Like most NFL fans, Gerald McCoy is frustrated that NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell has overseen the longest labor stoppage in league history and seemingly has done little to bring his employers to their senses and stop this asinine lockout.

As a result, GMC calls himself “unemployed.” But if one is to listen closely to what GMC has to say in this video, GMC likely wouldn’t be ready to go for OTAs as he is still rehabbing his injured arm.

In fact, GMC discusses with “Oklahoma Now” how his rehab is going. Shockingly, he said the longer the lockout lasts, the better it will be for his recovery. Hhhmmm?

Though Joe is confident the Bucs got players lists of approved medical facilities to use during the lockout, Joe can’t help but wonder if GMC would be at full-strength if he was using Bucs medical personnel.

In what Joe can only describe as a 90 second stream of consciousness that rocked Joe’s world on many levels, Raheem Morris touched on a multitude of Bucs topics — past and present — during an interview last week with Mike Pepper on WQYK-AM 1010.

Revealing his masochistic side, Joe has transcribed the audio. You can read it below. Raheem was asked to explain what it’s like interacting with fans now versus coming off a 3-13 season, and the head coach brought his A-game.

Mike Pepper: What’s the difference between this summer and last summer? Fans, instead of going, ‘Ehhh, Hey, Coach,’ they are like happy with you. Yes?

Raheem Morris:  Well, when you go back to the beginning, I gotta be honest, the Tampa Bay area is awesome. I know you guys probably get the tougher [questions] than I get on the street. Because if I get an upfront question that you may have to talk about on the radio, it’s easy for me to absolutely sit there and talk to you and detail myself and just kill you with knowledge. By the end of the day, you’re going to walk away and you might have had a negative or a derogatory comment and you’re going to leave and say, ‘Man, that guy’s a good guy.’ So that stuff’s easy for me. So that never really bothered me.

I remember reading things, like I told people I like to go to Publix and like to do things on my own. And they said, ‘You know, after you lose a couple of games you won’t want to do that.’ That’s not necessarily true. You gotta be able to face your critics.

What I do is not based on confidence. It’s a mentality before it’s ever reality. So we always go into it with the same mindset. You know, you’re kidding yourself if you think you’re gonna to lose guys like Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Garcia, Joey Galloway and all the great players, Ike Hilliard, all the players that walked outta here and that year that we had to let go and make moves and do changes and think you’re going to win a bunch of games. You’re trying to get better, and you’re trying to build something for the future. And you draft a quarterback. You want to do that, and that’s how it started when we went 3-13 that year. So going into the next year, in your next offseason, you’re knowing you’re coming back and you’re going to be better.

That’s why you can put things out there like the ‘Race to 10.’ You can put things out there like ‘We’re the Best in the NFC’ because you’re creating a confidence around your team.

So now that confidence is created amongst our team, amongst our fan base, amongst our sportswriters and reporters, now we can go out there and we can go get it. This year we want to win our division. This year we want to be our very best self like we’ve always wanted to be. And we want to go out there and get it. And that’s kinda the mentality.

Joe finds it interesting that Raheem all but admits here that the Bucs chances of winning in 2009 were a joke. 

Plus, Joe is surprised that Raheem talks about creating confidence “amongst our sportswriters and reporters” like it’s somehow important. How could that remotely matter?

Joe can attest to the fact that the media won’t win or lose one damn game for the Bucs in 2011, or in any other year. Rick Stroud may type and Twitter well but he’s not going to shed a block. Anwar Richardson might be a video star, but he can’t talk his way out of a pass rush. And the media won’t be influencing personnel decisions anytime soon.

Regardless, Joe likes Raheem’s mentality that the Bucs are ready to win now — now that they’ve put the building blocks and confidence in place. It’ll be interesting to see how the team reacts when the free-agency bell rings.

Joe can confirm that Bucs’ third-round pick Mason Foster is not a skirt-wearing ninny.

Speaking on the Ron and Ian Show today, on WDAE-AM 620, Foster said he watches NFL Network and referenced old school Bucs highlights he viewed recently. It’s safe to say Foster will not be an Outhouse Networks customer when he eventually settles in the Tampa Bay area.

Here are some highlights of Foster’s interview:

Regarding his 6 1/2 sacks last year, Foster said he had “half and half as a weakside D-end and other times making plays at linebacker running through gaps,” etc. He said he had a lot of fun putting his hand down and playing in the trenches.

Foster said he went to Herman Edwards’ football camps near his hometown from the time he was 8 years old into his high school years. Foster said he became a Bucs fan through his connection with Edwards and Edwards distributed Bucs gear to the kids.

