Earlier this year when the Bucs honored the lone Super Bowl-winning team, Joe had a chance to talk to safety Dwight Smith, who very easily could have been Super Bowl MVP when he had two pick sixes, a 44-yard and a 50-yard interception return. Joe decided to hold the interview until today, Super Bowl Sunday, as well back as the greatest Bucs team of all time, 10 years removed. Though his NFL career is over, Smith still lives in the Tampa Bay area.

Dwight Smith: It’s been good. The coolest thing about it is getting to see guys who you haven’t seen in a long time. That is the coolest part.

JoeBucsFan: If the NFL wasn’t in such a hurry to crown an MVP, not to take away from [the good] Dexter Jackson, but you could have gotten some hardware. Two pick-sixes? That’s hard to overlook.

Smith: Well, the last interception came so late, I always tell people if my second interception came when Derrick’s came, well you know, who knows who would have held that trophy? But I was happy for Dexter all the same.

Joe: Earlier, Monte Kiffin had said that in the NFC Championship against the Eagles, when Ronde Barber had his pick-six to seal the game, his biggest problem was getting the defense calmed down to get back on the field because the Bucs had to kick off right away. What was that feeling like for you when Barber crossed the goal line and ended the game, sending you to the Super Bowl?

Smith: It is always tough when you score a defensive touchdown to get back in transition to play defense again. But when you had veteran leadership like we had, they made us snap back into focus. It was good.

Joe: Looking back, how special was that defense?

Smith: NFL Network has us ranked No. 8. So when you think of all the defenses that played in this league forever, and they have us ranked No. 8? I will take that.

Joe: The way your defense played in that Super Bowl, it was like a snowball rolling down the hill. When you look back on it, was the play in that defense in that game, against that offense the Raiders had something really special?

Smith: The thing was, we had a few dips. New Orleans beat us twice that year. But the veteran leadership kept us focused, we were steady as a rock and we came up with the phrase, “Pound the Rock.” And we pounded that rock.

Last night, Hall of Fame elected Warren Sapp appeared on SiriusXM NFL Radio to discuss his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame just minutes earlier.

Sapp, as one can imagine, was giddy, boasting how his daughter Mercedes would be his presenter in Canton this ,summer.

But then, Sapp grew reflective if not wistful. He admitted to co-hosts Howard Balzer (a voting member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame) and Gil Brandt, that he doubted whether he was going to be elected yesterday because of his often rude, hostile attitude towards reporters, and he wondered if his act would, in turn, bite him.

In sort of a regretful tone, Sapp explained his often incorrigible ways with many reporters.

“In 13 years in the locker room I never once shook a reporter’s hand,” Sapp said. “I figured you were going to get your information either way so I didn’t have to be your friend.

“Oh, I was ornery, no doubt about it.”

Also last night, Jamie Dukes of the NFL Network lashed out at Pro Football Hall of Fame voters claiming there was a grudge between Charles Haley and former NFL beat writers. In many respects Hailey was the precursor to Sapp where media relations were concerned, in some cases worse.

Joe has only one question for Dukes: If reporters truly hold a grudge, how did Sapp get in on his first trip to the plate?

Lavonte David had the second-most solo tackles in the NFL last season, and the most by a rookie. Plus, he made his team’s defensive calls from Day 1, and he was among the best in the NFL at tackles for a loss while being a force on the league’s No. 1 run defense.

David also managed a couple of sacks and a pick and played on all three downs.

So Joe was stunned to see David squeak into fifth place in the Defensive Rookie of the Year voting unveiled last night. Deserving Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly won the award. However, David finished behind Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner, Packers cornerback Casey Hayward and Rams cornerback Janoris Jenkins, respectively.

For Joe, it was a travesty that the Associated Press team of writer voters gave Wagner 11 votes to David’s two.

