Despite today’s latest debacle being declared a sellout, anyone at the game today or watching on TV without a white cane could see more holes in the crowd than a Jim Bates defense.

In short, nearly a third of the stadium was empty, so writes Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times.

The Tampa Sports Authority, which manages the stadium, tells us the actual attendance today was 42,847, a shockingly low number even for a winless team. On Thursday night, the University of South Florida drew an actual crowd of 55,073 for its loss to then-No. 8 Cincinnati.

The team avoided a television blackout when it announced on Wednesday that all tickets would be sold. But it has long been speculated the team was making arrangements to account for unsold tickets whether with the local television affiliates or companies that intend to buy advertising during the broadcast. The team has taken a no-comment stance on matters related to ticket sales and refuses to disclose how many season tickets it has sold for 2009.

There is something very fishy going on and Joe really wonders what the suits in the NFL office think about this.

Meanwhile, Joe doesn’t really care how the Bucs sold the game out, so long as it wasn’t blacked out.