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TAMPA, Fla. -- I remember precisely where I was the moment Lee Roy Selmon was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

I was standing outside a hotel ballroom in Miami in 1995. It was the day before the Super Bowl. A few minutes after the privileged voters inside the room had voted Selmon in, the door swung open. Out walked Tom McEwen, the legendary former sports editor of The Tampa Tribune.

"He’s in," McEwen said.

For the rest of that afternoon, evening, the media brunch and all during the Super Bowl, I kept seeing writers, league officials, former players and even Ferdie "The Fight Doctor" Pacheco coming up to McEwen and offering congratulations.

The response was the same every time.

"Why are you congratulating me?" McEwen said. "Lee Roy’s the one who got into the Hall of Fame. He’s the one who played the game."

That’s the first story I thought of when I heard Selmon had been hospitalized Friday after suffering a stroke. It kind of sums up the story of the first Buccaneer elected to the Hall of Fame and the first member of the team’s Ring of Honor.

He died Sunday at the age of 56.

A humble, exceedingly gracious man, Selmon never was one of those people who would go around seeking attention or adoration. He simply earned it by his play on the field and the way he carried himself off it -- during and long after his career ended in 1984.

McEwen, a powerful man, might have twisted some arms to get the votes. But Selmon was the one who did the grunt work. He was the one who beat double-teams and chased down quarterbacks every Sunday. He was the one who endured the 0-26 run the Bucs went on as a 1976 expansion team.

He was the one who made the Bucs seem like miracle workers (long before the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars entered the league under a different set of rules in 1995) when they reached the NFC Championship Game in the 1979 season.

Yeah, the 1979 team had some guys like Doug Williams and Jimmie Giles who made some big plays on offense. But John McKay’s first winning team won with defense and Selmon was the center of that.

Selmon still was the center of the team in subsequent years when Williams left and things went bad. He left the game after the 1984 season because of a bad back, but he remained the icon of all icons in Tampa Bay.

The Bucs were bad for the next decade, but fans and the team could always point to Selmon as a point of pride. He stuck around town and stayed active in the community. He eventually joined the staff at the University of South Florida and helped the college start its football program.

Selmon remained an ambassador for the Bucs as the late 1990s arrived and things got better. Even if you weren’t in Tampa Bay for Selmon’s playing days, you knew who he was. There’s a Tampa expressway named after him and I have to drive by one of the restaurants that bears his name to get just about anywhere.

I’ll think of him every time I go by that restaurant and I’ll have one lasting memory of the man. Last November, Selmon was a guest speaker at a luncheon to honor McEwen at Saint Leo University.

At one point, Selmon said he wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame if it hadn’t been for McEwen. No doubt, McEwen played a role. But, like McEwen said, Lee Roy was the one who got into the Hall of Fame and he was the one to play the game.

He played it with uncommon grace and dignity and he lived his life that same way. That’s why the legend of Lee Roy Selmon is going to keep lingering in Tampa Bay.

The NFC South mailbag got pretty full while I took my last bit of time off before training camps open, so let’s go ahead and get to some of your questions.

Jordan in New Orleans wrote to ask if Reggie Bush could be primed for a big season if he stays in New Orleans.

Pat Yasinskas: We’ll go on the assumption that Bush and the Saints work out a way to handle his contract and answer your question. Part of the reason that Bush has never put up the kind of numbers so many people expected is because he has dealt with a variety of injuries during his career. I think he’s a guy who possibly could benefit from the lockout. He’s had an entire offseason to let his body recover and get fully healthy. Let’s say he stays that way. Bush has only played a full 16-game season once in his career. That was 2006, his rookie season. Combine his rushing and receiving numbers from that season and you come up with more than 1,300 yards and eight touchdowns. I expect Mark Ingram to sort of fill the old Deuce McAllister role. In 2006, McAllister and Bush made a nice tandem. Plus, I think Sean Payton has had an entire offseason to come up with different ways to utilize Bush’s talents. I think it’s possible he could put up numbers similar to what he did as a rookie, if he can stay healthy all year.

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Dustin in San Diego asks about the possibility of Tampa Bay pursuing Atlanta free-agent tackle Tyson Clabo.

Pat Yasinskas: Not out of the realm of possibility. Right tackle Jeremy Trueblood is a free agent and he lost his job to James Lee last season. I don’t think the Bucs are going to make a huge effort to re-sign Trueblood. Atlanta may try to keep Clabo, but the Bucs might be wise to make a run at him. Clabo would be an upgrade over Trueblood or Lee.

