JScott over at Buc'Em has a cool story up about Mike Alstott's retirement party:
John Lynch, Warren Sapp, and Derrick Brooks recapped their memories of Mike Alstott. Sapp said of his pre-game routine always ending with him head-butting Alstott, "[I did it] because I had Brooks and Lynch and he had nobody" .. That speaks volumes of the kind of offense we had while Lynch, Sapp, and Brooks roamed the field at the same time.
JScott links to an article from the St. Pete Times listing people who attended:
"Tony Dungy, Rod Marinelli, Mike Shula, John Lynch, Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, Brad Johnson, Dexter Jackson, Trent Dilfer, Ronde Barber, Lorenzo Neal, Joe Jurevicius, Simeon Rice, Booger McFarland -- all of them and hundreds more were on hand Saturday to honor Alstott."
When I looked at that listed I wondered Where's Gruden? Turns out he did attend the event, but did not speak.
In case you're wondering, yes, Bucs coach Jon Gruden attended the gala. He did not speak. As one member of the organization put it, it was probably appropriate since Alstott was seldom used as a runner during six seasons under Gruden.
Again, I've never been a fan of Gruden's. He won a Super Bowl with Tony Dungy's team, and hasn't won a playoff game since. Mediocre coach at best, and highly over-rated by just about everyone in the media. He clearly does not carry the same weight of respect Dungy does, and Dungy was fired for Gruden.
But regardless, this was a classy thing the Bucs did for Alstott, and it shows just how close those Buc teams were back in the day. Great find by JScott.