Now Joe is neither a celebrity stalker nor a member of anyone’s posse, nor does Joe play TMZ with his phone camera or post his private conversations with local sports figures here. But that doesn’t mean Joe won’t go out of his way to chat with beloved local sports icons out in public.

While enjoying an evening last night in the Paradise Worldwide Transportation luxury suite at the Ice Palace, Joe was sucking down adult beverages when he learned that Rays skipper Joe Maddon and Raheem Morris were in a suite a five doors down.Visible to the crowd, Raheem appeared into the Lightning game, especially Steve Downie dishing out a brutal takedown and the subsequent fight in the third period.

About 15 minutes later, Joe was invited into the suite to chat with Raheem.

Unfortunately, the dialogue between the head coach and Joe was off the record, and Joe’s not going to violate that. However, Joe can report that Raheem did not watch JoeBucsFan TV yesterday. (What was he thinking?) And Joe did tell the head coach that Joe would continue to “be his best self” and hold Raheem to high standards of excellence.

Joe continues to be fascinated by the relationship between Raheem and Maddon. Raheem has talked about their friendship publicly and revealed Maddon’s mentor-like role, which led to the “Race to 10” slogan going public before the 2010 season.

Last night was Maddon’s birthday, and he spent it with Raheem.

Not since Joe once delivered a pizza to a poker game featuring Bill Parcells, Lou Piniella, Lawrence Taylor and Gene “Stick” Michael, has Joe heard of such a close relationship between active football and baseball men at the top of their fields.

Joe thinks it’s great. But if Josh Freeman’s throws are limited in preseason, we’ll know who’s behind it.