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Jason in Winston-Salem, N.C., asks if there’s any chance of the Panthers keeping quarterback Matt Moore.

Pat Yasinskas: I just don’t see it. Cam Newton and Jimmy Clausen are guaranteed roster spots, unless they get injured. The Panthers also have Tony Pike and have talked about signing a veteran to mentor the young quarterbacks. Moore has a little experience, but not enough to really be the true mentor type. I still think Moore can be a decent NFL backup. I just think it’s in his best interest to go somewhere else and get a fresh start.

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Jill in Atlanta wanted to know my thoughts on Ricky Bell as a potential member of Tampa Bay’s Ring of Honor.

Pat Yasinskas: I think Bell is someone who should get in to the Ring of Honor in the next couple of years, if the Bucs continue to go in some sort of chronological order. Bell was a little before my time and I was in junior high school in Pennsylvania most of the time he played for the Bucs. But, even from a distance, I remember Bell in the same category as Lee Roy Selmon and Doug Williams, especially in that wondrous 1979 season. That might have been Bell’s finest season and he had several good years. Sadly, his career was cut short by illness and he died in 1984. I’ve talked to several former teammates about Bell and they all say he was a marvelous talent and wonder what he could have done if he had a longer career. I think he did enough to earn a spot in the Ring of Honor.

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Brian in Athens, Ga., inquired about the status of Atlanta defensive tackle Peria Jerry.

Pat Yasinskas: I’ve asked that question of coach Mike Smith and general manager Thomas Dimitroff several times this offseason. Every time, each of them has given the same answer: they’re expecting big things from Jerry, their first-round pick in 2009. He had a major knee injury early in his rookie season. Jerry came back last season, but was only a situational player with rookie Corey Peters playing ahead of him. Smith and Dimitroff have admitted the plan was to go slowly with Jerry last season. They firmly believe this is the season his knee will be totally healthy and they think he can finally be the player they thought they were getting when they drafted him.

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Mike in Chapel Hill, N.C., said he’s read a lot about players working out on their own or in groups during the offseason, but wonders what coaches have been doing during the lockout.

Pat Yasinskas: Excellent question and not much has been written about this. Around the league, coaches were more involved in the draft than in past years. They’ve also spent a lot of time working with personnel staffs to prepare for free agency. I think that’s one bright side of the lockout because coaching staffs and personnel staffs have had more time to get on the same page about who they want in free agency. Beyond that, I’ve heard that coaches have spent a lot of time reviewing the players they already have and thinking about ways to make them better. I’ve also heard coaches have done a lot more advance film work on their opponents for this season.

TAMPA, Fla. -- The orange and white (also known as Creamsicle) colors that symbolized the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will make a return late in the 2011 season.

Co-chairman Bryan Glazer announced Wednesday the Bucs will wear their “throwback’’ uniforms for the Dec. 4 game with the Carolina Panthers at Raymond James Stadium. That will also be the day the Bucs will make former tight end Jimmie Giles the third inductee into their Ring of Honor.

The Bucs, who switched to red and pewter as their dominant colors in the mid-1990s, started bringing back the orange and white for one game a year in 2009.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Of all the hundreds -- maybe thousands -- of moments Jimmie Giles could have picked as his favorite with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, this one’s definitely not the cleanest. It also may surprise you a bit at first.

“Wrestling in the mud with (teammate) David Lewis,’’ Giles said Wednesday as the Bucs announced he will be inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor at a Dec. 4 home game with Carolina.

The wrestling session happened at the end of the 1979 season, a crucial one for the Buccaneers. Needing a win to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, the Bucs beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 3-0, in a torrential downpour.

The team that began as an expansion franchise in 1976 and started 0-26 would go on to stun everyone and reach the NFC Championship Game. It was a high-water mark for a franchise that soon would fall back to its losing ways. Giles was with the Bucs from 1978 until 1986 and, by that point, the Bucs were mired in something well below mediocrity.

They spent the latter half of the 1980s and the early and middle parts of the 1990s as a national joke. Actually, there were all sorts of jokes in those days.

“The sign on the ticket window was “Sorry, we’re open,’’ cracked long-time Tampa Bay radio personality Jack Harris, who was one of the guest speakers before Giles took the microphone.

But one of the best things the Bucs have done since starting the Ring of Honor two years ago is that they’ve embraced their past. It would be easy to try to forget it all and skip the whole era before coach Tony Dungy came along and changed the climate and the uniforms switched from orange and white to pewter and red.

That also would be a mistake because there were some good times and good players from those early years. Co-chairman Bryan Glazer made it a point to say the team’s present and future wouldn’t be possible without its past. He’s right.

