would have traded for Johnson while Mike Alstott was in his prime. So by deductive reasoning, Joe assumes this trade may have nearly come down after the Bucs won the Super Bowl following the 2002 season.

Since Johnson was almost traded to the Bucs once, would general manger Mark Dominik  – a guy with ties to the Chiefs’ organization – possibly be interested in a high-priced malcontent running back likely past his prime who also (allegedly) seems to have a habit of slapping around women in night clubs?

Doug Williams gets a bigger role in the Bucs front office. Joe hopes that leads to another season of him playing Dr. Phil for Antonio Bryant.

Joe was glad to see the Bucs promoted ex-QB Doug Williams to coordinator of pro scouting. That moves him into new general manager Mark Dominik’s old job.

Essentially, Williams becomes the team’s chief talent evaluator of potential players.

Joe likes the decision, especially since Williams is a confidant of Antonio Bryant, who will be a free agent shortly. Williams’ promotion could go a long way toward Bryant re-signing with the Bucs. And the Bucs desperately need him to return.

Earlier this year Williams revealed to the St. Pete Times that Bryant is a high-maintainence dude who needs a lot of love and reassurance.

Antonio Bryant and I talk all the time because he’s a guy who needs somebody — between (receivers coach) Richard Mann and myself, we’re the two people he’s going to talk to when things don’t go right.”

At the time, Joe wondered why Bryant would need so much counseling when he enjoyed a near-flawless season. So Bryant sure seems like the kind of guy who would hold it against the Bucs organization for letting Doug Williams walk.

Not that WIlliams doesn’t deserve his promotion, but keeping Bryant around is much more critical. Williams is considered an emerging GM candidate who might be gone next season anyway.

Aside from the unadulterated garbage sports radio melds into annually in the hours after the Super Bowl, Joe is also sick of people making pointed comparisons between Raheem the Dream and Mike Tomlin.

Joe is on fire this morning because, as expected, the vast majority of sports radio is now trying to cram that unmitigated sewage known as the non-basketball association down Joe’s throat and he just wants to strangle any number of sports radio executives.

Joe doesn’t give a damn about “ko-BEE” or “LUH-bron” any more than he cares about five-year old Johnny or Susie playing kickball in some misused plot of grass that Joe has paid for with his hard-earned tax dollars.

EEE-NUFF!!!

Where the hell is the FCC when you need it?

There’s a reason why “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig, gets great ratings. You will never hear NBA talk (much less Yankees/Red Sox talk) on his show unless it’s in vane which makes his show an oasis for sports fans’ ears.

(“Hell-oh, McFly!”)

And people actually wonder why Joe only watches BSPN for live games or College Gameday and subscribes to satellite radio? Imagine!

There’s another thing that’s really bothering Joe of late: Will people quit comparing Raheem the Dream to Mike Tomlin? Please!

Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune has (another) article discussing the comparisons between the Bucs new head coach and the Steelers’ Super Bowl-winning coach.

Rooney’s instinct on Tomlin was obviously correct – he stands as the youngest person to coach a Super Bowl champion following Sunday night’s exhilarating 27-23 victory over Arizona. At age 36, with the core of his team intact, it’s not hard to see Tomlin standing on more platforms like the one he did late Sunday.

It’s not fair to place those same expectations on Morris yet because the situations are different. The Bucs have serious roster issues that need to be addressed and there is no one on the roster like quarterback Ben Roethlisberger; nor do the Bucs possess a defense like the one in Pittsburgh.

Best as Joe can tell, there are only three valid comparisons between the two:

Both were former Bucs defensive backs coaches.

Both have yet to hit the depressing Big 4-0.

Both have the same color skin.

As Henderson points out, to compare the two is unfair to both, in particular to The Dream.

Tomlin walked into the perfect circumstance with the Steelers. He took over a team one year removed from winning a Super Bowl loaded with stud players. Tomlin also works for not only the most classy organization in the NFL, but maybe all of sports.

Additionally, the Steelers front office annually fields, drafts and selects players that results in a competitive (if not playoff) team. Pittsburgh is really a dream job for any coach.

The Dream takes over a team that may very well be on the decline if not in a rebuilding mode. Joe can’t remember the last time the Steelers were in a rebuilding mode.

