You wont have to wait long to see Ronde Barber again...he will be color commentating NFL games on Fox this season, and the NFC's broadcast media will pair up Barber with long time vet broadcaster Dick Stockton.

Seriously, I have games from 1979 that Dick Stockton is announcing! Thats how long he has been calling games...and that expertise has obviously rubbed off a little on former Bucs safety John Lynch.

Lynch was Stockton's partner since coming into Fox as an analyst back in 2009, they they are assigning a rookie announcer to Lynch. As Fox, you dont do that unless you fee Lynch as "the right stuff". 

Barber will no doubt get valuable experience paired with Stockton, and I'm sure tips from the hard hitting safety wont hurt!

NOTE: Barber's retirement leaves Washington Redskins London Fletcher as the reigning Iron Man. Fletcher and Barber were tied at 240 games. Fletcher was an undrafted player in 1998 with St. Louis Rams. 

Mike Florio is a genius, stirring up Pro Football Passions in June when its the absolute dead time! So we will dig in with it!

My Tampa Bay Buccaneers Mt. Rushmore would be...

Lee Roy Selmon

Derrick Brooks

Ronde Barber

Mike Alstott

Lee Roy Selmon was the first Bucs player ever picked. He was the first Buc in the Hall of Fame (still is for another month or so). 

Derrick Brooks Will be in the HOF next year, you can bet that. He was Bucs Defensive player of the year in 2002, and cemented the Bucs Super Bowl. 

Ronde Barber was drafted the first year of Pewter, and has the Bucs record for most games started. 

Mike Alstott has almost double the number of TDs of any other Buc player.

You can make a case for a bunch of others, But all four of these guys have one thing in common, (well more than one, but one important feature Im getting at)...they are lifetime Bucs. They never wore another uniform, ever.

Warren Sapp did. Sure he's headed to the HOF, and I like Sapp, but Google Warren Sapp...and you get photos of him as a Raider, and on NFL network. Ditto with John Lynch. Go ahead and google my 4 pics, and youll see them as Buccaneers. ...and in my opinion, thats what this should be about. Who do you identify the Bucs with??

Just like with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, John Lynch has beaten Ronde Barber to his new team by a few years. Barber, who was drafted by the Bucs in 1997, retired after this 2012 season, and is now officially headed to FOX SPORTS where he will probably work with FOX 1 which launches in August.

Lynch has been a Fox analyst for a couple of years now, and much like he beat Ronde to the Bucs by being drafted in 1993, he will likely have some words of advice for his former and now current teamate. 

The list of former Bucs players and coaches who are in the media is quite staggaring. While Steve Young is a former Buc, he's best known as a 49er. Lynch, Trent Dilfer, Tony Dungy, Herm Edwards and Shawn King all played for other teams before taking on the role of media in their lives. Warren Sapp and Keyshawn Johnson also played on other teams squads (Oakland and Carolina) after the Bucs, but Barber becomes the first media member to never have worn another team's uniform. Jon Gruden also made it straight to the media after his Bucs days as Super Bowl winning head coach. 

Ronde finished his Bucs career having appeared in more games, 241, and more starts, 232, than anyone it team history. His 215 consecutive starts was the NFL longest active streak until he retired. He is also tops with 47 interceptions, and 8 returned for touchdowns. Something he can hang on Lynch...who never returned a pick for a TD in his long NFL career. 

Call it a remake of Alcoa presents...you make the call!

Over the course of time, NFL rules change. But more than that, even rules that stay the same, are sometimes interpreted differently as time goes by. Take for example, what is a reception? 

The Bucs have been at the heart of this rule, the Bert Emanuel Rule brought on from the 1999 NFC Championship game where Bert Emanuel went to the ground and the ball slightly touched the ground, but in his grasp. Back then, it was NOT a catch...Now..it is. 

Over the last several seasons, a catch is being ruled a non-catch if the ball comes out. 

So watch this Keyshawn Johnson TD from 2001 win over Detroit at Raymond James stadium. It was ruled a Touchdown at the time. But Keyshawn does not keep the ball in his hands, he releases it shortly after coming to the ground. Did he release it late enough? Or would a referee today rule thats an incomplete pass? 

Woud it still be ruled a Touchdown today? YOU MAKE THE CALL!