Lee Roy Selmon and John McKay, the first two inductees, created some magical moments for a young franchise. So did Giles, who played tight end and went to four Pro Bowls while with the Bucs.

“It was Jimmie Giles and some others who helped turn this team around,’’ Harris said. “It was a great era.’’

But a short era. Sooner or later, the Bucs will open the floodgates for their Ring of Honor. That will start when Derrick Brooks goes in, which will clear the way for guys like Warren Sapp, John Lynch, Mike Alstott, Ronde Barber, Dungy and Jon Gruden.

It’s not quite time for that yet. Although there was a long dry spell between the 1979 team and the teams of the late 1990s, there are some other guys from those eras who deserve the honor. Guys like Ricky Bell, James Wilder, Paul Gruber and Hardy Nickerson should go in before the Bucs get to their more-recent past.

Then, there’s Doug Williams. He was the quarterback of the 1979 team and, by all rights, he should be going into the Ring of Honor before or with Giles. He’s not. That’s mostly Williams’ fault. He did some great things as a player and left Tampa Bay in a bitter salary dispute with former owner Hugh Culverhouse. Williams carried a grudge before finally returning to work in the team’s personnel department.

Things were good for a few years, but Williams left after the 2010 draft. Williams and general manager Mark Dominik weren’t getting along. Since his departure, Williams has taken some public shots at the Bucs. He’s not going to get into the Ring of Honor as long as that’s going on.

As Giles talked, I think there might have been a subtle message to Williams. Giles was talking about how the Bucs of long ago went through some tough times and weren’t beloved. Giles said that things change with time and that no one should succumb to bitterness.

That’s an excellent point. The Bucs are going out of their way to reach out to their former players. Let the water flow under the bridge.

The Bucs and their former players need to stay above the bridge -- above the pettiness.

TAMPA, Fla. -- I’m getting ready to head out to One Buccaneer Place for the news conference to formally announce Jimmie Giles into the team’s Ring of Honor.

The Bucs did a first-class job of making the announcement of John McKay last year and Lee Roy Selmon the year before that. I’m sure they’ll do right by Giles, but I’m more curious to see this announcement than I was the first two.

That’s largely because I knew just about everything about Selmon and McKay. Selmon was Tampa Bay’s first draft pick, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a staple in the community and I sometimes eat at his restaurants. McKay was Tampa Bay’s colorful first coach and was famous before that as an outstanding college coach at Southern California. He stayed in Tampa Bay after he was done coaching and sometimes stopped by to watch practice back in the mid-1990s when his son, Rich, was general manager and I was covering the Bucs on a daily basis.

But Giles is a little different. I don’t know nearly as much about him. I remember him a little as a player, but I arrived in the Tampa Bay area for college just as Giles was wrapping up his time with the Bucs. Growing up in Pennsylvania, not many Tampa Bay games were televised locally unless the Bucs happened to be playing the Giants, Eagles or Jets.

Giles also spent time with the Oilers, Lions and Eagles, but the best part of his career came with Tampa Bay. He was with the Bucs from 1978 until 1986 and made four Pro Bowls during that time. He was part of the 1979 team that made an unlikely run to the NFC Championship Game.

In 13 NFL seasons, Giles had 350 catches for 5,084 yards and 41 touchdowns. Those aren’t huge numbers for a tight end. But you have to remember Giles was playing in an era when tight ends primarily were used as blockers. Giles did have some big moments as a receiver and none was bigger than Oct. 20, 1985, against the Miami Dolphins. In that game, Giles caught four touchdown passes.

Buccaneers teammate Gerald Carter once was quoted as saying that Giles could have been "one of the best all-time tight ends, if they'd used him more".

But the Bucs used Giles enough that he was one of their best players from an early history that wasn’t always pretty. He did enough to earn a spot in the Ring of Honor and a lasting legacy.

I’ll be back later with more on Giles.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have said they’ll make an announcement Wednesday about the next inductee to their Ring of Honor.

They won’t officially say who it is yet, but the St. Petersburg Times is reporting that it’s former tight end Jimmie Giles and they’re citing former quarterback Doug Williams as the source. I’ve got no problem with Giles going in as the third member of the Ring of Honor after Lee Roy Selmon and John McKay. Giles was a very good tight end. The Glazer family, which owns the team, works together to select members of the Ring of Honor and team co-chairman Bryan Glazer serves as the front man for those efforts. The Glazers are making a smart move by going by some degree of chronological order.

