Joe is aching for football season. The mere thought that Joe could be sitting at a Bucs training camp practice with his binoculars this weekend (not to gawk cheerleaders) is enough to get Joe through a Monday morning.

For kicks yesterday, Joe dove into all things Lions, the Bucs’ opening day opponent. And it stood out for Joe that the Lions’ training camp is in Michigan, hardly a tropical climate, even in the summer. And they play home games in a dome, and their final preseason game in September is in Buffalo, where it can be downright cool that time of year.

How could the Lions possibly be ready for the stifling heat that should hit them at 1 o’clock in Tampa on opening day? They won’t be.

Of course, they could get a rain-cooled day at The C.I.T.S., but the odds are against it. Bring on the 105-degree heat index. The Bucs absolutely should have way more in the tank in the fourth quarter of that critical game.

There’s no way these Bucs can lose two straight at home to the typically dreadful Lions. Can they? And please don’t try to sell Joe on Lions being more than a mediocre young team.

Injuries punched the Bucs in the gut last season, but overcoming that was a big plus in their near-miracle season — so many rookies and newcomers stepped up into key roles.

Most Bucs fan take it for granted that guys like Arrelious Benn, Cody Grimm, Gerald McCoy, Aqib Talib. Jeff Faine, Davin Joseph, Earnest Graham and others will be back ready and raring to go when training camp hopefully opens next week.

But Mark Dominik surely can’t take that for granted. The Bucs’ medical staff hasn’t poked and prodded these guys since March. Are they really ready?

Talking about post-lockout priorities last night on the real man channel, NFL Network, former NFL executive turned talking head Mike Lombardi emphatically made the point that teams will need to bring in extra doctors to immediately evaluate all players. Given that free agency no doubt will begin only a few heartbeats following the end of the lockout, teams, especially ones like the Bucs with numerous players returning from injury, must know who’s healthy and who’s not within a matter of hours so they can make intelligent decisions in free agency.

It’s a smart point by Lombardi and possibly a huge X factor for the Bucs.

What if the Bucs doctors take one look at Benn’s surgically repaired knee and decide they want him to spend another eight weeks on the shelf? Surely that could have Dominik bidding for a top free agent receiver. What if Graham’s neck isn’t where they want it to be? That might alter the Bucs’ approach to Cadillac Williams, as well as the fullback position.

It’s going to be wild few days when the asinine lockout waves good-bye.

For reasons unknown to Joe, many Bucs fans are beyond giddy that — if details learned about the new CBA are true — that Team Glazer and Mark Dominik are going to have to spend several millions more per year on salaries.

As Joe has detailed time and again, dollars do not equate wins. Otherwise, Danny Snyder’s garage would be full of Vince Lombardi Trophies.

As a result, Joe isn’t excited or moved to do shots over this news; he just shrugs his shoulders.

It seems eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune is ready to throw cold water on Bucs fans as well. He is of the belief that the new CBA guidelines — whatever they may be; no one really knows for sure — isn’t going to provoke Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik to spend money like a crazy man in Vegas after too many drinks of Patron.

Yet amid all the anticipation, recent history and core philosophy suggest the Bucs won’t be overly active in pursuing free agents.

“We’re going to stick to the plan,” Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer said four months ago. “The road that leads to sustained success is drafting well, keeping those players and growing the team that way.”

With the league expected to institute a brief exclusivity period for clubs to re-sign their own pending free agents, ownership’s commitment to that stated approach will be tested.

Joe can easily see Davin Joseph getting re-signed and perhaps Barrett Ruud, if he’s not too tired of the constant din of debate whether he is worthy of the Bucs or not.

The bulk of the cash Joe strongly believes Dominik will spend will be on taking care of his own and maybe a few second-tier free agents.

Don’t expect splash names this week… provided there is a new CBA.

Bucs fans grind their teeth at night more over the constant din coming from the four-letter about the great Matty Ice than they do about the Bucs playing a home game in London.

