There’s a reason Carl Nicks hasn’t reported to training camp.

Agents, lawyers and team officials have been finalizing the end of Nicks’ Tampa Bay career behind the scenes. And now it’s over. [read more]

The fun didn’t last long. The Bucs barely finished stretching before the first of many lightning delay of training camp. Shoot, Joe literally just sat down in the bleachers and all of a sudden, there was the roar of the lighting alarm.

Stick with Joe through the evening for news and notes from the first practice of training camp — once it resumes.

Update 5:50 p.m.: practice should resume no earlier than 6:45 p.m.

Joe’s partners at WDAE-AM 620 had Lovie Smith on the air this afternoon and later reported that Carl Nicks will not be at training camp today, the opening day of on-field activities.

Feel free to speculate.

Joe’s heard loud rumblings that Nicks’ Bucs career is over. Stick with Joe through the night for all kinds of news from training camp.

Joe was up with the chickens on Thursday and cruised down Hillsborough Avenue in the way-too-early hours. But hey, the Bucs, minus human armoire Carl Nicks, were reporting to training camp about 6:30 a.m.

Who could pass on such excitement? Josh McCown stopped to talk to gathered reporters, and one question posed to him elicited a response of “I don’t know.” [read more]

The Lovie Smith era opens wide for fans this evening at One Buc Palace. Practice kicks off at 4:30 p.m. and runs until 7. Admission is free.

Inevitably, Joe will hear voices in the crowd saying where’s Mike Glennon what kind of soft practice is this? [read more]

Has the often punished “Hawk” found a valuable friend?

Maybe.

Bucs icon and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks has a new job with the NFL. [read more]

The Bucs’ GM explains

Of course nobody knows what the Jeff Tedford Buccaneers offense will look like. The man is an artist. Artists know no bounds. They’re not locked in a traditional box. Their creativity results in free expression that will tantalize, surprise and bewilder.

Joe sort of learned all this from Bucs general manager Jason Licht. [read more]

No, leaky, sleepy Josh Freeman wasn’t worthy of the dubious list.

Yes, the recent “The Countdown: Worst 20 Buccaneers Of The Past 10 Years” was very popular.

But in some circles, it angered Tampa Bay fans.

It wasn’t like Bucs fans did not enjoy guessing who would land on the dubious list. They were mad because [insert a player’s name] was not included, or at the top of the list, even. So Joe decided to explain why those whose absence irked many readers did not make the list. [read more]

Joe’s jumping in for a pre-training-camp chat with the popular Ron and Ian show this morning at 10 a.m. on WDAE-AM 620.

Always a fun time. Click below to listen online.

Bucs TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins declared himself fully recovered from offseason surgery.

For the most part, even to the Tampa Bay pen and mic club, rookie tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins is a mystery. Not only was he recovering from foot surgery to stabilize a fracture during Bucs spring practices, ASJ rarely attended.

University of Washington is on a quarter system and the school’s schedule was a conflict. Per NFL rules, rookies whose college hours conflict with OTAs or minicamps cannot participate.

Joe knows Bucs general manager Jason Licht liked his tight ends prior to the draft (in particular, Tim Wright) but ASJ had really wowed both Bucs coach Lovie Smith and Licht big time while they studied pre-draft film. [read more]

Bucs WR Mike Evans chose an interesting workout partner this summer to prep for training camp.

The man Bucs general manager Jason Licht tabbed “Godzilla” is ready to rock and roll across NFL fields as his namesake did Tokyo. Bucs wide receiver and seventh-overall draft pick Mike Evans is ready.

The first round draft pick held court, briefly, with the Tampa Bay pen and mic club as he arrived at One Buc Palace for his first NFL training camp. Evans noted a few things that opened Joe’s eyes. [read more]

Right now for Bucs fans, thinking of the offensive line is enough to induce chugging bottles of Mylanta. It makes Joe thirsty, too, but not for a chalky indigestion elixir.

The Bucs, as of 6 p.m. last night, fully expected hobbled guard Carl Nicks to show up today. He didn’t; he has an excused absence to tend to a family issue. Nicks, as we all know by now, has a bum foot, specifically a bum toe, and has played sparingly since coming to the Bucs in 2012. [read more]

Lovie Smith explained how he turned negatives into positives this spring

Players not able to participate in practices, OTAs or minicamp? Fans just go absolutely bananas. “Cut him! He can’t hack it!” the fans scream.

Of course, Bucs coach Lovie Smith would want players to participate in all workouts and. Rather than dwelling on the negative if guys are sidelined, Lovie believes he can turn a negative into a positive, so he said this afternoon while addressing the local pen and mic club at One Buc Palace. [read more]

Tampa Bay has a pile of receivers on the training camp roster, 13 to be exact, make that 14 if you count the man who could be the best receiver on the roster.

But general manager Jason Licht only served up three names when asked a question about the competition for the No. 3 receiver position. [read more]

Lovie Smith says Carl Nicks is excused for personal reasons today, the start of Bucs training camp. Things come up in life, said the head coach. “It doesn’t concern me,” Lovie said.

This surely comes as a surprise. [read more]

It was right about dawn and Joe wasn’t sure if Gerald McCoy had just gotten out of bed or was being gangsta when he showed up at One Buc Palace in a stylish red robe. Somewhere, Joe Namath was jealous.

Bucs players made the long, tortured walk from their cars and white team-sponsored passenger vans to One Buc Palace, knowing what the end of the walk means. [read more]