BSPN and other outfits today are trumpeting the latest English tabloid chatter that Team Glazer is about to sell its English kickball team to a group of sheikhs from the oil-soaked country of Qatar.

It’s not a new rumor. Joe usually blows off the rumblings, but occasionally shares when they reach a fever pitch.

The Daily Express generated the story, “Arabs Close In On Manchester United,” relying on unnamed, inside sources. At least the story has a name on it, penned by sports editor Bill Bradshaw.

The Daily Express understands that United’s owners, the Glazer family, are “only haggling over details” with a deal to sell the club to Qatar Holdings virtually done at £1.6 billion.

If that deal is sealed, then Malcolm Glazer and his sons will have doubled their money in six years since they paid £790 million for the club in the summer of 2005.

Now Joe knows this English taboid buzz is hardly reliable, but they do break their share of stories, especially in the world of English soccer. The story includes a Manchester United mouthpiece denying there was ever an offer and claims Team Glazer has no interest in selling.

As a Bucs fan, Joe hopes Team Glazer ditches the kickball team. Joe sees no upside for the Bucs in having Team Glazer engaging in high-stakes shenanigans over in England.

Could two defensive line coaches help defensive end Kyle Moore develop into a vicious pass rusher?

The fact the Bucs hired two defensive line coaches raised a few eyebrows locally.

Even noted former Bucs defensive end Steve White was a little more than curious about the move.

No need to fret, so says Bucs coach Raheem Morris. Two coaches on the defensive line are better than one, so he tells Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times.

“If you walked into a defensive backs room when if was me and Tomlin, you wouldn’t know who the assistant was based on who might be running the meeting,’’ Morris said Thursday. “I did the same thing with Jimmy Lake. It’s worked so well in the past I thought I’d get two defensive line coaches and give them pet projects.’’

The other reason for the renewed emphasis is that the Bucs have a heavy investment in their defensive line with Gerald McCoy, the third overall pick in the 2010 draft, and defensive tackle Brian Price, a second rounder from UCLA who went on injured reserve after six games last season. Defensive tackle Roy Miller was a third round pick from Texas and defensive end Kyle Moore was a fourth-rounder from USC in 2009.

“We’ve got so much invested in that defensive line room in terms of money and draft picks, we needed to make that investment in coaches for those guys,’’ Morris said. “I was looking for young, energetic coaches to crank that room up.’’

Well. Judging by that quote, Joe is led to believe maybe Todd Wash was too lackadaisical, but Joe doesn’t want to ascribe any motives.

Hey, if Keith Millard and Grady Stretz can work together and the Bucs’ defensive line begins to transform into a force, all the better, correct?

The concept sounds terrific. Soon we will all learn if the idea actually works in practice.

Pretty good for a Josh Freeman video here. FOX Sports cougar Laura Okmin sat down with Freeman at the Super Bowl and asks him all kinds of stuff. (Hat tip to Pewter Plank)

Roy Miller and the rest of the young Bucs defensive line needs both stability and mentoring

Joe has never, ever called out a commenter in a post before, but combined with Joe hammered by an ugly bout of the flu and catching up with tasks at his real job Thursday, thus not being around a computer for much of the day, and the fact being said commenter enjoys stirring the pot and getting Bucs fans generally angry, Joe thought, “What the heck?”

Now Joe loves his commenters and readers and cherishes their loyalty, so Joe doesn’t think this will chase off commenter Thomas because he seems to enjoy the attention. Well, for Joe to call out a commenter in a post, the comment truly has to be thoroughly asinine.

Seems, as normal, the Bucs coaching staff and management has screwed up again, so Thomas claims. To be blunt, the only thing Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik and Bucs coach Raheem Morris could ever do right in Thomas’ eyes would be to resign, posthaste, and hand the team back over Bruce Almighty and Chucky so they can sign the likes of Charlie Garner, Tim Brown and other has-beens, draft studs like the bad Dexter Jackson in the second round and chase Brett Favre like a desperate divorce lawyer (or Brad Childress), all while racking up as many playoff wins as both you and Joe since the glorious Super Bowl victory over the Raiders.

