UT Bball Land

Game of the Year!

2008-02-21T22:05:00.003-05:00

So here it is. The game of the year. If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me welcome you back to Planet Earth because you have been gone all week. Yes, I am talking about the #2 ranked Tennessee Vols playing against the #1 ranked Memphis Tigers. If you have turned on a tv to ESPN or read anything about sports on the web, then you have heard about this game on Saturday. This is more than just a battle for rankings. It's a battle for state supremacy. Only 4 times in college basketball history has the #1 and #2 teams met in a game from the same state, twice in Ohio and twice in North Carolina. While sitting here typing this with ESPN on in the background, I have heard two promos for the game. College Gameday will be live from the FedEx Forum at 11 a.m. eastern. Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews will be there for the game. It's going to be crazy baby!(In my best Dick Vitale voice) Chris Lofton vs Chris Douglas Roberts. Ramar Smith vs Derrick Rose. JaJuan Smith vs Antonio Anderson. Tyler Smith vs Robert Dozier. Wayne Chism vs Joey Dorsey. Bruce Pearl vs John Calipari. Volunteers vs Tigers. I can't wait! And oh yeah, that count just went up to 3 promos.

Checking in...

2008-02-12T20:50:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. I know it's been a while since my last post. Almost a full year actually. Life is going good these days. UT basketball is off to a wonderful start and are having quite possibly their best year ever. They have a big game tomorrow night against an Arkansas team that has started slow but is playing very well lately. The game is in Thompson Boling Arena, however, which has been a great home court advantage over the last year. The Vols are ranked #4 in the nation and are 21-2. Hopefully, after tomorrow night, they will be 22-2!

Really, the biggest thing that is happening right now is wedding planning. For those that don't know, I got engaged on August 30th and am getting married on May 3rd to the most wonderful girl in the world, Emily Dawson. We met at West End Church of Christ back in January of 2007. We began dating in March 07 and the rest is history. I am really excited about spending the rest of my life with her, and can't wait for our lives to begin together!

I'll try to check in more often than I have been. Hope everyone out there is doing great! Go Vols!!

Hows everything going!

2007-02-25T20:20:00.000-05:00

It's been a while for Big Bentley. I haven't really been able to post lately. My new job has really kept me busy, and between that and the basketball season, I really didn't have time to keep my blog updated. As it's not going to be like it was before the hiatus, I have come here to offer up some thoughts.

The past couple of months have been rough for the Vols. Chris Lofton was lost for 4 games with an ankle sprain. The Vols faced a tough schedule in that time and went 1-3 in that stretch. Until recently, the Vols have been able to turn things around. They pulled off three straight at home against LSU, Vandy, and UK. One of the highlights of that time was seeing Bernard King back in Knoxville. While I was never able to see Bernard play, as he was before my time, I had heard the stories growing up going to the games. It was such a honor to see Bernard back at Tennessee to have his #53 retired. And it was even more special to have Ernie Grunfeld and Ray Mears there as well. Then, yesterday, the Vols pulled off their first SEC road win of the season against Arkansas, locking up a NCAA Tourney bid. While there is still much work to be done, I don't see the NCAA committee passing on a team that would finish at 8-8 in the SEC at worst, with a top 10 strength of schedule and top 20 RPI.

Now, in comes the Gators. They have lost 2 of their last 3, both on the road. The Vols have yet to lose at home, going 15-0. The game is on Super Tuesday on ESPN, and for the first time since the early 90's, Dick Vitale will be in the house to broadcast the game. Now, as annoying as Vitale can be, he is the poster child for college basketball. Whenever he comes to your arena to call a game, it says that your program has arrived. The students are being allowed to campout starting Monday morning, ensuring that the crowd will be crazy. The game should be sold out by Monday morning. The tip off club is having their season dinner at 6:00 at the Foundry. Woddy Paige is the featured speaker and Bruce Pearl will be there as well. And, I will be attending. Looking forward to it. But the best part of the night that I'm looking forward to is the Senior Night Ceremony. Dane Bradshaw is the lone senior on this team, and will be honored justly. I'll admit that I tend to get teary-eyed at ceremnoies like this. Can't wait. Hope the Vols beat the Gators to high heavens!

Ohio State Preview

2007-01-11T22:02:00.000-05:00

Both teams will enter this non-conference game coming off a conference road loss. Ohio State lost at Wisconsin on Tuesday night, while the Vols lost Wednesday night at Vanderbilt. Ohio State enters the game with the same record as the Vols. However, all three losses came away from Columbus and at the number 1, 2, and 3 ranked teams in the country. Everyone has heard of the “Fab Five,” well Ohio State brings their number one ranked recruiting class, aka the “Thad Four,” to Columbus. Greg Oden leads the list of freshman, but he is joined by an impressive class. Mike Conley is their starting point guard and leads them with 6.6 assists per game. Fellow rookie Daequan Cook leads the Buckeyes in scoring while coming off the bench with 14.8 points per game. Last is David Lighty, a small forward that is best driving to the basket. Cook, senior Ivan Harris, and junior Jamar Butler lead the team in three pointers, all shooting over 40% while firing up at least 4 attempts each game. Oden leads the team on the boards, collecting 9.2 a game along with 13.9 points per game.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

So here’s the key to this game. How do you guard Greg Oden? In my opinion you have to limit him. You can’t let him get easy looks around the basket. He takes advantage of his height quite well, but his offensive game isn’t that polished. He has struggled on offense when he has had to create his own shot. Oden excels and crashing the boards and getting rebounds, and he runs the floor well for a player his size. Unless Oden proves me wrong, I would play behind Oden and make him shoot over top. Pearl likes to front the post, but I think this would be a game to not do that. If you front the post, you allow Oden to get position for rebounds, and also possibly easy dunks. Second, you have to keep Ohio State off the offensive glass. This ended up killing the Vols on Wednesday night against Vanderbilt, and it could do so against the Buckeyes as well. If Ohio State is able to dominate the boards, then this game could be ugly.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Ohio State

PG – 6’1” #1 Mike Conley Jr.
SG – 6’2” #14 Jamar Butler
SF – 6’4” #12 Ron Lewis
PF – 6’7” #3 Ivan Harris
C – 7’0” #20 Greg Oden

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Vanderbilt Review

2007-01-11T21:31:00.000-05:00

First, I’m going to start this off by saying that it’s kinda hard to review a game when you don’t get to watch it. I was able to listen on the radio and got a chance to look at the stat sheet following a game, but you really don’t get a good picture of what is happening in a game. That in no way speaks bad of Bert Bertelkamp or Bob Kesling. I think they do the best job they can and are very entertaining to listen too. It’s just hard to get a mental picture listening to anybody on the radio. It’s just an easier game to watch then listen to. With that said, my thoughts on the game…

1) First off, I almost wanted to cry when the game was over. After the come back the team put into the game last night, I really thought they would pull it out. I guess you could say I was just shocked when the game ended. I just sat here in my chair in shock. You can second guess Pearl’s decisions over fouling at the end all day long, but it doesn’t matter to me. If the Vols pull off the win, then Pearl isn’t second guessed.

2) The Vols really struggled rebounding in the second half Wednesday night. Vanderbilt recorded 12 offensive rebounds in the second half, compared to Tennessee’s 10 defensive rebounds. That’s bad. That’s all you can say.

3) On the bright side, Lofton once again had an unbelievable night. He hit a shot right before halftime that was said to be farther out than the Texas shot. Most said at least 35 feet. Unbelievable. Ramar Smith also played great, continuing to improve game by game. Ramar made a CLUTCH three at the end that put the Vols up 3, and then made the pass with under 5 seconds left to Crews off a screen and roll to put the Vols up 1 with 4.7 seconds left.

4) There was some dissention on the bench last night, and while we don’t know all the details, we do know some of the details. Chism was said to storm off the bench last night and into the locker room in the second half. Pearl declined to comment after the game saying he didn’t know anything about it. It was reported by the News-Sentinel that Chism had an asthma attack, but that didn’t sound right. I don’t think someone having an asthma attack would be screaming and yelling. It came out today that someone in the Vandy section behind the UT bench apparently yelled the n word at Chism, which made him react. Can’t really blame the guy for reacting the way he did.

Now, for the Stat Line of the Night...

Stat Line of the Night:

                TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name     FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Lofton,Chris..  11-15   6-7    1-2    0  2  2   0  29  1  3  0  3  36

Vanderbilt Preview

2007-01-08T18:29:00.000-05:00

Vanderbilt enters their home SEC opener against Tennessee coming off a 68-65 loss at Auburn. The Commodores are 2-2 in their last 4 games after winning 7 straight. Vanderbilt is led by junior Shan Foster who is scoring 15.3 points per game, and is second on the team with 5.1 rebounds per game. The Commodores run a version of the Princeton offense, with lots of fake screens and backcuts to the basket. This could be difficult for the Vols freshman as they have not faced anything like this yet. Couple in with the fact that Vanderbilt makes the second most threes in the league, and you can’t sag off your defender to help out in the post. Four of Vandy’s five starters are capable of shooting the ball from behind the arc, which limits their rebounding. The Commodores are last in the SEC in offensive rebounds with less than 10 a game.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

If you are a fan of the 3 point shot, this game is definitely for you. If you like block shots, then don’t watch this one. Both teams are 1-2 in the SEC in 3 pointers made and dead last in blocks per game. Tennessee will have it’s hands full in trying to stop Shan Foster and his 3 point shooting teammates. As I stated above, four of their five starters shoot the three well, all over 35% for the season. Both teams lead the SEC in turnover margin as well, meaning either they don’t turn it over (Vandy) or force a lot of turnovers (Tennessee). This will be the first SEC road game for Tennessee’s four freshman, and I don’t know if there is any place worst to start your SEC road career. Memorial is definitely a different place to play, and couple that with the difficulty you can have guarding Vandy’s offense, it could spell trouble for the Vols. One key for the Vols may be the offensive glass. Tennessee is leading the SEC with 14.8 offensive rebounds per game. If the Vols can crash the boards hard, they may be able to take advantage of a Vanderbilt interior that isn’t that good.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Vanderbilt

PG – 5’11” #3 Alex Gordon
SG – 6’5” #20 Dan Cage
SF – 6’7” #4 Derrick Byars
PF – 6’6” #32 Shan Foster
C – 6’9” #41 Ross Neltner

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Mississippi State Review

2007-01-07T19:52:00.000-05:00

The Vols faced off against a tough Mississippi State Bulldogs team on Sunday afternoon and were able to come out of the game with their first SEC win of the season. It’s always going to be a different type of game for freshman, and I think Tennessee’s freshman were up for the task tonight. It’s usually tougher for the freshman post players to adapt to SEC play since they are going up against a ton of good post players, and tonight was a perfect example. Both Crews and Chism were exposed to the SEC and both came away improved. Both faced off against Charles Rhodes and were introduced to the physical play of the SEC. Couple that with the fact the Jamont Gordon was living inside the paint tonight, and there was a lot of big plays being made in the paint. My thoughts from the game…

1) Chris Lofton had an off night, kind of disappearing into the game, but still scoring 21 points. It’s amazing that the guy can have a quiet game, yet still score 21 points. It was a good sign that the Vols were able to play well on a night that Lofton couldn’t hit a field goal.

2) Ramar Smith continues to improve each game. I told people at the beginning of the season that he would be really good, and some still didn’t agree with me after the Memphis game (cough..cough..Cody..cough..cough). Well after his last couple of games, let me officially announce that Smith has arrived. Ramar finished with 13 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 HUGE blocks, and 1 turnover. How is that line for your point guard?

3) I really thought the refs were awful tonight. Real big surprise I know. And they were bad for both teams. They seemed to be biased in spurts, especially in the second half. The first half of the second half was definitely in favor of Mississippi State. They were getting away with all kinds of stuff and were going all over the back all day. Then the last half of the second half was in favor of UT. Stuff like that just really ticks me off. Call the game even and not in spurts. More reasons to hate SEC officials.

4) I am becoming really worried about our depth. It’s not really an issue right now, but could become one as the season progresses with the style of game Tennessee plays. The Vols had four starters play over 30 minutes, and with two of those being freshman, that’s not good news. Tennessee desperately needs a ninth player to step up (uhem..Tony Passley..uhem) and provide some quality minutes until Jordan Howell returns.

And now for everyone’s, and by everyone I mean all three readers, favorite part of the review, the Stat Line of the Night. Now, I always give the stat line to the Vols, and will this game, but I got to give some props to Jamont Gordon who had 25 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 steals in 35 minutes. Now onto the Vols. And it shouldn’t be a surprise after the way he played today, and with his first Stat Line of the Night….

Stat Line of the Night:

                TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name     FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Smith,Ramar ...  5-10   1-2    2-3    3  3  6   1  13  7  1  2  1  33

Mississippi State Preview

2007-01-03T22:10:00.000-05:00

Mississippi State enters the game against Tennessee coming off a 83-75 loss at Missouri. The Bulldogs are 9-4 and ranked 84^th in the College RPI. According to the RPI, they are 0-3 against the Top 50, with those losses coming to Clemson (14), Missouri (27), and Winthrop (44), while 8 of the Bulldog’s 9 wins have come against teams ranked 101 of lower. That doesn’t bode well going against a Tennessee team on the road ranked 16^th in the RPI. The Bulldogs are led by sophomore Jamont Gordon with his 15.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game which all rank in the top 10 in their respective categories within the SEC. Helping out Gordon on the perimeter is super freshman Barry Stewart and Ben Hansbrough. Stewart is second in the SEC among freshman with 11.6 points coming off the bench for the Bulldogs while Hansbrough is averaging 8.2 points and 4.1 assists in 27 minutes per game. Down low, the Bulldogs employ 6’9” freshman Jarvis Varnado. Varnado is averaging 7.2 points and 6 rebounds per game. Varnado is joined by Vernon Goodridge and Charles Rhodes down low. Rhodes was the starter earlier in the season until he sprained his wrist against Charlotte on November 29^th.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

This will be a coming home of sorts for the Bulldogs as 4 of their starters reign from the state of Tennessee. Also, this will be the second time this year that the Vols will be facing a Hansbrough. This time, however, it will come in the form of 6’3” younger brother Ben Hansbrough. The Bulldogs will match up quite well with the Vols height wise until they bring in Rhodes or Goodridge. The starting lineup consists of 4 guards just like the Vols and will setup an interesting matchup between Jamont Gordon and Dane Bradshaw. The bigger question will be, as it will be for all Tennessee opponents this season, how do you limit Chris Lofton? Many SEC teams will be finding out soon how much Lofton has improved. Last season, if you shut down Lofton from 3, he seemed to disappear. You do that this year and he will drive right around you. Lofton is averaging 1.8 more 2 point field goals per game than last year to go along with 2.7 more free throw attempts. This game will be a great preview of whats to come in the SEC with two young teams that are full of talent. The Vols will focus on shutting down Gordon and Stewart and will be trying to force the tempo and create turnovers against the young Bulldogs.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Mississippi State

PG – 6’3” #11 Ben Hansbrough
SG – 6’4” #24 Reginald Delk
SF – 6’4” #1 Richard Delk
PF – 6’4” #44 Jamont Gordon
C – 6’9” # Jarvis Varnado

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

ETSU Review

2006-12-30T23:24:00.000-05:00

Tennessee came out fast against the Buccaneers and then seemed to settle down as the Vols struggled to pull out the win 93-88 on Saturday night. The Vols were led by Chris Lofton’s 28 points, and not far behind was JaJuan Smith matching his career high of 23 he set on Thursday night. Lofton struggled on the night shooting the ball, but was able to go 13-13 from the free throw line. JaJuan was able to pick up Chris’ slack, however, going 5-9 from behind the arc. Smith got UT off to a quick start scoring the first 11 points of the game. Other than Smith and Lofton, UT seemed to struggle against the Buccaneers. ETSU threw multiple defenses at the Vols at tried to trap the young team whenever presented the chance. This strategy threw the young Vols astray and led to 16 first half turnovers, and a total of 23 for the game. On to my thoughts for the game….

1) Where would this team be without Chris Lofton? Even though he had an off night shooting the ball, he still managed to find ways to score. There is no doubt in my mind that he is an All-American. Lofton seemed to take over the game at times tonight, and scored some unbelievable baskets tonight.

2) The Vols have really improved their free throw shooting since the beginning of the season. The Vols were 30-35 tonight for 85%. Almost half of those came from Chris Lofton, but Chism was 6-6 from the line as well as 3-3 for Duke.

3) I don’t like to gripe about the officials, but they were AWFUL tonight. I understand that being an official is a tough job, and nobody is perfect. But the guys tonight were nowhere near consistent. When you let the guys bang away on one end, and then call tick tack touch fouls on the other, its really ridiculous.

4) It was sad to hear the news of Marques Johnson’s decision to transfer. His statement for is release was very classy and I wish him nothing but the best in wherever he may go.

5) Lastly, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year. The Vols resume play next Sunday against Mississippi State. The Vols enter SEC play in good position for a run at another NCAA tournament bid.

Stat Line of the Night:

                TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name     FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Lofton,Chris     7-14   1-5   13-13   1  2  3   0  28  3  4  0  4  36

ETSU Preview

2006-12-29T23:10:00.000-05:00

ETSU enters their game against Tennessee at 8-5, having won 6 of their last 7. Their only loss in their last 7 games came at Vanderbilt, with a score of 104-62. The Buccaneers are led by sophomore Courtney Pigram’s 16 points a game. Pigram is averaging 2.6 steals per game, while turning the ball over 3.8 times per game. He is shooting 36% from behind the arc, while firing up twice as many 3’s as anybody else on the team. The Bucs are led down low by Center Brad Nuckles who is averaging 10.8 points and 7.5 rebounds. Both Nuckles and Pigram are the only two players for the Bucs who average over 31 minutes per game. The Bucs have played 7 players for every game this season, with 9 players averaging over 10 minutes a game.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

This game will be a nice showdown between two players that love to shoot the three. Both Courtney Pigram and Chris Lofton have shot over 100 3’s on the season which puts them with an average right around 8 three point attempts per game. One of the things that could come back to haunt the Buccaneers is their rebounding. The Bucs are getting out rebounded by an average of 2 rebounds per game, and are giving up 15 offensive rebounds per game. The Vols are averaging picking up 15 offensive rebounds per game. Those that have watched the Vols know that that is one of the strengths of the team this year. That could be bad news for the Bucs. If the Vols are able to get their missed shots and get put backs, this game could get ugly like their game against Vandy did.

Projected Starting Lineups:

ETSU

PG – 6’2” # 23 Tayloe Taylor
SG – 6’0” #3 Courtney Pigram
SF – 6’6” #20 Eryk Thomas
PF – 6’8” #35 Andrew Reed
C – 6’9” #51 Brad Nuckles

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Tennessee Tech Review

2006-12-28T22:04:00.000-05:00

Thursday night was just another night at the gym for the Vols. After starting out low against the Golden Eagles, the Vols were able to put together a 19-0 run to put Tech out of the game. Tech never really had a chance after that and the game slowly reached deficits over 30 in the second half. The Vols were led by JaJuan Smith who scored a career high 23 points for the Vols. They Vols were also helped out by two double doubles from Duke Crews and Ryan Childress. Here where some thoughts on the game:

1) The freshman continued to impress tonight. While Crews and Chism seemed to have off nights, Tabb and R. Smith played extremely well. Tabb is battling a groin injury, but he was able to put in 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists with no turnovers, not to mention his defense. Ramar had 13 points, 4 assists, and 1 turnover in 28 minutes.

2) Ryan Childress had his best game as a Vol tonight, recording 13 points and 11 rebounds in just 18 minutes. Ryan seemed to be all over the place on the offensive end, pulling in 4 offensive rebounds and tipping many more around.

3) The Vols were able to force 16 turnovers against Tech, while recording 25 assists with only 8 turnovers. They took great care of the basketball. If you erase Chism’s 3 turnovers, you had 5 different players with only 1 turnover.

4) Bradshaw had another great night. He was able to record 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists with 1 turnovers. That’s a remarkable game for a guy that has tendonitis in his shoulder.

When an unusual suspect has a great game, you have to give them some props. Thus, the line of the night goes to….

Stat Line of the Night:

                TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name     FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Childress,Ryan   5-6    0-1    3-6    4  7 11   4  13  1  1  1  2  18

Tennessee Tech Preview

2006-12-25T20:53:00.000-05:00

Tennessee Tech, 5-6, enters their contest against the Vols coming off a fourth place finish in the San Juan Shootout. The Golden Eagles last took the court last Thursday against the University of Central Florida, losing by a score of 73-66. Tech is led by guards Belton Rivers and Anthony Fisher, averaging 18.6 and 17.9 points per game respectively. They are accounting for 83% of the Golden Eagles three pointers, and take 47% of the team’s shots. Tech likes to play 8-9 guys a game at 10 plus minutes. The Golden Eagles are led by Amadi McKenzie down low. McKenzie is scoring 12 points per game and pulling in 8.6 rebounds per game. Tech has averaged 16 turnovers a game thus far this season. The Golden Eagles have a RPI of 183, having played the 135^th hardest strength of schedule. They are 1-1 against the Top 50 in the RPI, beating Bradley 86-84 in Cookeville and losing at Kansas State early in the season 101-79. Compare that to the Vols who have a RPI of 14, having played the 27^th hardest schedule in the country. The are 3-2 against the Top 50 RPI, with wins against Oklahoma State (11), Memphis (23), and Western Kentucky (46), and losses to Butler (4) and North Carolina (6).

KEYS TO THE GAME:

The Vols are coming off a tough stretch of games in which they were able to come away unscathed. Tennessee Tech, on the other hand, comes into this game having lost two of three in the San Juan Shootout. The Vols will look to build off the momentum they sustained before the Christmas break. This is a scary game for the Vols given that they are coming off the break and have played so well lately. The Vols are still trying to replace starting point guard Jordan Howell. They had a huge step in the right direction against Texas, with Ramar Smith playing 38 minutes with 9 assists and 0 turnovers. Bruce Pearl will be looking for the same kind of production from Smith as he continues to learn on the job. Pearl will probably be looking to rest Dane Bradshaw some in the next two games, hoping to get him some rest going into the SEC season. This will mean that Pearl will be relying on Wayne Chism and Duke Crews to continue to improve their games. Chism played his best game by far as a Vol against Texas and will try to build of that. If the Vols come back from Christmas Break enthused and focused, then this game really shouldn’t be close. But never underestimate a mid major school. Bruce Pearl will be the first person to tell you that.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Tennessee Tech

PG – 6’2” #2 Anthony Fisher
SG – 6’4” #1 Belton Rivers
SF – 6’4” #24 Rashaud Nixon
PF – 6’7” #10 Amadi McKenzie
C – 6’7” #42 Jonathan Jones

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Texas Review

2006-12-23T16:48:00.000-05:00

There’s not much to say about this game. It was just unbelievable. I’m not sure if I have ever witnessed a game like that. This game showed me a lot about this team tonight. They were able to fight back from 15 down at the half, and played great despite losing Jordan Howell to injury, and Dane Bradshaw being no where near 100% with his shoulder injury and sick with the flu. Thoughts on the game:

1) Chris Lofton might be one of the best players in the country. Period. What he showed in this game today was undeniably the best performance I have ever seen from a Vol. Lofton struggled in the first half, having only 8 points in the first half. Then he just got sick in the second half. He had two HUGE threes in the final minute of regulation, including the go ahead three from 27 feet over Kevin Durant. Where would this team be without Chris Lofton?

2) How about Duke Crews and Wayne Chism! Both played great tonight. They seemed to grow up tonight a lot, especially Chism. Wayne really showed me a lot today. He guarded Durant down the stretch and did a great job at it. He had a huge three point shot in overtime, and a great coast to coast drive in the second half. Crews seemed to be a catalyst for the Vols today. He fired up the Vols in the second half, and started them on their run to victory.