Sometimes we see tribute videos and we instantly think the worst...so NO! Gene hasn't left us (either the football field, or the farm!) but that doesnt mean we cant admire the guy...in video form.

Kicking off A super suprise video month of June, here is an original Bucstop.com video, a tribute to Bucs longtime audio man himself. 

The main success attributed to the Tony Dungy/Gruden Buccaneers is the ability of the franchise to draft well, not relying on free agency to build a team. Drafting players lets you train them to your teams core belief systems, and provides for generally better team chemistry than a team made up of all free agents. Mind you it can happen (see 1996 Carolina and Jacksonville), but its rare to find a team built with free agents predominantly that succeeds.

The Bucs built with the draft, then augmented those picks with free agents at key spots. This was the blueprint used for the Later Gruden/Morris years, but there was only one problem.; Our drafting stunk up the joint!

Lets go back to 2006...these picks should be the core group of veterans on our team, like Davin Joseph who was picked no.1 that year. Only the top three picks even made the team! The Bucs are getting major production from their 4th round picks these days, like Mike Williams. To only have your top three picks make the team, well thats not good drafting.

There was just a lack of ability to pick talent. Gaines Adams and Arron Sears were one and two the next year, and if anything you could call 2007 the hard luck draft for the Bucs, because we know what happened medically to those two picks. But we also lost 4th rnd Quincy Black to injury, and Tanard Jackson to, well, Pot! The Bucs would take a pick like Aqib Talib 1st, then squander the 2nd pick with WR Dexter Jackson! While Jeremy Zuttah remains the starter from 2008, no one else is left from a draft class that should be entering its prime in a Bucs uniform. 

The Raheem Morris years were supposed to change all of that, but Josh Freeman is all that remains from the 2009 draft. Brian Price was a wasted #2 pick, Arrelious Benn is turning out to be another Maurice Stovall, and Cody Grimm is partying it up like its a Prince song out there. Mike Williams (4th) and Erik Lorig (7th) remain big components in the Bucs offense, although Lorig was drafted as a defensive end.

As a result, the Bucs are having to dip into free agency to pick out players like Vincent Jackson, Carl Nicks to replace Aaron Sears, Revis to replace Talib and Gholston to replace Piscitelli. 

Only time will tell if the Adrian Clayborns, Da'Quan Bowers and such will finally be the stars that Sapp, Brooks, Lynch, and Barber were drafted to be. The Bucs didnt build a team with Simeon Rice and Keyshawn Johnson, they added those players to solidify their rosters. As soon as Bucs current draft picks reach their potential, the team can make less of a splash in March, and more of one in January and February. 

Die hard Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans will direct your attention to the 2010 season as the best Bucs season in the last decade. Most in the media have pointed out however that the season was only as good as its weakest link....the 'miracle wins' that Bucs fans didn't consider when trying to predict the 2011 season record. In 2010, the Bucs won 5 games by the slimmest of margins, and had half of those games gone the other way, we could have been looking at a 7-9 record and a dismissal of former Bucs coach Raheem Morris right then and there. 

So if your going to Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda the Bucs in 2010, lets do it to last years squad, and see what we get. Because you see, the Shoulda's in 2010 probably predicted the 10 game losing streak in 2011. So lets take a look at what we can learn about last years team, and how we can take a prediction out of the Bucs 7-9 record.

Three times last season, the Bucs won by 6 points or less. The Bucs only came back in one of those, the other two found the opponents shrinking the winning margin, so the reality is, those games pretty much went the way of the opponents. But on the other side of the coin, Tampa  Bay lost 7 games by a touchdown and  & conversion or less.

Breaking those down, one game was a full TD and 2 PT conversion (Denver), two games were lost by exactly 7 points, one game by 6 points, and THREE games the Bucs lost by LESS than a Field Goal! Tampa Bay fell to Philadelphia, Washington, and Atlanta by 2 points or less. If you take three of those 7 games, and you turn them around, the Bucs could easilly have gone10-6 last year. Stretch it even farther, and Tampa Bay sits pretty at 12-4, a franchise best record, if they win 5 of those 7 games. Had Tampa Bay managed to win all but one of the games it was still in at the end of the season, Josh Freeman would have been the QB on a franchise best record 13-3 season.

Now you can cry the old "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda..." and you would be right too. But a sway of that degree, from 8th draft pick to NFC 1st Seed throughout the playoffs? That's more than just an imaginary bold prediction for what could happen next year.