When Joe spoke with Tomlin at Media Day last week, while he put his best face on, you could even tell Tomlin not only was tiring of the comparisons between him and The Dream, you could also sense in his words that the comparisons were unfair to The Dream.

Joe hasn’t read too many comparisons between Josh McDaniels and Charlie Weis. Like Tomlin and The Dream, both McDaniels and Weis held the same position at different times for the same organization and the same head coach. And both have roughly the same skin pigment.

Like Tomlin and The Dream, the comparisons (should) stop there.

The Dream is his own man. Knock off the comparisons to Tomlin. It’s not fair to The Dream.

If the Bucs win the Super Bowl in February 2011, then the comparisons to Tomlin are valid.

Maybe.

Warren Sapp chose not to act like a buffoon for New York sports radio. Among other gems, Sapp called Chucky "wonderful" and explained why hiring Raheem The Dream was a great move

Joe found time to transcribe Warren Sapp’s Super Bowl week interview with Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton of WFAN-AM in New York. It’s good stuff.

Sapp definitely has improved as a media personality.

Before being asked his pick for the Super Bowl, Sapp spent minutes glowing about Kurt Warner and how the Steelers shouldn’t blitz him. Then Sapp took the Steelers to win the game. Esiason followed with a jab at Sapp telling him he just spent all that time talking up the Cardinals but was picking the Steelers. Sapp laughed about not taking the Cardinals and said, “I don’t have the balls to pick ’em.”

When talk came to the Bucs, Sapp joined the ranks of players to praise Jon Gruden. He even called Chucky “wonderful” and likened his coaching style to Mike Tomlin and Raheem The Dream.

Sapp had a lot more to say about The Dream, explaining how the Bucs know exactly what kind of head coach he will be.

Do you like Jon Gruden, or no?

SAPP: “Jon Gruden brought me a title. Jon Gruden freed me up and, you know, gave me a whole new persepective on the game, how you do this and do that. Hey, a wonderful guy.”

Do you know Raheem [Morris] at all?

“I was here the day he walked in at Tampa. …I raised Raheem from Day 1.”

What kind of job do you think he’ll do?

“Wonderful. Wonderful. You’re talking about a guy that’s going to be on the ground working with his guys be able, you know, hand in hand. You know what I’m saying. That was Jon’s [Gruden] thing. That’s what [Mike] Tomlin’s thing is. Hand in hand. Whisenhunt, ‘I’m here with you.’ …You got to have a relationship with your players now. These dicators and military guys that just do what they do and my way or the highway, No. You’ve got to have some interaction with your players.”

On Raheem The Dream being too young:

“No. No. No. Let me tell you like this here. The thing that Raheem did. Raheem came from the bottom up. And when you come from the bottom up you get checked out by Sapp. You get checked out by Lynch. You get checked out by Brooks. You get checked out by Ronde. You know what I’m saying. He’s been checked and double-checked throughout that organization. He’s golden there. ..There’s no question who Raheem Morris is in Tampa Bay. We know exactly who he is and exactly what it is.

On Simeon Rice and others saying Jon Gruden was two-faced with the players:

“I told you I saw why certain guys are certain ways about Jonny. Jonny will tell you, “I love you, bro. I love you. I love you. I love you.” …(Sapp went on to tell the story about how Gruden never returned his call after Sapp asked him to match a four-year, $16 million offer from the Bengals. Sapp says Gruden told him I’ll call you right back. “I’m still waiting for that call,” Sapp said.”

Jacquez Green spent five seasons in Tampa Bay after the Bucs made him their first pick in the 1998 draft.

Joe is rested from a day off on Super Bowl Sunday. Yes, that’s the only holiday observed at JoeBucsFan.com.

No worries. Joe’s priorities are in order.

Today the esteemed Justin Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM, The Sports Animal, is serving the next installment of his look back at the Bucs’ drafts during the modern era. 

The 1998 draft evokes some interesting memories. Gators great Jacquez Green, an occasional JoeBucsFan.com analyst, was a steal in Round 2 when you compare him to his 2008 counterpart, Dexter “Scaredy Cat” Jackson.  But, of course, “Quezy” didn’t fulfill the high hopes of Bucs fans.