3) Ramar Smith had by far his best game as a Vols today. Smith knew he would have to step it up with Jordan Howell being out injured, and he wasn’t helped any by the fact that Dane was hampered by the flu. Ramar played 38 minutes today, scoring 16 points, 9 assists, and 0 turnovers. Wow!

4) Overall, it was a great experience at the arena today. The crowd was really into the game, especially once the Vols fought back to get the game within reach. Lofton’s performance was just ridiculous, but I have become spoiled in expecting stuff like that from him. For those that weren’t there, when Lofton hit that three to put the Vols up at the end of the game, that was one of the loudest moments I have heard in Thompson-Boling Arena.

As if there was any doubt about the Stat Line of the Night…..

Stat Line of the Night:

                TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name     FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Lofton,Chris     8-24   7-16  12-13   5  6 11   2  35  1  1  0  1  38

Big Loss for the Vols

2006-12-22T17:22:00.000-05:00

The Vol faithful found out today that the basketball team lost Jordan Howell for 6-8 weeks with a broken right hand. Many are already aware that Howell suffered a broken right hand in the preseason, and thus missed much of the practice and the first few games while trying to get himself back into playing shape and working his way back into the rotation. It wasn't until the Louisiana-Lafayette game that Howell was able to work himself back into the starting lineup, allowing Ramar Smith to come off the bench. This move by Pearl seemed to be a great move. Howell started the game and was able to give quality minutes and allow Ramar to get himself into the game while on the bench. Ramar was then able to come into the game, and after watching how the other team was playing, provide quality minutes. Smith seemed to settle down into his role and started playing within the system. This move has helped lead the Vols to five straight wins, three of which were against NCAA tournament teams, and two of those ranked in the Top 20 in the country. Well, with Howell out til probably March, we will now see what Pearl has in mind now?

Will Pearl pull Marques Johnson back of the bench and position him as the back up point guard? Has Johnson been able to improve since being placed on the bench, or will he still struggle on defense as he did at the beginning of the season?

Or will Pearl move Tabb to point guard, where many have suggested he might be good at, and move either Johnson or Passley to back up the 3?

Personally, I think Johnson will move to the backup PG role. But don't be surprised if when Johnson is out on the floor, that Dane Bradshaw is as well. Dane might take on more of a point guard role with the loss of Howell. Many suggested this early in the season when Ramar was struggling. This might be a good opportunity for that to work. Also, if Johnson is playing PG, don't be surprised if he is put on the SF on defense, and allow Tabb or JaJuan Smith to play defense on the PG. Lastly, Pearl has an ability to get the best out of his players when they are pushed into a corner. I thought that Pearl would personally push Crews and Chism after the Western Kentucky game, since they played so poorly, and they played superbly in the Oklahoma State game. I wouldn't be surprised to see the same here.

Texas Preview

2006-12-20T23:29:00.000-05:00

Texas enters it’s game against the Volunteers coming off an 80-76 win against Arkansas on Wednesday night. Texas is led by their #3 ranked recruiting class from 2006. The Longhorns start four freshman, led by the 2006 #2 ranked player in the country Kevin Durant. Durant is averaging 21.2 points per game along with 9.4 rebounds per game. He is joined by fellow freshmen DJ Augustin, who averages 5.9 assists per game along with 13.0 points, and Damion James, who averages 7.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Texas likes to crash the boards hard, gathering in 43.8 rebounds per game, 16.8 of which are offensive rebounds. The Longhorns play 8 guys in a normal rotation, 6 of which are freshman. I would classify this game as a revenge game because of the game last year, but only one player for the Longhorns played significant minutes in that game. AJ Abrams played 31 minutes last year in relief for a hurt Daniel Gibson, scoring 19 points with 5 turnovers. Abrams is the second leading scorer for Texas this year, averaging 16.6 points per game this year.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

This game will be the first true road test for this young Texas team. The Longhorns have played 4 neutral site games, but none thus far on an opponents home floor. They have struggled against the better teams on their schedule, most coming at neutral sites. Durant will definitely present a problem on defense, but I look for Bradshaw to guard Durant when both are in the game together. Durant has the height of a post player at 6’9” but likes to play some on the perimeter. He has taken the second most three’s by anybody on the Texas team, and is shooting an impressive 40.0% from behind the arc. Tennessee will enjoy a height advantage for most of the night, with Texas starting backcourt going 5’10”, 5’11”, and 6’2”, except for when they move Durant out to the 3, and put 6’9” Connor Atchley and 6’10” Dexter Pittman together in the post. When the Longhorns go to this lineup, they like to put the athletic Durant in the middle on top of the 3-2 zone they run. His athleticism can provide problems here, but I would be surprised if Texas plays much zone against Tennessee, especially a 3-2 zone. The big areas of weakness in a 3-2 are the corners, and Tennessee has some deadly shooters from the corners in Lofton and Smith. Texas is well aware of their shooting prowess, however, as they combined for 9 threes on 60% shooting from behind the arc last year against the Longhorns. Look for Tennessee to focus on limiting Durant and Abrams on the offensive end, and trying to take it too the young team with the press. Tennessee will try to press the young team and see how it will react to its first view of Tennessee’s controlled chaos style of play. If the Vols can create turnovers off a team that handles the ball really well (12.5 TO’s per game), then the crowd may be able to become a factor and rattle the young Texas team. The key to the game will be getting off to a quick start and getting the Longhorns to start forcing things in their first trip into hostile territory. Lastly, with the Longhorns coming off a win against Texas, they will have limited time to prepare for the Vols unique playing style. The early game time on Saturday means that the Longhorns will probably travel early to Knoxville on Friday, so that they will be able to practice at Thompson-Boling. Given this, they will have to practice on Thursday, and thus not allowing their legs to get much rest, while the Vols were able to take Tuesday off and begin preparing on Wednesday for the Longhorns. This could be big considering their limited bench and the fact that Abrams and Augustin played 38 and 37 minutes respectively, with Durant logging 32 minutes. It will be interesting to see if this will have any effect on the Longhorns.

Projected Starting Lineups:

VISITORS

PG – 5’11” #14 DJ Augustin
SG – 5’10” #3 AJ Abrams
SF – 6’2” #24 Justin Mason
PF – 6’9” #35 Kevin Durant
C – 6’7” #5 Damion James

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Oklahoma State Review

2006-12-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

What a game tonight! Tonight was just an unbelievable effort by the Vols. There were a number of Vols tonight that just played great. The Vols overcame a great effort by Oklahoma State and were able to come back from a deficit of 7 in the second half. The Cowboys struggled out of the gate, but were able to erase a 10 point lead by the Vols and take a 6 point lead into the half. The Vols came out a little slow in the second half, but kept it close. It wasn’t until the last 10 minutes of the game that the Vols were finally able to tire out the Cowboys and close the lead, and ultimately win the game. Some thoughts from the game:

1) Unbelievable night. The Vols had relentless pressure all night long tonight and caused 23 turnovers in the game, 12 of which were steals. The Vols were also able to limit their turnovers to 12 on a night where they were ice cold from behind the arc.

2) Huge night for two freshman. Both Crews and Chism had great games tonight. Crews played excellent in his time in the game, recording a career highs with 17 points and 9 rebounds. He had lots of big plays on the offensive end. Chism, on the other hand, played a great game on the defensive end. Chism came up with some great plays on defense including a huge steal on Boggan in the final minutes.

3) Dane Bradshaw. Can anything else be done by this guy? He can barely lift his arm above his shoulder and is struggling shooting the ball. But he continues to play and makes great plays. He played 17 minutes in the second half and finished with 5 assists and only one turnover. And, how can you forget his tip in to win the game!

4) This was a big win for the Vols, as it gives them lots of confidence going into their next game against Texas on Saturday. Both Crews and Chism stepped up their play from Saturday, when both seemed to struggle, and played great against a very good post player in Mario Boggan. They will have another tough matchup Saturday against Texas’ Kevin Durant.

Stat Line of the Night:

                TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name     FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Bradshaw,Dane..  3-9    0-2    1-2    2  2  4   2   7  5  1  0  3  22

Oklahoma State Preview

2006-12-17T13:05:00.000-05:00

Oklahoma State enters their contest against Tennessee at 11-0, and coming off a nine day layoff from games due to exams. Sean Sutton has taken over for his dad Eddie Sutton this season, and has been successful thus far. The Cowboys average 8 players in double digit minutes this season, but rely heavily on just 7 of them. Leading the way for the Cowboys is Florida transfer Mario Boggans. Boggans leads the team with 20.5 points per game along with a team leading 7.1 rebounds per game. Helping out Boggans is junior guard JamesOn Curry. Curry is averaging 17.7 points per game while leading the team with 5.5 assists per game. The Cowboys suffered a key loss however with Obi Muonelo not making the trip with what is rumored to be a leg injury. Muonelo is leading the Cowboys off the bench with 11.1 points in 23 minutes per game. His loss depletes an already short bench.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

Monday night’s game is the first game this year that I classify as a revenge game. These teams faced off last year on December 22^nd in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma State was able to pull off the victory 89-73. Not much has changed for the Cowboys since last year except for new Head Coach Sean Sutton. But much has changed for the Vols. The young and inexperienced Vols will be going against a very good post oriented team. The Cowboys were able to dismantle the Vols last year in the post with excellent high-low passing by their post players. If the Vols are able to pull off the victory in Nashville, then both Crews and Chism will have to play better than they did on Saturday against Western Kentucky. Both players tended to struggle in the game, but that might be a good thing. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Pearl challenge both freshman in this game given the team they are going up against. One other thing to remember in this game is the ugliness of the game last year. Tempers flared last year after the Cowboys Marcus Dove was under cut on a play at the end of the first half by Andre Patterson. Dove ended up missing the rest of the season and returns for his junior season this year. It was said that both teams weren’t too pleasant with each other in the hallways to the locker room and that much was said about the trip to Nashville this year. Matchup to watch for: Which team will be able to limit the other team’s star? While neither stars will matchup against each other, will the defenses be able to limit them? Can the Vols keep Mario Boggans off the boards and limit his shot attempts? Can the Cowboys cool down quite possibly the hottest player in college basketball right now in Chris Lofton?

Projected Starting Lineups:

Oklahoma State

PG – 5’11” #00 Byron Eaton
SG – 6’3” #24 JamesOn Curry
SF – 6’5” #1 Terrel Harris
PF – 6’7” #4 Mario Boggan
C – 6’8” #32 David Monds

Tennessee

PG – 6’3” #15 Jordan Howell
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Western Kentucky Review

2006-12-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

Tennessee came into this game looking into a trap. The Vols were going up against a very good Mid-Major team after pulling off an upset of #19 Memphis over a week and a half ago. Factor in the fact that the Vols play #15 Oklahoma State in Nashville on Monday night and this was a very scary game. I’ll have to admit, I was a little worried in going into this game. I knew that Pearl wouldn’t overlook the Hilltoppers, but I was afraid his team might. While the Hilltoppers were able to keep the game close, the Vols were able to come away with a double digit victory of 93-79 on a night that was definitely perimeter oriented. Here are some thoughts from the game:

1) Over the last two weeks, it would be hard pressed to say that there has been a better player in the whole country than Chris Lofton. Lofton is averaging 29.3 points per game going back to the Louisiana-Lafayette game on 58% shooting from beyond the arc. What has really improved over the last two games is his ability to drive to the basket. Pearl talked in the preseason about how Chris worked on that part of his game over the summer, and it looked like in the first few games that he was pushing too much. It looks now like that summer work has paid off and he is putting the whole game together.

2) Ramar Smith had by far his best game in a Tennessee uniform today. He seems like he has finally grasped the offense that Pearl wants to run, and isn’t having to think as much with the ball now. It looks like the move to start Jordan Howell has allowed Ramar to get into the game on the bench, and when he enters the game, he already is in the flow. That’s great news for the Vols who need Ramar to play at the best of his ability to be able to go far this year.

3) How about the performance by Ryan Childress today! He looked like a man possessed on the boards today, doubling his career high and hitting double digit rebounds with 10. Childress was big today given that Bradshaw was hurting and Crews and Chism seemed to struggle some what. If Ryan can continue to give the type of effort he gave today, that will be huge for the Vols.

4) Tennessee has really improved its defense since a year ago. Maybe it’s the fact that they are playing more players and thus they are fresher, but the half court defense is really improved. The Vols had back to back shot clock violations on defense in the second half, and held the Hilltoppers to 29% shooting from 3, which is 18% below their average of 47.7% on the season.

In probably what is beginning to seem redundant…..

Stat Line of the Night:

                TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name     FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Lofton,Chris    11-15   5-9    5-7    0  5  5   1  32  4  1  0  1  32

Western Kentucky Preview

2006-12-13T22:57:00.000-05:00

If you ever wanted to see an uptempo game, then this will be the game to watch. Western Kentucky comes into the Tennessee game playing 10 guys at double digit minutes this season. The Hilltoppers (8-2) love to play the uptempo game, just like the Vols. WKU is averaging just under 74 offensive possessions per game, while the Vols averages 77. The Hilltoppers were an overwhelming pick to win the Eastern division of the Sun Belt conference. They are led by 6’5” junior Courtney Lee. Lee leads the team in points (19.1), rebounds (5.1), and steals (1.6) per game. Lee averages almost 9 minutes more per game than any other Hilltopper and is shooting a staggering 53.9% from the field, which is extremely high for a perimeter player. The Hilltoppers haven’t really played an eye opening schedule thus far, with their two biggest games coming against Florida and Georgia. Compare that to Tennessee, who has played the number 3, 18, and 19^th ranked teams in the country thus far.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

This game will definitely end up being fast paced and up and down, as that is how both teams like to play. The key might be how each team is able to respond to the other’s style of play. Will the Vols be able to shut down the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in Courtney Lee? How will the Hilltoppers be able to contend with Chris Lofton? Pearl will more than likely put JaJuan Smith and Josh Tabb on Lee in an attempt to shut down the Hilltoppers best player. If Tabb and Smith are able to do the job, than the Vols might have a chance at a pull away victory. But it’s hard to shut down star players, as Memphis found out, and look for this to be a close one. The Vols will need to try to lock down the boards and gain a significant advantage their as well as trying to limit their turnovers. With such a high tempo game, their will be tons of opportunities for turnovers, and if the Vols are able to limit their’s and create scoring opportunities off of turnovers, than it couls be a long night for the Hilltoppers.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Western Kentucky

PG – 5’11” #3 Tyrone Brazelton
SG – 6’3” #5 Ty Rogers
SF – 6’5” #32 Courtney Lee
PF – 6’8” #33 Daniel Emerson
C – 6’9” #40 Jeremy Evans

Tennessee

PG – 6’3” #15 Jordan Howell
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Memphis Review

2006-12-07T18:47:00.000-05:00

Wow. What a game by the Vols! They really played well last night, and of course Chris Lofton stepped up huge last night. I really don’t know if there was anyone in the country that could have guarded Chris last night. He was just that good. So, onto my thoughts on the game:

1) First shout out goes to …… the students. They really came out in force last night, with over 4,000 showing up. They had completely filled the lower level student seats by 7:45, and actually overtook section 322 last night, which aren’t student seats.

2) Chris Lofton. This kid sometimes is just unconscious from 3 sometimes. He showed his whole game off last night though, driving successfully to the basket as well as pulling up for mid range jumpers to go along with his already well known prowess of three oint shooting. Bravo Chris Bravo!

3) Dane Bradshaw. I had a chance to talk to him for a second for the game, and he is by far in the top 2 of my favorite UT players ever. I think both him and Ron Slay are tied for me at 1, since I was lucky enough to get to know both. He had an outstanding game last night, and really is the glue to this team.

4) The refs were consistently bad on both ends last night. Now, I’m not saying they favored Memphis at all. I’m just saying they were plain atrocious calling fouls on both ends. I really thought they let the game get out of hand some towards the end, and I blame all of that on the fact that they were horrific.

5) Joey Dorsey. He is now on my official hate list. I’m lucky enough to sit very close to the visitors bench for every game and hear some of what goes on. I just can’t stand the kid. And that’s saying a lot. There are lots of guys who play hard and like to fire up the crowd, but Dorsey just came across as a thug last night. He took any chance he got to take a small little cheap shot after a play last night, many which weren’t seen by the refs or cameras.

6) Ramar Smith. Ramar really showed me something last night. In my opinion, last night was his best game of the year. He played under control and seemed to let the game come to himself. Yes, he had a couple of times where he drove to the basket and threw up a bad shot, but those will come to him. He played good defense and handled the team very well when he was in the game.

7) Tony Passley handled being put on the bench very well. He had to come into the game in the first half and was able to contribute 4 good minutes. He played excellent defense, crashed the boards hard, collecting 3 rebounds, without turning the ball over. He played within himself, and might have worked out some more time for himself depending on the injury situation for JaJuan.

Overall, it was a really great game to watch. But it is no surprise that the Stat Line of the Night goes to…..

Stat Line of the Night:

                TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name     FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Lofton,Chris... 12-18   6-11   4-4    1  4  5   1  34  1  4  0  1  34

How about averaging 1 point per minute for the game! WOW!

Memphis Preview

2006-12-04T22:17:00.000-05:00

Memphis enters Thompson Boling Arena with a record of 6-1 after a 78-59 win against Marshall at home on Monday night. The game against the Volunteers will be the Tigers 3^rd game in five days, after an 18 point win at home against Manhattan started the 3 game series. The Tigers play 9 guys over 10 minutes a game, led by Chris Douglas-Roberts’ 14.7 a game. The Tigers are led on the boards by forwards Joey Dorsey and Robert Dozier, who average 9.0 and 6.7 rebounds per game respectively. Coming off the bench for Memphis is 6’5” senior guard Jeremy Hunt, averaging 12.6 points per game as their best long range threat.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

This game will be a reunion of sorts, with both teams having players reunited against each other. Ramar Smith and Chris Douglas-Roberts will be reunited after both played their high school ball in Detroit and joined each other on the AAU team The Family. Wayne Chism and Willie Kemp will be reunited after spending the last two seasons together at Bolivar High School. Tennessee will definitely be trying to push the tempo in this game, especially with Memphis having played 3 games in 5 days. The Tigers play 9 guys over 10 minutes a game, but only 3 of those are post players. The Vols will have to focus on shutting down Douglas-Roberts and Hunt in the back court, along with Dorsey and Dozier in the front court. If the Vols can close down the boards for Dorsey and Dozier, then they should be able to stay in the game and be there in the end. Matchup to watch for: Memphis’ defense vs. the Vols’ 3 point shooting. The Tigers have held their opponents to under 30% shooting from behind the arc this season. If Memphis is able to do that against quite possibly one of the best 3 point shooting teams in America, then it could be bad news for the Vols.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Memphis

PG – 6’2” #1 Willie Kemp
SG – 6’6” #12 Antonio Anderson
SF – 6’6” #14 Chris Douglas-Roberts
PF – 6’9” #2 Robert Dozier
C – 6’9” #32 Joey Dorsey

Tennessee

PG – 6’3” #15 Jordan Howell
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Murray State Review

2006-12-02T10:52:00.000-05:00

The Vols were able to pull out the win last night against Murray State by a score of 89-64. Murray State really never had a chance in the game, trailing for all of the 40 minutes. The Vols seemed to improve on their last outing at Louisiana-Lafayette, dominating the Racers, and never allowing them to be in the game. Some thoughts from the game:

1) The Vols were able to force the tempo early in the game, creating 23 turnovers from the Racers and pushing the Vols out to a 42 – 28 lead at halftime. The Racers closed the gap down to 9 at the beginning of the second half, but the Vols were able to pull away and never let the Racers back into the game.

2) The Vols dominated the boards for the game, outrebounding the Racers 43 to 30. The Vols pulled down 18 offensive rebounds on the night, limiting the Racers to just 9 offensive rebounds.

3) Chism and Crews. Both played well last night. Crews showed some nice post moves last night, and rebounded the ball well. He played well on the defensive end, except for some struggles in the first half in team defense. Chism played better as well. Wayne showed some better post moves last night when he was able to post up. He is still struggling some with finishing around the basket, but he did seem to improve some last night.

4) Ramar Smith played much better last night. I predicted it last night, and he proved me correct. Ramar played within himself and didn’t try to force anything last night. He only made one bad pass in my opinion, and that was the laser pass in the second half to the drummer in the band. If Ramar can continue to play well like he did tonight, then that could drastically improve our team this season.

5) Lofton continued his performance from Monday night, pouring in a quiet 20 points to lead five players in double digits for the Vols. Lofton delivered 5 rebounds and 1 steal to go with his 4-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Lofton is going to have to continue to lead this team for the Vols to be successful this season.

And in what seems to have become a trend so far this year….

Stat Line of the Night:

                TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name     FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
23 Bradshaw,Dane 4-6    2-3    2-4    1  3  4   4  12  5  0  0  2  19

Murray State Preview

2006-11-28T22:49:00.000-05:00

Murray State comes to Thompson Boling Arena under new head coach Billy Kennedy. Kennedy takes over the Racers after being the Head Coach at Southeastern Louisiana University for 6 years. Kennedy led the Lions to two regular season Southland titles and their first NCAA tournament appearance ever in the last two years. The Racers have struggled to begin the year, losing their first 3 games in the Shamrock Invitational hosted by Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, California. The Racers were heart broken in their first game when San Diego State hit a half court shot at the buzzer to win the game. The year hasn’t gotten much better from there. Kennedy’s young team now enters this game at 2-5 after losing Tuesday night at Illinois-Chicago by a score of 74-68. The Racers led for 28 minutes and increased their lead to 13 in the second half before finally relinquishing the lead with 2 minutes remaining. Eleven of the 15 players on the Murray State roster are in their first year on the team. The Racers feature two transfers, 3 juco players, and 6 freshman. Kennedy has fooled around with the lineup throughout the season, starting 10 different players and playing 11 players over 10 minutes a game. The Racers are led by 6’5” senior forward Shawn Witherspoon. Witherspoon is averaging 11.0 points with 6.1 rebounds. Witherspoon was one of a few players in the country last year that led their team in points, rebounds, and assists. Witherspoon is still recovering somewhat from a broken foot he suffered last year in the NCAA tournament game against UNC.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

The Vols will need to focus on shutting down Witherspoon and sophomore guard Tyler Holloway. Holloway is averaging 9.9 points this season for the Racers, and both were successful against the Vols last year. Witherspoon finished with 9 points and 9 rebounds, while Holloway finished with 11 points on 3-5 shooting from 3 point range. The Vols will try to force their uptempo style onto the Racers, as they were not successful in doing so last year. The Racers turn the ball over at a rate of 16.6 per game, and the Vols will try to increase this number with their full court pressure. If the Vols are able to do this, this game could get ugly quick. The Racers have struggled thus far this season, and don’t present much of a size advantage inside. This game will be one of the few where Dane Bradshaw is not at much of a size advantage down low.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Murray State

PG – 6’3” #1 Ed Horton
SG – 6’2” #4 Tyler Holloway
SF – 6’4” #12 Danero Thomas
PF – 6’5” #22 Shawn Witherspoon
C – 6’9” #33 Rob Kennedy

Tennessee

PG – 6’3” #15 Jordan Howell
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Louisiana-Lafayette Review

2006-11-28T00:13:00.000-05:00

The Vols were able to hold off a late rally by the Ragin Cajuns to secure a victory Monday night by a score of 77-67. Pearl changed things up some and started Junior Jordan Howell at point guard and limited Ramar Smith to 10 minutes for the game. Jordan was able to take advantage of the opportunity, recording 3 rebounds with 5 points, 3 assists and 2 turnovers. Jordan also had two late free throws that were crucial in defending the lead late in the game. Some thoughts on the game:

1) Starting Jordan Howell. What a great idea. I had sort of been pushing for Jordan to start, as had many others, but Jordan proved why he should start tonight. He is by far a calming influence on the team, and the team seemed to strive with him out there. I also think it will be better for Ramar to watch Jordan some at the beginning of the game, and allow him to see how the game is going. I just hope Ramar plays more than 10 minutes next game.