Now add to that Revis and company, and there is nothing wrong with geting your head a little lost in the 'Woulda" clouds. ...with the "shoulda coulda" people!

Die hard Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans will direct your attention to the 2010 season as the best Bucs season in the last decade. Most in the media have pointed out however that the season was only as good as its weakest link....the 'miracle wins' that Bucs fans didn't consider when trying to predict the 2011 season record. In 2010, the Bucs won 5 games by the slimmest of margins, and had half of those games gone the other way, we could have been looking at a 7-9 record and a dismissal of former Bucs coach Raheem Morris right then and there. 

So if your going to Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda the Bucs in 2010, lets do it to last years squad, and see what we get. Because you see, the Shoulda's in 2010 probably predicted the 10 game losing streak in 2011. So lets take a look at what we can learn about last years team, and how we can take a prediction out of the Bucs 7-9 record.

Three times last season, the Bucs won by 6 points or less. The Bucs only came back in one of those, the other two found the opponents shrinking the winning margin, so the reality is, those games pretty much went the way of the opponents. But on the other side of the coin, Tampa  Bay lost 7 games by a touchdown and  & conversion or less.

Breaking those down, one game was a full TD and 2 PT conversion (Denver), two games were lost by exactly 7 points, one game by 6 points, and THREE games the Bucs lost by LESS than a Field Goal! Tampa Bay fell to Philadelphia, Washington, and Atlanta by 2 points or less. If you take three of those 7 games, and you turn them around, the Bucs could easilly have gone10-6 last year. Stretch it even farther, and Tampa Bay sits pretty at 12-4, a franchise best record, if they win 5 of those 7 games. Had Tampa Bay managed to win all but one of the games it was still in at the end of the season, Josh Freeman would have been the QB on a franchise best record 13-3 season.

Now you can cry the old "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda..." and you would be right too. But a sway of that degree, from 8th draft pick to NFC 1st Seed throughout the playoffs? That's more than just an imaginary bold prediction for what could happen next year.

Now add to that Revis and company, and there is nothing wrong with geting your head a little lost in the 'Woulda" clouds. ...with the "shoulda coulda" people!

While it's true NFL players today have far greater salaries than their counterparts decades ago, todays players work for it. Your about to hear silence in the NFL...its the month of June...the only real offseason NFL players get.

It's the last quiet time for veterans of the game, the last peace. Because by the 3rd week of July, it time for NFL training camp, and thats the days WE all look for as fans. 

Yet NFL players do not really get to rest like those hall of famers from years gone by. Back in the day, the offseason was exactly that.... an OFFSEASON. Players took off after they were either eliminated in a playoff game, or last game of the year for the losing teams. Then they came to training camp to get into playing shape. 

In today's NFL, you had better show up to camp in shape, because someone else will, and they will take your job! This is pretty much how the transition took place. It was not overnight mind you, but at some point in the 90s, star players like Walter Payton, Hercshel Walker, and Jerry Rice let their secrets be known...they trained all year long. More and more NFL Stars started doing whatever it took to be on top of their game, and before you knew it, you had "OTAs"!

Who knows, maybe in the future, June will be the month of "PreCamp" or something like that! But for now, its the quiet NFL month. 

To get us ready for July!

So its draft night, and your wearing your Bucs Darrelle Revis jerseys (Cadillac Williams perhaps? or Mark Barron?) and watching the other teams take their shots into the first round forray into building a winning team.

But with the recent history, it would not be beyond the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to jump back into the first round, theyve done it twice now in the last two years.

They used a second first round pick getting fellow defensive end position in Da' Quan Bowers after drafting Adrian Clayborn. Last year, the Bucs took Mark Barron, then manuvered back into the first round to take running back Doug Martin. 

So will the Bucs do it again? History says yes, and the Bucs do have some ammunition to do it with...

Lagerrette Blount comes to mind. The Bucs could sell him easilly as a future teams feature back. All you need do is watch his TD run against the Packers in 2011. The Bucs also have two fourth round picks, the later coming from the Patriots. Whats a 4th round pick worth? See Luke Stocker and yes, Mike Williams. No.19 was a 4th round pick. 

So stay tuned, dont just forgo the draft because Revis is on the team, because the Bucs could be adding him some help in the secondary.