If he had skipped ahead to Derrick Brooks, guys like Giles, James Wilder, Paul Gruber and Hardy Nickerson would have to wait for years. Once Brooks goes in, it’s going to open the gates for the rest of the big names from Tampa Bay’s golden age -- Warren Sapp, John Lynch, Mike Alstott, Warrick Dunn, Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden and Ronde Barber. By the time all those guys get in, Josh Freeman, LeGarrette Blount and Mike Williams might be ready to follow.

The Bucs didn’t have a glorious history before Dungy came along, but it’s important to recognize guys like Giles now and Brooks and friends can wait a few years. The guy who may be waiting the longest is Doug Williams. You could make a case Williams should be the next guy going into the Ring of Honor, but that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

After winning the battle of public opinion in his long-ago feud with former owner Hugh Culverhouse, Williams was back in the good graces of the franchise for a time. He worked in the team’s personnel department and was close with Gruden and former general manager Bruce Allen.

But Williams left due to a strained relationship with Mark Dominik after he became the general manager. Williams might not have the fans on his side this time. He’s taken public shots at the Bucs and Dominik, while the franchise has stayed quiet about Williams. Even while Williams still worked for the team, he created an awkward moment when the Bucs announced Selmon as the first member of the Ring of Honor. Williams spoke at that news conference and it was kind of bizarre. Instead of talking about Selmon, he spent almost all of his time talking about the 1979 team.

The franchise probably is going to stay quiet on Williams for a long time. He was an important part of the franchise’s early years, but he’s burned some bridges. Unless those are repaired, Williams probably won’t be going into the Ring of Honor.

There will be two new members inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame this fall. Former safety Sammy Knight and longtime radio and television announcer Bruce Miller have been named as the newest selections.

Each NFC South team has some way of honoring its former players. For instance, the Bucs do it with their Ring of Honor, which, so far, includes only Lee Roy Selmon and John McKay.

We’ll see how long this lockout lasts, but I’m thinking if it drags into the middle of June or later, we might go ahead and do some Call It polls to let you select who belongs in the NFC South Hall of Fame. There’s no such thing right now, but, even if it’s just for fun, it might be a good time to start one.

Here’s a list of past inductees into the Saints Hall of Fame.

• 1988 -- Archie Manning and Danny Abramowicz
• 1989 -- Tommy Myers and Tom Dempsey
• 1990 -- Billy Kilmer
• 1991 -- Tony Galbreath and Derland Moore
• 1992 -- George Rogers, Jake Kupp and John Hill
• 1993 -- Joe Federspiel
• 1994 -- Henry Childs and Jim Finks
• 1995 -- Doug Atkins and Bob Pollard
• 1996 -- Dave Whitsell and Dave Waymer
• 1997 -- Stan Brock and Rickey Jackson
• 1998 -- Dalton Hilliard and Sam Mills
• 1999 -- Bobby Hebert and Eric Martin
• 2000 -- Pat Swilling and Vaughan Johnson
• 2001 -- Jim Wilks and Hoby Brenner
• 2002 -- Jim Mora and Frank Warren
• 2003 -- Jim Dombrowski and Wayne Martin
• 2004 -- Rueben Mayes and Steve Sidwell
• 2006 -- Joel Hilgenberg
• 2007 -- Joe Johnson
• 2008 -- William Roaf
• 2009 -- Morten Andersen
• 2010 -- Joe Horn

Let's take a run through some headlines around the NFC South.

Tampa Bay defensive end Kyle Moore makes it sound like it’s going to cost rookie Adrian Clayborn some money to get his jersey (No. 94). Moore better get as much as he can because the arrival of Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers means he’s not even guaranteed a roster spot. Of course, if Moore had produced more than zero sacks in his two-year career, he might have a guaranteed roster spot and his jersey number might be safe because the Bucs might not have felt the urgency to go out and draft two defensive ends.

Joe Person has projected the depth chart for the Carolina Panthers. I’ve only got one small disagreement with him. I’d go ahead and slide Cam Newton straight up to No. 1 at quarterback. If there is a veteran on the way, it’s not going to be anyone who is a serious candidate to start over Newton and Jimmy Clausen. The only way the Panthers open the season with a veteran is if the lockout wipes out all or most of training camp and Newton and Clausen have had virtually no time to work in the new offensive scheme. If there is a normal training camp, I'm not sure the Panthers even carry a veteran on the roster. They also have second-year pro Tony Pike, who they invested a draft pick in last year.