2) Crews and Chism. Tonight was a great example of why those two probably won’t play much together this year. Childress has seemed to regress a little the last couple of games, and that has really hurt the post depth. Right now, the Vols just don’t have the depth in the post to be able to play the two together for very long if at all.

3) Chris Lofton. I called you out after last game, and you returned to your old self this game. I was glad to welcome the old Chris back. He looked for his shot, and took it when the opportunity presented itself. He had some great passes to teammates which created buckets, and his teammates were looking for Chris tonight. Bravo!

4) Resilience. The Vols were able to hold off the Cajuns in a semi hostile environment. Those that were there seemed to create noise for the Cajuns, especially when they went on their run in the second half, and I wondered who this young team would respond. Well, the veterans stepped up and made a statement that they wouldn’t let this game get away. Bradshaw came away with critical steals. Lofton hit a clutch three while getting fouled but it not being called. Howell hit two crucial free throws late in the game. Way to go vets.

5) In a rare stat, UT had more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds this game. The Vols recorded 16 offensive rebounds led by Chism with 6, and 15 defensive rebounds. Chism led the Vols with 9 rebounds. If Chism can improve his strength and finishing around the rim, he could easily average over 10 points a game. Only experience and age can improve that.

Stat Line of the Night:

                 TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name      FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
23 Bradshaw,Dane  2-7    1-3    2-2    1  1  2   1   7  6  2  0  5  29

Louisiana Lafayette Preview

2006-11-25T17:49:00.000-05:00

Louisiana-Lafayette is coming off an overtime loss to Cal State Fullerton on Friday night to move to 1-3 for the season. The Rajin Cajuns have struggles so far this season, winning their opening game of the season against Division 2 Ouachita Baptist. The Cajuns have struggles since then, losing at Ole Miss by 15, at Oral Roberts by 3, and at home on Friday night against Cal State Fullerton by 2 in overtime. The Cajuns are led by 6'3" junior transfer David Dees and 6'7" Ross Mouton. Together, the two are averaging 43.3 points per game, along with 13.8 rebounds and 4.25 assists per game. They both average an astonishing 37.8 minutes per game. Dees and Mouton are joined in the backcourt by point guard Rhett Hebert, who averages 30 minutes per game. The three guards have accounted for 73% of the team's scoring thus far this year. The Cajuns have struggled from 3 this year, shooting just 23.5% from behind the arc, while holding their opponents to 24% from behind the arc. The Cajuns are averaging 3 more rebounds per game than their opponents, and have given up 18.5 turnovers per game this season.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

This game will be determined by how Tennessee is able to control Dees and Mouton. Both Dees and Mouton are clearly the focus of the Cajuns lineup, and they play lots of minutes. It’s no doubt that Bruce Pearl’s main focus will be on trying to wear down the two play makers. Pearl will be working to improve his transition defense which struggled last Friday night against North Carolina. Look for Pearl to press more to try to wear down the stars, but if his transition defense is as bad as it was Friday night, Pearl will have to pull the defense back to limit opportunities for the Rajin Cajuns. The Cajuns might be catching the Vols at a bad time, as the team seemed to turn a corner Friday night in the second half against the Tar Heels. Many of the players seemed to be fired up by JaJuan Smith’s ejection, and it will be interesting to see how the team has improved since their last time out. Key matchup of the game: The Cajuns’ transition offense against the Vols transition defense. If the Vols are able to limit opportunities for the Cajuns off the press, then Pearl will be able to press the Cajuns and wear them down. But young teams usually tend to struggle with transition defense as it requires lots of talking and communicating. If the Cajuns are able to break the press successfully, then they will be able to slow the game down, and keep their stars fresh, something that will be a priority for them coming off an overtime loss where Mouton and Dees combined to play 84 of the 90 minutes. I believe Pearl will have the Vols fired up to play this game, and will press successfully and wear down the Cajuns, pulling away at the end for a 10 point victory.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Louisiana-Lafayette

PG – 6’1” #31 Rhett Hebert
SG – 6’3” #21 David Dees
SF – 6’7” #22 Ross Mouton
PF – 6’8” #42 Courtney Wallace
C – 6’9” #32 Abray Milson

* Don’t be surprised if the Cajuns go small during this game bringing in 6’0” #12 Willie Lago for Milson. The Cajuns did this for much of the game against Cal State Fullerton, and might be tempted to do this for this game as well, especially with Tennessee’s press. That move would move Mouton down to the PF position for an interesting matchup with Dane Bradshaw.

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

UNC Review

2006-11-24T23:46:00.000-05:00

UNC Review

The Vols took a hard loss on Friday afternoon, losing to the Tar Heels 101-87. The game got ugly in the first half, but the Vols found something in the second half and were able to fight and claw to stay in the game. Here are some thoughts from the game:

1) How awful were those refs? The fouls were called fairly evenly, with the Vols collecting 3 more fouls and 1 less free throw. But UNC continuously got away with stuff. The flagrant foul and ejection of JaJuan Smith was ridiculous. I can understand the intentional call somewhat since it was a hard foul from behind, and he did grab the jersey just a little. But JaJuan went for the ball, and barely missed it, and was ejected incorrectly. And I didn’t realize coaches can just run out onto the court and grab their players like Roy Williams did on that play. Hansbrough is a great player, but he gets away with so much its ridiculous. If you’re going to treat an All-American like that, then guess what, we have one on our team as well, and he got called for two ticky tack fouls tonight. I guess we can’t get the same treatment on both sides.

2) Lofton continues to frustrate me. I think towards the end of the game he finally started to look for his shot. You could tell early in the game that he wasn’t even looking for his shot, because he would catch the ball standing straight up allowing the defender to get close instead of in a triple threat stance. It really looked like JaJuan’s ejection fired up this team, and hopefully it said something to Lofton.

3) Major was greatly missed tonight. We traded his 6’10” frame for Dane at 6’4”. The Vols really could have used his experience tonight on the defensive end, as is seemed that Chism and Crews were getting frustrated with the ridiculous fouls they called on them in the post.

4) Despite the lopsided loss, I was fairly impressed by the team tonight. I thought they fought very hard, and gave it their all, especially in the second half. Ramar seemed to control the ball better tonight, only having two turnovers. Jordan was great at point guard, having 5 assists with no turnovers. The Vols were able to limit their turnovers to 14, creating 26 by the Tar Heels. The only struggle of the game, beside the free throws, was on the boards. The Tar Heels dominated the boards, collecting 15 offensive rebounds on 34 missed shots by UNC. The Vols on the other hand collected 13 offensive rebounds on 56 missed shots by the Vols.

5) Overall, it will be interesting to see what the Vols can take home from NY. I think they were able to learn more about themselves in this game, than the one against Butler. The Vols now know what it takes it be a top tier team in the NCAA, and I think that although there might be some growing pains to start the season, it might pay off in the end with the guys getting all this experience.

Stat Line of the Night:

                  TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name       FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
15 Howell,Jordan   1-6    1-5    2-2    0  0  0   1   5  5  0  0  0  19

UNC Preview

2006-11-23T10:24:00.000-05:00

UNC comes into this game off of a Semifinal loss to Gonzaga. The Tar Heels got off to a fast start, but allowed the Bulldogs to come back and take the lead into the half. The Bulldogs built upon that lead and obtained a 14 point lead at one point in the second half. The young Tar Heels were able fight back though, without help from their star center, and closed to within 2 in the final minutes before the Bulldogs pulled away. UNC was led by Tennessee product Brandan Wright with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Both Hansbrough and Wright lead this Tar Heel team combining for 35 points and 16.1 rebounds per game. It is quite obvious that the team runs through the post for the Tar Heels. Despite having 5 players over 6’8” on the team, really only 3 play in Hansbrough, Wright, and Terry. An impressive stat for the Tar Heels is their 59 offensive rebounds this season, resulting in rebounding 45% of their misses. The Vols also counter with the same stat, rebounding 45% of their misses as well.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

This game will be won or lost in the paint. The Vols and Tar Heels both like to push the ball, but in different styles. The Vols will want to try and create a fast uptempo game, to try to wear out both Wright and Hansbrough, who both average close to 30 minutes a game. Despite playing 9 players over 10 minutes per game, only 3 are over 6’8”. If the Vols are able to contain Wright and Hansbrough, they will have a chance to win this game. Matchup to watch for: Tyler Hansbrough vs. Chris Lofton. I know, those two will never go against each other, but both struggled on Wednesday night in the Semifinals. Hansbrough was limited to 9 points and 9 rebounds, while Lofton struggled from the field, often passing up looks to focus on driving to the basket. Lofton finished the game with 8 points on 3-9 shooting with 5 turnovers. Both will be trying to redeem themselves in this game. Hansbrough crashes the boards hard, pulling in 4 offensive rebounds per game, 45% of his total rebounds for the year. Crews and Chism will have to play sound defense and stay out of foul trouble against Hansbrough, and limit his offensive put backs. Lofton will have to resume his shooting from last year. He needs to realize that he is the offense on this team, and he needs to start looking for it. The Vols will have to try to limit their turnovers against the Tar Heels, because if they don’t, UNC will take advantage and put the game away. Look for a high scoring game in the 80’s, and for UNC to win by 8 with UT struggling with turnovers again.

Projected Starting Lineups:

VISITORS

PG – 6’3” #4 Bobby Frasor
SG – 6’4” #2 Wayne Ellington
SF – 6’8” #3 Reyshawn Terry
PF – 6’9” #34 Brandan Wright
C – 6’9” #50 Tyler Hansbrough

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Butler review

2006-11-22T22:40:00.000-05:00

The Vols took their first loss of the season tonight against the Butler Bulldogs. The Vols led 21 -8 early in the first half, and then forgot how to play the game of basketball as they began to turn the ball over and shoot brick after brick. Here are some thoughts from the game:

1) This might have been the first game where I thought that Pearl did a bad job coaching. It seemed as though he never could get his team into the game, and really didn't have any answers for Butler.

2) APB for Chris Lofton. Lofton struggled once again tonight, often seeming as though he was looking to drive more than shoot. He seems to be thinking too much, and thus not reacting and letting the game come to him. He continues to drive and collect charges, thus getting him in foul trouble. You want Lofton to be able to play more, then let him play his game and get out of his head about driving to the basket.

3) Turnovers were ridiculous. JaJuan Smith, Chris Lofton, and Ramar Smith led the team in turnovers with 5, 5, and 4 respectively. That's just not acceptable. Lofton got most of his turnovers off of charges, but both Smith's are now to be known as ATMs. Automatic Turnover Machines.

4) Will the real Ramar Smith please stand up? Ramar is a really good player, I've seen it for myself. But thus far this season, he has been elsewhere. Maybe he is focusing too much on running the point guard position, but he is struggling alot right now. I think it might be time for Jordan Howell to move into the starting lineup.

5) FT shooting was abysmal. How can a team shoot 54% from the FT line? There's a reason they are called "free" throws. You're not going to hit all of them, but goodness gracious, they can barely hit half of them.

6)With all that said, I'm still behid this team. I knew there would be nights like this when nothing could seemingly go right for this team. That's what happens when youth is on the floor. Their will also be times though that their talent will show and they might run people out of the gym. Hopefully Pearl can regroup this team and have them ready to take on the loser of the UNC/Gonzaga game.

STAT LINE OF THE NIGHT:

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
25 Tabb,Josh...........    2-3    0-1    0-1    0  1  1   1   4  0  1  1  1  19

Butler Preview

2006-11-20T07:45:00.000-05:00

Butler comes into the Tennessee game with a 4-0 record, having knocked off Notre Dame and Indiana in the Preseason NIT. The Bulldogs are averaging 67.5 points this season, led by AJ Graves at 17.8 per game. #32 Drew Streicher leads the Bulldogs off the bench, with a team leading 5.3 rebounds per game. Streicher led the team in their last game, a 62-56 win over NAIA Illinois-Springfield. The Bulldogs will be well versed in Bruce Pearl’s style of play, having played against Pearl in the Horizon league when Pearl was at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

This will be a reunion of sorts as Pearl will face off against a familiar foe in the Butler Bulldogs. It is no doubt that the Bulldogs will have a excellent scouting report on the Vols, but Pearl will have that same advantage against the Bulldogs. The Vols will once again enjoy a size advantage of sorts as the Bulldogs have no one over 6’7”. Butler struggled in their last outing against Illinois-Springfield, a team from the NAIA that plays a similar style to that of the Vols. The Prarie Stars forced Butler into 12 turnovers on the game, six of those coming from point guard Mike Green. The Vols will look to pressure Mike Green in the press and creating more turnovers. Butler will try to slow the game down, and use their superb defense to win the game. If the Vols can slow down leading scorers Mike Green and AJ Graves, and create turnovers, then the Vols should be able to come away with the victory. If Butler is able to slow the pace of the game down and limit their turnovers, then the Bulldogs will have a good chance of pulling off the upset.

Matchup to watch for: AJ Graves vs. Chris Lofton. Both leading scorers will be going head to head against each other. Both players like to fire the 3 ball. Graves is 13-36, 36.1%, while Lofton is 12-30, 40% for the year. If either is able to shut down the other, it could lead to a loss for the loser of the battle.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Butler

PG – 6’1” #10 Mike Green
SG – 6’1” #4 AJ Graves
SF – 6’5” #1 Julian Betko
PF – 6’6” #33 Brandon Crone
C – 6’7” #24 Brian Ligon

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

Coppin State Review

2006-11-19T18:58:00.000-05:00

Coppin State was looking for only it’s second victory ever against a Top 25 ranked team. Tonight, it was not to happen. The Vols seemed to struggle some coming out of the gate, but picked up the pace toward the end of the first half, and were able to waltz to the 99-65 victory. The Vols, who were led by Chris Lofton’s 19 points, were just too much for Coppin State to overcome. Some thoughts from the game:

1) How about a hand for Dane Bradshaw! The guy might not light up the scoreboard, but he sure does fill up the stat sheet. Dane led the team with 9 assists, 8 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 steal. I’m sure after the game, Dane would tell you he dedicated that game to Donovan McNabb. McNabb, who tore his ACL today, plays for Dane’s beloved Eagles. What a game for Dane though!

2) Wayne Chism was a beast on the boards tonight, pulling down 11 rebounds, 3 offensive. Chism seemed to struggle in the first half getting points, as he missed at least 3 contested layups. But he was able to open it up in the second half, hitting two 3’s in route to 11 points, and his first double double of his short UT career.

3) Chris Lofton continued to light up the scoreboard, scoring 19 on 6 of 11 from the field. Lofton, who is just 1 point shy of 1,000 for his career, will lead this team into Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night against Butler. He can only hope that JaJuan Smith can get out of his current shooting slump that he seems to be in.

4) The Vols were able to create 24 turnovers by Coppin State, but gave up 22 of their own. If the Vols want to be able to succeed on Wednesday, or for the rest of the season for that matter, they need to get better at securing the ball. Jordan Howell did a good job tonight at the point, scoring 6 with 2 assists and only 1 turnover in only 13 minutes. Ramar Smith struggled with the ball, however, turning it over 4 times in 19 minutes.

5) Here we come New York. The Vols will leave Tuesday to prepare for their showdown with Butler on Wednesday night in the Big Apple. The game is set to tip-off at 7 pm. Hopefully, Pearl will keep the guys from getting big eyes while playing on a grand stage in one of the most famous arenas in the world. Here’s to beating the Butler Bulldogs!!

Stat Line of the Night:

                TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
Player Name     FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Bradshaw,Dane    3-3    1-1    1-3    2  4  6   1   8  9  4  1  1  20

Coppin State Preview

2006-11-17T21:19:00.000-05:00

The Coppin State Eagles will come into Thompson Boling Arena on Sunday afternoon with a 0-2 record after losing to both Virginia Tech and Hawai'i by an average of 30.5 points. The Eagles are led by #22 Tywain McKee, a 6'2" Jr. PG out of Philly. McKee has led the Eagles with an average of 16 points this season. The Eagles are led on the boards by #40 Robert Pressey, a 6'7" Jr. PF out of Waldorf, MD with 6.5 a game. After McKee, the Eagles don't pack much of a punch. No Eagle rises over 6'7" and will give Tennessee it's first height advantage of the season. The Eagles have struggled to score over their first two games, averaging just 55 points a game. #44 Ethan Kennedy is a 6'7" Fr. PF who has started the first two games. Joining him in the last game was fellow freshman #5 Ruben Britt, a 6'3" PG from Vorhees, NJ. The Eagles have struggled shooting the ball this season, shooting 35% form the field, 29% from 3 land, and 55% from the FT line. The Eagles have been outrebounded by an average of 15 so far this season, turned the ball over an average of 15 times, and given up an average of 25 assists per game.

Keys to the Game:

1) A blowout. If this game is close, then UT is really struggling. UT should be able to force a lot of turnovers. McKee, the Eagles leading scorer, is averaging 5.5 TO's per game. If the Vols can put the pressure on the Eagles, then this game should end quickly.

2) Scrimmage. This is basically a scrimmage. I look for Pearl to try some different things in this game. Bossibly try some different things out in getting ready for the Butler game.

3) Minutes for everybody. I look for the whole bench to get some PT in this game. Everyone should get off the bench for this game. Also, look for some of the regulars to get lots of rest. Hopefully, the freshman can get some more exposure to the college game and grow some.

4) NIT NY. I'm already looking forward to the Vols playing Butler in New York on Wednesday. The tip off is set to occur at 7:00. Hopefully, both Lofton and JaJuan Smith can have good days at Madison Square Garden. Pearl will definitely have the scouting report on Butler, and the same goes for Butler. The difference will be in the players that Pearl now has. Hopefully, the Vols will be able to take down Butler and face the TarHeels or Zags on Friday.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Coppin State

PG - 6'2" #22 Tywain McKee
SG - 6'3" #5 Ruben Britt
SF - 6'6" #32 Julian Conyers
PF - 6'7" # 44 Ethan Kennedy
C - 6'7" # 34 Brian Chesnut

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

UNCW Review

2006-11-14T23:34:00.000-05:00

Tonight, Tennessee was able to hold off UNCW 87-75 to advance to the NIT semi finals in New York. The Vols overcame a cold shooting night with stifling defense creating 32 turnovers by the Seahawks. Here were some thoughts from the game:

1) This is the Tennessee game we came to love last year. The Vols seemed to play much better tonight, playing under control for most of the game. The Vols limited their turnovers, and capitalized off those of UNCW.

2) Josh Tabb did not look like a freshman tonight. He took care of the ball and was solid on offense with some nice moves to the basket. We were able to see his stifling defense tonight as he created two 5 second calls on UNCW. It looked like he took over some of Tony Passley's minutes in the second half.

3) A 9 man rotation? It appeared in the second half that Pearl went with a 9 man rotation. Both Passley and Johnson sat on the bench, while Tabb seemed to backup both the 2 and 3, with Jordan Howell coming in as the backup point guard.

4) Jordan Howell. Still with a hurting hand, Jordan was able to bring a calming influence of the bench. He seemd to run the offense really well, probably the best of the point guards to this point. Look for his shooting to return to normal once his hand heals better.

5) Ramar Smith. He looked much better tonight. He was quick off the dribble and drove to the basket well. His athleticism showed tonight. He played well on defense and seemed to get the team into the offense fairly well.

6) Rebounding. Tennessee killed the Seahawks on the boards tonight, outrebounding them by 11 with 17 offensive rebounds. This team just seems to crash the boards hard. Crews led the team with 8 rebounds, 5 on the offensive glass. Ryan Childress also pulled down 5 rebounds, 4 of which were offensive.

STAT LINE of the game:
JaJuan Smith - 21 points, 7-10 from the field, 3-5 from 3 land, 4-4 from the FT line, 1 assist, 4 rebounds, 2 TO's, and a remarkable 5 steals in 27 minutes

UNCW preview

2006-11-14T08:59:00.000-05:00

UNC Wilmington is looking to capitalize off their season last year when they finished an impressive 25-8, earning a NCAA berth and winning the CAA conference tournament. The Seahawks are no stranger to success though, having advanced to the NCAA tourney 4 of the last 7 seasons. UNCW replaced Head Coach Brad Brownell with new head coach Benny Moss, an assistant coach from UNC Charlotte last year, after Brownell stepped down after last season. Moss inherits a talented team that lost three starters including the top two rebounders and leading assist man from last year. Moss had another unfortunate break when returning scoring leader and 1^st team CAA selection T.J. Carter was sidelined with a groin injury. Moss brings an uptempo style to the Seahawks and will look to push the ball. With Carter out, Moss has four new starters led by 6’4” Junior SG Daniel Fountain who has averaged an impressive 16.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in their two exhibition games. UNCW was very impressive last year in the NCAA tournament, when I was able to see them lose in the first round in overtime to George Washington 88-85.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

Look for this game to be up and down. With Moss introducing his new style, this should be a fun game to watch. The Vols might have the advantage, however, with a year more of experience in the uptempo pace. The Seahawks are a tough team, but are a little damaged with the loss of TJ Carter. Pearl will have the Vols focused on trying to not turn the ball over tonight. The Seahawks committed only 9 turnovers in their opening game win against Belmont. UNCW played 8 guys last night, but look for new coach Benny Moss to substitute more often tonight with a more uptempo game tonight. Key matchup: Daniel Fountain vs. Chris Lofton. Lofton has been known to fall asleep while boxing out, and Fountain could present some problems for Lofton if that’s the case. Look for Pearl to challenge Lofton, however, and for the junior shooting guard to lead Tennessee to victory and a trip to the NIT Semis in New York.

Projected Starting Lineup:

UNC-Wilmington Seahawks

PG – 6’0” #22 Temi Soyebo
SG – 6’4” #4 Daniel Fountain
SF – 6’5” #1 Montez Downey
PF – 6’9” #41 Todd Hendley
C – 6’10” #32 Vladimir Kuljanin

Tennessee Vols

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews

UT v. Fordham review

2006-11-13T22:37:00.000-05:00

Tennessee was able to fight off a determined Fordham Rams team to pull off the victory 78-71 on Monday night in Nashville. The Vols earned a tough victory in this young season in a scrappy game. This was Tennessee's second straight game where more than 50 fouls were called. The Vols were able to proceed though without anyone fouling out however. Chris Lofton, playing with foul trouble for most of the game, led the Vols with 30 points on 9-16 shooting, 5-10 from long range. Brenton Butler came off the bench to lead the Rams with 20 points on 6-13 shooting, 4-6 from 3 land. Here where some thoughts on the game:

1) First, a shout out to Fordham. The Rams definitely brought their A game tonight and were able to keep the game close. They did a good job of trying to slow the game down and causing a lot of turnovers. Unfortunately, they were bit by the turnover bug as well, but that is the norm for teams that play Tennessee.

2) Record number of charges. There had to be a record number of charges taken tonight. It was ridiculous. It seemed like for a portion of the game, there was a charge called everyone time down the floor.

3) Turnovers. The Vols had an uncharacteristic 26 TO's. That is just unacceptable. It seemed as though the Vols just seemed to be out of it tonight. They could never get themselves going with all the turnovers that they committed. Hopefully, those numbers will reverse themselves Tuesday night.

4) Chris Lofton. Can you say anymore about this kid? He had 30 points off of shooting from all over the floor. He had floaters, layups, and 3's. Plus, some of his shots were just sick. He is by far the best contested shooter in America.