Unlike David, Wagner did not make his team’s defensive calls all season, and he was off the field in passing situations for a chunk of the year. And Wagner didn’t have David’s solo tackle numbers. Wagner was a stud rookie, but it’s nothing more than ignorance that would have led a writer to vote for Wagner over David.

Joe suspects the horrendous Bucs’ pass defense numbers, combined with Seattle being a winning team, led to David losing the perception game among national writers who hardly studying rookies intricately. Regardless, that doesn’t take away from David getting disrespected.

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Immediately following being elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame tonight, Warren Sapp sat down with his 2013 class to react on NFL Network.

Here’s the video:

Sapp gave specific love to Ronde Barber, Dwight Smith (who would have pegged Smith?), Derrick Brooks and John Lynch. And Sapp was very humble for the most part. But he did relay a story about how Marshall Faulk told him the Hall of Fame is heaven, so Sapp asked rhetorically tonight, “Where my wings at? Let me fly!”

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“I didn’t even need no free sack.”

Big No. 99 beat out Michael Strahan, Charles Haley and other big names to become a first-ballot Hall of Famer this evening.

Below are the modern-era selections for 2013:

Larry Allen
Cris Carter
Jonathan Ogden
Bill Parcells
Warren Sapp

This is the ultimate honor and a tribute not only to Warren Sapp, but to the dominant Bucs defense of the Tampa Bay glory years.

Joe knows Sapp deserves the honor, but Joe was a bit worried about how Sapp’s time in Oakland would have affected his evaluation by Hall voters. Some look at accomplishments; some are more dialed in on body of work, and Sapp’s time in Oakland wasn’t pretty on various levels.

Derrick Brooks and Tony Dungy are first-time eligible Hall of Fame candidates next year, and John Lynch, semifinalist this year, will be back under consideration.

Now it will be interesting to see who Sapp chooses to present him at Hall of Fame ceremonies in Canton this summer. Joe bets Father Dungy will get the call.

During Media Day, Joe talked to former South Florida coach and St. Petersburg native Jim Leavitt, who is now the 49ers linebackers coach. Joe can’t think of a better linebackers unit in the NFL than what Leavitt has to work with. Joe had crossed paths several times with Leavitt before when he coached USF, and Joe couldn’t believe how relaxed Leavitt seemed at Media Day. Leavitt talked about his linebackers, any possible promotions in the NFL that may comes his way, how he got the job in San Francisco after leaving USF under a dark cloud, and about his old Big East nemesis, Greg Schiano. Now, Leavitt is one win (tomorrow) away from wearing a Super Bowl ring the rest of his life.

JoeBucsFan: When you have linebackers like you do from Patrick Willis to NaVorro Bowman to Ahmad Brooks, it sort of makes your job a little easier, doesn’t it?

Jim Leavitt: Well, you know, these guys are blessed with talent. The thing that impresses me about them is not only are they talented, they are very humble and grounded and are a sponge at wanting to get better all the time. And they want to be great.

Joe: Patrick Willis always talks about how he is driven to be one of the game’s greats and Bowman is a Penn State guy, yeah, Linebacker U, but Joe Paterno groomed those guys to be humble.

Leavitt: They are very special that way. They are very, very close; they are just great, great guys.

Joe: Your players notwithstanding, you’ve had a lot of success with your unit since you took over when Jim Harbaugh hired you. Usually when a position coach has this much success, your unit may be the best in the NFL and now your team is in the Super Bowl, defensive coordinator jobs start opening up. Is that your next step? Have any teams inquired about hiring you as a defensive coordinator?

Leavitt: My thoughts are not anything like that. My thoughts are more – and I really mean this – my thoughts are not anything more than trying to play as good as we can in this game and try to win a Super Bowl and that is it. That is my total focus.

Joe: How much of a rush is this, to be on this stage, the biggest in all of football?

Leavitt: It is exciting. I have never been in this kind of venue [Super Bowl] and a lot of people don’t ever have a chance to coach in a Super Bowl game so the opportunity is really special.