Thomas was outraged yesterday (as usual) when he questioned the nerve of Morris to hire a defensive line coach — Keith Millard — despite the fact the hiring came with not just the blessing, but the urging of former Bucs great Warren Sapp.

Why of course Thomas knows more about defensive line play than Sapp.

Thomas’ was unnerved by the fact Millard has no pressing desire to be a head coach, that he just enjoys schooling up defensive lineman. The gall!

In Thomas’ own words, if a man doesn’t want to be a head coach, he is a useless man.

The reason why Millard was so coveted by the Bucs is that he wants to stay. The last thing the Bucs wanted to do was hire a jobhopper who would leave at the drop of a hat.

One of the main reasons why quarterbacks Alex Smith and Jason Campbell have struggled if not failed as NFL quarterbacks is that each quarterback had a different offensive coordinator/quarterback coach in each of their first four years. Rams hierarchy is concerned that both Sam Bradford’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach bolting St. Louis will stunt his grown, if not ruin the man. There’s way too much cash invested in quarterbacks to screw with their heads like this.

The same goes for other positions as well. As Raheem pointed out yesterday — something Joe pointed out months ago by the way — the Bucs have so much cash invested in the defensive line that if the front four did not improve rapidly, soon, well, let’s just say Dominik would likely have to answer  very tough and pointed questions from Team Glazer about why their millions were not being put to better use.

So of course the Bucs want stability, any coaching staff does, is there actually a coaching staff in America that wants a revolving door at their offices? This is so mindnumbing bizarre Joe was nearly left speechless.

To suggest otherwise is beyond absurd and, frankly, suggests to Joe said commenter Thomas knows little more about football than being able to pick out the difference between a field goal post and a down marker.

Well Thomas, if it’s attention you are starved for, well, let Joe admit you succeeded.

Carry on.

Esteemed Tampa Tribune Bucs beat writer Woody Cummings has penned an excellent look at the Bucs decision to hire two defensive line coaches and how they will fit into the system.

Cummings cornered Raheem Morris to get great stuff for this excellent read.

Off the D-line coach topic a bit was a comment from Raheem that really stopped Joe in his tracks.

“The way I see it, we have so much money and so many draft picks invested in our defensive line that it’s a great idea to have two guys coaching those players,” Morris said of his decision this week to hire Keith Millard and Grady Stretz as co-defensive line coaches.

Very odd to Joe that Raheem would bring money into the equation when speaking of hiring coaches. What the heck does money have to do with building a winner? And why is cash even a topic of consideration for a coach?

Joel Glazer himself last year said “Money will never be an issue,” when it comes to building the Bucs into a lasting contender. Was Raheem listening to the big boss?

This is the same staff that left Josh Freeman without a dedicated QB coach for nearly the entire 2009 campaign, when Greg Olson was admittedly too busy to be his best self on that job after getting tossed into the offensive coordinator gig in September. And surely Freeman’s rookie year at the position was as important as the 2011 D-line.

Raheem’s comment was just strange to Joe, who thinks way too much about such matters.

Here at the JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters, there a handful of subjects that routinely result in fisticuffs and thrown beer bottles.

Outside of the Carmella Garcia-Rachel Watson debate, the issue of the NBA usually draws blood. One “Joe” thinks the “non-basketball Association” is a heinous butchering of basketball further soiled by blaring sound effects and endless superstar pimping, and the other “Joe” enjoys the league and believes the quality of play has improved immensely since the zone defense returned in 2001.

That all written, this post is about the NBA and the 1976 Bucs.

Last night the Cleveland Cavaliers dropped their 26th consecutive game, which the Associated Press and NBA.TV reports ties the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ mark for the longest losing streak in U.S. professional sports history. So if the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Friday, then John McKay’s ’76 and ’77 teams are off the hook forever.

Joe would love to see those lovable losers shed some of the stigma.