Grabbing cornerback Brian Kelly in Round 2 helped spare the Bucs a failing grade from Pawlowski.  

Check out Pawlowski’s breakown. Past years are archived, as well.

Joe is on the record saying Chucky is considering the offensive coordinator job on his son's high school team

Joe wants to be first to say there’s a good chance Chucky will be coaching in Tampa this year.

That would be high school ball at Carrollwood Day School, where his son Jon “Deuce” Gruden, Jr. is on the team. 

No doubt Chucky will return to the NFL one day. But surely the 2009 season is all wrong for him. First, there are very few openings left, and Chucky may not want to risk a payday.

Yes, the Glazer Boys are on the hook for Chucky’s fat annual salary, and if he goes to a new NFL team the Glazers have to pay the difference between Chucky’s new salary and what he earned with the Bucs.

But if another team pays Gruden less than his current salary, the Glazers could always refuse to pay and challenge the contract by saying the new team is not paying fair market value for Gruden.

Would anyone be shocked if the Glazers did that and tied up Gruden’s money in court? This could keep money from Chucky and cost him interest on seven figures and legal fees, etc. 

Back to the high school theory, Chucky is a regular at his kid’s high school games.

The Orlando Sentinel even wrote a huge spread in the fall (story no longer archived) about Chucky being a fixture at all the Friday night games.  He even took Joey Galloway to a game. (Rumor is Galloway was on a leash carrying a water bowl and Milk Bones.)

Chucky’s kid, Deuce, plays quarterback, receiver and defensive back. He’s entering his sophomore season. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Gruden to be his son’s quarterbacks coach and call plays for him.

Although it seemed sarcastic, Chucky mentioned coaching high school ball in his only post-firing interview, with ESPN this week.

Carrollwood Day School is a small private school entering the second year of its football program. No pressure. No expectations.

Gruden knows how much taking that job would endear him to the national media. They’d be all over the story, and follow him all through the season. Then he can come back to the NFL in 2010.

Monte Kiffin moved to Tennessee and took a massive pay cut to work with his kid.

Chucky can have the same fun, at the same pay and live in the same house.

Spring practice kicks off in May.

Want to know who Bucs cornerback Phillip Buchanon thinks will win the Super Bowl? You can find out here along with many other picks by athletes.

Sunday's Super Bowl buffet will be accompanied by lots of great prize giveaways at Courtside Grille locations in Tampa and Feather Sound. See below for details and the menu.

TWO huge Super Bowl parties are still to come at Courtside Grille.

On Saturday night, former Bucs safety and Super Bowl MVP Dexter Jackson will be hosting a bash at the Westchase location  at 8 p.m. til the wee hours. Many NFL players, including Michael Clayton and Jameel Cook are scheduled to attend. Two drinks, autographs, live music and more are included.

Of course, Courtside Grille has a major Super Bowl buffet bash on gameday. It’s like their famed tailgate party on steroids. Click here for all the details.

Contact Courtside Grille now for tickets.

Here are some random photos Joe shot with his little digital camera between many interviews during Super Bowl Media Day.

The sun is shining these days on ProFootballTalk.com's Mike Florio.

Rich Eisen and Marshall Faulk of NFL Network.

It was hot enough on Media Day morning that Marshall Faulk had to wipe his brow.

Adam Schefter of the NFL Network chats with some cutie radio reporter.

Time to eat!

As Joe learned in college, the background makes the photo.

Deshea Townsend prepares for his chest bump with this chesty reporter, who Joe later saw later that evening a bit tipsy at The Cuban Club in Ybor City.

Steelers kicker Jeff Reed seems to be enjoying himself with Maria Menounos of Access Hollywood. Who wouldn't?

Part of the circus of Media Day.

Big Brother is watching the gathered Fourth Estate.

Jerry O'Connell (wearing Steelers gear) shares a laugh with Steelers nose tackle Chris Hoke.

"This Week in the NFL" host Jenn Brown flashes a smile at Joe after he yells at her, "Hey, Clearwater girl!"

The lovely Jenn Brown, Clearwater native and host of "This Week in the NFL."

The world famous Ines Sainz of TV Azteca.