Joe: Did you have a relationship with Jim Harbaugh previously?

Leavitt: I knew Jack [Harbaugh], he was the head coach of Western Kentucky when we played them four times so I knew him pretty well. I met Jim through some head coaches functions and got to know him there. He offered me the opportunity to coach with the 49ers and I had never been in the NFL. I really knew the 49ers were a special organization and knew [former 49ers owner and brother of current owner Denise York] Eddie DeBartolo from Tampa and I always followed the Niners, I really had, which is kind of ironic. So when [Harbaugh] afforded me the opportunity, I jumped at it.

Joe: Greg Schiano, obviously you know him well…

Leavitt: Oh, yeah.

Joe: … does it surprise you at all what he has done so far, pretty well coming from college and what seems like a turnaround with the Bucs and how well the Bucs rush defense played?

Leavitt: No, I think he is a good coach, a tremendous coach. He is organized and did a great job [at Rutgers] and will have great success with the Bucs, I really do.

Joe: When you went up against Schiano, what were some of the traits that his teams had that made playing Rutgers troublesome?

Leavitt: Just well-coached, organized, they played with great confidence and that came from him. Those are the main things.

“Hey, Monte, I just heard some of our freakin’ players think Schiano prepares harder than me. Jimminy Christmas! Whaddya think of that?”

The stories surrounding Jon Gruden’s coaching work ethic are stunning. The man set his alarm clock daily for 3:17 a.m. and didn’t stop grinding himself and his staff and team to prepare for games.

Davin Joseph played three seasons for Chucky, and Joe even remembers Joseph once saying it took him a full year to comprehend all aspects of Chucky’s famous bible-sized playbook.

So it really caught Joe’s ear to hear Joseph say Greg Schiano is the hardest working coach he’s ever experienced. Joseph spit out his take to “Booger and Rich” on 98.7 FM.

“His work ethic is like no other. He’s a grinder, man,” Joseph said. “He’s the kind of guy you want on your side. He’s the guy that works day in and day out and he loves what he does. We had a lot of guys on our team that aren’t a part of our team now that aren’t really in love with football like Coach Schiano is.”

Co-host Booger McFarland then joked that Schiano might love football “too much” and said something that might have been time off under “Gru,” aka Jon Gruden, isn’t time off anymore. Joseph, with Donald Penn alongside him, laughed and agreed that Schiano might be overboard but his attitude combined with the work ethic of the current roster is what will put the team over the top.

Joe envisions Greg Schiano pacing his backyard salivating at the thought of running the football behind Donald Penn, Carl Nicks, Jeremy Zuttah, Davin Joseph and whatever upgrades the Bucs make at right tackle, and at blocking tight end.

Bucs fans shouldn’t soon forget that Schiano couldn’t stop repeating last offseason about how much he wanted to “run the football,” a phrase he would tell anyone who would listen.

But that plan got derailed early by the losses of bookend guard manbeasts Joseph and Nicks, yet the Bucs still were able to unleash Doug Martin and his stunning, 1,454-yard rookie season on the NFL. Can Martin pump out 2,000 yards in 2013?

Speaking to “Booger and Rich” on 98.7 FM yesterday, Joseph delivered great news for Bucs fans. Joseph said he’s “99.9 percent healthy” from his knee blowout in the 2012 preseason.

“I want to block for that guy Doug. He’s very special, man,” Joseph said.

“[The offensive line] is going to start a little early. We’re cheating. We’re cheating. We’re starting early. It is going to be something that is going to be contagious for our team. We’re going to try to get just about everybody back in the building early. And we’re going to work, and we’re going to put in this year and really get it rollin’ because it’s Tampa’s time. I believe that with 100 percent in my heart; it is Tampa’s time to really play well. We don’t have that team effort yet.”

Joseph went on to explain the Bucs have loads of talent but the team must come together not just as individuals or position groups. “This offseason we need to become a team,” Joseph said.