Will this cause Bucs fans to head out in droves to Honey’s or Mugs Grill & Bar to guzzle beer and great food on Friday to watch the Cavs-Clippers game? There’s probably a bigger chance that the Bucs will become big players in free agency this year.

The only thing nearly as exciting as Joe’s dailyNFL  draft coverage starting Monday here is the approach of baseball season.

Joe’s a huge fan, as evident by the must-read JoeRaysFan.com. All kinds of cool stuff over there, including today’s revelation that Matt Joyce is likely to play more of Joe Maddon’s platoon games.

Not sure how many people caught the video below, a really neat video produced by the NFL, what has some of the iconic figures of TV history in various NFL team gear. Ned Flanders is a Bucs fan and his wife seems fond of Ronde Barber.

Joe Twittered this when the video was first broadcast: There’s a major mistake in the video. See if anyone can figure it out.

Though his main, high-profile gig is analyst for NFL Network (don’t have the NFL Network? Might want to check your pants), Warren Sapp still works behind the scenes for the Bucs as sort of a consultant.

He worked with Gerald McCoy in the offseason to get him prepared for the NFL and now Sapp is sort of an advisor of sorts on picking assistant coaches.

Good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times brings word that Sapp worked behind the scenes to get newly hired defensive line coach Keith Millard hired.

Millard also coached Sapp at Oakland.

“They put me on the phone with Dominik and I told him to hire this man,” Sapp said. “You’ll never have a problem with him. He’s not looking to become a head coach. He’s nothing but a workaholic. You think he doesn’t know the Cover 2 (defense) or the three technique? He is the original. It’s always been him, John Randle and me. I was with the man. I know a hard worker. I worked for (Rod) Marinelli.”

Sapp played under Millard at the end of his career when Millard was an assistant with the Raiders. Sapp credits the coach for much of his late-career success.

“I told Raheem, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but if you’ve got a defensive line position open and want somebody to work with a young guy like Gerald McCoy, Millard is the guy,” Sapp said. “I’ve done everything I can, but I don’t have the time to really teach the kid. This man I played under, and he gave me 10 sacks with the Raiders as a 32-year-old. This is the man you got to hire.”

This is beyond cool to read.

Yeah, Joe knows Sapp can be an ogre when he wants and Joe has had a run-in with him too, only to have Sapp walk away from Joe laughing at Joe’s response to the confrontation.

But it’s way cool that Sapp still thinks about the Bucs so much he worked out with GMC and advises Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik on who to hire as an assistant coach.

"Oh, Joe. I love when you share quotes."

It’s only February, but the groundswell of national hype of the Bucs is in full swing.

Now the league’s online mouthpiece, NFL.com, is in the act, putting Josh Freeman on its home page with a column from Steve Wyche that includes mention of the Bucs as the best thing since thong underwear.

The key to making it to the postseason is your quarterback and playmakers, and the Bucs are covered in both areas. Josh Freeman is a rising star, who, like Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and New Orleans’ Drew Brees, has his entire team believing in him. Wide receivers Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn, along with tight end Kellen Winslow, form a tight nucleus. On defense, Cornerback Aqib Talib could be one of the best in the game if he decides he wants to be. If the Bucs can find some pass rushers and have tailback LeGarrette Blount stay focused and improve, they could end up being the best team in the NFL. Yeah, I said it.

Joe loves all this stuff. Mike Williams guaranteed the playoffs. NFL.com is floating the Bucs as a possible favorite in the NFC. Peter King, while not slurping oatmeal or shoveling popcorn, is blabbering about the Bucs playing in prime time on opening night on the second Thursday in September.

Joe hopes Mark Dominik brings the same energy to free agency.

Someone explain to Joe why re-signing your own free agents is righteous and holy, yet signing others’ is somehow satanic and misguided.

There are few people locally Joe pays more attention to, or whose football knowledge he respects more, than former Bucs defensive end Steve White.

Last night after pouring over the news, resume and backgrounds of new Bucs assistant defensive line coaches Keith Millard and Grady Stetz, White took to Twitter to explain why he’s on board with the new hires.

