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By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 12, 2001
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One of the traditions of training camp is sharing a room with a teammate. Each day, one Buccaneer is asked to describe his roommate in terms of a popular movie, television or cartoon character. Al Singleton rooms with middle linebacker Jamie Duncan. He said the quiet Duncan is a clone of R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass.
"Look at him. He moves like Teddy. Operates like Teddy. He thinks he's smooth like Teddy. I don't know if he can sing, but he sure reminds me of Teddy."
NAME: Antonious Bonner.
HT/WT: 6-1; 200.
COLLEGE: Mississippi.
POSITION: Cornerback/safety.
NFL EXPERIENCE: Rookie (spent five seasons in CFL).
HOMETOWN: Greenwood, Miss.
BACK IN THE DAY: Bonner doesn't hesitate to recall the most proud moment of his CFL career: winning the Grey Cup in 1997 with the Toronto Argonauts. The Argos went 15-3 in the regular season, trampled Saskatchewan 47-23 in the title game and earned consideration as one of the greatest CFL teams. "That was great," he said.
BRUSH WITH GREATNESS: It was in March, and Bonner was with a friend, visiting a bar before a Lakers-Hawks NBA game, hanging with some players. There he met former Hawks great Dominique Wilkins. "(My friend) knew Dominique and he introduced me to him," Bonner said. "He was cool. My friend just told him I was going to play for the Bucs and he congratulated me and wished me luck."
TO MAKE THE TEAM: Bonner will have to star on special teams to have a shot at his real goal: to play safety for Tampa Bay. But to do so he'll have to learn the NFL game, which he said is different from the CFL. "The speed of the game is different," he said. "It's more complex than the Canadian game."
WHAT'S HIS TAKE: In his spare time, Bonner likes to chill, hang out and play video games. His favorite game is college football. Last year the Ole Miss alumni's favorite team was Miami. This year? "I don't know yet," he said. -- JAMAL THALJI
"Marty Mornhinweg would have canceled this press conference." -- TONY DUNGY, coach, while a cellular phone repeatedly rang as he talked with reporters. But unlike the Detroit coach last month, Dungy said, he did not have a Harley-Davidson on which to escape.
TODAY: 10:30 a.m.-noon.
FIRST PRESEASON GAME: Monday vs. Dolphins, 8 p.m., RJS.
* Practices are free and open to public.