Bonding and work-ethic talk aside, Joe’s just giddy to hear Joseph is healthy. Joe would love to see the Bucs have an unstoppable, consistent running game. It would improve the entire team.

OK folks, this could be the day of days for former Bucs great Warren Sapp.

It is today that the Cusitodian of Canton, eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, presents Sapp, in his first year of eligibility, to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Sapp, one of 15 finalists, must beat out at least10 other finalists in order to have his bust cemented into the great of greats.

The electors cannot elect more than five “current day” candidates, which include coaches and contributors, who are eligible. Joe actually likes this. This ensures the Pro Football Hall of Fame is the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of the Pretty Good or the Hall of the Most Popular, which in some ways baseball has turned into.

(For example, Joe once got into a row on Twitter with a Hall of Fame elector who thought it was a crime against humanity that Don Coryell was not in the Hall of Fame. He never won a championship game for crying out loud!!! What next, Jerry Glanville for the Hall of Fame? Shoot, Joe loved George Allen but didn’t think he was worthy of the Hall of Fame. Same with Marv Levy.)

Joe is pleased that players who pass muster must endure a difficult path to be among the game’s elite. So, let’s say Sapp is not elected today/tonight. For a fan to grumble fairly, one must also state who shouldn’t have been elected if Sapp was robbed. Again, the cap on inductees per season is five. Joe applauds this restriction.

This week, while in New Orleans, by chance Joe got to sit and BS with a very, very, very NFL heavy hitter for about 45 minutes who is deeply involved with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Joe won’t mention his name because the conversation was not for publication, but Joe was told by said person that two years ago when Kaufman was chosen as the presenter for Ed Sabol to be elected as a contributor — the ultimate of difficult elections — Kaufman absolutely nailed his presentation of Sabol out of the park and moved many in the room. Joe was told that if not for Kaufman, it is likely Sabol would still be on the outside looking in. That’s impressive.

So, based on that information, Sapp’s fate is in good hands.

Joe knows for a fact Kaufman has taken this task, his first presentation of a Bucs player since he became a Hall of Fame elector representing the Tampa Bay franchise, very, very seriously. Joe saw with his own eyes how Kaufman spoke to other voters seeking input into how to form a winning presentation, voters from Peter King down to those who represented visiting teams at the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.

The election process is rigorous, last year taking over seven hours. So we shall all know by late this afternoon, or very early this evening, if Sapp will have his bronze bust in Canton this summer, or if he will have to wait a while for that honor.

Remember, Sapp has to beat out (at least) 10 other finalists. It won’t be easy.

Joe interviewed all sorts of movers and shakers in the NFL and national media during Media Day this week and one of the highlights was speaking with Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Cowher. The former Steelers coach discussed with Joe how defense — like what Greg Schiano is trying to build — is still in vogue in the NFL, and quarterback Josh Freeman’s struggles.

JoeBucsFan: Obviously Baltimore has a good defense. San Francisco has a punishing defense. Your old Steelers still have a good defense. Denver has a good defense. Greg Schiano is starting to build that kind of defense with his suffocating rush defense. Is there a renaissance in the NFL with teams turning to defense despite the Star Wars type offenses and gun-slinging quarterbacks that dot the league? If you don’t have a defense, you will be sitting on the couch in January?

Bill Cowher: (smiles) Well, I just think it is so ironic, like you said, we live in this world of wide open offense but the two teams that play here kind of got here by defense and a running game. So, the game is still played, you still have to have a degree of toughness. The one thing a good defense does is, they thrive on limiting the offense’s ability to run the ball. That is the one thing if you don’t have a running game, and I really believe when Jim Caldwell got the job [as Ravens offensive coordinator] to get Ray Rice more involved. The running game keeps the defense off the field. They run in synch.