@swg94 After thinking it over I really like the Millard and Stretz hires by the #Bucs. I’m hoping however that they don’t literally try to split up… Run defense and pass rush responsibilities. There isn’t a way I can think of where that will work in practice. However if they are both… Coaching up all aspects with Millard really focusing on the inside guys I think the Bucs will have great success up front.

And there you have it. What better source locally do you need to know that it appears Bucs rock star general manager made yet another solid move.

And to think there are still some people who pine for Bruce Almighty and Chucky?

When former Bucs great and future Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp talks football, Joe listens.

Often on the NFL Network — available on televisions across the land owned by real men — Sapp waxes poetic on his former line coach with the Bucs. That’s current Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.

So last night after Joe learned of the hiring of new defensive line coach Keith Millard, Joe was doing some research and, while tooling around Millard’s website, Joe came across a testimony from Sapp on the virtues of Millard, who coached Sapp in Sapp’s final NFL days in Oakland.

“Keith Millard is one of only two coaches (Rod Marinelli- Bears) who has the knowledge and skill, plus the temperament to coach, teach and prepare the defensive lineman of today’s NFL landscape. Those looking for a teacher as well as a fellow hunter to attack offenses, just take a look and I guarantee you will love what you see. It was a pleasure to work with Keith for three years.”

That’s high praise coming from one of the game’s best. Joe has yet to find or come across anyone who played for Marinelli that doesn’t rave about the man. If Millard is in the same class, that’s very good news for the Bucs.

Could it be that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik hit yet another home run? Dude is encroaching Albert Pujols territory if he keeps this up.

Now Joe is neither a celebrity stalker nor a member of anyone’s posse, nor does Joe play TMZ with his phone camera or post his private conversations with local sports figures here. But that doesn’t mean Joe won’t go out of his way to chat with beloved local sports icons out in public.

While enjoying an evening last night in the Paradise Worldwide Transportation luxury suite at the Ice Palace, Joe was sucking down adult beverages when he learned that Rays skipper Joe Maddon and Raheem Morris were in a suite a five doors down.Visible to the crowd, Raheem appeared into the Lightning game, especially Steve Downie dishing out a brutal takedown and the subsequent fight in the third period.

About 15 minutes later, Joe was invited into the suite to chat with Raheem.

Unfortunately, the dialogue between the head coach and Joe was off the record, and Joe’s not going to violate that. However, Joe can report that Raheem did not watch JoeBucsFan TV yesterday. (What was he thinking?) And Joe did tell the head coach that Joe would continue to “be his best self” and hold Raheem to high standards of excellence.

Joe continues to be fascinated by the relationship between Raheem and Maddon. Raheem has talked about their friendship publicly and revealed Maddon’s mentor-like role, which led to the “Race to 10” slogan going public before the 2010 season.

Last night was Maddon’s birthday, and he spent it with Raheem.

Not since Joe once delivered a pizza to a poker game featuring Bill Parcells, Lou Piniella, Lawrence Taylor and Gene “Stick” Michael, has Joe heard of such a close relationship between active football and baseball men at the top of their fields.

Joe thinks it’s great. But if Josh Freeman’s throws are limited in preseason, we’ll know who’s behind it.

In case you missed it …A work in progress to be sure, JoeBucsFan TV is out of the gate!

All Joe can promise you is that every episode will be different, and that Joe is hard at work interviewing scantily clad women for your viewing pleasure.

In this take, Joe talks about Internet maggots, Josh Freeman and Josh Johnson with former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson.

As many of you may know by now — Joe was in meetings and away from a computer with other work and Joe-related duties — the Bucs hired a pair of defensive line coaches.

First is Keith Millard, a former first round pick of the Minnesota Vikings who the past seven years has been a defensive line coach for the Broncos and Raiders. When with the Raiders, he was Warren Sapp’s position coach.

Here is a snippet of his bio courtesy of the Bucs:

While with the Raiders, Millard helped Derrick Burgess to two Pro Bowls, including his 2005 season in which he led the NFL in sacks with 16. In 2007, Millard coached two defensive linemen who ranked among the AFC’s top-10 in sacks (Burgess and Chris Clemons). Millard also helped the Raiders rank third in the NFL in total defense and first against the pass in 2006 while coaching Warren Sapp, who led all defensive tackles in sacks with 10.