5) PG. Both Ramar and Marques seemed to struggle tonight. Ramar needs to get the fouling out of his system so that he can spend more time on the floor getting into the flow of the game. But how about the tip dunk by our point guard. The guy is just athletic. Marques seemed to struggle in the game as well. Hopefully, with their first road game out of the way, they will play better Tuesday night.

Stat Line of the Night: (Keep in mind it was a turnover prone night)
Dane Bradshaw - 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 steals, and 0 turnovers
Way to go Dane, the only person that played tonight for UT to not turnover the ball!!

NIT Preview

2006-11-13T15:47:00.001-05:00

The Keys to the Fordham Game:

1) Matchup at the PF spot. Both Bradshaw and Childress will have their hands tied trying to box out Fordham PF Michael Binns. Binns has averaged 12.5 rebounds per game in jsut 16.5 minutes per game in Fordham's exhibition and season opener. While not a threat to score, Binns has also averaged 5 offensive rebounds per game. Obviously, that will be a key to this game. Luckily, both Bradshaw and Childress are some of the better players at boxing out on the team.

2) Up tempo game. If Tennessee is able to push the ball and create a fast game, then the Vols should be able to prevail. Fordham is not necessarily very deep and only really played 8 guys last year. Fordham also turned the ball over 25 times in their season opener, so if the Vols are able to push the tempo, Tennessee could blow the game open with their depth.

3) Wayne Chism. Chism was limited to only 11 minutes in Friday's season opener against MTSU, but was very successful in those minutes. Chism was able to pull down 7 rebounds along with 10 points. If Chism can be pull off success like that tonight without getting into foul trouble against All Atlantic 10 star Bryant Dunston, then the Vols should succeed.

4) UNCW vs. Belmont. The 10:30 pm game is the other half of the bracket in Nashville. This will be UNCW's first game under new head coach Benny Moss. Moss will bring a uptempo game to the Seahawks while Belmont will rely on their senior trio of ex-UT player Boomer Herndon, Josh Goodwin, and Andrew Preston to lead them. This will be the opening game for both teams, so both teams might get off to a rough start. Belmont will try to use their height advantage, as they have 4 guys towering at 6'10" or more. UNCW will try to push the ball and use their new gun and gun offense. The key to this game might be if UNCW is able to adapt to their new offense sooner than later.

Fordham NIT Preview

2006-11-12T13:18:00.000-05:00

After opening the season with a 70-68 win against Sacred Heart University on Friday night, Fordham enters this season looking to build off of their success from last year. The Rams finished last season 16-16 after a disappointing 13-16 finish the year before. This year the Rams return 65% of their scoring led by 1^st Team Atlantic 10 Junior Bryant Dunston. Dunston, a 6’8” forward from Queens NY, led the team in both points and rebounds last season with 16.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. The Rams will be looking to replace Jermaine Anderson, who led the team in assists last year with 3.4 per game and 15.6 points per game. Looking to step into that spot will be Marcus Stout, a 6’4” Junior guard from Southfield MI. Stout finsished the season last year averaging 13 points per game, and got the season off to a good start leading the team with 21 points in their exhibition victory over Bloomfield.

Keys to the Game:

Tennessee will look to push the pressure in this game. Having played only 8 players double digit minutes last year, Fordham will look to slow the game down. Fordham turned the ball over 25 times on Friday night, and if they play anything like that on Monday night, watch out. Tennessee will focus on shuting down both Dunston and Stout, who are Fordham’s two best players. Rebounding will be key as Fordham will once again hold a size advantage against Tennessee. If the Vols can push the tempo a limit Dunston, then the Vols should pull away at the end. Key matchup: Bryant Dunston vs. Chism/Crews. If both Chism and Crews can limit Dunston, then the Vols will be able to pull off the win easily. Also look for the matchup of Bradshaw/Childress against 6’7” forward Michael Binns, who had 13 rebounds on Friday night, with 6 offensive rebounds.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Fordham

PG – 6’3” #14 Kevin Anderson
SG – 6’4” #1 Marcus Stout
SF – 6’5” #31 Dominic Osei
PF – 6’7” #21 Michael Binns
C – 6’8” #42 Bryant Dunston

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’9” #4 Wayne Chism

Tennessee Defeats MTSU

2006-11-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

Last night the Vols were able to take down the Blue Raiders from MTSU 83-52. MTSU was able to keep it close in the first 10 minutes of the game, but a run led by JaJuan Smith created the seperation that the Vols kept for the rest of the game. J. Smith continued to impress last night with his team leading 16 points in a scrappy game. Here's some thoughts from the game last night:

1) Officiating. How awful was the officiating? It was horrific. I'm usually not one to blast the officials , because they have a hard job and do make some mistakes. But the officials number 1 job is to call a game consistently, whether thats a good consistent or bad consistent, and not make themselves noticable. Well, they were 0-2 last night. I hope they got blasted last night for it too. Gerald Boudereaux was in the house last night watching his SEC officials, and they did an awful job. The technical on passley was hilarious. I was right there, and all Passley did was pat him on the head. And when he stopped the game to talk the players in the second half, I almost fell over laughing. I hope the officiating is better in the NIT.

2) Turnovers. Once again, Pearl's team forced lots of turnovers. 22 in fact. I will be interested in seeing this year how the turnover numbers corrolate with wins and losses.

3) Rebounding. The Vols out rebounded the bigger Blue Raiders by 11, 44-33. The Vols were able to pull down 16 offensive rebounds, led by Wayne Chism's 3 offensive rebounds. Both Chism and Bradshaw led the Vols with 7 rebounds total.

4) FT shooting. While still not performing well, the Vols did improve last night shooting 68% from the line. The troubling part of that was that the Vols missed several front ends of 1 and 1's.

5) Defense. The Vols limited the Blue Raiders to 35% shooting from the field and just 18% from the 3 point line. The Vols team defense seemed to improve in the half court from last year, but they seemed to struggle in the one on one matchups. Their were a lot of reaching and grabbing when guards would try to drive around our perimeter defenders. If this can improve, then this team could be better than thought.

6) Fashion statements. Once again, Chism had on his orange and white diamond socks. I just don't understand where he got those. The biggest statement though was the new warmups. Holy Cow! Talk about flourescent orange. At least they matched the orange shoes and the orange stripes on the uniforms, but geez, that is not Tennessee Orange. Will Adidas ever get it right?

Stat line of the night:
Wayne Chism-10 points on 4-6 shooting, 7 rebounds (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 turnover, and 1 steal in a remarkable 11 minutes playing due to foul trouble

Tip-off!!!

2006-11-10T09:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight is the night. Basketball season finally begins tonight. With UT set to tip off against MTSU at 7:30 tonight, the second season of the Bruce Pearl era begins. What can Bruce do with his second team, which is the youngest he has ever coached? Well, going into tonight, here are a couple of things to look for:

1) TV. For those in the Knoxville and Nashville areas, you are in luck. The game is being picked up by local stations in those areas, with the game being aired on MyTV in Knoxville (channel 8 on Comcast). Hopefully, this won't turn away a crowd that should be great.

2) Chris Lofton. Lofton was quiet in the first two exhibition games. Tonight, we find out if he was just trying to focus on driving to the basket, or if teams might have found a way to shut down C-Lo. I tend to lean toward the former more than the latter. Chris has an uncanny ability to turn the switch on or off. I believe Lofton was trying to focus on driving to the basket more in the exhibition games, knowing that he wasn't really needed and was focusing on improving his game. He often passed up wide open shots from behind the arc, and Im sure Pearl has talked to Chris about that. Look for Chris to be looking for his shot a little more starting tonight.

3) Coaching. Tonight, Pearl will coach against one of his former players from Wisconsin-Milwaukee Dan Weisse, a Graduate Assistant with MTSU. Dan will no doubt have an excellent scouting report on the Vols, so it will be interesting to see how the Vols can respond. The Vols will definitely try to speed up the game tonight to try to limit the size advantage the Blue Raiders have on the court.

4) Newcomers. Tonight will be the first big test for the 6 new players on this year's team. Pearl will start two freshman, Ramar Smith and Duke Crews. Playing significant minutes off the bench will be forwards Wayne Chism and Tony Passley, along with guards Marques Johnson and Josh Tabb. With the real lights turning on tonight, and the team playing against real competition, how will the new players respond? We will find out tonight.

Signing Day Recap

2006-11-09T09:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the first day of the early signing period for college basketball and Tennessee took advantage signing two players to play at Tennessee next year. Cameron Tatum and Brian Williams will be watching the Vols this season and looking forward to what they can bring in next year. Cameron Tatum is a 6’6” 190 lb. wing from Atlanta, GA. Tatum had some academic struggles and was originally slated to graduate with the ’06 class, but reclassified and is currently attending Patterson Prep in North Carolina. Tatum has been a commitment for a long time now, having committed in the ’06 class before reclassifying for the ’07 class. Tatum looks to transfer to the shooting guard or small forward position in college, as he has a wide range of talents. Tatum has the ability to shoot the 3 or put the ball on the floor and create shots for himself.

Brian Williams has been a late addition to the Tennessee commitment list, just committing in the last couple of weeks. Williams has been seen as a fallback for the Vols after missing out on some of the higher ranked players in this class. However, Williams has lots of potential and with some work, might be able to provide key depth for the Vols next season. Williams, at 6’9” and 300 lb., will bring some needed size and depth to the post position. Williams currently attends Harmony Community Prep in Cincinnati, OH, which happens to be were current Vol freshman Josh Tabb attended. Williams will bring lots to the court with his excellent hands and footwork. If Williams can shed some more of his weight, he could end up being a big contributor to the Vols next season.

The Vols will take one more scholarship into the spring signing period, where anything is possible with Bruce Pearl. Pearl may decide to hold the scholarship for the loaded 2008 class, where he is already in on some of the bigger names in that class. Don’t be surprised however if Pearl tries to sign Jason Henry, a four star small forward from Decatur, GA. Henry is said to be high on the Vols and would be a huge addition to the recruiting class. Remember, at this time last year, how many knew about Duke Crews and Ramar Smith, and if you did, who would have thought both would end up signing here!

MTSU Preview

2006-11-08T09:57:00.000-05:00

This is the first installment of game previews for the year. I hope to preview each game through out the year to let everyone know what should be expected. I’m going to try to put my obvious bias aside and preview the games straight up. I know that will be hard to do at times, but we will see how it works out. Now onto MTSU vs. the Vols on Friday Nov. 10^th.

Coming off of a disappointing 16-12 season with a conference tournament loss to Denver on their own home court to end their season, MTSU looks to rebound this season. The Blue Raiders lost 51% of their scoring, 46% of their rebounding, and 50% of their assists. The Blue Raiders compare well with Tennessee in that they are a very young team. Their projected lineup features three sophomores, one redshirt freshman, and one senior. However, of the 7 players that return from last year, Calvin O’Neil played the least amount of minutes at 10.3 a game. He has the tough task of stepping in and replacing Pre-Season All Sun Belt Conference selection Adam Vogelsberg at the SG with Vogelsberg out with a broken ankle. The Blue Raiders will rely on their big men down low, however, with returning starter Kyle Young, at 6’10”, as the only senior in the starting lineup. Young was second on the team in rebounds last year, and looks to build upon his success from last season. Joining Young down low will be 6’10” 235 lb. Theryn Hudson. Young dominated MTSU’s exhibition game against York University of Canada with 15 points and 7 rebounds, 6 of which were offensive. If last year was any indication, MTSU will substitute tons through out the game. Eleven players averaged over 10 minutes a game last year, with 10 averaging 13 minutes in their exhibition opener. Last year, MTSU struggled to out score their opponents, only scoring 1.3 more points through out the year, despite their depth.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

Tennessee will not be able to tire the Blue Raiders. Tennessee will have to force turnovers with their more athletic team. Although MTSU substitutes generously, they don’t appear to like the up and down game, only averaging 70.6 points a game last year. If Tennessee can force the game to be played at a more uptempo pace, they may be able to limit the size advantage that the Blue Raiders have down low. Key matchup of the game: SG replacement Calvin O’Neil matching up with Tennessee’s Chris Lofton. Look for a close game, but for UT to pull away at the end.

Projected Starting Lineups:

MTSU

PG – 6’2” #5 Kevin Kanaskie
SG – 6’4” #4 Calvin O’Neil
SF – 6’7” #31 Desmond Yates
PF – 6’10” #44 Kyle Young
C – 6’10” #45 Theryn Hudson

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’9” #4 Wayne Chism

What a weekend

2006-11-04T22:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the late post guys, but today has been a crazy day. What a great football game. Unfortunately, the Vols weren't able to pull it out. But it was still a great game. But onto the point of this post, last night's basketball game. So last night's game started out a whole lot closer than the Vols wanted it, but by the end of the game the Vols pulled out the victory 100-57. Leading only 36-27 at halftime, I'm sure the guys got a good talking to in the locker room. So, in keeping with what I have done so far, here are a couple of points that I came away with from last night.

1)The press might be lethal. I know UT was only playing Tusculum, but when they turned the press on, it worked. As the team gets more and more used to pressing, they will continue to improve, but they were pretty good at it last night. The depth on this team allows for the team to press for a lot of the game, which is good considering their half court defense isn't too good. Hopefully the half court defense can improve and help the pressing defense.

2)FT's were horrendous. These guys really need to work on their free throws. Chism and Crews were just horrific. Crews I understand somewhat as he is not a great shooter, but Chism is. Something needs to happen here.

3)More fashion statements. Chism wore orange socks last night with small white power T's on them. Jordan Howell had on calf length socks with two orange stripes on the top. Passley passed his huge shirt onto Marques Johnson. And 3 of the freshman lost the headbands halfway through the game.

4)Rebounding improved. Although the rebounding tended to vary throughout the game, UT seemed to dominate the glass. Both Childress and Crews had 9 rebounds, with Crews getting 7 offensive boards.

5)UT had 24 assists, 8 coming from Ramar Smith. However, they had 16 Turnovers which is way to much. Tusculum on the other hand had a remarkable 36 Turnovers, many of them due to the press. Some other interesting stats: UT had 23 offensive rebounds, equal to Tusculum's 23 defensive rebounds. Out of the 14 players that played for UT, 10 registered a steal with, get this, Wayne Chism leading the way with 5.

6)Stat line of the day: Wayne Chism - 5-9 FG, 2-6 FT, 12 Points, 5 Rebounds (3 offensive), 1 Assist, 2 Blocks, 5 Steals, 2 Turnovers

I will give a couple more thoughts later in the week leading up to the first game on Friday night November 10th against MTSU along with a preview for the game Friday night. Throughout the year, I will try to give preview for each game and what to expect and look for. It's time to get excited as the season is now quickly approaching and the Preseason NIT begins in 8 days in Nashville. But first things first, take care of business against the Blue Raiders on Friday night.

Round Dos

2006-11-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

So tonight I get to see the Men play again. After the killing that the men gave Lemoyne-Owen on Tuesday night, they really need to be tested somewhat. Tusculum really shouldn't give UT any kind of trouble tonight, but they should present a little more of a challenge. Here are a couple of things I'm looking at going into tonight's game.

1) More of the press. Although we probably won't get to see much of it, look for more pressing than they did against Lemoyne-Owen. Pearl really needs to get his new players acclimated to the press and see how they react to different teams. Although he won't press the whole game so that it's not a total blow out, I do expect to see more pressing than last game.

2) Jordan Howell. Jordan was cleared to practice on Wednesday and will play about 10 minutes tonight. With Jordan returning, Pearl now has 11 players available to him to play and all are capable players with no drop off occuring. Jordan is the most experienced PG on the team, which isn't saying much as he doesn't have that much experience. But what Jordan does have is a depper understanding of the offense than the two freshman do at this point.

3) Improvement on defense and boxing out. Tuesday night the team really struggled in these two aspects even though you wouldn't realize it by looking at the score. The team defense tended to struggle at times, and the perimeter players really struggled with their boxouts. I'm sure Pearl chastised the team for these two things, and I look to see some improvement in these areas tonight.

4) More of the freshman. I am looking forward to seeing more from the new guys. I got a good look Tuesday night at the freshman, but I hope to see some more tonight against hopefully some better competition.

I'm not sure if I will be able to post a game review tomorrow, as I will be attending the UT-LSU game, but I will be sure to remark on Sunday if I can't get to it tomorrow. Go VOLS! Beat the Pioneers and the Tigers!

WOW

2006-11-01T09:28:00.000-05:00

So last night Tennessee played Lemoyne-Owen. I don't really know what to say about the game. It really wasn't fair from the get go. UT hit their first 18 shots and had 41 points with 11 minutes left in the first half. I was wondering if they would hit 150. Well, they came close. 126-66 is kind of ridiculous. You schedule these exhibitions hoping to learn something about your team. You expect to win the game, but you hope it will be a little bit closer and more of a challenge. Last night it wasn't. But here are somethings I learned about this team watching them last night.

1)There is still lots to improve on. Some of the players seemed to struggle on defense. They are really going to have to improve that to be able to compete in the SEC. Rebounding needs to improve as well. UT is going to be outsized almost every night on the floor, so they need to be great at boxing out, which they weren't last night. Both the 3 point and FT shooting will improve. The more reps you get, the better you will shoot. Hopefully some of this was a little effort induced since UT had at least a 30 point lead for most of the night.

2)UT has a ton of athletes. I already knew this, but it was proved true last night. Ramar and Duke are just athletic phenomenons. Once Jordan Howell returns, UT will have a legitimate 11 deep that they can run at you. And this team is fast, I can't wait to see them when they really press a team. They really only pressed about 8 times last night, and it worked most of the times.

3)Fashion statements. This whole team is full of fashion statements. Passley loves the long shirt under his uniform. All the freshman but Johnson are all over the headbands. UT might lead the nation in headband usage. And then there was Chism's socks. If you saw them, then you know what I'm talking about. They looked like those dress socks that have the large diamonds on them, but in orange and white. All I can say is WOW.

4)I was right about a lot of things. I said last year that Passley would be a big improvement to this team. He is the 3 man that this team, and last year's team, needs. He just has a toughness about him that I like.

5)My new favorite player......Josh Tabb. They guy might be the biggest steal of the class. Not really highly touted like the others, but brings a LOT of intangibles to the court. He seems to be able to play the up tempo pace at a slow speed so that he is always under control. He understands the game very well and plays great defense. I felt bad for him last night as he was the only person that dressed that didn't score. I felt as though instead of the crowd yelling "SHOOT!" when a walk-on touched the ball, they needed to yell that when Tabb touched the ball. He is just so unselfish it's ridiculous.

Hopefully, Pearl will be able to learn some more about his team on Friday night when the Vols take on Tusculum. We will see.

It's Basketball Time in Tennessee!!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-31T14:05:00.000-05:00

So today is the day. Yes. Today is the exhibition opener for the Men's UT basketball team against Lemoyne Owen. For me, this is when the fun begins. Don't be mistaken, I am definitely a UT football fan and cheer for all things UT. But basketball is where it is at for me. I love me some UT basketball. So for the UT basketball fans out there, here is a little synopsis for what you should expect to see this season....

1) Tons of new players. This team is very inexperienced. They have five freshman and a redshirt sophomore that have never played a lick of Division 1 college basketball. So that is 6 out of the 11 scholarships on this team. A small bit of info on the new players...
#3 Marques Johnson - PG - A legitimate 6'-6", he plays very smooth at the PG position. Has a pass first shoot second mentality.
#4 Wayne Chism - C- At 6'-8", he is the second tallest player on the team. Has a very smooth inside game and hits the glass hard. Can also shoot the 3 ala CJ Black.
#12 Ramar Smith - PG - One of the most athletic PG's in the league as a FR. Can drive to the basket at will. Look for him to improve as the year progresses and he grasps the offense better.
#13 Tony Passley - SF - As a redshirt sophomore, Tony is the oldest newcomer to the team. A tough nosed player, he will make a lot of plays around the basket along with collecting many rebounds.
#25 Josh Tabb - SG - The least heralded of the Top 5 recruiting class, but the most impressive thus far. Understands the game very well and is a lock down defender. Always is pretty to have a lefty shooter as well.
#32 Duke Crews - PF - The most athletic of the newcomers. Can sky out of the gym for monster dunks. Slightly raw on offense but can be a pain around the basket blocking shots. Fits perfectly in Pearl's press.

2) Improvement from those returning. Major Wingate's dismissal hurt this team in a lot of ways, but those that return will try to help fill the void.
#2 JaJuan Smith -SG - Although he will probably start at the 3, he is still a SG. Probably the best on guard defender on the team. If he can become more selective with his ball handling, he will be a great player here at UT.
#5 Chris Lofton - SG - The reason JaJuan doesn't start at SG. Has improved his body and is working on taking the ball to the basket more this season. I just hope he doesn't cut off his 3 point shooting.
#15 Jordan Howell -PG - The most experienced PG on the team has been sidelined with a broken hand to begin the season. Many were impressed with his improvement over the summer. Look for Jordan to compete for the starting PG role when he returns to practice this week.
#23 Dane Bradshaw - PF - The glue of this team. As the only senior, Dane is once again playing as an undersized power forward. Look for him to help keep this team together thorughout the year and lead them to the postseason.
#34 Ryan Childress - C - The tallest member of the team and the most improved from last year. Has really improved his footwork and should contribute lots this season. Has also greatly improved his jump shot.

3)Steady improvement throughout the season. Although the season may start out rough, look for continued improvement throughout the season. Pearl will be able to finally implement his full court style throughout the season as he has a legitimate 11 deep that he can go with. He has tons of guards, and remember, college basketball is a guard oriented game.

4)A loaded schedule. Tennessee will paritcipate in the Preseason NIT where it could face North Carolina, Indiana, or Gonzaga depending on how far they advance. Tennessee will also travel to Ohio State to face the Buckeyes and their #1 ranked recruiting class. Lastly, Tennessee will host half of the elite eight in Thompson-Boling Arena when Florida, LSU, Texas, and Memphis all make appearances.

5)TV Galore. Out of the possible 31 games UT could play in the regular season(assuming two games in the NIT in NY,) 24 of those games will be shown on TV. And out of those 24, 12 will be shown on national TV, with 9 of those games appearing on the ESPN network. Three of those games are on ESPN's Super Tuesday. That's what happens when you have the season the Vols did last year.

6) More updates from me. I know I have been slacking in the blog department, but I'm going to be picking it up now that basketball season is here. Remember what the name of the blog is. This is UTBball Land. Go Vols!!!

Am I too intense?

2006-10-10T09:16:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, I am an extremely competitive person, especially with sports. I really hate to lose at anything. But the worst is when I don't do my best and lose. See, I can handle it if I give it my all and I know I've done the best I can, and I still lose. Why? Because I know I was beaten by a better team, or person, and there is nothing I could do about it. So on to last night. Last night was the final game of the intramural football season. As many of you may know, Cody and I, along with Daniel, where coaching the girl's CSC team. This was mine and Cody's 4th year I believe at doing this. The three previous year's we were able to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, this year we were not able to make it. We hadn't practiced in the last two weeks, and it really showed last night. One of the main reasons why we had done so well in the past was, even though we might not have had the talent that some of the other teams had, we almost always knew what we were doing and that can go a long way. It can really surprise you how much coaching can help. And I'm not trying to toot my own horn here. Just making a statement. See Tennessee Men's Basketball team in '05-'06 if you don't believe me. Well, last night it just didn't seem like our team wanted to be there. I know they tried their hardest, but they just didn't look excited to be playing. But I guess the thing that made me the most frustrated was that we kept making bad mistakes, that if we had practiced wouldn't have happened. At one point, one of the girl's told me I needed to calm down and that it was just a game. Now, I hadn't been going nuts on the sideline at this point. I'm sure everone could tell I was frustrated, but I wasn't going biserk either. But I'm going to be honest. I almost lost it when she told me that. I just had to walk away. If I hadn't, then I probably would have gone biserk. Yes, she's right. It is a game. However, when only 5 people would show up for practice, because they had tests to study for or homework they had to do, then that's frustrating. Cody, Daniel, and I all have other stuff we could have been doing, but we took time out of our schedules to make it to practice. So it is very frustrating for us. Anyways, I guess that's the end of my rant. However upset I might sound, I still enjoyed the season and am glad I was able to coach all the girls. Good luck to all of you for the rest of the semester.