Joe: You groomed Ben Roethlisberger as a young player as a rookie for his first few years in the NFL. Down in Tampa, Josh Freeman, at times he looks like Roethlisberger, a lot of people compare him to Roethlisberger with the size and the arm, at times he looks like John Elway, at times he looks like Bobby Douglass, he is having his struggles. And as soon as the season is over, Schiano says, well, we have to have competition. What is going on with that guy? Is he ever going to be that elite quarterback the Bucs had hoped and what he flashes at times he can be? What do you see?

Cowher: He has gone through a number of coordinators. I think that they finally have some good weapons around him this year. At times, he was playing this year at a very, very high level. You know, defensively, they had trouble stopping some teams. He has flashed at times. I think the consistency is something that is lacking in him but give him some consistency with the offence. Let him stay with the same system a couple of years in a row before we judge him too quickly because it is really hard to be consistent when you are changing the system every year. That’s the thing that we have to remember. He has a lot of abilities that you are looking for in a quarterback.

Joe: Whitey Herzog used to have a famous theory in baseball that he would tell his scouts to sign or draft pitchers who could throw 95-100 mph because, “You can teach control but you cannot teach a guy to throw 95.” Can that baseball axiom be translated to football? Can you teach a quarterback accuracy?

Cowher: I don’t think it can be taught. You can become a more accurate thrower sometimes by running an offense that allows you to be a more accurate thrower. [Freeman] has to work on technique too. I have seen the guy enough that I think he is an accurate thrower. Again, he struggles at times being inconsistent. But he has a lot of positive skills that I like. If he works at it, I think he can change.

The man who personifies a virtual hanger-on (still) riding the coattails of being associated with a two-time Super Bowl-winning coach, the corpse of Dave Wannstedt has risen again, this time with the Bucs.

Per Adam Schefter of BSPN, the Bucs have hired Dave Wannstedt as special teams coach.

@AdamSchefter: Former Bills defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt has been hired as the Tampa Bay Buccannees special teams coordinator.

Joe isn’t sure what to make of this hire. Wannstedt wasn’t an awful defensive coordinator, but he was simply over his head whether it be in the NFL or in college as a head coach. Greg Schiano was on his Bears staff (1996-1998).

Joe will stay open-minded and call this hire of Wannstedt as a special teams coach as, well, bold if not different.

Bucs fans would like to think the team has one of the biggest followings in the NFL. Shoot, even Joe would like to think so.

But alas, not only are the Bucs not the NFL’s most popular team, they aren’t remotely close. In fact, the Bucs are closer to the bottom of the NFL in popularity than the top.

The eggheads at something called the “Harvard College Sports Analysis Collective” got out their calculators and spreadsheets and determined, using various collections of data, the Bucs are No. 28.

Dallass, of course, is No. 1, relayed by Deadspin.

For an NFL franchise to truly be “America’s Team,” as the Cowboys have claimed to be for 35 years, they would need to be beloved across the nation, by more people in more places than any other team. But the Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl in 17 years. They’ve struggled through mediocrity for a decade. Is the nickname accurate, out of date, or is it just an ingenious marketing ploy that has convinced pundits to repeat ad nauseam?

Ten years ago the best way to get a sense of a team’s fanbase might have been to do an assessment of TV ratings for each team. These ratings were (and still are) not released in detail for public consumption. Today we have a better method for determining how many fans like each team. Specifically, finding out how many fans “like” each team.

Rounding out the top five are the Steelers (no shock), the Patriots (bit of a surprise), the Packers (no shock) and the Saints.

The Saints?

Joe can’t figure that out, unless it takes a future Hall of Fame quarterback to play for a team, or maybe a team wins a Super Bowl just after a natural calamity nearly wipes a city off the map.

One giant question of the Bucs’ offseason — and one that is sure to be decided this month — is whether Ronde Barber will return.

And who better to ask than Barber’s twin brother Tiki. The two are close and Tiki opened up on the subject to “Booger and Rich” on 98.7 FM yesterday.