Perhaps Ines Sainzs' better side?

Steelers defensive lineman Jared Retkofsky dances with Renee Sapp. What is the guy in the black looking at exactly?

Safety Ryan Munday seems to have found a friend.

Bucs fans should recognize this woman.

More craziness.

Joe found out first-hand why Maria Menounos finds steady work in Hollywood.

As Joe pointed out previously, Media Day was a long one for him, beginning at 5 a.m. Joe didn’t get home until the wee hours Wednesday morning.

Part of the reason for the early wake up was Joe expected to fight for a parking spot downtown, which didn’t happen.

It gave Joe time to cruise through the Super Bowl Media Center at the Tampa Convention Center. Joe also described the “near-vacant” radio row, which really isn’t a row but a large ballroom. Of course, most of the country is still in bed at that time of the day so it stands to reason only a handful of radio stations were around. It was also early in the week, too.

Evidence as to how serious Pittsburgh takes its football, it seemed WDVE, the home station of the Steelers, had an entire staff there. About a third of the people in radio row were from WDVE, the other third from NFL Radio.

The bus to the CITS was leaving and Joe caught one of the last buses. Oddly enough, right in front of Joe getting onto the bus was Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. We chatted briefly — he seemed honored to meet Joe so Joe came to the quick conclusion Florio is a fine actor.

After getting off the bus Joe conducted a quick interview with Florio, which readers of JoeBucsFan.com have surely read by now.

Security was very much like getting through security at an airport on a Thanksgiving weekend, with the exception of dogs who were sniffing all the bags of equipment the fourth estate brought in.

Joe tried to get a photo of one of the German shepherds working. Let’s just say this attempt didn’t go over so well with security.

A few feet away Joe noticed Jerry O’Connell who is a big time sports fan and claims to be a regular reader of TheBigLead.com, for which Joe also writes. He was unbelievably cool. We chatted for roughly five minutes and O’Connell claimed it was his honor in meeting me (he also claims to read Joe’s screed on TheBigLead.com).

O’Connell additionally tried to say he was impressed with Joe. And this coming from a man who sleeps in the same bed as Rebecca Romijn, if you can imagine such a thing!

Joe met up with Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune while waiting in the CITS concourse with the rest of the roughly 4,500 members of the media. The other Joe — which Joe of JoeBucsFan.com can’t say enough about for his help over the years — introduced Joe to other media scribes. Henderson said, “Get ready for the cattle call.” He was right.

Joe has covered some big time events before, including the 1996 National League playoffs and NLCS. But Media Day at the Super Bowl dwarfed those assignments.

First, NFL officials jammed everyone along the Bucs/west sidelines. There was barely enough room to breathe much less navigate.

Amid this mess was a Tampa dance troupe, tables set up for various live radio broadcasts, a set for NFL Network and temporary bleachers so photographers could get clear shots at various players who had assigned booths to sit in.

Joe also noticed something rather quickly: Whenever there was a cluster of TV cameras and photographers jumbled together in one spot, it meant either there was a stud player there, a hot babe or some weirdo, or all three.

Unlike the Cardinals who pretty much stayed in their assigned seats, most of the Steelers mingled with the media like it was Guavaween on Seventh Avenue in Ybor City. Of course, this created chaos as media members had to walk up and down the sideline to find various players in the sea of humanity.

But this was also cool as the Steelers seemed to be having as much if not more fun than the media covering them. It was very casual and many, if not all, were very down to earth.

Only because she wore sunglasses and a baggy green dress, Joe didn’t notice that Maria Menounos was working for the TV show Access Hollywood. Joe was close enough to smell her. Let’s just say there’s ample reason she has gainful employment on TV.

Joe also saw TV Azteca’s lovely Ines Sainz and her glorious, um, attribute, which Joe documented previously. One of her producers started yelling at Joe for obtaining digital evidence of her, um, attribute which prompted Joe to tell him to calm down and if she didn’t want her, um, attribute photographed she would have chosen another line of attire to wear.

Joe spoke extensively with Anquan Boldin and Darnell Dockett with the Cardinals for a story he wrote for former Tampa Tribune staffer Scott Carter and his website Noleinsider.com. Joe never knew about Dockett’s background; it was quite moving.