Checking In

2006-10-05T11:52:00.000-04:00

So not much has been happening in the last couple of days. Monday night, I watched the Prison Break which I had taped. I go on and on about that show, but it really is a good show. You never know what is going to happen. Especially in this last show. It jsut catches you off guard. Unfortunately, they are taking a 3 week hiatus and won't air an episode for another three weeks, so I might encounter some Prison Break withdrawals. Tuesday nights has now shifted focus onto a tv show on CBS. "The Unit" airs on Tuesday nights at 9:00. It features Dennis Haysbert, who starred in 24 as President Palmer, as Jonas Blane. He is a leader of an army unit that only answers to the president and their existence is only known by the president. The show features the actions of Blane and his team, along with the struggles that their wives go through back on the army base. It really is a good show. I caught onto it this past summer when it would come on on Friday nights before Numb3rs.

Meanwhile, I have been looking at Halloween costumes lately. I really love Halloween. It has to be my favorite holiday behind Christmas. It just allows you to dress up and be crazy, because everyone else is doing the same thing too. Danny, a yp at West End, and I are planning a Halloween party for the weekend before Halloween, so I have been checking out different decorations and things as well. I am really looking forward to the party. I haven't decided on a costume yet, but I have 4 different ideas. Two are pre made, and two would have to be put together. Also, price has a little bit of a say in it as well. Anyways, just thought I would check in. And I will be sure to post some pictures of the costume I decide on, cause I'm sure it will look good.

Suspenseful Monday

2006-10-03T09:36:00.000-04:00

So yesterday was crazy. I had two really suspenseful moments in one day, now how often does that happen? First, the CSC Pirates had our 4th game of the season last night. We played the Business school's fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi girls. They had currently only lost 1 game, so they were still playoff eligible, unlike us since we have 2 losses. So fast forward to 5 minutes left in the game. We stop AKPsi on a crucial extra point attempt to keep the game tied 13-13. We proceed to drive the ball down the field and, with 1 minute and 45 seconds left, have the ball 4th and goal at the 2 yard line. We are stopped, and turn the game over to our defense. I'm hoping for a sack and a safety, but the AKPsi girls proceed to get a first down. To our surprise, the AKPsi girls are trying to score, when a tie is just the same as a win for them. Big mistake there. A couple of plays later, the AKPsi girl throws a ball that hangs a little too long in the air and Susie jumps in front of the receiver to intercept the ball and returns it to midfield. So with 30 seconds left, we have 30 yards to score and 2 timeouts left. We call timeout and set up our offense. We decide to go no huddle and tell the girls what stops the clock and what doesn't. On first down, Kelly, our QB, scrambles out to her right for a good 12 yard gain and runs out of bounds with about 20 seconds left. On the next play, Kelly hits the center for about a 5 yard gain, getting another first down, and temporarily stopping the clock. The clock runs an extra second however, and while Cody is telling the ref to add an extra second, I'm yelling out to get set and I call out our play. The ref starts the clock before the extra second is added and I yell at Kelly to snap the ball. The ball is snapped with 8 seconds left, and Kelly looks for an open receiver. With no one open, and a heavy rush, Kelly takes off to her right again. I look at the clock and there is only 3.5 seconds left running so I tell myself this is probably the last play of the game, because if she gets tackled, we probably don't have enough time to call timeout. Cody is already next to the ref ready to call timeout just in case. I watch Kelly run and dodge a defender, and as the clock strikes zero, she rolls into the endzone between two defenders. Pandamonium quickly ensues. Cody, Daniel (our other coach), and I are all running and jumping on the field. The girls surround Kelly and celebrate. Pure adrenaline is now running threw my body. What a great game!!!!!

So after the game, I arrived home to watch the Monday Night Football game. I was particularly interested tonight, because, 1)I like to consider myself an Eagles fan, and 2)I needed a huge night from Donovan McNabb and the Philly defense to win in fantasy football this week. I trailed by 46 points going into last night with only those two remaining on my roster and none on my opponents. Donovan made me extremely proud by rushing for 2 TD's and throwing for 2 TD's, and I had the game won until the last couple of minutes. I had computed in my head that I had scored 47 points that night, with 36 of those coming from McNabb. Once McNabb was pulled, I knew that my defense had to make a stand against the Green Bay offense and not let them score. Based on how defenses are scored, if Green Bay kicked a FG I still would have been ok, but if they scored another TD to score 16 points, then I would have lost 2 points, and thus lost the fantasy game. So for those that watched the game, you know why I was nervous. Philly was called for pass interference in the endzone with less than 2 minutes left in the game. The ball was then moved to the 2 yard line. Green Bay ran the ball three straight times, and were denied 3 straight times. At this point, I'm going nuts and yelling at the tv for Green Bay to kick the FG, but alas, they don't listen. So on 4th and goal, at the one inch line, here is my fantasy game. Alas, Philly stopped Green Bay on 4th down, and while the Philly defense is going nuts because they stopped Green Day from scoring, I'm going nuts because I just won my fantasy game. I tell you what. I crazy night.

Absence

2006-09-29T09:15:00.000-04:00

So I have been absent of lately. I really haven't felt good all week, and I have had a lot of other things on my mind. Anyways, I thought that I would jump back into the ranks of blogging. As some of you might know, I am a HUGE Smallville fan. I now own all 5 seasons on DVD, thanks to a B-Day present from the parents when it came out two weeks ago. I received the gift on Saturday and decided I needed to catch up on the show by watching all of season 5 before yesterday when season 6 of Smallville premiered. So this week at work, I watched all 22 hour-long episodes to get myself caught up for last night's premiere. I had 3 episodes to watch yesterday, and when I finished those, I was really excited about the premiere. The season 5 finale left a lot of unanswered questions with all of the cast members and, more importantly, left Clark in a dire situation. Well, let's just say that season 6 has not disappointed thus far. The season premiere answered a lot of questions and is leading toward Clark becoming Superman. When the series began, the producers promised all the action of Superman and how he became who he is but without the tights. In beginning their sixth season, it's looking as if the tights might be soon making an appearance. Clark once again was able to save the day, but he is beginning to contemplate what his true destiny on Earth is. So to end this post, here's a small quote from the end of the episode that really can be true today. To set up the quote, this happens after Clark has once again saved the day and realized that his Kryptonian father's (Jor-El) presence has left Earth.

Clark - "Everything's changing, I don't know where to go from here."

Martha Kent (Clark's mom) - "Every world needs it's heroes. They inspire us to be who we are."

Random

2006-09-23T15:20:00.000-04:00

So I have been absent for the last couple of days from the blog world. Just haven't had the will to post anything. But I am still alive in case anyone was wondering. The same can't be said about Bryan McDermott, aka ADHD Land, who wasn't updated his blog in like a month. I'm sure everything is great with BMcD, and it's probably just the fact that he is unwilling to spend any kind of money on anything technological and just wishes to bum technology off of others. Anyways, back to my reason for posting. Today is a great example of how crazy the weather in Knoxville is. I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day. Once I arrived at work, yes unfortunately I had to work this morning, I looked outside about 15 minutes later and it was pitch black and pouring cats and dogs. It has been pretty steady all day with random bouts of really hard rain. It stopped raining about 45 minutes ago and looked great outside, once again the sun out and shining brightly. Then 15 minutes later, torrential downpour again. It's been raining since. I'm really glad I'm not going to the game today although I could probably buy tickets really cheap today with the weather as it is. It had just stopped raining about 10 minutes ago, and now is pouring again. Welcome to the crazy world of Weather in Knoxville. And to top it all off, here was the forecast from the Weather Channel this morning. Isolated T-storms in the afternoon with a CHANCE of some severe thunder storms. HAHAHAHA!!!!! How about Torrential downpour likely all day. If you own any large wooden boats, please prepare those for the future flood. And just to top everything off, it's about 80 degrees today, and will probably be like 50 tomorrow knowing Knoxville's weather! And, oh yeah, Go Vols!

Rumblings from this weekend.....

2006-09-18T11:18:00.000-04:00

So this weekend was quite eventful. Friday night, I went with some friends to King Tut's Grill out off of Chapman. This was my first experience at the restaurant. And it is definitely a different atmosphere. The owner of King Tut's, aka Moe, is quite an interesting guy. He likes to keep his restaurant very lively and interact with his customers. The place is fairly small, probably only fitting a total of 50 people. It is very difficult to find, basically a little house sitting off the side of the road. I walk in, and 6 of those I am meeting are already there sitting at a table. I have already noticed something strange. Heather, Jon's girlfriend, is sitting there wearing an egyptian pharoah style hat. I'm like ok. Jon proceeds to try the hat on, at which point Moe comes over and tells Jon that is not his hat, it belongs to the lady. Moe then retrieves an afro wig for Jon to wear for the rest of dinner. Moe informs us that karoake will start later and then informs us that we can make a deal with him. We now have 8 people there and he will give us 8 free desserts if someone beats him in a game of chess. Unfortunately, I am voted to play against him. Needless to say, I got creamed. He informed me later that he plays online every night til like 6 in the morning. So now were thinking we have to buy 8 desserts. Well, Moe brings me a Billy Bob hat, aka a trucker hat with a mullet hanging out the back for me to wear. After bringing us our food, Moe informs the group we can get out of our desserts if I sing karoake. At this point I'm thinking, "What in the world did I do to get involved in all this? Can you not just leave me alone and let me enjoy my food?" Long story short, 2 karoake songs, a giant gnome mask, and no desserts later, we finally left. It was definitely a crazy experience.

Saturday, Brad(young professional from West End) and I attended the game. We were able to sit in X3 row 9, which, if you didn't know, are unfreakingbelieveable seats. I was going to post a picture to make everyone jealous, but apparently Blogger is going crazy an won't let me post a picture so maybe tomorrow.

So even though we ended up losing the game, they were really good seats and it was a great game to watch. Hopefully next time the results will be a little better. So that pretty much puts an end to the weekend. My fantasy football team is now 2-0 and will be in 2nd place after tonight, so I'm pretty excited about that. But anyways, hopefully mine and Cody's IM girl's team, aka the CSC Pirates, can pull off a victory tonight. Look for a Prison Break review tomorrow. Peace out.

A great Volunteer!

2006-09-14T11:25:00.000-04:00

As some of you might have heard, both Justin Harrell and Inky Johnson were injured last Saturday night in the Air Force game. Inky's injury is very serious as he had surgery on Saturday night to help repair some blood vessels that had been damaged in the injury. He still has to have more surgery to repair nerve damage. Justin Harrell ruptured his bicep tendon and was declared out for the season. Well yesterday the team received some very uplifting news from these two Volunteers. First, Inky Johnson was released from the hospital yesterday and made an appearance at practice. The team made a huge uproar when they saw him appear from the football complex and it really uplifted the team. Second, about 45 minutes into practice, Justin Harrell made an appearance in full gear for practice. Apparently, Harrell's injury can't be damaged any furthur and thus he asked the coaches if he could play one last game. Harrell has to go ahead and have surgery because if he were to wait, then the muscle could atrophy and would not be repairable. So, as a senior, Justin Harrell will be making his last appearance in a UT uniform on Saturday night as he is expected to play. Harrell will be wearing a brace on his arm to help keep the arm stabilized, but he should be able to fully play. How much he plays is unknown at this point, but he will play. Another fitting tribute, is that Saturday night will be the last night that #92 will be worn at UT. Justin Harrell currently wears #92 and as many may know, that number was retired last year in honor of Reggie White. Harrell was allowed to continue wearing the number until he graduated, thus Saturday night will be the final appearance for the number. What a way for the number to be retired. I know that if Reggie were here today, he would be very proud of the way that Justin is representing that jersey. So be sure to give Justin and Inky a huge Tennessee welcome on Saturday night. I'm sure it will be a very emotional time.

A sad day :(

2006-09-07T10:24:00.000-04:00

So yesterday was a sad day for me. As many of you know, I spent four years of my life working with the UT Men's basketball team. And during those four years I was able to meet a lot of interesting basketball players, some that I like more than others. Well, yesterday, one of those I like was dismissed from the team. Major Wingate was one of my favorite players while I worked with the team. He was always nice to anyone he saw and would always speak to you. He has a very eccentric personality and a guy that sometimes seemed to be out there. A good story about Major comes from back in 2005 on a trip to South Carolina. Major is from Florence, South Carolina and rarely gets a chance to see his mom. So, needless to day, he was excited about traveling to Columbia so that his mom would be able to some and see him play. We arrived in Columbia on Friday night and proceeded to go to eat at a fairly nice restaurant. One thing you should know about the team, was that when we traveled, the team would always sit together and the managers/support staff would sit together. Well, there wasn't a place for Major to sit, so he came over and sat with me and Blake for dinner. He kept us entertained all night. Major is such a funny guy that it's hard not to get along with him. I don't know if any of the other players would have done what he did, excpet for maybe Dane, Jordan, or Fred. And if they had to sit with us, they probably would have complained about it. But not Major. He has always been a really cool guy to know, and so yesterday was a really sad day for me knowing that his college career had more than likely come to an end. Major, you will be truly missed.

Prison Break

2006-09-06T09:35:00.000-04:00

So I totally forgot about Prison Break on Monday night, which I don't know what I was thinking. That is one of my favorite shows ever and I totally forgot about it. I guess it had to do with the fact that I didn't have to work that day since it was Labor Day and my day was jammed pack full of stuff to do. So yesterday I was pretty bummed out by the fact that I had missed Prison Break and it's one of those shows that you can't really miss an episode because you won't know what is going on in the next episode. But to my delight, I googled Prison Break and was directed to Fox's Prison Break website where I discovered you can watch past episodes of the show. Well, needless to say, this brightened my day tremendously. So, without further ado, my review of Monday night's Prison Break.

This season is definitely different as it focuses on the routes each escapee is taking to their freedom. Those that were notably absent from this episode where T-Bag, Abruzzi, Tweeter, and Haywire. This episode mainly focused on Scofield and Lincoln, Sucre, and C-Note. Scofield and Lincoln fake their death by driving their car off of a bridge and having the car blow up. Sucre steals a car trying to reach his girlfriend who is about to get married to another guy. He is caught and manages to escape while he is pulled over on the side of the road. C-Note contacts his wife and also talks to his daughter while she is at her school. All four appear to be headed out west after the money. Bellick is now on the chase after the convicts. Right before he was going to shoot himself with a shotgun, he finds out there is a reward out for everyone's capture and he is now pursuing the reward. He actually sees Scofield and Lincoln escape from the blown up car. Should be interesting to see where that goes. And last, Agent Mahone is onto Scofield's chase but the explosion could throw him off. I think that Scofield is starting to realize that Mahone is a really smart guy, but I think Mahone is underestimating Scofield. And there is still something out there about Mahone that we don't know. Can't wait til next week!

I told you so

2006-09-05T13:26:00.000-04:00

So here I am on Tuesday posting about the long weekend that just passed us by. I called it over the weekend that I thought that the stadium would be crazy on Saturday and that the Vols would probably pull out a victory. Well, the crowd was one of the loudest and craziest in recent memory and everyone knows how the Vols surprised the nation in pummeling over the Cal Bears. Some of the comments from the Cal players reinforced the crowd issue. Nate Longshore, Cal's QB, said he had played his playstation and turned up the sound at Neyland to try to simulate the sound. HAHA. Nice try. Jeff Tedford palyed Rocky Top at every lifting session over the summer and during practice. Note to Jeff: You're not the first coach to do this, and, in general, it usually doesn't work out very well. My guess is that the Bears liked the song so much they wanted to hear it a ton more. Turn outs for the Vol Walk and Salute to the Hill were outstanding. But I think one of the best moments from the weekend in regards to football happened on Thursday night. With coaches and stadium personnel unaware, Jayson Swain and Eric Ainge gathered together the football team and took them down to the stadium. It was here that they watched a video about many of their struggles from last year, along with some highlights from spring, summer, and fall workouts and practice. Included in the video was an inspirational clip from the "Any Given Sunday." Supposedly, they were even told by a cop to get off the field and so they retreated onto the sidelines! It was reported that after the video, the team prayed together and were talked to by Jayson Swain. Many on the team have said that this year's team has great chemistry and seem more than a family than ever before. Here's to hoping that this turns into more wins.

So Sunday was Boomsday and it was a blast. We had a group get together from Parkway and West End to watch the festivities. We had about 8 people all together. The fireworks were once again excellent. It seems like every year they come up with something new to show off. Aside from the fact that we were seated on a hill that made my butt hurt, it was great. Here's to looking forward to next year.

It's Football Time in Tennessee!!!!!!

2006-09-01T10:18:00.000-04:00

It's Friday. One day before the opening kickoff of the 2006 Tennessee football season. It is unusually cool here in Knoxville. Now, by cool, I mean high 70's, low 80's. If you were driving through town yesterday, and never got out of your car, you would have thought that it was an October day. It just had that look to it. As I was driving to campus last night for our girl's intramural football practice, I glanced at the sky. After all the rain we had received yesterday, it just had that look of a mid October afternoon following a rain storm. It's really a unique view and something you would recognize if you have ever lived in the south. Plus, add to the fact that it is a football weekend. Not only that, it's the opening football weekend. And, it's against a top 10 team. So you can imagine what the town is like these days. If you have ever been in Knoxville, or any other SEC town the Friday before a game, then you know what I'm talking about. K-town thrives around football and is a whole different place when the season arrives. Tonight, the strip will be hopping with college students and many others going from bars to bars. Boats will begin to arrive on the Tennessee River out in front of Neyland Stadium. RV's will start showing up across from Thompson-Boling Arena. You can almost smell the football in the air. And tomorrow will be even crazier. Campus will be swarmed with tailgaters from as close as Knoxville and as far away as California. All will be welcomed as UT has some of the nicest fans around. The team will walk down to the stadium for the Vol Walk. The Pride of the Southland Marching Band will salute the hill. The stadium will begin to fill up with anxious fans. All will converge towards Neyland Stadium. New found friends from California will soon become bitter enemies. Fans will be urged, "To pay these prices and to PLEASE PAY NO MORE!" The starters will be introduced. The band will take the field. Cal's fight song will be played. The interlocking UT will be formed and Rocky Top will be played for the first of many times to come. Down the Field will be played, the T will open up, and the team will appear. Both teams will lineup, and kickoff will happen. And over the roar of the crowd, one will faintly be able to hear, "It's Football Time in Tennessee!"

And I can't wait.

It's Basketball Time in Tennessee

2006-08-31T09:15:00.000-04:00

So I've been absent the last few days. Sorry about that. I missed my weekly Prison Break post, but if that is your highlight of the week, then you need to get out more. So onto the topic of today's post, UT Basketball. I know, I know, it's two days before the first football game. Well, yesterday, Coach Pearl got some great news regarding one of his highly touted recruits. Ramar Smith, from Detroit, was finally cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse and allowed to enter school. The holdup with Ramar was in validating his SAT score. For those that don't know the whole story, let me share it with you.

As a senior Ramar committed to play for the UConn Huskies. UConn transferred him to a prep school to begin his senior year. Ramar didn't like the situation and returned Detroit and his original high school, Martin Luther King HS. He decommitted from UConn and reopened his recruitment. He was always an academic liability, as he had struggled some in his earlier high school years. He took the ACT and didn't recieve a high enough score based on his HS GPA. For those that don't know, to qualify in the NCAA, you have to meet certain requirements based on a sliding scale that corresponds to your HS GPA and test score. Back to Ramar, he eventually raised his GPA and signed with UT. He took the SAT in June and received a high enough score to qualify. Smith's case was red-flagged by the Clearinghouse, and recently issues were brought up on him that he possibly had cheated since his writing didn't match that on his University application. First, anyone that has ever taken the SAT or ACT knows it's pretty much impossible for anyone to cheat on one of those tests as you have to supply ID and all kinds of other stuff. Anyways, Ramar supplied more copies of his writing and yesterday, was told that he had been cleared by the Clearinghouse. What happened with the mismatching writing on the test and application? Well, Ramar revealed that his mother had filled out the application and that was why the writing samples had not matched. It's really amazing that this could happen. I don't know if my mom filled out my applications, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did. It makes you wonder how many 18 year olds get their moms to fill out their applications. Just glad it all got cleared up and he got in.

Now, getting Ramar in school is huge for the basketball team this fall. He completes the Top 5 recruiting class and comes in as a possible replacement for CJ Watson at the point. From those that have seen Ramar play, he is a stud. A top 20 player in the 06 class, he will complement the rest of the team well. I can hear it now. Bob, "Smith to Lofton for the three." Bert, "MONEY!!!" Man, I love UT basketball.

What? A weekend post?

2006-08-26T14:46:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's me. Posting on the weekend. I just had such a great start to the weekend that I had to post something about it. Now, I know everyone, meaning all 3 readers of this blog, are wondering how my weekend could have gotten off to such a wonderful start. Well, let me tell you.

As soon as the weekend began, meaning as soon as I got off from work, I turn onto Neyland Drive to head home for the night of fun ahead. Well, I turn onto Neyland from Lake Loudon and get behind a white minivan. I am in the right hand lane, looking to get over, but there's a lot of traffic so I don't ever get a chance to get into the left lane. Both the minivan and I pull to a stop at the traffic light at Neyland and Joe Johnson, right in front of the agricultural campus. Once I stop, I look up into my rearview mirror to check on the car behind me, as I usually do. This is were my weekend took a downfall. To my terror, the man driving a white car, is checking out the Tennessee River. Why, you ask? I have no idea. Maybe he saw a ripple in the water, I have no clue. All I know is that I see him approaching me, not slowing down and checking out the ducks, or whatever, on the river. I ease up of my brakes hoping to scoot up, in hopes that he will look forward and see me, and stop in time and I won't get hit. NOPE. He turns around and sees me, tries to stop, but not in time. He rear ends me into the minivan, and now we have a three way wreck involving, yes, three white cars. We pull our cars over, as no one appears to be hurt. The lady driving the minivan gets out to inspect her car, and I roll my window down. I explain what happened, and she rudely asks me, "Are you going to call the police?" So I call 911 and shortly thereafter, a rent-a-cop or something like that, shows up. He checks with us to make sure everyone is ok, and we were. He asks me if I would like to file a report, and then asks if I have looked at my car. I reply that I haven't looked at my car yet and I get out to check the damage. The cop walks around the back with me, and then tells me that the guy hit me with enough force, that my license plate number was imprinted onto the front of his car! Luckily, I had no damage to my car, front or back, except for some scratches on the paint. Actually, that was the only damage on all three cars, as there was no body damage. WHEW! Eventually, a real cop showed up and got the whole story and all our information. I ended up talking to the women in the minivan, and she was actually very nice about everything. I think she was just a little ticked off at the whole thing in the beginning. Luckily, no injuries and no major damage, so thats the good news, but what a start to the weekend! I mean, can a guy great a break or something? It just seems like everything is going bad right now for me. Hopefully, that will turn around soon.

It's back!