As a member of the Broncos coaching staff, he helped the team to two top-five finishes in total defense (2002 and 2004) and also coached a pass rush unit that finished fourth in the NFL in sacks by a defensive line in 2004, as they were the only team to have three players with at least 8.5 sacks (Bertrand Berry, Trevor Pryce and Reggie Hayward).

Obviously, since the pass rush for the Bucs last season was, at times, slightly less than woeful, the key hire here is Millard.

Below is a training video that Millard put together. Two things jump out: Millard reacts with glee to a camper using an illegal head slap. That’s cool! The not-so-cool element is seems the guys rushing are popping up too quick which basically surrenders leverage to an offensive lineman.

On Millard’s website, he has the following nugget that piqued Joe’s interest:

Keith’s reputation has always been in successfully developing players who have the athleticism and the potential, but don’t fully understand or put into action the most effective concepts and techniques.

The Bucs have wanted a teacher, an instructor as an assistant coach and per this video, they may have found one on the defensive front.

The second coach the Bucs hired is Grady Stretz from Arizona State. Below is a piece of his bio, again courtesy of the Bucs.

Stretz, who will specialize in the running game, comes to Tampa Bay after spending the previous five seasons as the Defensive Line coach at Arizona State University. This past season, he helped the Sun Devils rank 16th nationally and first in the Pacific-10 in rush defense (119.7 ypg) and eighth nationally and second in the Pacific-10 in tackles for loss, averaging 7.4 a game.

Hopefully he can help Roy Miller develop but the strange thing in this hire is, why would a guy leave a college gig for an NFL gig when there’s very likely going to be a work stoppage and perhaps no season? College coaches are guaranteed work.

Or maybe Dennis Erickson really is in hot water in Tempe?

Acting more like Shepard Smith at an earthquake scene than concerned citizen, Gerald McCoy was Twittering last night about a domestic dispute turned ugly.

Apparently while inside his condo in San Diego, where McCoy is rehabbing his torn bicep with a renowned training guru, McCoy did some Twitter play-by-play of an ugly situation he heard unfolding through the walls with a male and female neighbor.

Joe’s partners at WDAE-AM 620 captured McCoy’s Tweets before they were taken down from his Twitter page. Per 620WDAE.com, one of McCoy’s final Tweets was as follows:

Dang he pulled her by her hair and threw her down. She just said that. He’s doing too much now.

Per Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, McCoy took down the Tweets and did not call authorities.

Joe chalks up McCoy’s apparent inaction to a young man not understanding the severity of the situation. Surely, instead of Tweeting, McCoy should have dialed 911. He could have remained anonymous.

Joe hopes the woman wasn’t hurt seriously.

Just to help whet Joe’s readers’ appetite for an avalanche of draft coverage just days away that will be unequaled locally, much of which will be coming from Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620, Joe decided to drop a draft post here.

There have been a lot of NFL folks who believe the Bucs will draft Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn. Count Pete Schrager of FoxSports.com among that group. He thinks it’s a slam dunk the Bucs use their 20th overall pick on Clayborn.

20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-6), Adrian Clayborn, DE, Iowa: I’ve been accused of wearing pewter pajamas for all my pro-Buccaneers talk this year, and I can’t deny it — I loved what this team did in 2010. The Bucs struck gold all over the place in the 2010 draft and became the first team in NFL history to start 10 rookies and finish a season above .500. They were the league’s youngest team after Week 8 and fell just one game shy of making the playoffs. Gerald McCoy, Roy Miller and Brian Price are three young interior defensive linemen who should be longtime studs in Tampa, and the defensive backfield was solid from start to finish in 2010. But the Bucs’ leader in sacks last season (Stylez G. White) had only 4.5 on the year. Adrian Clayborn had a solid season, facing double teams on most passing downs, after an incredible junior year. He’s considered one of the top seniors in this draft. He’s a reliable prospect who’ll play right away. I’m already giddy about the Tampa D in 2010. Add Clayborn into the mix? The Baby Bucs defense could be one nasty squad.

