It's almost July 4th. Let's have some fun before things start to get serious.
No Tampa Bay personalities were harmed in the making of this blog post.
Gene: Welcome to the Tampa Bay Buccaneer's first annual July 4th six on six charity flag football tournament. Gene Deckerhoff here and ready to bring you all the excitement from today's competition. Alongside me here at the beautiful Raymond James stadium is Lee Roy Selmon.
Lee Roy: Glad to be here.
Gene: Me too, now let's get ready to fire those cannons! Today, four teams composed of six of your favorite Bucs will compete for charity and, more importantly, their pride.
. . .
The rules are simple. There are two twenty minute halves for each game. The field is one hundred yards in length and fifty yards in width with endzones of ten yards each. There are three first down lines twenty yards apart (20, 40, 20). The field looks like this:
Each team will be given four downs to either score or reach the next first down marker. Failure to do so results in forfeiting possession. Each touchdown is worth six points. Extra point attempts start five yards out from the endzone. Two point attempts start ten yards out. There is no punting. Blitzing is allowed after ten seconds. Once a blitz is initiated, the quarterback is free to run past the line of scrimmage. Contact is not allowed. To be considered down, the flag must come off of the waist. Players are not allowed to protect their flag by holding on to it, hiding it or any other shady act. Each team has one timeout per half. A coin toss before the game will determine possession.
Before today, captains for each team were selected. Selected by the fans, here are your captains: For the Blue team, Derrick Brooks. For the Red Team, Joey Galloway. For the White Team, Ronde Barber. And as a special treat, for the Pewter Team, Mike Alstott.
The captains are lined up and the first pick goes to number forty. Picking a team is simple. It works in a snake rotation with the first pick in the first round picking last in the second round and so on. Anyone on the roster is eligible to play. Let's get started.
With the first pick, Mike Alstott takes Warrick Dunn. Did that surprise you Lee-Roy?
Lee-Roy: Not at all. It will be good to see WD-40 back in action. Not only is Warrick still fast as lightning, his small size and elusiveness will make him a beast on the field today.
Gene: Agreed. I can't wait to see what he does this upcoming season. With the second pick, Derrick Brooks takes rookie Aqib Talib. Wow, I guess this veteran has high hopes for the season.
Lee Roy: Or he just watched some of Aqib's highlight footage.
Gene: With the third pick, Joey Galloway gives the nod to Jeff Garcia.
Crowd: BOOOO.
Gene: I did not expect that reaction to the pick. I guess fans are getting a little tired of Garcia's off-season talk.
Lee Roy: I can't say I blame them. He needs to shut up and lead this team. Today is a good opportunity for him to prove that he still can. Let's see what happens today.
Gene: Well put. With the final pick of the fourth round, Ronde takes Josh Johnson. Wow two rookies taken in the first round.
Lee Roy: Johnson may need some polish, but flag football may just be the perfect bridge between division two ball and the NFL. Plus, he is by far the most mobile quarterback on the roster.
Ten Minutes Later
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | |
| Pewter | Alstott | Warrick Dunn | Dexter Jackson | Jermaine Phillips | Cato June | Brian Griese |
| Blue | Derrick Brooks | Aqib Talib | Josh McCown | Michael Clayton | Ernest Graham | Ben Troupe |
| Red | Joey Galloway | Jeff Garcia | Tanard Jackson | Barrett Ruud | Phillip Buchanon | Paris Warren |
| White | Ronde Barber | Josh Johnson | Alex Smith | Gaines Adams | Eugene Wilson | Sabby Piscitelli |
Gene: For the first match-up we have Alstott's Pewter team up against Galloway's Red Team. What do you think of this match-up?
Lee Roy: It should be a great game. Alstott's team is small, but fast. It's going to be fun to see how Galloway plays on the other side of the ball. I assume he will switch off with Buchanon and Tanard on covering Dunn and Dexter. Dexter's speed will be difficult to defend, but it depends on Griese getting him the ball. Garcia's experience with Galloway gives the red team an edge as these players have developed quite the rhythm over last year. But, I like the Mike's pick of Cato June. I think his speed and defensive instincts will prove difficult to score on.
Gene: Whose is the x-factor for each team?
Lee Roy: For Galloway's team, I think Barrett Ruud is definitely the x-factor. He is expected to organize and lead this team defensively, but I also think he may be a surprising red zone threat. For the Pewter team, I think their captain is their x-factor. If he can limit his drops, his low center of gravity will make him a force once he catches the ball. While contact is not allowed, I won't be surprised if Mike decides to drop a shoulder or two. The one thing about both of the these teams is their lack of size. It will be fun to see how the winner matches up in the final against the larger, albeit slightly slower, teams led by Brooks and Barber.
Game One - Coming tomorrow. Game two on the third. And the final will be on the fourth.