Tiki explained that Ronde’s dedication to his body and luck avoiding injuries, aren’t the only factors in his football longevity.

“Coupled with a coach in Raheem Morris those last couple of years that was very friendly to him. He didn’t have hard training camps. He got to do what he needed to do, but he was still playing at a high level,” Tiki Barber said. “And then the move to safety with Schiano. It’s a different position playing safety and it’s a new challenge for him. And I think that challenge, that conversion to safety, was something he took real seriously. He had a pretty good year this year. And you know, he’s going to have to make that decision again. Do they want him? And does he want to keep doing it?”

Tiki went on to say that Ronde may not return. And, in what is troubling to Joe, it seems Ronde might be getting pushed in the retirement direction.

“I’ve been telling him for three years he needs to be done,” Tiki said.

If Joe had to wager, Joe would say Barber will return for the 2013 season. Schiano already had talked about wanting Barber on his footbal team, and Joe’s going by Barber’s track record. Plus, the Bucs have been off the field for more than a month and there’s still no announcement. Joe finds it hard to believe Barber, who left the season healthy, is still making up his mind.

Joe has an amusing yet confused interest in the love affair Bucs fans have with some cornerbacks.

Last year, the obsession with the stiff known as Stanford Routt (pfffttt!) bordered on the lunatic fringe. Despite getting cut from the worst team in the NFL, Bucs fans hounded Joe daily about the Bucs signing Routt, even though he was walking the sidewalks for weeks before someone felt sorry for him and gave him a job.

At one point, Bucs fans were so out of control over the Bucs not signing Routt, Joe was convinced Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik would have been seal-clubbed if caught jogging in south Tampa.

Well, Routt has company, sort of. Bucs fans have had a long, yet far less senile crush on Cowboys defensive back Michael Jenkins. And with the Bucs having cash to throw around and the market for cornerbacks both in the draft and in free agency somewhat scant, the drumbeat of Jenkins is slowly growing louder.

Take this Bucs TBO Q&A for example:

Q. I have a hunch that Tampa is gonna make a move for Mike Jenkins before or during the draft. Dallas doesn’t want or need him and he is a young talented player that probably wouldn’t yield a heavy draft pick. This move would also allow the Bucs not to reach for corner in first round so we could address pass rush or something there and corner in second. What are your thoughts?

– Mike, Fitchburg, Mass.

A. I guess anything is possible.

– Woody Cummings

Joe cannot find the video on YouTube.com any longer, but Jenkins once actually gave up on a clear tackle that could have saved a touchdown; A PeeWee kid would have been benched for that stunt, much less an NFL player.

When Bucs coach Greg Schiano was first hired, he went spoke to popular sports radio personality Adam Schein and former Super Bowl quarterback Rich Gannon, co-hosts of “The Blitz,” heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, and tore apart unnamed Bucs cornerbacks for giving up on tackles (it had to have been Aqib Talib?) and flatly said that type of nonense was “not going to be acceptable” on his team. In OTAs and training camp, Schiano put the Bucs defenders through rigorous tackling drills.

 There is a reason Jerry Jones went out and signed a cornerback and drafted a cornerback last spring. There is also a reason why Cowboys fans loathe Jenkins.

In short, USF product Jenkins is not a Buccaneer Man. No, the Bucs can do better than Jenkins.

Yet Joe knows this strange love affair between Bucs fans and Jenkins won’t subside any time soon.

Taking a break from working feverishly to fine tune his Warren Sapp pitch to Hall of Fame voters on Saturday, eye-RAH Kaufman, Tampa Tribune NFL writer, sat down for his annual fireside chat with Steve Duemig this evening on WDAE-AM 620.

As always, this was must-listen radio. Kaufman dove into all things Hall of Fame, Bucs and NFL.

Kaufman, known as the “Custodian of Canton” among some in the national media, is charged with making the case for Sapp to Hall voters. Sapp, in his first-year of eligibility, is a finalist in a very tough field.

Enjoy.