Matty Ice is a darling of the Bristol crowd, and Bucs fans just want to thrown their pints of beer at the TV whenever they hear praise for Matty Ice.

Well, it seems Bucs fans anger has been felt all the way up in Canada. Recently, Pat Yasinskas of ESPN fielded a question from someone in Hamilton who seemed outraged that Matty Ice is slurped so much by the four-letter and Josh Freeman isn’t.

Robert (Hamilton)

Why is Josh Freeman not considered better than Matt Ryan? His stats were just as good, he’s three years younger, and his reeivers are not as experienced.

Pat Yasinskas

Who’s saying he’s not better? I think you can make a case that Freeman has upside to be better than Ryan. But I also think it’s a little too early to categorically say he’s better than Ryan. They’re both pretty darn good.

Both are good quarterbacks, let’s make that quite clear. However, Matty Ice didn’t exactly light up the Bucs last year and Matty Ice’s touchdown-to-interception ratio wasn’t close to Freeman’s.

Is Matty Ice good? Yup. But so too is Freeman.

Joe caught up briefly with Maurice Stovall at a breast cancer charity softball game Friday night. Stovall joined Derrick Brooks and various B- and C-list celebrities who played in the game.

For Stovall’s comments about the asinine lockout — he’s a Bucs player representative — Joe whipped out his Blackberry recorder. Among other comments, Stovall advised Joe not to believe what he hears on TV.

To listen, click below or download here. (Prepare for background noise)

[audio: joeandmostovall.mp3]

Since the Bucs initiated the Ring of Honor, a lot of fans have been debating who the greatest Bucs player is.

Some say Lee Roy Selmon, and Joe would have no argument there. He made the Hall of Fame as a defensive end playing in a three-man front of all things.

Others suggest the best Buccaneer of all time is Derrick Brooks, and Joe would have a difficult time arguing that as well. Brooks was a groundbreaking linebacker in a many ways and he was on NFL Network’s top 100 players of all time (so was Selmon).

But Joe would have a difficult time suggesting running back Warrick Dunn would be the greatest Bucs player of all time, but that seems to be what FoxSports.com seems to suggest. In a poll asking Bucs fans to pick the greatest player in franchise history, it lists Dunn among the candidates.

The Bucs’ dominance of the late 1990s and early 2000s was not solely because of defense. Teaming with fullback Mike Alstott, the diminutive Dunn was the speed in one of the NFL’s best backfields in the late ’90s. He is third on the team’s career rushing yards list and also third all-time in receptions for the Bucs. But Dunn’s impact went beyond the stat sheet. Forced to be the family provider at age 18 after his mother’s murder, Dunn brought his sense of loyalty and duty to the Bucs’ locker room and the Tampa Bay community, becoming a favored son of the community (having played college at Florida State). His greatness both on the field and in the community led him to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year and Walter Payton Man of the Year awards.

If Joe was going to pick the best human being of any Bucs player, Dunn may just run away with the vote. Just the work and money and time he has devoted to the Tampa Bay area helping single-moms and their families is damned near enough for the Pope to begin the process for nominating Dunn as a saint.

As good of a running back as Dunn was, Joe would have a very difficult time placing him on a higher rung than Selmon or Brooks.

Joe almost breaks out into uncontrollable laughter the way some Bucs fans pine for free agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha is worse than the way Joe pines for Rachel Watson or lusts over Courtney the Bartender.

Why, to read and hear the same Bucs fans carry on, it’s like this Asomugha is the cure for all  the Bucs’ ills, that a Super Bowl ring is guaranteed with his acquisition.

Joe has detailed previously why this is sheer folly. Not only is a cornerback not a need, the Bucs have much bigger needs and holes to fill before they go throwing a bank vault at a cornerback.

It seems Peter King believes the same. On Twitter, the longtime SI NFL writer was asked where Asomugha will land and the Bucs were not among the teams King offered.

@Just_Nehpets: Where are the most likely places you see Nnamdi ends up?