Joe also chatted with Adam Schefter of the NFL Network quite a bit for a story Joe has already posted.

Joe later saw Cardinals owner/extortionist Bill Bidwill, which reminded Joe of when he first met Bidwill while cover the team’s training camp at Joe’s alma mater of Eastern Illinois University. He is such an inept owner it’s difficult for Joe to envision this team in a Super Bowl. Joe learned that Bidwill has pretty much stepped away from the daily operations of the team, which explains why the team got to the Super Bowl.

While Joe was quite impressed with Menounos and Sainz, Clearwater native and “Inside the NFL” reporter Jenn Brown stole the show. Joe was familiar with Brown from her HDNet TV series “Bikini Destinations.” No, it’s not porn. But if you are bored let’s just say Joe highly recommends gawking as Ms. Brown frolicking on YouTube in one of these videos. It’s quality time spent on a slow Tuesday evening and Joe is confident you too will become enamored with Ms. Brown.

In person, she is as lovely as she is on camera. Joe tried to fight through the mass of humanity to get a photo of her, with little luck, until he yelled, “Hey, Clearwater girl!” She, as if on cue, wheeled around and flashed a huge smile at Joe that he was able to capture on his digital camera.

Ah, what a talent.

Then there was Joe’s first encounter with the notorious Warren Sapp. Joe asked him a question, Sapp challenged Joe and Joe rephrased the question and Sapp was cool. Later while wading through the swarm of media Joe felt an arm around his shoulder and then heard Sapp bellow, “Hey my man, you walked away from my table giggling. I like to laugh too. Tell me what it was I said that was so funny.”

Joe couldn’t remember the indicent but quickly said, “I’m not sure but if I was laughing that means it was good and I’m going to use it.”

Sapp then busted out laughing and sped away from Joe, apparently satisfied.

With apologies for name dropping, Joe got to speak with some of the cream of the media crop including Tim Brando, Ed Bouchette, Woody Cummings, Rick Ballou, Dan Pompei and John Clayton among many others. Joe also got to meet up with his mentor of sorts, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

As a poor college student, Joe will always be thankful of Miklasz taking pity upon Joe in college and buying him tequila shots while covering an NFL training camp — but not at the same time.

All in all it was an experience Joe will never forget and he graciously thanks Brian McCarthy, Michael Signora and Jared Cooper of the NFL for helping make this possible for Joe.

In turn, expect in the coming weeks from Joe some really neat interviews from various media celebrities and their thoughts on the Bucs.

Caddy tells BSPN Radio's Mike Tirico he'll be rehabbed and ready to return

Cadillac Williams sat down with Mike Tirico of ESPN Radio to lounge on the Radio Row couch and chat about his knee injuries, his future and Chucky.

Joe listened to the Podcast and serves up the few interesting nuggets:

On the current knee injury:

“This one it feels like it’s going to be an easier process [than the 2007 knee injury]. I should be back in no time.”

On the Gruden firing:

“I had no idea. I never saw it coming. …I woke up …to all kinds of text messages. I was like, “This can’t be true.”

Did you enjoy playing for Jon Gruden?

“No doubt. For one, coach Gruden  and Bruce Allen, they drafted me and gave me a chance to establish himself. …I know one thing about Coach Gruden, there’s nobody in the business that’s going to work harder than him. I enjoyed playing for the guy.”

On Raheem The Dream:

“He’s one of those players’ coaches. But at the same time he has that respect. You don’t want to step on his toes. He’s going to be a great coach.”

The cute Molly Qerim of BSPN talks to Bucs defensive back Ronde Barber who is geeked about the Bucs new coach Raheem the Dream. Joe is trying to figure out where this video was shot. It appears to be north St. Petersburg near MLK or Fourth Street. But there seems to be too little traffic for that location. Maybe a loyal JoeBucsFan.com reader can figure it out?

"Inside the NFL" reporter and Clearwater native Jenn Brown gets a lift from Cardinals defensive end Antonio Smith during Media Day Tuesday.

As we are all waiting for the Super Bowl to kick off, Joe thought he would share some of the work he did when attending Media Day earlier this week. Joe will also post a rundown of his Media Day experience later today.