Nice gesture by the Buccaneers on Saturday night as they honored Derrick Brooks with a formal retirement party. This was a big step in mending a relationship that was fractured when the Bucs released Brooks in 2009. There has been some thawing, but there still needs to be more. The Bucs need a friendly relationship with the best player in franchise history and Brooks needs to start embracing the team again. No sense in going through life with bitterness in your heart (see Doug Williams). Matter of fact, if things keep going the way they currently are, I think Brooks gets into the team's Ring of Honor before Williams.

Chris Harris has a list of his top-10 rookies for fantasy purposes. Mark Ingram, Julio Jones and Cam Newton all are on the list.

Heath Evans wrote an op-ed piece for The Huffington Post. If this seems like an unusual place for the fullback of the New Orleans Saints to surface, give his article a read. It’s not the usual football story, not even close.

The Saints are getting together for some workouts at Tulane University. As you might have guessed, quarterback Drew Brees is running the show. Josh Freeman's been leading a similar effort for the Bucs.

TAMPA, Fla. -- I ran into Falcons team president Rich McKay in the Atlanta locker room after Sunday’s game.

His father, John McKay was inducted into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor at halftime of the game. Rich spoke on behalf of the McKay family and about 20 members of the 1976 expansion team stood behind him.

But Rich McKay told me about another event the Bucs put on Saturday night that didn’t get publicized. The Bucs brought the McKay family (Rich was Tampa Bay’s general manager in the 1990s until 2003) and the players from the 1976 team together for a dinner at One Buccaneer Place on Saturday night. Rich McKay said the event was filled with stories about his father and the team’s early years and the closeness the initial players shared still was evident.

But there were some other guests at the event. The Bucs also had their current players spend some time socializing with the 1976 team members.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Of all the people I know in the Tampa Bay area, a friend I’ll call “Dan’’ is the biggest sports fan.

Literally -- he’s 6-foot-7 and a former college basketball player. And figuratively -- he listens to sports-talk radio all day, reads the NFC South Blog and the rest of the sports internet world and still subscribes to two daily newspapers. He’s the only person I know under 50 who still subscribes to two daily newspapers.

He can name the full rosters of every pro sports team in Tampa Bay and every big football and basketball college program in the state of Florida. Heck, Dan even got emotional the other day when the Buccaneers cut Sabby Piscitelli.

So, when I talked to Dan the other night, I asked if he was going to Sunday’s game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons at Raymond James Stadium. He said no and I asked him why.

“I can’t afford it,’’ Dan said. “I’ll listen to it on the radio.’’

Like a lot of people in Florida, Dan lost his job because of an economic downturn that has hit Florida especially hard. He used to make very good money. But, even in those days, he didn’t have season tickets and he went to games only on rare occasions.

But what if things were still good? Would Dan buy a ticket for Sunday?

“Nah,’’ he said. “Maybe if it were a playoff game.’’

Well, guess what? Sunday essentially is a playoff game for the Buccaneers. They’re 7-4 and they need a win against the Falcons to have any chance to win the NFC South. They need a win to remain firmly in the playoff picture.

Even without Dan, you’d think the Bucs would have no trouble selling out this game. The game has been “flexed’’ to the 4:15 p.m. time slot, the Bucs will be inducting former coach John McKay into the Ring of Honor and will be wearing their creamsicle-color throwback uniforms. The game is being played in one of the league’s nicest stadiums.

But selling out is not going to happen. It’s not even going to come close to happening. I talked to a team official the other day and he said the Bucs are guessing they’ll be lucky to sell 50,000 tickets and actually get 45,000 to show up at the stadium, which seats more than 65,000.

This is nothing new this year. After selling out every home game since the opening of Raymond James Stadium in 1998, the Bucs haven’t sold out a home game this season. That means they haven’t had a home game aired on local television this year. At most of their games, they’ve announced that tickets distributed were somewhere in the 40,000s, and the Tampa Sports Authority, which runs the stadium, usually says the actual turnstile count is somewhere in the upper 30,000s or lower 40,000s.

I understand the economy and have seen lots of other friends besides Dan lose their jobs or take cuts in pay. I understand that Florida is full of transplants from elsewhere who would rather stay home and watch the team from their old hometown on television. I understand Florida’s weather is nice and there are a lot of other things to do on a Sunday and some of them are free or inexpensive.

But I can’t understand why the Atlanta game isn’t selling out or at least coming close to it. Back in the offseason, when the Bucs started sending out subtle messages about the strong possibility of television blackouts, I believed them. But I also thought that if the team played well, all those people who filled the stadium for a decade would come flocking back and the attendance problem would fix itself.