@SI_PeterKing Guesswork: Dall, Phil, Hou, NYJ longshot. Hear he wants Jets.

Generally, what Captain Lou Albano wants with the Jets, Captain Lou Albano gets. And Captain Lou Albano makes no secret to how much he worships big-named cornerbacks.

If Captain Lou Albano is unable to re-sign Santonio Holmes — who would be a better pickup for the Bucs than Asomugha — Joe fully expects Captain Lou Albano to sign Asomugha.

Several ESPN types sit in their home offices and tell viewers via a web cam — a good one at that — who they think will be the next dominant NFL team is.

The Bucs are well-represented.

Nothing’s been normal about this offseason, thanks to the asinine lockout, and the preseason will take on a different look as well, says Bucs icon Derrick Brooks.

Fans actually might not mind paying top dollar for preseason games.

Speaking this week to the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, of WDAE-AM 620, Brooks explained a byproduct of the lockout will have more name players on the field in August.

“This is probably one of the first preseasons you’ll see a lot of veterans play, which is going to hurt the chance for some of these younger guys making teams. Period,” Brooks said. ” A lot of veterans are going to have to get in football shape a lot sooner, and they’re going to have to play a lot of snaps to get in football rhythm.”

Brooks went on to say teams with new coaching staffs, especially, will be all but forced to run with veteran players as the team learns schemes on the fly. And the veteran presence, Brooks said, likely will mean better football come opening day.

Brooks expalined that the more he played in a preseason the sharper his tackling was early in the season.

Joe’s not sure how the Bucs will approach the preseason. Obviously, the team is not in transition mode with a new coaching staff. But the upcoming no-two-a-days rule in training camp might force the Bucs to give regulars more time in preseason.

Regardless, if Brooks is accurate, Joe is fired up to see better preseason action, including a guy like Allen Bradford trying to bust through a defensive line not made up of soon-to-be luggage handlers and beer truck drivers.

Gerald McCoy wants to hang out with you.

McCoy took to Twitter for fan bonding yesterday, inviting fans to show up outside a local IMAX theater in Tampa to score free movie tickets and snacks, and see Captain America with No. 93 and Adrian Clayborn.

No word whether snacks included two boxes of Milk Duds or just one. 

@Geraldini93 AMC Veterans 24. Im passing out tickets from 11:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Be there or be square. 15 3D tickets to Captain America!!

It all went down, so the photo above from McCoy’s Twitter page reveals.

What’s interesting is McCoy, per Twitter, promises bigger and better fan giveaways and hangout sessions are yet to come.

Joe’s waiting for Mons Venus night.

Hat tip to BucStop.com.

No doubt the attendance issues of local sports teams is one of the most hackneyed, worn out discussions on Tampa Bay sports radio and around water coolers and in break rooms across the Bay area.

Joe’s heard every nuance of every argument. But still, Joe was taken back by a recent poll on the website of the Tampa Bay Business Journal that asked whether one actively supported a non-local franchises. A whopping 42 percent answered, “Yes.”

42 percent!

Joe found the number to be extraordinarily high and somewhat troubling because it’s safe to assume the typical Tampa Bay Business Journal reader has disposable cash to purchase tickets.

What an uphill battle the Bucs and the other clubs in town face.

That said, Joe can’t fathom any legitimate excuse/reason outside of a hurricane why the Bucs wouldn’t sell out Monday Night Football against the Colts and Peyton Manning, a national spectacle that hasn’t been here in years.

"Hey, De. I just can't stop thinking about that lap dance we got last night. I think the brunette really liked me. I hear you, hatchetman. She was looking for more than tickets."

Joe is so annoyed by the asinine lockout, it can’t be put into words. And that’s why Joe rarely writes about it. It’s big-time annoying and boring, and Joe has to believe most of his readers feel the same way.

But since Joe’s inbox is full today with readers telling Joe the owners approved a new labor agreement that now sits in the hands of the in-no-hurry players — some writing as if Joe didn’t know — Joe will give his brief two cents.