Tomorrow, Joe will offer some revealing photos he shot of some of the media hotties who attended the event.

This post is of various people Joe interviewed about ethics and journalism in the 21st Century, including a Bucs nugget.

MIKE FLORIO
Editor, ProFootballTalk.com

Since you are a web guy and with newspapers trimming staff daily, are you looked at as the enemy by many in the print media?

I have not yet been accosted or slugged or treated poorly in any way, but I haven’t been here that long. It’s still early.

Since it’s now clear even to someone with a white cane that the internet is the future of journalism if not the present, are you now accepted by the fourth estate or possibly looked at as maybe even some sort of a pioneer in some way?

We went through a phase early on when there was a sense where folks looked down their nose at us. But I think as time has past and we have shown passion and consistency and how we have kept our nose to the grindstone and we try to select good interesting stuff to put out there.

[ProFootballTalk.com] makes it easier for people in the media to do their jobs so they can go and see what is perking or pressing at any given moment.

I think that is just how, over time, we have gained acceptance. When national figures like Peter King in a roundabout way endorses us I think that helps too.

ADAM SCHEFTER
NFL Network, NFL.com

Talk about your transformation from a print journalist to a multimedia journalist to now a TV network talking head.

When I was in Denver I had done some local television on a very random basis and I feel incredibly fortunate to do what I do. I love what I do. To me, it’s a privilege. I get to talk about football and report on football and follow football.

Now I will say there’s a lot that goes into it and it’s not that easy. There are times my wife wants to strangle me because I won’t stop working. There are times I’m sleeping in my bed and my blackberry is buzzing. But I still wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Last week Chris Mortensen of ESPN comes out with a report, which naturally got blanket coverage by the four-letter, that Mike Shanahan was on the verge of being anointed the new coach at Kansas City. You quickly came out with a report that your sources categorically denied there was any substance to Mort’s report and it seemed the subject became a “Mort vs. Schefter” match.

I have an enormous respect for Mort. He’s a pioneer in the business. There was nothing against him personally. I was just reporting the story as the information I had.

What I got tired with was my office. All these Denver and Kansas City radio stations calling me saying “Mike Shanahan is going to Kansas City.” No he’s not going to Kansas City! It had nothing to do with Mort.

There was an e-mail I had from a Chiefs insider that said the deal with Shanahan is done — exclamation point. So everyone wanted to know what the situation was and I was just doing my job and just telling the story like I knew it to be going down.

I’ve heard sports radio guys say this on the air and I have heard whispers among writers that you are little more than a mouthpiece for the NFL and the reason you break so many stories is that you are being fed information through the NFL front office and teams’ front offices.

I appreciate you saying that because they could not be more wrong. When I was in Denver, Mike Shanahan was giving me all the information — that’s what people said and it was inconceivable to me.

The league has never given me a single story! The league tries its best NOT to give me information. The league is BOTHERED about what I report often times. They have NEVER given me information and they have never wanted to give me information. Quite frankly they get upset with me sometimes with the information I have.

The people that think that, they can think that all they want. It’s flat out not true. I have had stories I checked with them and they were furious. The last thing they want to see from me is news and I’m telling you that is the truth.

BOB PAPA
NFL Network/New York Giants play-by-play, NFL Radio host

Since you took the job this past year as a national play-by-play voice for the NFL Network, is this your future possibly full-time with CBS or Fox or NBC?

No, I am happy where I am at. I have the best of both worlds: I do the Giants on Sunday and the national game on Thursday nights. Two games a week is better than one.

During the season its pretty crazy. I am pretty much only home on Monday nights. I ship off on Tuesday. I tape my Giants TV shows before I leave and I go right from the NFL Network to the Giants game. If [the Giants] are on the road it makes for a long week. But it’s only an eight-week window and my family is understanding and it’s all for the common cause and common good of me doing a good job.

Most fans expect – rightly or wrongly — a home announcer to look at a game through their prism so it’s understandable if a home team broadcast will lean toward the home team as the home team’s radio audience is who you are broadcasting to, it’s the target audience. So when you go from that format to a national broadcast and have to call a game down the middle is that a tough balancing act to navigate each week?

Not really because we [NFL Network] get such tremendous access from the players and coaches that we get both sides of the story.