It hasn’t, and I’m at a loss to explain it. I understand season tickets cost thousands of dollars and are a luxury for the majority of people in Tampa Bay. But single-game tickets are a different story, and the winning by the Bucs hasn’t made much difference in walk-up sales.

That’s more than a little surprising, especially for this game. If there’s one game this year worth plopping down, let’s just say, $50 for, this would have to be it. As I mentioned, it is essentially a playoff game.

The Bucs have done their part. They’ve put a good product on the field. With quarterback Josh Freeman and a group of play-making young receivers, they have the most exciting and entertaining offense in franchise history. Their defense isn’t quite up to the old Tony Dungy/Monte Kiffin level, but it has come on strong in recent weeks.

Nobody seems to have noticed. I’ve got a couple of other theories on all this, but I’m fast running out of them.

First, last year’s 3-13 record didn’t help. Neither did the release of Derrick Brooks and a few other popular veterans following the 2008 season. There was some bitterness about all that, and it’s understandable. But we live in a knee-jerk society and you’d think the Bucs' winning football would have erased this by now.

Second, the fans seem to dislike the Glazer family, which owns the team. The perception is that the Glazers are “cheap’’ because they haven’t signed a lot of free agents and have had one of the league’s lowest payrolls the past couple years. There may be a bit of truth to that. But, overall, I think the perception is unfair and inaccurate. The Glazers are businessmen, but they also want to win. They brought Tampa Bay its only Super Bowl title and years of competitive teams. They’ve got a competitive team right now. Tampa Bay has a large transient population, but there still are enough natives or longtime residents who should remember what things were like back when Hugh Culverhouse ran the team.

Culverhouse operated in a day when there was no salary cap or floor. He always had the league’s lowest payrolls and he didn’t care if the Bucs won because he was pocketing millions off television contracts. The Glazers might not be the best owners in the league, but they’re not the worst. And compared to Culverhouse, they are gems.

Next year the Bucs are not raising season-ticket prices and they’re offering fans a 10-month payment plan. Indications from team officials are those sales are going fairly well, but they haven’t produced overwhelming results.

But let’s stick to this season. Let’s say the Bucs knock off Atlanta and go to Washington and beat the Redskins. Then, they come home for a Dec. 19 game with Detroit, which will probably draw about 40,000 people. Let’s give the Bucs a win against the Lions too. That puts them at 10-4 heading into a Dec. 26 game with Seattle. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m.

It could have big playoff implications for the Bucs and even the Seahawks in the crazy NFC West. It could get flexed into a better time slot by the league and television networks.

Day after Christmas? Bucs and Seahawks? It’ll be a Christmas miracle if more than 40,000 people show up. Let’s take it one step further and say the Bucs do get into the playoffs and somehow end up hosting a game.

Do they sell it out?

I doubt it. They can’t sell out the Atlanta game, which is pretty much the same thing as a playoff game.

You know that old riddle -- if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, I’ve never been able to figure that one out or spent a lot of time trying. But I do know one thing for certain: There’s a very nice football tree growing on Dale Mabry Highway right now. But, for whatever reason, Tampa Bay doesn’t seem to be noticing.

ATLANTA -- I just got set up in the Georgia Dome where prime time is still a few hours off. But “Prime Time’’ is staring at me. The Falcons have a nice program made up to commemorate Deion Sanders’ induction to the Ring of Honor tonight.

That should be one of many highlights in tonight’s game between the Falcons and Ravens. AFC North blogger James Walker and I will be bringing you all the news, notes and analysis.

I'll be back with the inactives before kickoff. I know there have been some rumors out there that Atlanta receiver Roddy White won't play. I'll tell you right now, there is no truth to those rumors. Coach Mike Smith and White have been saying all week that the receiver will play. I just checked with a team official who said that plan has not changed.

It’s kind of fitting that the newest member of the Atlanta Falcons' Ring of Honor will be inducted during the Nov. 11 game against Baltimore that will be played in prime time. Yes, it’s Deion Sanders.

The Falcons just announced that Sanders will be the eighth member of the Ring of Honor.

"Deion Sanders is widely regarded as one of the best cornerbacks in the 91-year history of the National Football League," Falcons Owner & CEO Arthur Blank said. "He epitomized excellence on the playing field and was a tremendously gifted athlete who possessed great speed. Deion excelled as a defender, kick returner, punt returner and on offense on his way to establishing 12 club records. He was an electrifying performer who put fans on the edge of their seats every time he manned his cornerback position or dropped back to receive a kickoff or field a punt. He is without question one of the greatest players in the history of our franchise."

