Team In Tampa

Nobody promised Kenny Cooper a rose garden when he left the Spirit and moved to Tampa, Fla., to assemble a National Professional Soccer League expansion team.Rose garden? He hasn't so much as smelled a rose.No longer is he the coach of the Terror. While remaining as a director and president, he has taken a leave of absence from coaching because of a "philosophical difference of opinion with the league relative to players."Three days after he started his leave of absence early last month, he developed pneumonia.

When he was campaigning for the hearts and minds of Baltimoreans, Malcolm Glazer apparently knew he had his work cut out for him.Glazer, a Rochester, N.Y., native living in Palm Beach, Fla., faced suspicion he was just another mercenary in a city with plenty of reason to be wary of out-of-town sports team owners.So he went out of his way to compliment the city and assure his support and loyalty -- until he bought the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.In comments widely rebroadcast in Baltimore yesterday, Glazer said he's glad he didn't get a team here.

At Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla. Day Time TV Starters Today 7:15 CSN Pat Hentgen (4-6, 4.68) vs. Joe Kennedy (3-9, 6.47) Tomorrow 7:15 CSN Rodrigo Lopez (5-6, 5.69) vs. Rob Bell (2-2, 6.27) Wednesday 2:15 No TV Rick Helling (7-8, 5.59) vs. Jeremi Gonzalez (5-5, 3.46) Radio: All games on WBAL (1090 AM) Devil Rays update With the youngest team in baseball, Tampa Bay probably won't make it out of the American League East basement this year, but the Devil Rays have gone 18-16 since July 3, and they just finished a stretch of 20 games against teams above .500.

Peter Angelos' negotiations to buy the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and move the NFL team to Baltimore have shifted into high gear, with the Orioles owner now among the front-runners to strike a deal -- and to do it soon -- according to a top Buccaneers official."

Angelos vs. Steinbrenner.That sounds fun.Angelos vs. the NFL.Even better.Officially, it would be Angelos v. NFL -- as in antitrust lawsuit, as in treble damages, as in humiliation for Paul Tagliabue, Jack Kent Cooke and the rest of the anti-Baltimore brigade.Merry Christmas, Tampa.You better not shout, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why.An-ge-los is coming to town.Let George Steinbrenner try to keep the Buccaneers in Tampa -- Orioles runner-up Jeffrey Loria can advise him on the perils of bidding against Angelos.

Flamboyant New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner yesterday made an 11th-hour bid to buy the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, saying he doesn't like to finish second to anyone -- including fellow baseball team owner Peter Angelos.Trustees selling the team said that it was late for a new bid, but that they would consider the offer. The value of the bid was not revealed."It's substantial, but we need to get a lot more detail," Bucs trustee Steve Story said last night outside his Tampa office. Mr. Steinbrenner, a resident of Tampa, did not include the names of his partners in the bid and declined to reveal them.

One of Baltimore's best shots at returning to the NFL in a decade was on the verge of collapse yesterday as Malcolm Glazer -- a one-time Baltimore booster -- neared a deal for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.After a full day of negotiations, which saw representatives for both sides shuttle between Tampa law offices, the team announced it was close to a deal, but had not reached one and wouldn't until Monday at the earliest.If the deal is consummated, Mr. Glazer, whose unsuccessful courtship of sports teams had led some to brand him a "tirekicker," will have silenced two of the biggest talkers in sports: Peter Angelos and George Steinbrenner.

Once again, the NFL carrot is dangling in front of our football-hungry mouths. We're high on the list of cities to which the Los Angeles Rams are considering moving. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are for sale, and our big guy, Peter Angelos, has already thrown a ton of money at them once.We're supposed to be excited. Holding our breath. Upping our taxpayer-funded offer. Selling what's left of our soul -- and as many luxury boxes as possible.So, why are we yawning?Why isn't anyone talking about this?

Trustees selling the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- who have done everything but beg for offers -- got their wish this week in the form of a verbal bid from investors interested in keeping the team local.Team officials, citing a confidentiality agreement with the bidders, declined to say how much the bid was for, but said it was "meaningful" and hoped it would spark other offers.They also said they expected an offer from Orioles managing partner Peter Angelos this week, something Angelos declined to comment on.Angelos, who had two attorneys and an accountant in Tampa yesterday going over the details of a proposal for the team, did say he was not surprised or concerned about the rival bid.The offer came Monday during a meeting in Tampa with a group that includes Florida-based developer Tommy Shannon and Outback Steakhouse executives Chris Sullivan and Bob Basham.

No one gets forgiven, not Irsay, not Cooke, not Tagliabue.Not any of the creeps who turned us into scavengers, turned Baltimore into Indianapolis, 11 years removed.We played by their rules, they rejected us. We jumped through their hoops, they rejected us. We earned an expansion team, they rejected us.Now they ge what they deserve.They get the relocation of one of the NFL's most storied franchises, the franchise that gave the league Jim Brown and Otto Graham and Marion Motley and Lou Groza.