2006-08-22T09:16:00.000-04:00

The fall has officially began. No, it's not football season. FOX aired the season premiere of Prison Break last night, and it was well anticipated in my apartment. I know, I'm the only one in my apartment, but it was still greatly anticipated. And the show didn't disappoint. The season premiere had tons of twists, and even a SHOCKER at the end. Never saw that coming. For those that haven't seen the episode and wish to watch it, stop reading here. Otherwise, continue on.

The beginning of the show focused on the prisoners running away from the prison guards and establishing where the show left off last year. There were many flashbacks to last year and helped to remind the audience of things that had been forgotten since the last episode in May. There has been a new addition to the PB cast, William Fichtner aka Special Agent Alexander Mahone. Mahone is a great addition to the cast, as he is already right onto Michael's trail. You can already tell that Mahone and Bellick are going to clash. We find out that Michael definately had everything planned out, even a backup plan for their escape if Abruzzi's plane didn't work out, which it didn't. But Mahone is on to him. He has realized that Michael has the whole plan tattooed on him, and now all Mahone has to do is figure out the tattoo. Should be interesting. And now on to the shocker. Veronica finds Terrance Steadman and confronts him about why he hasn't said something about himself being alive while Lincoln was being sentenced to death. Steadman tells Veronica that she is now trapped and can't leave because the doors only open from the outside and that the glass is 2 inches thick. Veronica then calls the police and tells them to come immediately. Lincoln then calls her and is able to talk to her when the "police" arrive. Veronica is surprised when the "police" aka Secret Service pull a gun on her and shoot her dead. So Lincoln hears his ex-girlfriend shot over the phone and is stunned and terrified. This will set up some great plot lines for the rest of the season. Mahone vs. Scofield. Lincoln out for revenge. Stay tuned for more.

Laser Quest . . .

2006-08-15T09:18:00.000-04:00

So last night, Richard, who was our deacon over the young professionals and college group at West End, along with our softball coach, Scott, had their 40th B-day party. Their wives threw them a surprise party at Laser Quest and invited a ton of people. There were probably about 40 people there, maybe more. They rented out the whole place just for us, which was awesome!!!!! They had all the over the hill stuff, even blow-up canes and a blow-up walker. The cake was a tombstone, which we proceeded to put 80 candles on, 40 for each of them! I think it almost set off a fire alarm! HAHA! Anyways, we got to play two rounds of Laser Tag. Scott had the pleasure of finishing first both times. All I heard from both Scott and Richard's kids was how they were so good and always finished one and two. Well, Scott held up his end. Richard, not so much. In the first game, Batman (that was me) and Thor (Richard) went at it the whole game. He shot me the most, but I shot him more times :). While Thor finished the game in seventh I believe, Batman triumphed over evil and finished in second!! For those that have never played Laser Quest in Knoxville, basically the key to the game is to find a hideout and just sit there and snipe people. If you run around, your done. Simple as that. After finally finding my spot, that was when me and Richard went at it. We were in the same overlook, going at each other the whole time. The second game I, aka SpydrMnky, teemed up with Brad, aka The Magic Man, and two other guys and we basically locked down a whole overlook. We each had windows we were shooting out of. As stated previously, Scott, aka Thelma for the 2nd game, finished first, but once again, yours truly, aka SpydrMnky, finished second. Scott's wife then decided that next time, me and Scott need to have a showdown, mono e mono. Anyways, just thought I would share that fun from last night.

Here's a thought to leave you with. Why is it that the 3 main superheros, in my opinion, Superman, Batman, and Spiderman, all have first names as their full name? See Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, and Peter Parker. Interesting.

The oblong ball

2006-08-14T09:46:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, while eating at a mexican restaurant on Kingston Pike next to Macaroni Grill that shall remain nameless, :) , the fearless leader of the UT offense walked in for lunch. For those that are lost, I'm refering to Eric Ainge. After a long conversation that was quite hilarious about what would happen if Brad were to tackle Eric in the middle of the restaurant, I thought I might post some of my thoughts on the current QB competition right now.

Basically, the competition consists of Ainge, a junior, versus Jonathan Crompton, a redshirt Freshman. Everyone knows about Ainge and his struggles last year. Many were hoping that under Cutcliffe that he would improve. After the first scrimmage this past Saturday, which I did not see but only heard about, it appears that he is still struggling with the same demons he dealt with last year. Crompton came to UT last year as the "savior" at quaterback. After being an All-American in high school, everyone expected him to challenge for the job, but a shoulder injury sidelined him for the season last year. He seems to be doing fairly well in practice, but is still making freshman mistakes. He did well, according to Fulmer, in practice, except for his tw0 fumbled snaps. That in my opinion is the only opinion that should count. From my experience with basketball, there are usually only a few people that know when someone does something wrong on the field or court, and that usually is the coaches. Lots of times QB's will get blames for bad throws, when in fact it could have been the receiver's fault. Only the coaches and players will know that. For example, Ainge was blasted by some when he called a timeout on the first play of the scrimmage Saturday. Come to find out, the coaches called the "timeout" because they weren't prepared to start the scrimmage just yet. Others blasted the receivers because they didn't appear to do too well. Fulmer said yesterday that he thought the receivers did an excellent job and that the QB's just needed to catch up to them. Just goes to show that people don't know as much as they think they do.

Anyways, here is my question to think about. Crompton has been getting mainly 2nd team reps. When is the time to start getting him more 1st team reps to see if he can respond to what appears to be a very solid defense on our team? Or do you stick with Ainge, a guy with a fragile mind that tends to make bad decisions (see 2 INT's in scrimmage)? When do you get to the point where you turn the team over to a freshman, and live with his mistakes, or stay with unproven veteran?

Draft day!

2006-08-09T09:42:00.000-04:00

So yesterday was draft day in my fantasy football league. I was in kind of a hurry to log on to the draft because Dave and I went to Zuma (formally Celebration Station) to play some video games. It was $10 Tuesday which allows unlimited video games for $10. That is a GREAT deal. Anyways, I arrived for the draft about 10 minutes before it began. I was a little bummed to find out that I was picking 9th. I was hoping for somewhere in the 4-6 range, but oh well. I think most of the teams were there, but there was a few absent. In our 10 team league, we play 1 QB, 2 RB's, 3 WR's, 1 W/R, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 DEF with 6 Bench spots, thus equaling a total of 16 rounds. It actually went faster than I thought as it only took about 1 hour for the draft. Some in our league had some odd draft selections to say the least, but you never know whats going to happen in a draft. Picking 9th, I figured I might end up taking Peyton 1st, since most drafts don't have him going until the late 1st round. Usually, RB's are going to get the majority of the 1st round picks, because they are usually more reliable and less good ones, thus there is a higher priority for them. Well, Peyton was picked 4th, which was too high in my opinion, so that was out of the picture. Cody, who picked 8th, selected the next RB on my list, Rudi Johnson. So I had to settle for Lamont Jordan as my 1st RB. I sure hope he was right when he said that he was paying more attention to plays and all this year in Oakland. Then, to start the 2nd round, Brent (picking 10th, but 1st in the even rounds) picks my next RB, Ronnie Brown. I was about to start yelling at the computer at this point. So I went a different route and started the WR exit, selecting Chad Johnson. Then the next 5 of 6 picks were WR's. WOW! So anyways, here's some of the best and worst picks of the draft in my opinion.

Good - All of mine. Just kidding. I thought I got two steals, drafting Chester Taylor, Minnesota's new RB, with the 2nd pick in round 6, and Jason Witten with the 9th pick in round 7. Others, Brent drafted Javon Walker with the 1st pick in round 6, which could be a very good pick if he can get healthy. A sleeper for me could be Cedric Benson, whom I drafted 2nd in the 12th round. He is out for 2-3 weeks, which leaves him rested for the season, and there are also rumors flying around about Thomas Jones possibly going to the Jets, along with his strained hamstring. Nathan also got a great pick with the last pick of the draft, Lawrence Tynes, KC's kicker.

Bad - Both Antonio Gates and Jason Elam were drafted by the same team, in the 2nd and 3rd rounds respectively. That's insane. I can see Gates somewhat, but there is a little bit of unknown there with Brees gone. But Elam?! Kickers are never taken until late in the draft, because they can't bring you the points that others on the board at that time can. So it will be interesting to see how that works out. Both Baltimore and Chicago were drafted in the 6th round, still a little too high in my opinion for defenses. Both are great defenses, but again, I don't think they can bring you the same amount of points that some others on the board at the time can bring you. Oh well.

My draft, in order, included Lamont Jordan, RB, OAK, Chad Johnson, WR, CIN, Chris Chambers, WR, MIA, Reggie Bush, RB, NO, Donovan McNabb, QB, PHI, Chester Taylor, RB, MIN, Jason Witten, TE, DAL, Lee Evans, WR, BUF, Donte Stallworth, WR, NO, Ben Roethlisberger, QB, PIT, Jon Kasay, K, CAR, Cedric Benson, RB, CHI, Brandon Lloyd, WR, WAS, Ben Watson, TE, NE, David Givens, WR, TN, and last Philly's Defense. So that was my draft. Feel free to critique away.

Cribs

2006-08-08T09:24:00.000-04:00

Hey MTV, welcome to my crib. Just kidding, I had to get that in there somehow. Don't think I'll ever get a chance to really say that, so I just thought I would get it out of the way. So anyways, like I had posted previously, I am still in the same apartment, just I now have it all to myself. Rebecca, my cousin, moved out so she could save money for a house, so now the whole place is mine. So I decided to do a little redecorating. I painted two of the walls in the living room/den area. Now I know your asking why only 2? Well, if you've been in the apartment, you know why. The third wall contains the front door and is probably like 30 feet long. Plus, there really isn't a closure in the living room, so if I painted that wall, then I would basically have to paint the whole apartment, which wasn't going to happen. Luckily, the landladies will allow you to paint the apartment as long as you paint it back when you leave, so that allowed me to add a little color. The living room still isn't quite finished as I need some more things to hang up to make it look more homely, but that will come with time. So anyways to Rebecca's old room, now known as the UT room. As you can see above, the highlight of the room is the orange and white checkerboard. It really adds something to the room. You can see parts of it from the hallway, and it automatically draws your eyes to it, which is what it is supposed to do. And yes, that is Home Depot's Tennessee Orange, and yes it was a pain to paint, taking almost 6 hours of taping and painting, but it was worth it. Other notable items are the bed in the left bottom corner that has kind of been turned into a day bed, and the shelf on the right containing special UT moments from my life. The top shelf contains a clock I bought at Myrtle Beach that looks like a scoreboard but gives the time, date, and temperature. Accompanying the clock is three pics from my graduation. The second shelf is from Senior Night with the basketball team. It has photos of me and my parents with Buzz and the other seniors. Third shelf is my gift from that night, a signed basketball from everyone on the team, including players, coaches, trainers, managers, and a special guest that night who is also one of my favorite UT players of all time, Ron Slay. If you ever got a chance to meet that guy, he is awesome. One of the nicest guys ever. Fourth shelf is another treasure. It's my UT Letterman's jacket. After your last year as a manager, you are rewarded a Letter from the University, so that really means alot to me. Not many people can say they were a UT Letterman. The bottom shelf is just some extra stuff I threw down there to complete the shelf. Overall, it's a really cool room I think, and really makes a difference in the apartment, and let's me show off some of my stuff from basketball. If anyone ever wants to come check it out, holla at me and I'll be sure to give you a tour and show you all my rides and everything. :) Had to get another MTV joke in there. Tomorrow, I'll be sharing about my NFL fantasy football draft which is taking place tonight. Hopefully, I'll be able to draft a good team. Peace out homies!

A little shake ....... and bake

2006-08-07T09:38:00.000-04:00

For those that are extremely confused right now, I went and saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby last night. It was hilarious. If you are a Will Ferrell fan, and enjoyed his other movies such as Anchorman, then you will like this one. Despite what some had said, it actually does have a plot to it. Although it doesn't have a very complicated plot, there is one to follow. I really thought the funniest part of the movie was the company ads in the movie. NASCAR is known for the endorsement ads on their cars and uniforms, and it seems as though Talladega Nights was trying to pick fun at that aspect. Everywhere you looked in the movie, there was an ad placement. There were so many ad placements that there was actually a commercial in the middle of the movie. I don't think I have ever actually seen a commercial in the middle of the movie. They showed some clips of commercials that Ricky Bobby made during the movie, but this was an actual commercial that you would have seen on tv. It just makes you wonder how much these companies actually paid to have their products placed into the movie. So, I researched this and found something very interesting. The three companies with the most air time in the movie, which happens to be the three sponsors on the main characters cars, Wonder Bread, Old Spice, and Perrier, were not required to pay integration fees for the movie. Both Ferrell and Adam McKay, who directed the film, felt that they needed the cooperation of the companies to pull the film off. So instead of asking for a fee, they asked that the companies to help promote the film. Wonder Bread has done in-store promotions for the movie and Old Spice spent $2.3 million in running ads for the film. Interesting enough is that Perrier did not help promote the film at all. If you want to read more about this unprecedented product integration, click here. Hopefully, tomorrow, I will be able to bring you some pictures of my new crib.

Athletes these days

2006-08-03T12:54:00.000-04:00

Even though I'm definitely a bigger basketball fan than football fan, I thought I would dive into the football talk today. Obviously, the football team has been in the news lately for all of the wrong reasons. With practice starting tomorrow, hopefully the team will be able to focus on the field and forget about everything that has happened off of the field. So heres my opinion on everything that has happened....
1) Lee Smith. Need I say more. It makes you wonder what is going through that young man's head. For those that don't know, he was accused of sleeping with one of his high school teachers and possibly of some of his grades being tampered with in high school. Now, I say accused because none of this has been proven yet, so I'm not going to say he is guilty or not. But with that hanging over his head, he gets an underage DUI Monday night for having his car on the sidewalk, and then supposedly hitting the car parked in front of him when he tried to pull away when the police approached. Unfortunately for Smith, he was dismissed from the team before ever getting a chance to begin his college career. I wish him the best and hope he can turn things around for himself.
2) Marsalous Johnson. There is something going on here. There are two totally different sides of the story. Johnson is accused of pointing a toy gun at an off duty Wildlife officer on the interstate. Johnson claims that the officer was in front of him, tried to cause an accident by slamming on his breaks, at which time Johnson passed him and flipped him off. Something isn't right here. Rumors are going around that back up Johnson, but they are just that, rumors. It's going to be interesting to see what really comes of this.
3)Gerald Williams. He really hasn't been in the news, but those that follow football know who he is. Gerald failed to qualify last year as some of his credits from his high school weren't accepted. He studied and raised his ACT score enough so that he could take those courses of his transcript and thus qualify. Well, he is still not at UT. The NCAA Clearinghouse has yet to make a decision on Williams, and it almost looks like they are dragging their foot on this one. With practice starting tomorrow, it's almost like they are punishing this kid. And I'm starting to feel for the guy. NO ONE should have to go through all that. Just another reason why the NCAA needs to get it's act together.

Where you been?

2006-08-02T09:51:00.000-04:00

Hey, it's me again. Sorry for the lack of posts the past week. I've been crazy busy. My roommate moved out, so I'm all by myself now. It's kind of nice to have the place all to myself. I'm starting my sixth year in an apartment, and this will be my first having the place to myself. I guess there are advantages to having roommates and advantages to living by yourself. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to talk to or just chill with at the apartment anymore, but I am able to do whatever I want whenever I want. So, back on track, I have been busy trying to arrange the apartment and get everything where it should be. I've painted some of the walls, which adds a whole new twist to the apartment, gotten new couches in the living room, and turned my roommates old room into a UT room. More pics of that to come as it looks really cool. Only two people have had the pleasure to see it yet, and both have been more than complimentary of the room. Just if you were wondering, it's so great because I painted one of the walls an orange and white checkerboard. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. Also, all of last week I was preparing for an interview that I had with TVA just yesterday. I think it went well, but I guess we will see. I hope to hear something from them within about 2-3 weeks. Hopefully, I can start making some real money and get out of my current job. So everybody say a quick prayer for me that I might be able to get this job. Lastly, I said bye to a good friend last night. BMcD, aka Bryan McDermott, finally landed a job in Nashville and leaves today. I wish him well and I am sure we will stay in touch. If you want to hear from BMcD, take a gander over to ADHD Land which is linked over on the sidebar. Till next time, peace out.

Im BAAACCKK!!!!

2006-07-25T09:58:00.000-04:00

Yo. So here I am back in Knoxvegas. For those that don't know, I spent last week in Myrtle Beach. So everyone's next question is .... how's your tan? It's the same as it was before I left. A golfer's tan. I actually only got to spend one full day on the beach and that was last Sunday. Monday and Tuesday I went half days so as to let my previous sun settle in and not get burnt. Wednesday we drove up to Wilmington and toured the USS North Carolina which was fun, so no beach that day. Then I got sick on Thursday and Friday and didn't even go out on the beach. So, needless to say, my tan might have actually diminished at the beach. I wonder if that happens to very many other people. Probably not. The real only depressing thing about the trip is that I was in the golf capital of the world and didn't get to play any rounds at all. My dad really doesn't play, and the only person I knew that I was close with in Myrtle Beach moved, so I didn't get to play one of the more than 100 courses in the area. Oh well. So I'm glad to be back in Ktown although I'm staying busy trying to rearrange the apartment since Rebecca has moved out. I'm doing some painting along with other projects, so it's going to be a week long project. Anyways, glad to be back and into the normal lifestyle. Feel free to holla at me if anyone wants to hang as life is rather quiet living by yourself. Til next time.

Softball Update

2006-07-14T11:53:00.000-04:00

So last night we had another softball game out at KCS. Although I really don't enjoy playing softabll out there, since the field is so small, I do have fun because I feel like I don't take it as seriously as I usually do. My West End team is actually pretty loaded this year. Don't ask me how this happened because the guy that split the teams is actually on the other team. West End II actually beat us earlier in the year, but we had to loan them two players thus giving them a decent team. Combine that with the fact that we didn't play good at all that night and we ended up losing by 1. Up to last night, we had won every other game by more than 15 runs. So last night we played Farragut. They have a really good team to go along with our team. Together, we probably have the best two teams in the league. However, they have no girls on their team and we have four, although usually only one or two play at a time, but I don't have a problem with that. I thought last night we didn't play particularly too well. We started off strong, getting our limit of 5 runs in the 1st inning. But after that we couldn't hit the ball. We went into the last inning leading by 1, 10-9. However, we fell apart and gave up 8 runs to trail 17-10. We scored one more to end up losing 17-11. I think Farragut's strength is that they hit the ball really well, mostly line drives, and can control where it goes, and they field the ball really well. I still think if we had played up to our capabilities, we could have won the game. It probably didn't help that we hadn't played in two weeks. But, like I told our team, there is still the playoffs.

But one of the more interesting things I heard of last night was a rumor that had been going around the league about me. Sam, one of the players on our team, and I stayed for the second game and played with Karns since they didn't have enough players. I had three different guys and another who asked Sam where I played college baseball at. Apparently, I was told that there were some in the league that were saying that I had played baseball in college. I was pleased to inform them that I didn't play in college, and that in fact that I didn't even play in high school. Both Sam and I found this to be hilarious. It was definately very flattering, but I was shocked that people were saying that about me. Just thought I would share that with everyone.

I will be absent from posting next week as I am traveling to Myrtle Beach for a week long vacation. I'll be sure let everyone know how great the beach looks when I get back.

Checking In

2006-07-10T12:15:00.000-04:00

So it has been a little while since my last post. Not much has been going on in UT Bball Land. I'm still job searching so if anyone knows of anything out there, let me know. As of this point, I'm pretty much up for anything. I received a comment from Volboy about my review of Superman Returns. To see a more detailed review of the movie, and a pretty much dead on review in my opinion, go check out his blog linked above. In my comment section, Volboy commented that he liked Superman Returns, but found Batman Begins to be a better movie. So this brought up my debate, which superhero movie was better, Superman Returns or Batman Begins? I am usually pretty biased toward Batman as I grew up watching all the movies and having all the toys, including, oh yeah your going to be jealous, THE BAT CAVE!!!!!! I had all three model vehicles from Batman Forever, which included the Batmobile, Bat plane, and Bat boat. So yeah, I was extra cool.

But back to the debate between Superman and Batman. Superman Returns was a good movie with some really cool special effects, but it was definately too long. It seemed like the first part of the movie moved fairly slow. But once Superman appeared, everyone got that exciting feeling cause you could hear the music and you knew Superman was on his way. Sometimes I felt like I wanted more interaction between Superman and Lex Luthor. I thought the scenes where they were together were some of the best of the movie. Compared to Batman Begins, however, I felt it lacked in a couple of key areas. I thought one of the best parts of Batman Begins was the insight into how Bruce Wayne became Batman and the difficulties and emotions he had to deal with. Christopher Nolan did a great job of directing and Christian Bale did a great job as Batman. Both were able to bring back the darkness that is the "Dark Knight." The best part of the movie is how dark that it really was. So just from judging from the two movies, I would be looking forward to the sequel for Batman Begins than Superman Returns. I just can't wait to see Christian Bale go at it against the Joker. Should be exciting.

It's a bird, it's a plane.....

2006-07-03T09:10:00.000-04:00

It's Superman!!! So Friday, I was able to go see Superman Returns. I had been looking forward to going to see the movie for a while now. I had seen all of the trailers and had really become a Superman fan since Smallville came out. I definately wouldn't call myself a Superman expert, because I am far from it and don't claim to know everything about Clark Kent ,but nonetheless, I was excited to see the movie. And that excitement increased more so when I found out that the first Spiderman 3 teaser trailer was being shown in the previews. I had a sneaky suspicion that they were going to show the teaser during the Superman previews, but I was excited to hear that it was part of the previews since I am a HUGE Spiderman fan. If you didn't know, Spiderman is like my favorite superhero of all time. I watched the cartoons growing up everyday, and I have been a Spiderman fan ever since. So back on track and on to the movie....

I had heard some mixed reviews going into the movie so I really didn't know what to expect. Some had said it was good, other bad. I had even heard that some thought that Superman had some homosexual tendencies. Well, that was definately wrong and I don't know where anybody got that idea. I thought the movie was actually pretty good. It started out a lot like Spiderman 2 in that it is a fairly long movie, 2 1/2 hours, and took the first part of the movie to set everything up. But just like Spiderman 2, once the movie was over, I thought it was great. The movie has some really awesome special effects. But one of the coolest parts of the movie, is the first time that you actually see Superman. His music starts playing and you get that feeling that here comes Superman and he can do anything to save anyone. It's really exciting. Overall, I think I would give the movie 4 out of 5 stars. It probably could have been a little better, but overall it's a good summer blockbuster. Now, it's time to look forward to Spiderman 3. Coming to you May 4, 2007.

Cedar Point Pictures

2006-06-27T09:38:00.000-04:00

So I was able to go get some of my Cedar Point pictures developed yesterday, even though I felt like crap. I went to Wal-Mart to do the one hour photo and needed to pick up some stuff while I was there. I didn't realize how difficult it is to pass a hour in Wal-Mart when you don't need that much. I tried to waste time by browsing through the sporting goods, but that didn't last long, so I just went and crashed on the benches in front of the pharmacy. If not for those benches, I would have been in major trouble. I really didn't feel good at all and just needed a place to rest. But I guess that is what I get when I don't get much sleep and spend 14 1/2 hours at the best amusement park in the world. So it was worth it.

To the left is a photo of Millennium Force from the walkway in front of it. You can see how tall it looks standing below it. At a monsterous 310 feet, it really is a tall ride. You can also see the 80 degree drop on the right side of the hill that gets you going 93 mph. The pic on the above right is of Top Thrill Dragster. Standing below it, it rises to a height of 420 feet and goes 120 mph. To give you an idea of it's true height, if you look at the picture, you can see a train going up the 90 degree ascent hill. Another of my favorites on this ride is the 90 degree descent with a corkscrew in it. Altogether, these two rides alone make the trip worth it. Then add in the other coasters and rides that are there, and you will have a full day ahead of yourself of pure fun.