Blank pretty nicely summed up what Sanders did for the Falcons from 1989 through 1993. Sanders will join William Andrews, Steve Bartkowski, Mike Kenn, Claude Humphrey, Tommy Nobis, Jessie Tuggle and Jeff Van Note in the Ring of Honor.

I just came across this radio interview with Falcons owner Arthur Blank. There was one part where Blank was asked about being accessible to the media. As a media member, I found this interesting and I think fans will, too.

“That’s very much a part of our culture, is to be available, and frankly to be even more available when times are difficult,’’ Blank said. “It’s easy to be available when things are going great. Sometimes when you’re facing adversity, some folks go off and hide someplace. We don’t think that’s the best thing to do.”

Applause for Blank. There’s no doubt he is the NFC South’s most accessible owner. Nobody else is even close. Blank isn’t Jerry Jones or Daniel Snyder. In other words, he’s not constantly out there seeking attention, but he’s willing to be out front with the media and, in turn, his fans. Blank gets it when it comes to dealing with media and fans, and I give Falcons public relations guru Reggie Roberts and his staff a lot of credit for creating a very media-friendly environment.

It’s really not that way with the other NFC South owners. Carolina’s Jerry Richardson is by no means an unfriendly man. In fact, he’ll often stop on the practice field to talk with reporters. It’s off the record and just basic conversation, and Richardson treats media members as real people. But he just doesn’t like being in the spotlight. When I covered the Panthers for The Charlotte Observer, Richardson usually would agree to go on the record once a year, and usually it was at the spring owners meeting. He’d talk extensively about the state of his team. At the end, I’d always say something like, “See, it’s not that difficult’’. He’d laugh and say, “Yeah, but we won’t do it again until next year’’. It’s just the way he operates.

New Orleans owner Tom Benson has been a bit more visible since the Saints won the Super Bowl, but he’s never been the type to hold court with the media. His granddaughter Rita LeBlanc, who seems to be gaining more and more power in the operation of the franchise, is more media friendly and has become the face of the franchise, from an ownership perspective.

Tampa Bay owner Malcolm Glazer used to be called a recluse, and I don’t think that was inaccurate. In fact, I can only remember him speaking twice in the early years of his ownership when I was covering the Bucs for The Tampa Tribune. I believe once was when he officially bought the team, and the other time was when the Bucs signed Warren Sapp to a huge contract extension. Glazer is not in great health these days, and sons Bryan, Joel, and Ed are running the team. They take a lot of heat locally for not being very media friendly. But I don’t think that label is entirely accurate. The Glazers might not be outgoing personalities, but they know every reporter in their market by name and they’ll make small talk when they run into media members. They also have taken the Richardson approach at times and done some state-of-the-union addresses at league meetings. There also is a new effort inside One Buccaneer Place to make the Glazers more visible, and we’ve seen some evidence of that with the brothers playing big roles in Derrick Brooks’ retirement ceremony and the announcement that John McKay will join the team’s Ring of Honor. Look for that to continue, but don’t ever expect the Glazers to become like Blank.

John in Denver writes: This past off season the focus has been on the Falcons pass rush. My take has been that the overwhelming consensus has been they should have taken a DE. The Falcons focused more on the interior. My questions is why doesn't that count? A surge in the line is a surge in the line. If the DT's are causing havoc then the DE's should have more opportunities. Am I missing something? Why no love for the DT's?

Pat Yasinskas: It’s a natural question for the national media. The Falcons didn’t have much of a pass rush last year and they didn’t go out and get any big names at defensive end. That said, you’ve got a point. They should be stronger in the middle of the defensive line and that should help the guys on the outside. That’s the logic the Falcons followed and we’ll see how it works out.

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Jacob in Atlanta writes: You used the word peripatetic to describe T.O. recently. Here's what dictionary.com says: ?adjective 1. walking or traveling about; itinerant. 2. ( initial capital letter ) of or pertaining to Aristotle, who taught philosophy while walking in the Lyceum of ancient Athens. 3. ( initial capital letter ) of or pertaining to the Aristotelian school of philosophy. I hardly think T.O. and Aristotle are similar!

Pat Yasinskas: Actually, it was my colleague, good friend and mentor Len Pasquarelli who used that word to describe Terrell Owens. Len has a much more expansive vocabulary than I do. I never would have used the term “peripatetic’’ to describe anyone because I’ve got no idea what the word means. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed the word until you brought it to my attention.

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Glenn in Rock Hill, S.C. writes: My question is do you see Derrick Ward breaking out this year being in a system for a full offseason and seeing it go into effect from training camp throughout the year(Jeff Jagodzski incident)?

