Gruden Has His Team Feeling Groovy

Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle commenting on Tampa Bay Coach Jon Gruden: “What is it that separates Gruden from so many of his peers, that gives him the aura of a great coach without all the little details to back up that assessment? It is, in short, the aura itself.

“ ‘The team here [has] got a bounce to it,’ said Warren Sapp, defensive tackle and gregarious spokesman. ‘I knew it as soon as we left camp. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it’s there.

‘It has to start with Jon, because he’s all about the juice.... He means the world to this whole ballclub.... There’s something special about him, something special about the Little Guy.’ ”

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More Gruden: Dave Hyde in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Part of Gruden’s smarts in arriving at Tampa Bay this season was to tap into Sapp’s personality.

“On the Bucs’ goal-line offense, for instance, he began to use Sapp on the line as a blocker, giving him something to talk about in a quieter way than Chicago once did with William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry.”

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Trivia time: Who preceded John Wooden as UCLA’s basketball coach?

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Just your average kid: Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times commenting on LeBron James: “The nation’ s most famous high school basketball player just got a new set of wheels.

“Unlike most teenagers, however, LeBron’s wheels are attached to a Hummer H2, a birthday present from mom. The Plain Dealer reported that the silver platinum SUV cost at least $44,000, and may be $48,000, if reports are true that the car has been equipped with three televisions and a computer-games hookup.”

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Long-distance fan: Paul Stewart is an avid Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan even though he lives about 20 miles outside of London.

After catching the Buccaneers on Brit telly, he founded the 200-member Tampa Bay Buccaneer Supporters Club UK and has even attended six Buccaneer games here in the colonies.

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The switch: Sam Smith in the Chicago Tribune: “Is Yao Ming the real next Jordan? Yao’s first national commercial hits soon for Apple computers.

“Yao and Verne Troyer (Mini Me from “Austin Powers”) sit next to each other on a plane and each pulls out a laptop, a smallish screen for Yao and a giant screen for Troyer.”

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Kid power: He might be trailing Yao Ming in All-Star voting, but kids back Shaq.

Shaquille O’Neal was chosen as 2002 Athlete of the Year by readers of “Sports Illustrated for Kids”.

He was followed in the vote by Jason Kidd, Alfonso Soriano, Lance Armstrong, Tom Brady, Ichiro Suzuki and Ronaldo.

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Trivia answer: Fred Cozens, 1919-21, Caddy Works, 1921-1939, and Wilbur Johns, 1939-1948.

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And finally: Utah’s Mark Jackson passed to Matt Harpring recently for Jackson’s 10,000th assist.

The crowd broke into cheers, and Harpring said: “I shot it and the crowd started going crazy, and I’m like. ‘Wow, they must really like my jump shot.’ ”