Freedom to choose.
One of the most profound things Joe ever heard didn’t come from a man of the cloth or a college professor. Rather, it came from the “King of All Media.”
Long ago Joe heard of all people, Howard Stern, offer up one of the smartest takes that Joe ever came across. Stern once said, “Money is power, and power is freedom.”
Seven words never hit home for Joe like that sentence did.
Stern went on to explain that if a blue collar worker had squirreled away $20,000 saved up in his bank account and no outstanding debts, if his job turns to crap and his supervisor is a jerk, the worker can tell his supervisor, “Up yours!” and have a financial pillow to fall back on for a few months while he looks for a better job.
Those without money are basically slaves to their employer with little or no options.
That really hit home with Joe.
And it seems Stern’s philosophy came into play when new Bucs linebacker Alex Anzalone chose to Tampa Bay.
Anzalone, appearing on the “Jordan Schultz Report,” explained he had other offers from NFL teams for more money than the Bucs had budgeted for him. But because he stashed away money he earned with the Lions, he didn’t have to chase the highest offer this past free agency season.
We all know his wife, Lindsey, is from Pinellas County. And Anzalone’s father, Salvatore, is a doctor in Naples. But Anzalone, who will be 32 in September, said he had an emotional attachment to Tampa and wanted to play his final NFL years in his adopted hometown.
“I had some really strong offers from some teams,” Anzalone told Schultz. “And if you ask my agent, financially, it would have been better off to go to those places. There were some constraints in what Tampa could offer me.
“Tampa is home for me and my wife. We get to live in our house, get to live in full-time the rest of our lives. It means something to play in Tampa.”
Anzalone said he has had Bucs fans tell him they have renewed their season tickets just because he signed with the Bucs. Anzalone also said not wanting to start over in a strange city with zero emotional connections was another factor in choosing the Bucs.
“The football aspect of being in Coach Bowles’ defense, that really excited me,” Anzalone said. “And I know that’s a perfect fit for me.
“And then you go through the family aspect and all these different dynamics, it is like, what do you weigh? Going into Year 10, I don’t have to think about the finances.”
Joe is intrigued to see how Anzalone, a fiery guy who is really good at pass defense, leads this defense. Joe has a suspicion the Bucs defense is going to look a whole lot different than it has in the past.
And not just because you won’t see the No. 54 on the field.