WOW!!!!

2006-06-26T10:16:00.000-04:00

Wow. That's all I can say about Cedar Point. There is a reason it has been rated the #1 Amusement Park in the world for the past 8 years and that is because it has the best rides in the world. The group spent a total of 14 1/2 hours at the park, arriving just after it had opened at 9:30 AM and leaving at midnight, after spending about 30 minutes in the souvenir shop. I think in total, we rode 12 rides, including all of the major ones. I have now riden the #1, 3, 7, and 11 steel roller coasters in the world, as well as the #1 wooden coaster in the world, which is actually located at Dollywood.

The best part of the whole trip was getting to ride Millenium Force, the #1 ride in the world. When we got to the park Saturday morning, we discovered that Millenium Force had been closed all day Friday and was to be closed Saturday as well. Needless to say, that put a little damper on the day. We went ahead and rode everything else, and then grabbed some dinner around 8pm. After dinner, we decided to go ride Top Thrill Dragster again. While walking that way, Richard, the deacon in charge of the Young Professional's and College group, noticed a train going up Millenium Force. We saw another go up, and then decided that maybe the ride had opened and that we would go check it out. We got over to the ride and saw that it was open and that the wait was about 1 1/2 hour. We jumped in line and was part of the best part of the day. The wait in line was electric. One of the cool things about Cedar Point is that on the bigger rides, they have DJ's that have a booth set up and take requests for songs during the wait. The song selection added to the excitement in the air, and you could really feel an electricity in the air during the wait in line. When we finally got up to the loading station, we boarded and the ride is unlike any I've ever seen. As soon as you exit the loading station, you go up the hill. No turns or a few feet before going up the hill. The track jumps inclines as soon as you exit. Additionally, it's only about a 20 second ride up the 310 foot hill at a big incline about 50 degrees. The ride is right on Lake Erie and rises above all but one ride in the park. As we said, you know your on a tall ride when it has a blinking plane light on the top of the hill. But like everyone in line told us, the best time to ride Millenium Force is at night. It's crazy going down an 80 degree incline at 93 mph for 300 feet with no idea where the track is. The best part by far was not knowing what was coming up ahead. We literally got off the ride and were amazed at the ride and it is now my favorite ride of all time. Look for pictures tomorrow as well as some more details form the trip.

So todays the day

2006-06-23T10:44:00.000-04:00

So for those that don't know, today the Young Professional and College group at West End leave for the weekend to travel up to Sandusky, Ohio. Now, for those that are currently wondering what in the world is in Sandusky, Ohio, let me tell you. Cedar Point, rated the number 1 Amusement Park in the world for an 8th straight year in 2005, is located in Sandusky, Ohio on a peninsula that sticks out into Lake Erie. I was able to make a trip there when I was younger, around 7th or 8th grade I think, but they have added lots of new rides since then. I posted about some of the better coasters awhile back, but came to find out that Cedar Point has the #1, 3, 7, and 11th rated steel roller coasters in the world. So what does all of this mean? That I am going to have a freaking awesome time. With over 16 roller coasters, Cedar Point was voted "Best bang for your buck" with an entrance fee of only $40. That's $5 less than Six Flags with tons of better rides. I will travel at over 120 mph, and no it's not going to be in the car but on a coaster, and go over 420 feet in the air. I'm going to be sure to take tons of pictures, hopefully like those I took at Six Flags, and I will be sure to post some of them after the weekend. So check in on Monday to hear more about the trip and all the fun that went on. Plus my own review of some of the best roller coasters in the world.

World Cup

2006-06-22T11:42:00.000-04:00

As I sit here watching the U.S.' World Cup hopes coming to an end, I realize how much the game of soccer frustrates me. It's really frustrating to watch a game that goes so slow and has hardly any action. As I have said to people before, soccer is probably a really fun game to play. I gave it a shot as a child and didn't like it at all, but I have no foot-eye coordination at all. All of my coordination is in the hand-eye area, but oh well. So back to my original point. Soccer is probably a great sport to play, but it might be the worst sport in the world to watch. Maybe it's the fact that it seems like the field is huge and there are only 11 players on the field at the time. And it also seems as though refs can control the game so much more in soccer than in any other sport. There is so little scoring that it seems as though 1 bad call could lead to a goal and that ends the game. Take today's game for example. The penalty kick call was horrendous as the U.S. player never even pushed the Ghana player, but that one bad call really changed the outcome of the game.

One of the issues I have had with the U.S. team in the games I have seen is that they seem to want to set stuff up too much. One thing I have learned in watching sports like this such as soccer or hockey is that you can't set stuff up. It's almost like they try to hard to make the perfect play or the perfect pass to set up a goal. And that hardly ever works out. I don't think I ever saw the U.S. take a shot from the midfield off of a kick. And I saw all three other teams in the group do that. The U.S. just tries to make the perfect play and that is one of the main reasons why I think they ultimately lost and that they only scored one goal themselves in the World Cup (I'm not counting the goal in the Italy game since Italy actually scored it on themselves). And another thing I don't get and I'm not familiar with all the players is why Eddie Johnson didn't play that much. The announcers made the comment when he came in that he was the U.S.' best goal scorer and that is what you need when you are playing in a must win game. I guess that just goes to bad coaching in my opinion and i really think that's what all of the World Cup goes back to. It just didn't seem like the U.S. team was ever ready to play in the World Cup and that goes back to coaching. And it's a big shame to because so much was made about this U.S. team and how good they were, and it was really a big chance to gain more U.S. soccer fans, but after the performance by the U.S. team this last two weeks, they have disappointed a lot of fans and the country as well.

Champs....

2006-06-21T13:20:00.000-04:00

So in the last two days, we had two professional champions crowned. Both the Carolina Hurricanes and the Miami Heat won their respectice league titles. Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch game 7 if the NHL Finals Monday night due to my softball doubleheader and movie watching afterward, but it appeared as though Carolina pretty much handled the whole game in winning 3-1. Watching NHL playoff hockey is always exciting for me, as the Stanley Cup is probably the most cherished trophy in all of sports. There are tons of superstitions involved with the Cup. Most players will never touch the Cup, even if it's in front of them, until they have won it. When a team makes it to the Finals, most won't even touch or take photos with the Conference trophy that they get because they claim that the Conference trophy isn't what they seek. And then there is the playoff beards. But, anyways, if you ever watch the NHL Finals, watch how much joy is brought to these guys when they finally win the Cup. You will never see so much joy on any other professional's face ever. So on to the NBA....

I was only able to catch the 2nd half of the game last night due to another softball game, but it was a really exciting game. I had been cheering for the Heat throughout the playoffs, as I have always been a Shaq fan, and have become a Dwayne Wade fan as well. I really enjoy watching Wade play, as he can do just about anything he wants on offense. He is one of the best players I have ever seen at taking the ball to the basket, as he seems to just be able to do so at will. And don't even start with all the "Well, it's because the refs blow the whistle everytime someone gets close to him." That's ridiculous. He takees the ball to the basket stronger than anyone, and gets held and pulled everytime down the floor. But back to the game last night. I was really enjoying the game last night, until I looked at my window and noticed that it was flashing. Thus, I looked out the window to see 2 cop cars and my next door neighbors standing in the parking lot. I'm not going to go into what happened, cause I still really don't know and I couldn't make it out through the window, but it distracted me while the game was coming to an end. Needless to say, I was quite happy to see the Heat win game 6 to pull win the title. So I thought I would take this opportunity to throw out a congratulations to the Hurricanes and Heat for their titles the last two days.

Wade = MJ?

2006-06-19T09:25:00.000-04:00

I really hate comparisons in general, but the world seems to love them, especially ESPN so I thought I might look into the latest comparison they have been billing. Is Dwayne Wade the next Michael Jordan? In a heart beat, NO. I don't think there will ever be another Jordan. But Wade might be the closest thing to one right now. He is averaging 34.4 points per game in his first NBA Finals appearance. And "hero" status isn't made in the regular season. You can only get that label by performing in the postseason, just as Jordan once did and as Wade is doing now. The only difference that I can see right now between Jordan and Wade is that Jordan was probably a better defender than Wade is currently. Jordan's 3-point shot was probably better, but I might have to say that Wade is better at taking the ball to the hole. Lots will say that Jordan won 6 titles, let's wait and see what Wade can do. Here's something to think about: Look who else was on Jordan's team. He had a great defensive player and all-around player next to him in Pippen plus many others. In the '94 season that Jordan took off, Pippen still helped lead the Bulls to a loss in seven games in the 2nd round to the Knicks. Now, I'm not saying Jordan wasn't a great player, cause he is probably the best ever, but he had some help too. And Jordan didn't lead his team to the Finals until his 7th season. Wade did so in his 3rd. Wade this year has had the supporting cast to help him do so, but he has personally led his team to victory in the playoffs (see the Finals for proof, as he has won two games, 3 and 5, by himself). So here's my suggestion. Instead of calling Wade the next Jordan, how about we just call Wade the next Dwayne Wade?

Random Rumblings from the World of Ben

2006-06-16T09:35:00.000-04:00

1) We finally have a series in the NBA Finals! It looked like the Mavs were going to blow the Heat out of the water after the first 2 3/4 games, but the Heat responded and looked dominant in last night's game. My boy, The Diesel, looked like his old self out there finally and was making some really good moves. His one spin move against Eric Dampier was nice and then his no-look pass to James Posey in the 2nd half was awesome. And, of course, Dwayne Wade was awesome as usual. I've always been a Shaq fan, and I enjoy Wade's game, so I am pulling hard for the Heat to win it. And how about Jerry Stackhouse's tackle of Shaq? I don't think I've seen a 7 ft 300 lb guy fly like that before.

2) Last night was a good night for softball. I play with Calvary Chapel in a league out in Karns, and I finally hit my 1st homerun of the season last night. In my defense, I have hit two off the fence this year, and it's a big field, but I just felt like I had been in a slump. I actually felt a lot like Barry (hold the steroid jokes please) did going for 714. I felt like I was putting all this pressure on me to hit one out. I went to the batting cages last weekend, and I think I rediscovered my swing, so we will see. And just to continue the Bonds analogy, yes, I was walked my next at bat. So after the game, I hurried over to KCS to see how my West End team was doing. They were playing New York Ave. so I was pretty sure they were winning, which they were. So that was good news. 2-0 on the night is pretty good I think.

3) The Stanley Cup Finals has been really entertaining to watch this week. Wednesday night's game was great, as it featured 5 goals in the 1st period and a shorthanded overtime game winner. For those that aren't hockey fans, I recommend trying to attend a NHL game. Hockey is one of those sports where you will get hooked if you go to a game. It is a great experience live, and especially true at a NHL game. So if you get the chance next year, make the short trip on I-40 over to Nashville and check out the Preds.

4) Looking forward to next weekend as I will be making a trip up to the best amusement park in the world, Cedar Point. The College and Young Professional group at West End are taking a trip up there and it looms to be an awesome trip. Can't wait to write about it and show off some more great coaster pics.

Dumb Athletes.... or Competitive Athletes?

2006-06-14T10:50:00.000-04:00

I thought I would make a comment about athletes after reading a recent article in ESPN The Mag and then after the whole Ben Roethlisberger motorcycle accident. For those that have been hiding in a cave for the last three days, Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers 2nd year QB and youngest QB to ever lead their team to a Super Bowl title, was injured in a motorcycle accident on Monday when he collided with a turning car while riding his motorcycle helmetless. He was tossed into the car and proceeded to break the car's windshield with his head. Although he had numerous injuries to his head and face, he appears as though he will come out of this ok, and will be able to be back by the beginning of the football season. It is not a law to wear a helmet in Pennsylvania, therefore Big Ben had told many people in the past that he preferred not to wear a helmet for comfort. Now on to the magazine. In this week's ESPN The Mag, John Daly tells us about his gambling problems in which he estimates he has lost between $50-60 million gambling over the years. So this brings me to my point.

Lots of athletes these days find things to occupy their time when they are not playing their sport. Some are more dangerous, see Roethlisberger, and some more costly, see Daly. My point being, when their are athletes that are at the top of their games in the sport they play, many will find other ways to help fulfill their competitive spirits. Many of these athletes are some of the most competitive people you will ever meet. While some might make some really dumb decisions, see Roethlisberger that could potentially end their careers, others like to gamble with all the money they make. Another article by Bill Simmons in the same ESPN The Mag brought home a good point to me. In a recent book by Michael Leahy, Leahy recounts a blackjack game between Jordan, Rip Hamilton, and Antoine Walker in '01. Jordan proceeded to lose half a million that night before playing two hands at a time to make up the money, which he did. Leahy blasted Jordan for that instance. Simmons, who happened to be at the casino that night playing a slightly smaller money game, only $15, saw it as just friends hanging out having a good time. He also saw some interesting things. He specifically remembers Hamilton, still a young player who hadn't done anything, being totally comfortable in the high stakes section of the balckjack tables. Simmons remembers thinking that was a good sign for him in the future. Clutch plays later in the NBA Finals, and there you go. So what does all this mean? It just goes to show that lots of athletes today find themselves resorting to other means to help solve their competitive natures. Many resort to gambling, just not on their own sports as that is highly frowned on. Others resort to more dangerous activites, such as motorcycles, and gamble with their careers. Some get lucky, see Roethlisberger, others not, see Jay Williams and Kellen Winslow. I guess this just goes to show that when athletes get into these predicaments, don't hate on them for what they have done. Who knows what you would do if you were making $10 million a year and were one of the most competitive people in the world?

Highlight video

2006-06-06T12:51:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I am one in a few when it comes to being a UT basketball fan. Now, don't get me wrong, I had lots of people join me this year in support of our basketball Vols. But not many where with me back in the Wade Houston days when the team only won 5 games all year, or the Kevin O'Neill days when they would only score 50 points on a lucky day, or in the Buzz Peterson era. Now, I am thrilled to be joined by all of these fans, and I hope they continue to support the team next year. But this post is about last year. The season was a tremendous one last year as everyone jumped on the wagon of New Head Coach Bruce Pearl and his "controlled chaos" style of play. And needless to say, it was a great season. The team improved beyond leaps and bounds of what anyone ever imagined. They advanced to the second round of the NCAA and won the SEC East. But everyone already knows this. So on to the purpose of the post.

It recently came to my attention of a highlight video that had been put up on UT's website. The video recaps some of the highlights from the year, namely UT's wins vs FL, at FL, at UK, and others. It features a song by Flipsyde named Someday that will get anyones blood flowing as it is a good fit for the video. Included are a couple of audio snippets of Pearl from throughout the year. Even if you aren't as big of a basketball fan as I am, but have a small interest in the team, then you will absolutely love this video. I got goosebumps the first time I saw it, and have watched it about 5 times since then. So here you go, saving you all the trouble of searching it out, click here for one of the best UT highlight videos you will ever see!

Who's #1?

2006-06-02T09:24:00.000-04:00

So raise your hand if you stayed up to watch the Lady Vols last night? Since no one has their hand up, including me, we missed an incredible game. I had planned on watching the game, but a 1 1/2 hour rain delay to the Arizona/Oregon State game, along with two extra inning games, meant the most anticipated battle of the day didn't start until after midnight here in Eastern Standard time. Speaking of extra inning games, how about the Alabama/Northwestern game. Northwestern tied the game in the bottom of the seventh(the last inning for those not up to date with softball rules) with two out and two strikes. The batter, a freshman, cranked a homerun over the center field fence off a pitcher that hadn't given up a homerun all year. I was kind of torn when this happened, cause I don't like Alabama, but I wanted to watch the Lady Vols play, and I knew with extra innings now inevitable, I was screwed. And how bad does the Alabama center fielder feel this morning? With a runner on second, and 1 out, Northwestern hit a grounder up the middle and the centerfielder charged in to try to make the play at the plate, and let the ball roll under her glove. I felt bad, but then realized at 11:45 pm, that Alabama had lost and the Lady Vols were soon to come on. WOO HOO!

So with UCLA losing to UT last night, I am sure they are a little upset with the fact that they had to play UT in the opening round. UT should by no means have been an 8 seed in the tournament. The team with the #1 offense, #1 defense, top hitter in the game, SEC Tourney champs, #5 in the country, and 5 FIRST TEAM All-Americans is the lowest seed at the WCWS? Are you serious? Unfortunately for UCLA, they were ranked that low and thus provided for the most anticpated match up of the day. Needless to say, UT probably should have been a 4 or 5 seed. The NCAA really screwed UCLA in this one. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a UCLA fan by any means, but the #1 seed in the tournament, which they deserved to be, shouldn't have to face a team of UT's caliber in the first round. It can be argued that they are better than Oregon State, Arizona State, Northwestern and Alabama. And here is one last thought for everyone out there. How can you be one of three finalists for player of the year, a First Team All-American, but Second Team All-SEC? So Monica Abbott is one of the three best players in the NATION, but she can't even make first team in her own conference? UT can only have 3 First Team All-SEC players, but 5 First Team All-Americans? Something just doesn't add up there. Anyways, be sure to watch the Ladies again tonight as they take on Northwestern on ESPN2 at 9pm(we can only hope).

Hater in the House

2006-05-31T09:21:00.000-04:00

So I thought I would go ahead and call myself a hater since that is what most will say after they read this. Plus, I'm not really going to be PC in this either, so here it goes. And Bryan, I hope your happy. So what is up with Pat Summitt getting a $300,000 raise to put her up at $1.325 million a year averaged out over the next few years. It comes at a time when Bruce Pearl was given a raise up to $1.3 million over the next few years. First off, let me set things straight. In my opinion, Summitt is definitely the best women's coach in the game. And she deserves to be paid so. She has won 6 NC's and over 900 games, but really hasn't done much lately. In a year where you can arguably say that her team underachieved, she was given a $300,000 raise to be bumped up just over Pearl. An argument could be made that she deserves to be paid more than Pearl because she has done more in her career. Well, let's look at some figures to take a look to see if she deserves all she receives.

First, if you take a look at the athletic budget from last year, there are only two sports that support the University by making money. Mainly, football by bringing in over $18 million in profit, followed by Men's basketball with about $1.2 million. Women's basketball is the only other sport with profit of $26,000. If you look across the country, this is going to be true at probably almost every school. But looking at UT's budget only, how can a Women's athletic department that only turns $26,000 a year profit in one sport, and deficits in every other, and receives money from the Men's athletic department to help support itself, afford to give a $300,000 raise to it's Women's basketball coach who really hasn't done anything lately? What about Bruce Pearl getting his raise you ask? Well, Pearl turned over $1.2 million in profit, overachieved greatly in his first year, was instrumental in raising the money for the new practice facility, is bringing in a Top 5 class in '06, and is still at about the average pay for a Men's college basketball coach.

Second, Summitt absolutely deserves to be the highest paid coach in Women's Basketball. But the big issue here is how it was handled. Summitt was quoted as being upset when Pearl got his raise to $1.3 million. The Women's AD, Joan Croanin, and President Petersen then got together and instigated Summitt's raise. Croanin was then caught on a morning sports talk show stating the one of the main reasons Summitt got her raise was because of Pearl's raise. WRONG REASON. What's going to happen if Pearl continues his success, and gets another raise in about 2 years that puts him well above $1.5 million? Will Summitt then demand another raise to equal Pearl's? Anybody with a financial background can realize that UT can't afford to pay her higher in a market that isn't that strong to begin with. And while I'm at it, I don't ever want to hear about the Women averaging more attendance than the Men again. While the numbers were close when Buzz was here, the Lady Vols consistently give away tons of tickets to their games. You want to see the biggest difference in revenue for the two teams, that is the first place to look. It's amazing how much more money you can make when all those in attendance are paying to be there. So there it is. Go ahead and hate away!

Softball Love

2006-05-30T09:53:00.000-04:00

No this post isn't about men's softball, but instead, is going to so a little love for the UT Women's softball team. For those that don't know, the Lady Vols played Michigan in Knoxville this weekend for a chance to go to the Women's College World Series. I watched the team play last year when they made it to the WCWS, but hadn't seen any games this year. I had planned on trying to go to the first game on Saturday, but woke up late and wasn't able to attend so I watched it on ESPN. I was kind of glad I didn't go looking at the crowd as it was a huge overflow crowd in that little stadium. I guess it's a good thing they are getting a new stadium. Anyways, the UT-Michigan matchup was basically a WCWS matchup since UT probably deserved a higher seed and Michigan was definately a WCWS candidate, especially since they won the title last year. I'm still trying to figure out how a team (UT) can have the nation's #1 defense, #1 offense, and one of the best pitchers and not be #1. Oh well, the mysteries of life. And the uniforms from Saturday were awesome. The white sleeveless, with orange shirt and orange socks were awesome. I really think the baseball vols need to get some of those. But anyways.

So on to the games. I really have to give props to all the softballers out there, as you really can't make any mistakes out there. Basically if you bobble the ball, the runner is going to be safe. That's a lot of pressure on a person. Speed also puts a lot of pressure on the fielders. That was seen by Michigan, as Tennessee might also be the fastest team in the country. They have a really tough lineup, with Fekete, the nation's leading hitter, leading off followed by India Chiles, possibly the nation's fastest runner. If you get a chance to watch these girls, watch Chiles run, cause that girl can fly. She might possibly be one of the fastest girls I have ever seen. And she is a really good slider. She had some awesome slides that she scored on that otherwise she would have been out. But onto my new favorite softball player of all time, Lindsay Schutzler. She is just a great all around player. She hits over .400 for the season, is fast, and plays shortstop with a cannon of an arm. She made some amazing plays over the weekend. Some of the plays she made over the weekend were just mind boggling. And she is clutch at the plate. She hit in the game winning run on Saturday, and just seemed to be involved in everything over the weekend. Needless to say, if you want to see a great player, watch the softball team in the WCWS. They play #1 UCLA at 9ET on ESPN2 on Thursday night to start the tourney for both teams. If there is any team that can win this, it's UT. As stated earlier, they have offense and defense covered. If they get some great ptiching in the WCWS, then they could definitely come back to Knoxville with the title. Go Lady Vol Softballers!

X3 - No Spoilers contained

2006-05-26T09:32:00.000-04:00

So originally, plans were to see X-Men 3 Sunday night after church. Well, some friends and I got together last night to watch X1 and X2, and then decided to go see X3 at the midnight showing. Being that I had gone to see Benchwarmers for the 3rd time after church Wednesday, which the movie doesn't warrant being seen that many times, and then X3 last night, I have already dozed off twice while typing this. Needless to say, 3 AM is WAY past my bed time. So any ways, on to my official review of X-Men 3: The Last Stand.

Where do I start? As I stated yesterday, I am a big X-Men fan, and thus, it was a given that I would really like the movie. Seeing how the movie relates to the cartoons is always really sweet and this movie was no exception, especially with the emergence of The Phoenix. For those that don't know what I'm talking about, Jean Grey was a student of Professor Xavier and is the most powerful mutant thus far. She develops two personalities, Jean Grey and The Phoenix. The Phoenix has always been powered by rage and is one of the most intriguing and dangerous mutants in the world. Needless to say, her emergence in the film as the leading lady of the film added a great dimension to the film. Just being able to see her awesome power is worth the price of admission alone. Most of her scenes in the movie are awesome, as Famke Janssen does an excellent job portraying this very deep character.