Joe is good with this pick as Clayborn has extremely good, quick hands which is solid for a defensive end.

Joe is giddy about the prospects of the defense too. Brian Price coming back after an injury, GMC with a year under his belt, Cody Grimm with a year under his belt,and with some solid additions to the defensive end positio, the Bucs defense could very well be on the verge of something special.

Later in the same column Schrager believes the Bucs will draft wide receiver Titus Young from Boise State. Joe doesn’t see that happening. The Bucs seem set at wide receiver, though by all accounts Young is expected to be the next DeSean Jackson.

Every sane Bucs fan surely sees Warren Sapp as a surefire Hall of Fame inductee. The guy defined his position, was the dominant force on one of the best defenses in the history of the NFL, racked up the stats, and every year NFL teams look for “the next Warren Sapp” in the draft.

But the Tampa Bay area’s lone Hall of Fame voter, eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune, says many of his fellow voters don’t like Sapp because he wasn’t kind to the media as a player and will let their disdain for him corrupt their votes.

Kaufman shared all this with “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620, last week during an interview on Radio Row in Dallas.

Kaufman was fired up and said he was saddened that other Hall of Fame panelists would bring their anger at Sapp into the mix, a practice that violates Hall of Fame induction voting rules.

Kaufman: People have absolutely a wrong misconception about No. 99. He was a great teammate. Sapp was a tremendous teammate. People want to lump him and Keyshawn Johnson together. That is crazy. Him and Keyshawn didn’t like each other, but don’t dare put those two guys [together].   Because Steve, if Keyshawn caught eight balls and the Bucs lost 21-17, Keyshawn was ok in that postgame locker room. If Sapp made 11 tackles and two sacks and the Bucs lost 21-17, you better not go near Sapp. They were totally different. I’ve got so much more respect for a Sapp.

Duemig: But the guys in that Hall of Fame room don’t like him do they?

Kaufman: You’re right and they’re waiting in weeds. They’re waiting in the weeds for him.

Duemig: You think they’ll take that out on him?

Kaufman: Some of them will, and shame on them. Shame on them. …Here’s my opening[presentation] line for 2013, if Sapp makes the final list, which I think he should: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, there’s nobody in this room from a personal standpoint that has more of a reason not to vote for Warren Sapp than the guy that’s standing right in front of you. He didn’t talk to me for three years because I didn’t put him on my All-Tribune team one year. I put Gary Walker from the Jaguars and I didn’t know he hated Gary Walker. And he didn’t talk to me for like three years.

After two years I go, ‘Sapp, what’s the statute of limitations?’ He goes, ‘Forever, Kaufman.’ 

How petty do you have to be [a Hall of Fame voter] to put out a personal vendetta and lay in the weeds? If you want to argue that Sapp wasn’t a Hall of Fame player, ok, let’s make that argument. But don’t say, ‘I’m not voting for him.’ …You hear those whispers.

Yes, Sapp often was an ass to the media. It’s no secret. Frankly, Joe thought it was quite funny.

Though back in 2002, Joe covered a Bucs game for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. And, specifically, Joe was asked to hit Sapp up with one detailed question and get an answer. Sapp gave Joe one of his “next question” responses, but Joe had no “next question.” So Joe kept asking Sapp.

Sapp stared down Joe and said, “You really need this quote, huh.” Joe said, “Yes.” Sapp laughed and then said, “Ok.” And Sapp proceeded to give Joe an answer that seemed completely bogus, essentially messing with Joe’s head. Of course, that response never made the newspaper. 

But all that kind of stuff should be meaningless to voters. Like Kaufman, Joe hopes the Hall of Fame panelists do the right thing and put Sapp on the first ballot.

If you’re drawing up sides for an all-time NFL team, not just a Hall of Fame, Sapp makes your front four. It’ll cheapen the entire process if he’s not a first-ballot inductee.