Right now, Foster said he’s working on using his hands and dropping into coverage, and doing as many football-oriented things as possible trying to stay in “real football shape.”

Foster said he spent a lot of time with Da’Quan Bowers in the winter and talked about what a hard worker the Bucs’ second-round pick is.

On helping stop the often hemorrhaging Bucs run defense, Foster said he can help through film preparation, being physical and playing downhill. 

Joe can’t wait to see this guy, if/when NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell ends this senseless lockout.

Hey Rays fans in Tampa! Wake the heck up! Gas is nearly $4.00 a gallon. Parking is expensive. But help is here.

It’s the No Excuses Tour to Tropicana Field, which takes Rays fans via luxury bus from Lee Roy Selmon’s restaurants in New Tampa and South Tampa to ALL weekend Rays games. And you can bring your own food and beer, and travel in style courtesy of Paradise Worldwide Transportation.

It’s only $9.95 per person, and the chauffeured bus is sticking around for select postgame concerts.

Visit NoExcusesTour.com to get ALL the details and buy tickets. And while you’re there, don’t forget to watch the video.

Former Bucs guard and renowned Barrett Ruud basher Ian Beckles sees Ruud as a leprechaun sitting at the end of a giant lockout rainbow.

The longer the lockout lasts, and Beckles is convinced it will extend deep into August at least, the greater the chance Ruud gets a fat one-year deal from the Bucs, Beckles said today on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620.

Beckles is convinced that third-round pick Mason Foster or any young player relatively new to the Bucs defense could not be successful at middle linebacker without the benefit of a full offseason. Of course, Beckles expalined that Ruud’s performance on film likely would preclude him from getting a fat offfer elsewhere.

“The lockout is the best thing that’s ever happened to him,” Beckles said of Ruud. Without a true offseason, “you gotta do something in house and go with it.”

Beckles went on to explain that Ruud’s value is not in making the the defensive calls. Ronde Barber could handle that, Beckles said, but retaining Ruud in this lockout scenario would simply be valuable because he knows the defense.

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik has a lot of cash invested in Gerald McCoy, Brian Price and to a lesser degree Roy Miller.

With so much cash tied up in the three and the Bucs sack totals from its defensive line last season slightly better than embarrassing, it’s not a shock that Dominik loaded up on defensive ends partially in a way to help GMC, Price and Miller flush out their talents.

This has not been lost on GMC who told Jake Trotter of The Oklahoman that the Bucs needed to upgrade their defensive ends, and GMC is grateful.

You have to be excited about Tampa’s draft. Looks like you’re getting some help up front (the Buccaneers drafted defensive ends Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers with their first two picks).

“I loved that our GM and head coach trusted not just me, but the rest of the defense enough to go get two D-ends to help us up front. That means they knew there was a need there. They believe in us. They believe that if we get two more guys to help, we’ll be real good.”

Yes, Dominik may trust GMC, Price and Miller but the NFL is also a business. If GMC, Price and Miller never improve or develop, it’s not out of the question that Dominik may have to answer some pointed questions from Team Glazer as to Dominik’s investment with their money.

It’s a smart move by Dominik, both fiscally and football-wise. The fact that Miller terribly regressed last year and that GMC finally started to improve when he publicly stated he was going to quit listening to former defensive line coach Todd Wash is a significant reason why Wash is no longer under the employ of Team Glazer.

Now Joe knows there is a segment of Bucs fans that would fall to their knees and wail how rockstar general manager Mark Dominik has destroyed the Bucs defense for years to come if Dominik decides to jettison troubled Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib for his string of increasingly violent episodes and brushes with the law.

To believe these same fans is to believe that Talib is the second coming of Deion Sanders, one of the few cornerbacks in the history of the NFL who were game-changers.

But Khaled Elsayed of ProFootballFocus.com believes these same fans are grossly short-sighted. He did painstaking research on cornerbacks’ coverage abilities and has Talib ranked in the bottom tier of NFL cornerbacks.

In fact, in a graph titled “Catch Percentage per Coverage Snaps,” Elsayed has Talib rated as the 69th-best cornerback in the NFL. Per Elsayed’s research, Talib was thrown at 59 times and opposing quarterbacks completed 35 passes with Talib defending the targeted receiver.

That’s a stark contrast to Tramon Williams of Green Bay who Elsayed has ranked the top NFL cornerback in this category who gave up 56 completions while being thrown at 123 times.

Unlike Talib, Williams also has shown to be a solid defender in postseason play as well.

Now whether Dominik decides to keep Talib as the legal system works is way in Texas, Joe isn’t sure. But Joe is sure of the following, which he has written before:

Talib is not (yet) an elite cornerback; good, but not elite. Remember, the Bucs last season were 4-1 in games Talib missed due to either suspension or injury, and the one loss was an overtime defeat after which the NFL later apologized for butchering a call that would have resulted in a Bucs touchdown, and a win.

