Junto Boys

FOOTBALL

I haven’t been much inspired to write about politics since the Dem Convention and I’ve been busy writing stuff for work. We did our annual Bucs coverage again this year. I’ll share a few thoughts.

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This is the third year the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have held their training camp here. They lost some pretty good players last year and in the offseason. Keyshawn Johnson split mid year and Mike Alstott missed most of the season with a scary neck injury. John Lynch bolted for Broncos and Warren Sapp went to Oakland.

I still can’t figure out why they let John Lynch go. Lynch might have been the smartest guy on the team. He graduated from Stanford and he answers questions so well you’d think he wrote them himself. Lynch was the first player I interviewed when they came in 2002. I asked him some half-ass questioned about the facilities and he answered me with the same seriousness I heard him use with Dan Patrick a few months later. Lynch could retire tomorrow and get a booth job. I wouldn’t think he’d have much trouble becoming a GM either.

Keenan McCardell is still holding out and it was a shame, because he was always good for a soundbyte. I wasn’t sure what angle I was going to take with the story back in 2002 and he went on and on about how much he liked Celebration and wanted to eat at the pizza joint there, only he couldn’t remember the name and stumbled over it on several tries. It added some levity to a piece that needed it.

Keyshawn Johnson never did talk to us. We did see him walking to the bus as the Bucs PR guy was imploring him to turn around and meet us.

Warren Sapp is plain full of himself. I’d been doing the sports pieces for the show, but last summer Dan asked if he could have the 2002 Bucs piece. He interviewed Jervicious and Lynch and McCardell and despite early butterflies was doing pretty well. When Warren Sapp walked by Dan called him “Warren” and asked if he would talk to us. Sapp said, “I didn’t know we were on a first name basis, Cuz,” and walked away. It was much ruder than it sounded and I was immediately sour on Sapp.

This was the first year we tried the morning practice and we were more successful with interviews than in the past. We got Brad Johnson right off the bat. He’s really a classy guy. Martine Gramatica hopped off the field as we were talking to Brad and we missed him.

So I asked the new punter, Josh Bidwell if he had a moment. Bidwell had been punting in Green Bay and he was a college teammate of Joey Harrington and since I follow the hapless Lions I asked him if he still kept in touch with old teammates. Bidwell was so happy to talk about Oregon. He said that it was a small school and that the guys who made it to the NFL keep in touch and watch each other’s games. Then as coincidence would have it, Bidwell lets out that he lives in Eugene, Oregon which is where Grandpa’s brother Uncle Jim lives. I told him that Uncle Jim retired to fish there and Josh started in with the fly fishing stories. It ended with Josh suggesting we go fishing if I were ever out visiting Uncle Jim. It was reminiscent of Ernie Banks from last summer.

Chris Simms was next and he’s worked with a personal trainer since last year. He looked every bit the college kid last summer and is now fitting in with the pro team. The most surprising thing about pro quarterbacks is how lanky many of them are. Brad Johnson and Simms look more like tennis players than quarterbacks, the former backup QB Rob Johnson even more so. Brian Griese looked the part better than any Buc I’ve seen. Still, when you think of football players you picture these gargantuan linemen, and since everyone wears pads it gives you a false impression of how big they are. Derrick Brooks was the last guy I talked to and he wasn’t tremendously bigger than I am – just enough bigger to earn millions.

We talked to Michael Pittman and Mike Alstott and they both surprised me. Pittman had that domestic trouble last year that resulted in the cops, so I was expecting attitude. Instead, he was very gracious and jovial. Alstott was very nice, but he had nothing whatsoever to say. When I asked whether he was happy to see that his former Boilermakers beat Georgia on New Year’s Day, he simply answered that he didn’t have a chance to go to the game. He did say a couple of things about how it was an important year coming off the injury and that his favorite rides are the kiddy ones with his family. But all in all I can see why he isn’t interviewed much. He just isn’t that introspective.

Derrick Brooks went to Washington High School in Pensacola so I asked him if he hangs out at McGuires when he visits, but he doesn’t seem to. It’s a shame that Sean wasn’t around. He went to Washington. They may have had a better conversation.

This was the first year that we got to talk to Gruden, and we were only given one question so I sneaked in two questions in one sentence about how he likes training here and his favorite attraction.

That’s the bulk of what these stories wind up becoming. We always talk about the team’s chances and hopes but we always try to get the company angle in there somewhere. It’s a nice mix and it promotes the training camp to employees. There’s plenty of free fruit and water and even the occasional bagel.