TAMPA - Football season never really ends, you know. It just takes timeouts here and there during the so-called “offseason. One of those timeouts officially ends today, when the Buc return to the fields of One Buc Place for the first of more than a dozen “Organized Team Activities.’’

Organized Team Activity, or OTA, is football parlance for practice. No hitting is allowed in these practices, so the workouts tend to look a lot like a game of touch football. Still, they are very important.

A lot of decisions are made here. For example, it was during the OTAs last year that the Buc decided Jovan Haye likely would be their starting under tackle. Haye still had to prove his worth during training camp, but it was during practices such as the one the Buc will hold today that he first caught the coaches’ eyes and established himself as the man to beat at his position.

Not everyone participates in OTAs. They are voluntary, after all. And players still recovering from injuries usually are held out by the team as a precaution. As a result we don’t expect to see Joey Galloway (shoulder), Luke Petitgout (knee) or Cato June (foot) here.

Nor do we expect to see Chris Simms. He’s been working out on his own and may not show up for a workout until the mandatory mini-camp, if then. Of course, if we do see Simms we’ll be sure to let you know right away. The media is getting a free peek at today’s workout. All others are expected to be closed, so we’ll cull as much as we can from this one and pass it on.