As much as Joe wants training camp to start, Joe sincerely hopes the players take their time scrutinizing the new CBA and peppering their team representatives with questions about it before they vote to approve it. It should take them at least a three or four days.

This ain’t Washington D.C., where it’s expected that elected officials will vote on life-changing legislation wihout bothering to read what’s in it.

Joe’s heard many a fan call players idiots for making bad investment decisions, using sweeping generalizations about guys who flushed money down the toilet and went broke because they didn’t take the time to figure out what they were getting into.

Joe suspects the players’ leadership won’t let that happen. And fans shouldn’t rip the players for being thorough, and good role models for Congress.

The fortunate few at BSPN are not chasing suits on the streets of Atlanta in recent days — is there anything more boring than TV shots of suits walking down a sidewalk? Well, not quite as boring as poker on TV, but close. Poor Albert Breer.

The fortunate few at BSPN have put their heads together to come up with the future most dominant team in the NFL. No. 1 is the Packers. You may be surprised which team is No. 2.

The Bucs.

There were several panelists who voted on this and former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, who has a hot yet annoying wife, believes the Bucs will be the dominant NFL team in a short time.

Tim Hasselbeck, ESPN NFL analyst: The Packers were dominant in the postseason this past year and most people believe that they can be dominant for the next three years. But if we are looking at 2014-2016, then we need to find the next Green Bay Packers. The Tampa Bay Bucs look like they could be that team. They have an absolute stud at QB, great talent at the skill positions and they have invested high picks on the defensive line in hopes to be dominant on that side of the ball. Sounds a little bit like how the Packers were built.
THE PICK: Tampa Bay Bucs

Joe is inclined to believe this, but the NFL is about to be a whole new league. With this new CBA in place, it changes quite a bit on the NFL landscape. It will be very interesting to see how the NFL, and the Bucs, shake out.

Transitioning from the field to the front office as a talent evaluator ain’t that easy. Even the great Derrick Brooks had his share of challenges in that area when he took over the Tampa Bay Storm this year.

Joe found that claim to be an interesting nugget, as Brooks explained on The Dan Sileo Show on WDAE-AM 620 Monday. Brooks painted a picture of himself in a foreign role despite years of experience watching film.

“When I first started [evaluating players on tape], I was studying as if I was in a player’s perspective,” Brooks said. “It’s a different style of watching type. I had to call on trusted guns of mine in the past. I had to ask for some more expertise from the likes of Bruce Allen, Coach Dungy, Lovie Smith, Jon Gruden, even Rich Bisaccia. He’s been a big help to me as far as how do I set that up and what is my evaluation system as I move forward. I get better at that every day.”

Bruce Allen? Joe sure hopes Bruce Almighty was helping No. 55 in the system aspect of evaluation, rather than anything to do with the action on the field.

One reason Joe found Brooks’ comments particularly interesting is because of the disagreement and fury surrounding the evaluation of Barrett Ruud’s value. How Mark Dominik and Raheem Morris perceive and assess Ruud’s value is likely to be very different from players’ and fans’ takes.

The Bucs were a horribly blown call away from the playoffs last year, losing out to the eventual Super Bowl champions on a tiebreakers.

While he doesn’t compare his team to the Packers, Josh Freeman is fond of pointing out the Bucs were tied with the champs at the end of the regular season.

Despite the blown call, others could point to two losses that shouldn’t have been to the Dixie Chicks last season. Per Eliot Harrison of NFL.com, the Dixie Chicks had better watch out this season.

Bucs fans have had to live all offseason with the memory of two very-hard-to-swallow home losses: Week 13 against the Falcons and Week 15 against the Lions. Both games should have belonged to Tampa Bay. This team could have finished 12-4, or at least 11-5, and bounced the Packers out of playoff contention. Much of the success was due to the Tampa triplets — second-year quarterback Josh Freeman (25 touchdowns, six interceptions), rookie running back LeGarrette Blount (1,007 yards, 5.0 yards per carry) and rookie wideout Mike Williams (964 yards, 11 touchdowns).