Sometimes we get more than the beat writers get because some of the information is kind of sensitive. It’s fun being down the middle — no rooting interest. You just hope you get good football. This year we had great games.

What kind of feedback did you get from Jets fans that a Giants announcer was calling a Jets game on NFL Network?

You know what, what’s funny about that is I have a bunch of friends who are Jets fans and they thought I did a good job. People I knew around town in New York thought I did a good job. They didn’t think, “Oh, the Giant guy is doing our biggest game of the year.”

Are Patriots fans saying [about an NFL Network telecast], “Oh, it was the Giants guy. We lost to them in the Super Bowl last year so will he be against us?” That’s when you know you are doing a good job is when fans of both teams think you could be leaning the other way.

MICHAEL WILBON
ESPN, Washington Post columnist on how his owning Washington Redskins season tickets is not a conflict of interest.

I don’t go to the games. My wife goes to the games. They are a major chunk of money. They are like a house payment, $5400 a year. I have never used them.

When I am critical of the Redskins, the readers know it’s coming from someone who has season tickets.

I believe in being part of the community. We (as journalists) should be involved in the community. We should be part of the community. Owning season tickets is one way of doing that.

BOB COSTAS
NBC Sports on the ethical minefield of how Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-chairman Bryan Glazer confessed one factor in firing Jon Gruden was due to negative fan feedback.

It is a very slippery slope. Look, fan reaction matters. It is obviously your business base and you have to be sensitive to it. You have to be very careful about [basing football judgments on fan feedback ]because fans are always going to react viscerally. And it’s the job of the organization to make sober judgments.

To be fair, I don’t know to what extent Glazer was influenced by this.

Former Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp relayed an incident of Chucky's less than truthful ways on radio Thursday

Seems as if each day, now that the world’s sporting media has invaded Tampa for the Super Bowl, that a new Bucs player comes out to jump on Chucky.

Now add Warren Sapp to the list. Sort of.

Speaking on the Colin Cowturd Show on BSPN, Sapp laid out why Chucky plays with the truth and cannot be trusted. But Sapp claims he didn’t have a problem with that.

“Don’t be mad if the rattlesnake bites because it’s rattling,” Sapp said.

Sapp went on to tell the story about the time he left the Bucs. He wanted to stay and retire here, but he was determined to play four more years. He called Chucky and said, “Look, Cincinnati offered me $16 million for four years. I want to stay in Tampa Bay. I won’t even send Drew Rosenhaus to come beat you over the head. Let’s just do this now.”

Chucky responded, per Sapp, “How much? $16 million? I’ll call you right back.”

Said Sapp, “I’m still waiting on that phone call.”

Sapp claims Simeon Rice is so angry at Chucky because Chucky wouldn’t tell Rice to his face that he was cut and that Chucky has never returned Rice’s phone calls.

Ex-Bucs QB and Super Bowl winner Doug Williams got personal in a radio interview

Former Bucs quarterback and current Tampa Bay personnel executive Doug Williams sat down with Mike Francesca of WFAN-AM radio to talk about race in the NFL and more. Joe recommends you take a listen.

Williams, the lone black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, with Washington in 1988, shared how happy he is that the age of labeling coaches and quarterbacks as “black” is in the past.

“It really turns me on when I listen to the Ben Roethlisbergers and the other players talk about Mike Tomlin. It ain’t about black coach. It’s about our coach,” Williams said.

Williams said he cried when Barack Obama was sworn in as President this month. He said he wept for his father and the late Grambling coach Eddie Robinson.

“Coach Robinson was the most American flag waving coach I ever seen. … A lot of times we’d say coach, ‘You sure wave that American flag.’ He’d say, ‘Hell, cat, if you can get it done, America is the only place you’ll get a shot to get it done. He used to tell us all the time, ‘If you can’t do it in America, there ain’t nowhere else you can get it done.'”

On college QBs Tim Tebow and Pat White: “If the kid wants to play quarterback, you have to give Tebow an opportunity to play quarterback. …When we go in and watch the tape on Pat White, …we say this kid’s a wide receiver, defensive back, whatever, we gotta let him try and play quarterback. …He’s earned the right.”