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Bucs' Joseph, Smith Look Forward To First Pro Bowl

Tribune file photo by CLIFF MCBRIDE

Davin Joseph, shown blocking for Brian Griese during the preseason, earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl with the Bucs this season. He'll be joined by rookie returner Clifton Smith and veteran cornerback Ronde Barber.

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By ANWAR RICHARDSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 4, 2009

TAMPA - Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive guard Davin Joseph is accustomed to pushing around defenders, but Minnie, his mom, has rarely budged.

Minnie Joseph has watched her son play football at Oklahoma and for the Bucs, but primarily from the comforts of her couch. Joseph's mom is scared of flying and only traveled by air twice to see her son play football in college.

The supportive mom drives with her husband, Elie, from their south Florida residence to Bucs home games, but hopping on a plane for a West Coast road trip was never an option – until now.

Joseph will play in this year's NFL Pro Bowl on Sunday in Hawaii, and after a lot of persuasion, his mother agreed to fly out to watch her son play. He is making his inaugural Pro Bowl appearance as a first alternate.

"Some convincing had to be done with mom, but she's finally going," Davin said. "She said, 'I'll just watch it on TV.' And I said, 'Mom, you have to go. This is the first one. If it's ever in Hawaii again, I won't make you go.'"

To entice his mom, Joseph purchased her a portable DVD player with an extended battery to ease her anxiety about the more than 10 hours she will spend in the air.

Joseph is not the only Bucs player in Hawaii this week.

Tampa Bay rookie kick returner Clifton Smith and cornerback Ronde Barber will also appear in this year's game. Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks was selected, too, but decided to rest an injured groin instead.

"It's definitely a big accomplishment for me," Smith said. "It's one of those things that I wish my teammates were there to share it with me because they are the ones who got me here. They played a big role.

"Coming from an undrafted guy and people telling me you might not ever play the game again [after sustaining a major knee injury while playing for Fresno State in 2005] to now making it to the Pro Bowl, it's just one of those dreams."

It is also a dream come true for Tampa Bay offensive lineman Donald Penn, Arron Sears and Jeremy Trueblood.

All three players, plus Joseph, made a pact that whoever made the Pro Bowl first would purchase airline tickets to Hawaii for the other friends to watch ohim play in person. The players upped the ante and convinced Joseph to wager first class tickets if Oklahoma lost to Florida in the recent BCS championship game.

Joseph may have lost that bet, but won the battle to finally get his mother on an airplane again.

"You work so hard trying to get into the playoffs and get to the Super Bowl and win a championship that I guess it [Pro Bowl recognition] is just kind of one of those things that come," Joseph said. "You play hard and work hard and you earn the respect of the guys in the locker room and we kind of end up getting those things. I'm getting to that point, I guess you can say."

Reporter Anwar S. Richardson can be reached at (813) 259-8425

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