Pat Yasinskas: No question the Bucs didn’t get as much out of Ward as they were hoping for when they signed him last year. But part of that was because Cadillac Williams made such a strong return from injury and is a favorite of the coaching staff. That staff wasn’t enamored by what it saw out of Ward last year. There still is some talent there, but Ward needs to show a lot more in camp to earn more playing time.

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Mike in Pittsburgh: In reading a lot of previews for the Panthers, I notice that people are down on the linebacking corps after Thomas Davis's injury. While I agree it is a loss, I also remember that the Panthers D played its best football *after* he went to IR (This is not even mentioning Na'il Diggs was out with injury frequently too). Point being, our great depth at the position really helped us out there. Now, we've added two good pieces in Eric Norwood and Jamar Williams, yet people still seem to think that losing Davis is the difference between our LBs being average and great. Am I alone in thinking this is something of an overreaction?

Pat Yasinskas: There’s no question losing Davis hurts. He’s a great player. But it’s not like the cupboard is bare. Jon Beason is a top-notch linebacker and linebackers always seem to play well in John Fox’s defense. There might be a little dropoff without Davis, but Norwood, Williams, James Anderson and Dan Connor give the Panthers some decent options.

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Vinnie in Atlanta writes: I like the Falcons' and Bucs' new unis, but the throwbacks they wore last year were cool. I could see visions of Steve Bartkowski in the Falcons' throwbacks, and who doesn't like the creamsicle Bucs' throwback if only for a couple of games. Are there any plans to wear these unis this year? As you know, teams do this to sell more merchandise.

Pat Yasinskas: Yes, the Bucs plan to wear their throwback uniforms for the game against Atlanta when they induct John McKay into the team’s Ring of Honor. The Falcons will not wear throwbacks for that game. But stay tuned. I think there might be an announcement coming about Atlanta wearing throwbacks for a home game.

TAMPA, Fla. -- As ceremonial press conferences go, what I just saw was as good as it gets.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers officially announced former coach John McKay will be the next inductee into the team’s Ring of Honor. For a franchise that has a history of not always doing things the right way, this one was spectacularly graceful.

Some of that might have been because of the subject matter and the people involved. Start with Lee Roy Selmon, the first member of the Ring of Honor.

“I really believe [McKay] should have been in last year,’’ Selmon said.

Buccaneer history might not always be pretty, but Selmon is Mr. Buccaneer and he and McKay, who passed away in 2001, are the only two people who could have brought together the collection of folks who showed up at One Buccaneer Place on Wednesday.

At the end of his coaching tenure, Tampa Bay fans were screaming, “Throw McKay in Tampa Bay’’, but it became obvious Wednesday the man built a pretty impressive bridge across areas where there were some choppy waters.

That brings us to the next speaker. It was Rich McKay, the coach’s son. Rich was the general manager of the Buccaneers in the 1990s and, along with coach Tony Dungy, turned the franchise from hapless to respectable and helped bring a new stadium.

A few years later, Rich McKay lost a power struggle with coach Jon Gruden. He ended up going to the Atlanta Falcons where he’s now the team president.

Prior to Wednesday, Rich McKay never had been in the new One Buccaneer Place. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a palace under any circumstances and light years from the team’s initial facility. With current general manager Mark Dominik standing against a wall, co-chairman Bryan Glazer introduced Rich McKay as “our friend."

Yes, the president of the Atlanta Falcons is a friend of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rich McKay walked onto stage carrying a fedora Tampa Bay hat like his dad used to wear, and talked all about the early years of the Buccaneers. There was no hint at bitterness about his own departure, just glowing terms about his father, who Rich repeatedly referred to as “the coach."

Rich McKay, who came into Tampa’s Jesuit High School as a senior and grabbed the starting quarterback job away from would-have-been legend Jeff Bender, talked about the Bucs winning their first game on Dec. 11, 1977, and how a crowd showed up at the airport. He talked extensively about the 1979 season in which the Buccaneers went to the NFC Championship Game.

With former John McKay assistant Wayne Fontes, McKay’s daughter Terri and legendary Tampa restaurant owner and family friend Malio Iavarone sitting in the front row, Rich McKay said that season might have been the most gratifying of any for his father, who built a dynasty at the University of Southern California.

“I can assure you he was as proud or prouder of the ’79 team than any national championship team,’’ Rich McKay said.

The Bucs officially will induct John McKay into the Ring of Honor Dec. 5. They’ll wear their 1976 throwback uniforms for that game. It will be against the Atlanta Falcons. A perfect fit for the McKay family and the McKay legacy.