The asinine lockout fronted by NFL hatchetman Roger Goodell continues and this mind-numbing work stoppage has no end in sight.

And the longer it lasts the more it hurts Josh Freeman. That’s the word from Ron Jaworski, per eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

Seemingly better known as “Jaws” on BSPN’s Monday Night Football, Jaws speaks from both research and his own personal experience as an NFL quarterback. Jaws is convinced Freeman’s timing will be way off the longer the lockout drags on.

Singling out the Patriots (Tom Brady), Colts (Peyton Manning) and Saints (Drew Brees), Jaworski said the lockout isn’t likely to hurt clubs led by veteran quarterbacks as much as teams like the Bucs, who rely on 23-year-old Josh Freeman under center.

“A lot of Josh Freeman’s terrific development last year can be traced to the work he put in during the spring and summer before training camp opened,’’ Jaworski said. “Things are a lot different right now and I think you’ll see the effects on quarterback play when the 2011 season begins.’‘

Yeah, Joe knows that Freeman is holding periodic private workouts, but who is there? Who is participating? Joe was under the impression blocking icon Michael Clayton was with the Giants now? This is all very confusing.

Each day this lockout grows, Joe gets more and more irritated!

Rather than write to his pen pals in a renowned Russian women’s prison, today Joe is penning a note to Josh Freeman.

Dear Josh,

Joe hopes you’re having a fun offseason and continuing to train hard with blocking icon Michael Clayton. There may never have been a better practice player in Bucs history, so he’s probably a solid choice.

As the unquestioned leader of the Bucs, Joe wants to advise you to make your next workouts with skill position players open to media and fans — at least in part. Consider the prior week of workouts a test run. Now it’s time to play to the community.

Your Bucs aren’t your typical NFL team. They struggle to sell tickets, and they need all the buzz and loving local publicity they can get. You charging a couple of bucks to watch a practice, hiring a few security guards for the event and giving the proceeds to charity would be a great move on so many levels. Believe it or not, there are legions of people whose lives would be enriched by the chance to watch you throw a spiral to Sammie Stroughter. Not everyone’s world is as glamorous as yours.

The TV cameras would be all over it, and how could the world seeing players hungry to play be bad for your labor negotiations?

Frankly, Joe sees no reason to keep the workouts completely private. The Bucs don’t play the Patriots in 2011, so there’s not much to worry about there. And surely, you guys can handle signing autographs for the average Joes (no relation).

Do the right thing, Josh. Every Bucs fan knows you’re calling the shots.

Be your best self. —Joe

Bucs third-round pick Mason Foster may be a lot of things: He could be another Ray Lewis, per Raheem Morris. He could be Derrick Brooks and Shelton Quarles rolled into one, so claimed Herm Edwards.

But Joe is quite certain Foster is not leverage in the Bucs’ future free-agent negotiations with Barrett Ruud, as St. Pete Times writer Stephen Holder wrote today in a piece about Ruud. 

Ruud won’t even speculate on the chances of a return to Tampa Bay. The Bucs drafted Washington LB Mason Foster last month and have initial plans to use him as a middle linebacker, something that would give the team significant leverage in any potential negotiations with Ruud and makes his departure more likely.

Joe likes the Foster pick as much as the next guy, but nobody knows if he’s going to be any better than Tyron McKenzie, another third-round pick (Patriots, 2009) the Bucs seem to like, too. Either of those unproven guys is meaningless to the Ruud negotiations.

The only leverage the Bucs might have with Ruud is his perceived value on the open market. If the rest of the NFL is horrified by Ruud’s film, like many Bucs fans are, then the Bucs have leverage. If not, well, odds are Ruud is gone. Is Mark Dominik going to overpay for Ruud? Highly doubtful unless a new salary cap floor changes the game in a bizarre high-pressure, abbreviated free agency period.

Joe believes it’s Ruud who eventually will have strong leverage on the Bucs if the lockout extends deep into the summer. The odds of the Bucs wanting to start Foster at middle linebacker after an abbreviated training camp and preseason are pretty slim.  

Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is known for his football skills.

Who knew he was a drummer?

Seems as though GMC was a drummer in his high school band back in Oklahoma City. So he dropped in this week to drop cash on the band and played drums at a high school assembly with his former high school band.

Apparently, the gift and appearance by GMC at his old high school was a surprise, per Scott Wright of The Oklahoman.

In the video below, GMC talks about being a drummer and how both football and music got him out of his environment.

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.