Harrison goes on to dare any NFL fan to name three better young triples on any team than Freeman, Williams and Blount.

Joe sure can’t come up with any.

Flying solo on the popular Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday, former Bucs guard Ian Beckles did his best to tell every listener from Tallahassee to Orlando and down to Charlotte County that Barrett Ruud is softer than soft.

The three-hour show felt at times like a Ruud special.

In a classic interchange with a caller who started saying Ruud is no Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher in his physicality, Beckles immediately cut off the caller to implore him to “start from the bottom,” not from the top with the superstar linebackers when making comparisons to Ruud.

Beckles called Ruud “the least physical linebacker in the league.” He went on to say Ruud is actually a step below the least physical linebackers at his position, and Beckles longed not for legendary linebackers of Bucs past, but simply for a guy like his former teammate Ervin Randle, who had an nondescript career with the Bucs from 1985-1990.

“I just want an aggressive middle linebacker. It’s not rocket science,” Beckles barked. “You can’t jump around a block. … Stick your head in the hole. …Stop running backwards.”

Beckles continued to beg anyone to sit down and watch film with him to show him why Ruud is a good middle linebacker. And Beckles repeated that none of the people connected to the Bucs he has spoken to privately has ever disagreed with him about Ruud.

As Joe has written before, we’re all going to find out real soon what Mark Dominik and his colleagues around the NFL think about No. 51.

"Prove yourself, old man."

Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud’s crystal ball may need new batteries following his bold Aqib Talib prognostications, however, Stroud didn’t hesitate to gaze into it and channel its energy today.

During a TampaBay.com live chat, Stroud obliged a commenter that asked him to go on the record with a prediction.

Comment From JerryJerry:  Hello Rick- Can you predict our starting O-Line?

Rick Stroud: Hey Jerry,
Right now I think it’s going to be very similar to last season: LT Penn, LG Zuttah, C Faine, RG Joseph, RT Lee.

Interesting. Joe would be surprised to see Jeremy Zuttah start over Ted Larsen at left guard. However, Joe would hope Zuttah would be given a fair shake to beat out Jeff Faine at center. If so, Joe believes Zuttah will earn the nod.

The early odds at right tackle sure seem to be a toss-up, if Jeremy Trueblood returns.

The massive competition along the O-line can only be good. Joe can’t wait to see who lines up there to open the first preseason game. The Bucs are already ahead of last year without Keydrick Vincent.

Who knew Barrett Ruud was a run-stuffer?

Well, that’s what sound analyst and former NFL head coach Brian Billick wants fans to believe. Billick penned rankings and breakdowns of his top linebackers available in free agency for FoxSports.com and Ruud checked in at No. 7. Quincy Black didn’t make the list.

7. Barrett Ruud: ILB, Tampa Bay

Ruud is best as a traditional 4-3 middle linebacker and is most effective against the run. He has led the Buccaneers in tackles the past four seasons, with 511 during that span.

Potential landing spots: New York Giants, Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay passed up the opportunity to sign Ruud to a long–term deal last offseason, opting instead to re-sign offensive lineman Donald Penn. Ruud responded by totaling 118 tackles, two sacks and one interception. Even with his steady play, some question his ability in coverage and that may minimize his importance in the Buccaneers’ Tampa 2 defense. That leaves the door open for the New York Giants to add Ruud to an already good defense. The Giants were the seventh-best defense in the entire league and led the NFL in regards to stopping/gaining explosive plays.

Now there’s a twist: Ruud’s stronger against the run than in coverage. Joe’s never seen such varying assessments of a player with so much time logged in the NFL.

It seems in a matter of hours, Bucs fans will find out what Mark Dominik thinks of Mr. Ruud. Regardless, there will be outrage among many Bucs fans.