Malcolm Glazer cast long shadow on Bucs

The Bucs miss Malcolm Glazer as their owner. Glazer died last week at age 85, although it has been quite some time since he was in charge of the team. He suffered a pair of strokes in the spring of 2006 that left him largely incapacitated and incapable of running the franchise. But when he was running the team, the Bucs were a huge success on and off the field. From the time Glazers purchased the team in 1995 until early 2006, with Malcolm in charge, the Bucs went 96-80 over 11 seasons. That also included six postseason appearances and the team's lone Super Bowl championship.

In addition, Malcolm fired Sam Wyche as coach and hired Tony Dungy and then, eventually, fired Dungy and hired Jon Gruden. Hard to argue with any of those changes.

Meantime, since Malcolm's health issues and with sons Bryan, Joel and Edward in charge, the Bucs have gone 48-80 over eight seasons. That includes one postseason game, which the Bucs lost. Their coaching changes have meant firing Gruden to hire Raheem Morris. Then firing Morris after three seasons to hire Greg Schiano. Then firing Schiano after two seasons to hire Lovie Smith.

So far, those moves have ranged from awful to still unknown.

To be fair, it should be pointed out that the Bucs' downward turn also coincides with the Glazers' involvement with Manchester United. The Glazers took over Man U in May of 2005 — about a year before Malcolm's strokes.

Interestingly, it was a move that upset fans of both Manchester United and the Bucs. However, Manchester United has had much more success over the past 10 years than the Bucs, who are still trying to equal the golden days of Malcolm's 11 seasons in charge.

This isn't to say that the sons of Malcolm are not committed to winning or haven't tried to do what they could to build a winning NFL team. It's just that, so far, they haven't had the success that they had when Malcolm still had a big say in the everyday operations.

Best city

So the Los Angeles Clippers — clearly the No. 2 NBA team in Los Angeles — are being sold for $2 billion? They don't even have their own arena and, regardless of what happens on the court, will always play second fiddle to the Lakers. And they are worth $2 billion?

Imagine what an NFL team in Los Angeles would be worth. Other than the New York teams, and perhaps the Cowboys, Bears, Redskins, Patriots and, maybe, the Eagles, every NFL team would probably double in franchise worth by moving to Los Angeles. If I owned the Jaguars, Vikings, Rams, Panthers or, heck, even the Bucs, I'd constantly have a wandering eye on Los Angeles.

Best coach

Maybe the Rangers should just hire a new coach every year. The past three times the Rangers have reached the Stanley Cup final, including this year, it has been with a head coach in his first season with the Rangers.

Alain Vigneault was hired in the offseason to replace John Tortorella and has the Rangers in the final. Mike Keenan was in his first season when the Rangers claimed their last Stanley Cup in 1994. Before that, legendary former Flyers coach Fred Shero took over the Rangers for the 1978-79 season and, along with star Phil Esposito, led the Blueshirts to the 1979 Cup final. The Rangers lost that year to the Canadiens, who won their fourth consecutive Cup.

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Media tidbits

• According to awfulannouncing.com, Marv Albert will no longer call NFL games on CBS. The 72-year-old says he wants to concentrate on calling basketball games.

• In a bit of a surprising move, David Diehl, a former Giants offensive lineman who retired only four months ago, has been hired by Fox to be an NFL game analyst. The early word is Diehl will be paired with Thom Brennaman.

• Pro Football Talk, the daily NFL show on NBC Sports Network, is creating a new series called Prime Numbers. The show will look at the most valuable players at each jersey number. The series will run at 5:30 p.m. from Monday to July 3 and will be hosted by Mike Florio and Erik Kuselias with various special guests including Tony Dungy, Hines Ward and Rodney Harrison. Fans also will have a chance to vote on certain numbers.

• Jenny Dell is no longer working at New England Sports Network. She used to be a sideline reporter for Red Sox games, but that ended after she started a relationship with Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks. She was taken off Red Sox games but now has left the network entirely.

• This morning's Outside the Lines (9 a.m. on ESPN) will look back at the controversial history of disgraced Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

Three things that popped into my head

1. NFL rookie Johnny Manziel made news last week by partying in Las Vegas. Certainly, Manziel has the right to go to Las Vegas or anywhere else he darn well pleases. But he shouldn't be surprised when he goes to Vegas and people make a big deal about it.

2. A thing I have no desire to do: ask Spurs coach Gregg Popovich a question. About anything.

3. The difference between the NBA and NHL playoffs. The Heat's LeBron James rolled his eyes when Indiana's Lance Stephenson blew in his ear. If you blow in a hockey player's ear, you're likely to end up with a bloody nose.

tom jones' two cents