Elsewhere, there were some really shocking moments in the movie, stuff happening that left me saying, "Wow! I can't believe that just happened. I would have never thought that would have happened." I guarantee that if you are an X-men fan of the comics, cartoons, or first two movies, that you will enjoy this movie. Not to give anything away, but there are lot's of twists and plenty of great action in the movie. And lastly, don't make the mistake many people did last night and leave before the credits are over. Trust me, if you stay til the end of the credits, it will be well worth your while. About a quarter of the theater stuck around through the credits last night, and we were greatly rewarded for doing so. That being said, go see X-Men 3: The Last Stand in theaters now.

Unexplainable Absence

2006-05-25T11:50:00.000-04:00

I have to say that I am sorry for not posting for the last couple of days. I just haven't had the thoughts or want to post anything. I even missed my usual 24 post. Just to let everyone know, the season finale was wonderful and had some unexpected twists, especially the end. I recommend anyone that hasn't seen season 5 to go rent the DVD's when they come out.

Onto the subject of this post, movies. So the third movie in one of my favorite series comes out tomorrow, and for those that haven't figured out what I'm talking about yet, it's X-Men 3: The Last Stand. I guess you could call me a super hero junkie, but I really enjoy most of the super hero movies. Batman, Spiderman, and X-Men are all favorites of mine. Don't even get me started on how much I enjoy Batman and Spiderman cause I could definately go on for days. I watched all three of these cartoons growing up and really like all of the characters. In regards to X-Men, I thought the first movie did a really good job of setting up all of the characters for the audience, so that even if you didn't know anything about X-Men, you could relate to the movie. The second movie was my favorite so far, as it had lots of action and didn't have to have as much setup in it. I also like how the movies have been able to bring in new characters by introducing them in the previous movies. For example, both Iceman and Pyro were introduced in X1 and then became main characters in X2, and look for the same from Colossus and Kitty Pryde in X3. Both made appearances in X2 as Colossus, who can transform into metal, and Kitty Pryde, who can walk through solid objects. There have also been some big themes in the movies as well. In all the movies, but mainly in X2, one of the big themes was acceptance from everyone no matter how different you may be. So X3 has really got my blood pumping for the newest installment of this great series. I have already watched both movies again, and will be doing so once more for each before I go see the movie on Sunday. On another note, I am really looking forward to seeing Beast, as he was one of my favorite characters on the cartoons.

On another movie note, a very freaky movie is preparing to come out. For those that don't know, The Omen is about the supposed son of the devil and the coming of the anti-Christ. The movie actually looks really good and it appears like it was well made, but I don't know how crazy I am about going to see a movie about that subject. And to top everything off, it comes out on Tuesday, June 6. So for those that haven't realized it yet, it comes out on 06/06/06. So if anyone goes to see it that day, then you are officially insane, cause I don't mess with that stuff. Call me scared or superstitious or what ever you want, but I'm staying away from this movie the day it comes out. So on a brighter note, look for my review of X-Men 3: The Last Stand after the weekend. Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend, and stay safe.

A Slow Day

2006-05-17T09:23:00.000-04:00

So it's a slow day for the blog. There's not much going on right now. I've had a couple of things on my mind lately in regards to church and graduate school. There is a lot of things going on at West End right now, and it's getting really ugly. I'm not going to go into any details here, but lets just say that the whole congregation needs prayers. In regards to grad school, I feel as though I have been given the shaft and there is a lot that I have to think about. Hopefully, I will be able to share a little bit more tomorrow and be a little bit more on the happy side.

Prison Break and 24

2006-05-16T09:56:00.000-04:00

So last night was the season finale for Prison Break. What an exciting episode. The escapees make it out of the prison and gradually lose some of the escapees. Haywire is left behind when they pick up the van, and Tweener is left behind when they make a run for the plane. Ironically, both Tweener and Haywire appeared to have split off successfully and are on their way to freedom. T-Bag handcuffed himself to Michael to protect himself from Abruzzi. T-bag and Michael are slowing the group down so the escapees decide to try to cut the cuffs. They use a tree cutter which doesn't work and then Abruzzi grabs an axe and chops T-Bag's hand off. They leave T-Bag behind and then proceed toward the airport. They are spotted and are being pursued. Then the plane gets nervous and takes off and they have to make a run for it. Elsewhere, Veronica travels to Montana and enters Terrance Steadman's home and confronts him. The President is assassinated and the VP is sworn into office after she had been threatened that her support for President would be removed. Last, Doctor Tancredi is found on her couch from an apparent Morphine overdose. It leaves a lot for next season to delve into.

On to 24, with only 3 hours remaining, the season it starting to wrap everything up. Martha Logan finds Agent Pierce and is able to rescue him form being killed. They vow to make all this right and Pierce tells Martha to inform Mike Novick of everything that has gone on. The recording was erased by Myles and he is coincidentally being transferred to the White House. The only lead on an escaped Bierko is through Henderson, who wants to broker a deal for his cooperation. Bierko intends to release the nerve gas on a Russian submarine that is docked in LA being inspected because of the agreement President Logan and the Russian President signed earlier that day. Bierko intends to use the missles that are loaded on the submarine against the cities in the US. Next week's two hour season finale is setup to be a really good one, as here's my prediction, Jack will somehow save the world once again by breaking into the submarine and killing Bierko and his accomplices, and then will hunt down Logan and get him to confess to everything, and lastly, somehow, Jack will be left in limbo as the season ends. Be sure to tune into 24 next week for the season finale.

A great weekend.

2006-05-15T10:33:00.000-04:00

So this past weekend I took a trip with four frineds from church down to the ATL for a Braves game on Friday night and Six Flags all day Sunday. The Braves game on Friday night was awesome as we got the see John Smoltz pitch a complete game victory as well as firewroks afterwards. It was quite exciting. But Six Flags definately took the cake for the weekend. We got there before the park opened and were able to ride the first couple of rides without basically having to wait in line. First was Goliath, the newest coaster at the park which just opened this year. The ride was awesome. It was definately number 1 or 2 of the rides there. At a claimed 3 minutes long, it's supposedly the longest, tallest, and fastest coaster in the south. We then proceeded to ride Batman and Mindbender which I had ridden before. Mindbender is where the day got off to the interesting start that was to follow. As we were about to step onto the ride, they shut it down and had to remove a broken car from the track. That was actually really cool to watch, as I had never seen anything like that before.

After Mindbender, we proceeded to Superman, which in my opinion was the best ride there. It's just a different feeling when they lay you down on your stomach and you ride the whole way like that. After waiting for 2 hours through a weather delay, we finally got to ride Superman. We decided to wait for the very front of the ride and it was well worth it. We then proceeded to ride Ninja and Deja vu, which was another interesting time. We ended up waiting 2 1/2 hours through 3 "technical difficulties" and a near fight. Sam, one of the guys that was with us, confronted a guy when he tried to cut in front of us. Luckily, nothing happened, but it could have, and it wouldn't have been pretty, as this guy and his friends had us outnumbered. Anyways, we finally got on Deja vu after it had been shut down 3 times for technical difficulties. Basically the ride pulls you up 180 feet, drops you, does a couple of loops, goes up another vertical pole, pulls you up 180 feet, drops you, and you do the whole thing again backwards. Pretty cool ride actually. Here's a pic from before we were dropped. The one above is form when we were dropped going backwards.
We then went on to ride Acrophobia, free fall drop from 200 feet, as well as Georgia Scorcher, a stand up coaster. Overall, it was a ton of fun, and hopefully, I'll be able to make a trip up to Cedar Point sometime this summer.

Smallville and more

2006-05-12T09:19:00.000-04:00

So last night was the season finale for Smallville. And what a show it was. Lex develops Kryptonian powers thans to Milton Fine and shares them with Lana. Lana accepts Lex for who he is which is rather ironic especially when Clark finds out considering that is what Clark was always afraid to do in the first place. Clark is given a dagger to kill the "vessel" that Zod needed to return from the vortex. When Clark discovers that that vessel is Lex, he has a tough decision to make. Does he kill his former best friend who is dating his former love to save the world, or does he spare his life because he is not a killer? Lionel had a great line when talking to Clark about this situation. He said, "The real test of a hero is knowing when the greater good will be served by an evil act." Is it ok to take one life to save the rest of the world? Once Fine begins the spread of the virus, Clark meets Chloe in Metropolis where mass rioting is occuring. This is where Clark finally gets some action. Before he leaves to meet Lex, Chloe says she might not ever see him again, and gives him a big fat kiss. YES!! I think I had been waiting all season to see that. The only thing better would have been to see him and Lois kissing. But there is just something about a woman who stands behind her hero and wishes him well. The scene between Lex and Clark was a little disappointing as I was hoping there would be more fighting between them. However, Zod is released into Lex when Clark throws the dagger at Fine and hits him and thus releases Zod. The show ends with Clark being stuck in a vortex, Lionel and Chloe being attacked in Metropolis, Lois and Martha Kent passing out on a hijacked plane heading for who knows where, and Lex, aka Zod, and Lana making out overlooking Metropolis destroying itself. Next season looks to be an exciting one as almost every character is in limbo as well as the world with Clark stuck in a vortex unable to protect them all.

There's not much to say about softball last night other than the fact that my team gets easily rattled. It seems as though if we get down by just a little bit, then everybody starts to panic. It seems as though there is only me and one other guy that are able to keep our cool under adverse conditions. I'm trying to help these guys out by using some of the Sports Pschology stuff I learned in school, but it's hard to try to keep a whole team cool. Oh well. I'm heading to the ATL this weekend to see the Braves vs. Nationals tonight and then take in Six Flags tomorrow. I'll be sure to report about that on Monday. Hope everyone has a good weekend and Happy Mother's Day.

Acts 18

2006-05-11T09:14:00.000-04:00

So in Bible class on Wednesday nights, we have been studying the book of Acts for a while now. Last night, we focused on Acts 18:18 - 19:7. This passage really struck me because I think a lot of people in the church today take what they hear as the truth, in regards to things others might do, and if they have a problem with those things, they spread the gossip instead of going to the wrongdoers and finding out what really happened. I myself am guilty as charged as I have done this many times. Well, here we have one of the first instances of how things should be handled in the church. So let's look at the passage.

Apollos was a very wise man. He came from Alexandria, where the largest collection of books was in the world at that time. He was well versed in scripture and was spreading the news brought to him by John the Baptist. He preached repentance instead of sacrifices, baptism, and belief in one greater that was to come. He arrived in Ephesus and began preaching in the synagogues. This is when Priscilla and Aquila, two of Paul's friends that knew of Jesus, first heard him. So what did they do when they heard Apollos preaching the truth, but a truth that had not been updated? Did they stand up in the middle of the synagogue and tell him he needed to be updated? Did they pull him over after he was done speaking and tell him before those in the synagogue that he needed more information? NO. They invited him into their house where they could discuss things in private. And what about Apollos? Here was a very intelligent man, who was approached by a couple, who were tentmakers. But Apollos went with them and listened to what they had to say. He didn't rebuke these two tentmakers and tell them they were wrong. No, he sat down with them, ate, and together they discussed Jesus.

And this is where I really think we struggle today as a church. When Apollos heard this, what did he do? Did he say they were crazy? Did he jump on the bandwagon right away? No. He packed up and traveled to Achaia, and although it doesn't say this in Acts 18, I believe it was in search of Paul. In my opinion, he wanted to hear about Jesus from Paul. Paul was the one sharing the news around the world and Apollos wanted to hear more. As an intelligent man, Apollos wanted to seek out the truth from someone who knew it. So why don't we do this more often? Why do we often spread rumors throughout the church that often aren't true or a worse skew of the truth? Can we not strive to be more like Apollos, and go and search out the truth from the source?

Coed Softball

2006-05-10T08:59:00.000-04:00

So I am playing in a coed softball league on Tuesday nights with Scripps Networks whom I am interning some for. We played our fourth game last night to improve to 3-1 but it brings me to discuss something about coed softball. It's really dangerous. Take our league for example. You have to have five guys and five girls on the field at the same time. And they have to be split evenly, such as two and two in the outfield and also the infield, and the one and one at pitcher/catcher. Most teams that I have seen usually will put the two guys infielders at SS and 3B. This is where I really think it can be the most dangerous. Having played both short and third in this league, when I catch the ball and throw it to first, I don't think about who is standing on first. I catch the ball and then throw it hard or not depending on the runner. This is the part that scares me. You have a guy or girl running down the first base line with no helmet, a guy throwing the ball hard or possibly really hard from SS or 3B, and a girl catching it at 1st. Now, there are some girls that play that are really good and I support them being out there. But there are also some that shouldn't be out there.

Case in point, in our first game of the year, there were two girls hurt in the game, one worse than the other. A girl on our team was struck in the shoulder running down to first by an errant throw from 3B. Two inches higher and she would have been drilled in the head. Could a guy have caught that ball? Maybe, maybe not. That's also a call for helmets in softball, but that's a whole other post. The other girl got the worst end. I was playing third and a ball was hit to LF. She is heading to 3B and I am covering the bag, as the throw comes in, it is low, and goes past me to the pitcher backing me up. The girl rounds the bag, and the pitcher tries to throw back to me to tag her out. Long story short, I couldn't get even close to the ball to protect her, and it hits her in the cheek. The first inning of the first game, and there is already a major injury. This just goes to show how dangerous a coed game can be.

Like I said before, there are lots of girls out there that are plenty capable of being out there on that field with the guys. I just hope its those that possibly shouldn't be that understand the risk they put themselves at when they step onto the field. In my opinion, softball might be the most dangerous coed game to play. It's hard to control something, such as a ball, when it's flying through the air. Most other sports, body control is used to protect a girl, but in softball, it's not really about body control, but more about ball control. And the ball can get away from even the best players.

Prison Break and 24

2006-05-09T14:31:00.000-04:00

Last night was a great night for FOX. Both Prison Break and 24 were awesome. So on to the reviews…

Prison Break. WOW! What an episode! Last night, we finally got to see what we had been waiting for all year. The escape took place and everyone escaped, including Haywire, except for Westmoreland and Manche. Westmoreland told Michael, C-Note, and T-bag where his money was hidden and that it wasn’t $1 million, but $5 million. Manche tried to escape but the rope broke when he got onto it and he was unable to escape. The warden was tied up and finally rescued by his secretary when she became suspicious. Bellick is still tied up in the pipe, but will soon be rescued as the warden knows he is down there. Nick let Veronica go and told her to go to Montana to try to find Terrence Steadman. Then Nick and his father were killed by someone, not sure who the guy works for. “The Company” is withdrawing their support for Vice President Caroline Reynolds as she runs for President. That’s the basic outline of the episode. It leaves a lot to happen next week in the finale. I will have a more in depth review next week as the finale debuts.

So now for 24. A lot happened in this hour. Jack and the copilot were able to land the plane on a highway near LA so that they wouldn’t be blown up since President Logan had ordered the plane shot down. We find out that Audrey’s father, Secretary of Defense James Heller, survived his crash of the cliff. I had a sick feeling when he crashed his car off the cliff that he would survive and I was right. Anyways, I have a feeling he will come back to help Jack since it appears the tape is erased. Back-stabbing Myles is told about the tape and Jack by Karen Hayes. Once Jack returns, he gives the tape to Chloe to prepare for the Attorney General. Meanwhile, President Logan gets out a pistol and prepares to assassinate himself. A well timed phone call from Myles gets a hold of President Logan and tells him he is willing to help him and tamper with the tape. President Logan thanks him for his help and agrees to help him in any way possible. Bierko, who was captured many episodes back, is transferred out of CTU to another holding facility. With only 3 hours remaining, we know that Bierko escapes, the tape is erased, and that Logan is holding Agent Pierce captive. It appears that the next two weeks will have a lot of explosive action as the season finale looms in the near future.

Weekend Happenin's

2006-05-08T09:58:00.000-04:00

1) So Friday, Brad and Sam (two of the guys from church) and I went to Cozymel's for Cinco de Mayo. First off, this is Brad's favorite restaurant in the whole world. He could literally eat there every day and order two chicken enchiladas everytime. So we got there at 8 and the place was totally packed. I think it was like a 2 hour wait to get a table inside, so we went around to the side where they had a tent set up. We set down at a table for a couple of minutes when we found out there was about to be a taco eating contest. Well, the highlight of the contest was definately the guy that won. He ate 9 tacos in 3 minutes, but that wasn't the best part. He only had one hand and to eat the tacos, he folded them in half, and would shove them in his mouth with his stub. This was quite the funny site. However, he did win a brand new sweet grill for his victory.
2) I never give a review of this show, but for those that don't know, NUMB3RS is a great show. It comes on Friday at 10pm on CBS. It makes me wonder if there are really people out there that can relate math to anything and solve issues with them.
3) Saturday was awesome. First, Brad, Sam and I went to the UT Vandy baseball game. We tailgated out behind the left field fence and grilled some hamburgers and hotdogs with my boss, Reese, some of the basketball players and coaches, and others. It was hilarious. We rode Vandy's leftfielder all day long. Poor guy, he probably had now idea what he was in for before the game started. Even the basketball coaches were giving the guy a hard time. So after the game, we went and played some golf over at Municipal. If you haven't been there before, let me tell you a little about it. It might have the best front nine in Knoxville as it has some really interesting hole layouts. However, the upkeep and the back nine ruin the course. The back nine is awful and they realy don't do a good job keeping the course weed free. But other than that, it's a good place to go play 9 holes. After the golf, we proceeded over to Carrie's house where we had a game night. Fun times.

So that's about it for this weekend. Stay tuned for reviews of Prison Break and 24 along with my experiences from Six Flags this upcoming weekend.

Smallville

2006-05-05T09:18:00.000-04:00

So it's been a couple of days since my last post, but there really hasn't been much to talk about. I was a little frustrated last night as my softball game was supposed to start at 8, which is the time it started raining at the fields and rained our game out. All the preparation and drive out there, and it rains on us right before the game is supposed to start. Oh well. On to my Smallville recap.

So Smallville was pretty good last night, except for the fact that the channel went psycho for about 2-3 minutes and you couldn't really understand any of the sound. But the actual episode was good. With the season finale coming up next week, they set up a lot of stuff for the finale. Lex was infected with some kind of virus that has given him Kryptonian abilities. This is going to make for some good interaction between Lex and Clark next week. Plus, Lionel has become sort of an oracle. He has been writing Kryptonian symbols and finally shares them with Clark. So it appears that Clark and Lionel are going to be friends for now, but I could see that coming to an end, as I could definately see Lex going after him with his new found powers. And lastly, Zod is getting closer to appearing. Brianiac, aka Milton Fine, is trying to free Zod, and that is one of the reasons he infected Lex with the virus. Anyhow, all this should make for an exciting finale next week, as I think it is going to be a two hour finale. WOOO HOOOO!!!!

Prison Break and 24

2006-05-02T10:34:00.000-04:00

So, last night was a definite improvement for Prison Break and 24 over last week. Both shows revealed a lot and are setting themselves up for the season finales. With finales for both shows coming in less than a month, it’s going to be an exciting time On Monday nights on Fox. So now on to Prison Break…

Last night we found out that Veronica has discovered that the calls in Montana are coming from a house registered to Terrence Steadman through different off shore accounts. Also, the prisoners have to move up their escape because Bellick has found out about the escape from Tweeter. Michael has to kidnap the warden to get his brother out of solitary. There are a lot of twists though. Abruzzi is planning on killing all but 2 of the escapees and Nick captures Veronica to take her to the plane to meet Abruzzi. I would be willing to bet that somehow they are connected to the government in this. Michael has to ask Dr. Tancredi for her help and she then ends up confronting her father after she finds out that he is running for Vice President. All this leads us to next week where a lot is going to happen. Will DOC help Michael to escape? Who isn’t going to make it? Will Michael get Lincoln out? What is going to happen to Veronica? And will they figure out why Lincoln was framed? Stay tuned next week for an exciting show.

Now for 24. Most of the show was centered around Jack and the diplomatic plane he has snuck onto. Karen Hayes is now helping Jack and Chloe, but I think her co-worker is getting a little suspicious. Mike Novick is beginning to suspect something about President Logan it appears too. Jack is able to recapture the recording after convincing the pilot to allow him into the cockpit because the co-pilot has the recording. My only issue with this was Jack used his cell to contact Chloe to patch him through to the pilot. Now, I fully believe this could happen. What I don’t think could happen is that you could use your cell phone from 35,000 feet on a plane. I recently saw a study that showed that at 35,000 feet, there is a .6% chance of completing a call from a plane. Now, maybe with the government technology this could be possible, but who knows. Anyways, a lot of people are now aware of President Logan and he discovers they know through his contact with this company he is working with. The President is now aware that Karen Hayes knows about the recording. President Logan now has to make the only decision he can to save his life, and is going to have the plane shot down. This looks to make for an exciting finale as there are only 4 hours remaining in the day. The only question remaining is how is Jack going to get himself out of this one?

Weekend Ramblings

2006-05-01T09:30:00.000-04:00

So Friday, I went out to Pine Lakes and played 18 holes with Brad and Sam, two of the guys from the West End young professionals group. We had a blast. Between Sam almost decapitating Brad and Brad hurting himself trying to mess with our cart, it was probably the most fun I have ever had on the golf course. Plus, it's fun to see Sam progress in his game as he has just picked up the game in the last couple of weeks. Trust me, if you don't know these two guys, it's pretty much impossible not to have fun when your with them. And that leads us to Sunday.

So Sunday after church, our teacher who is also the deacon in charge of our group said he was taking his family up to Dollywood and asked if we wanted to come. So, Brad, Sam, Rebecca (my cousin), and Carrie (another young professional) decided to tag along for the trip. First off, Richard and his family are awesome. Richard and Kathy are awesome to hang out with. Richard is basically just one of the guys and Kathy really seems to enjoy being around the young professionals. Plus, their three kids are awesome. Joshua, which is 11 I think, is the oldest, followed by Aaron, 9, and Sarah, 6. They really enjoy hanging out with the older kids. I think they can get a little tired of hanging out with Mom and Dad and enjoy the company of someone younger and in their terms, "cooler." Plus, it was really fun for the rest of us getting to hang out with the kids. None of the young professionals that went had been there in a long time and the park has definately changed alot. Fortunately, it wasn't very crowded and we were able to ride some of the better rides multiple times. The Thunderhead was by far the best ride. It is wooden and has some major turns in it. I think we helped encourage some of the kids to ride the rides too. Joshua, who wasn't a big coaster fan at the start of the day, is now. And Sarah is too, as long as dad is there. I have to give her props though. If I was her size, I would have been scared to death to go on those rides. She is barely tall enough to get on, and rode the Tennessee Tornado. For those that don't know, it has a big drop going through a tunnel and reaches 70 mph before going through 3 loops. Sarah went on scared and came off in love with it. When she got off, she wanted to get on the Thunderhead, but we didn't have time unfortunately. So Sarah, props go out to you. I think seeing us going on the rides encouraged them to try them, instead of just their parents encouraging them. So, all in all, I think it was a fun weekend, and a productive one as well.

Smallville and Softball

2006-04-28T09:49:00.000-04:00

So for those that didn't know, one of my most absolute favorite shows is Smallville. I own all four seasons on DVD and really enjoy the show. Last week's episode might have been the worst episode ever as I felt as if I was watching SAW the movie. So after last night's episode, the show is back on it's normal track. Last night, Clark found out about Lex and Lana, and he isn't too happy about it. I guess one of the things I like most about the show is the complexities of the relationships between all the characters. Clark is that guy that knows what he wants, is afraid to do anything in fear of hurting the one he loves, and has to realize that he can't control something that isn't his. Another thing Clark fights with this episode is something that I am sure that some doctors and other resuce people deal with. What do you do when you can help someone that goes on to hurt other people? The always informative Chloe tells Clark that he can't control whom he saves and it's not his decision to save them or not. That's another thing I like about Smallville. There always seems to be an underlying theme in the episodes. And one more thing, it appears Lex is up to something big in his talkings with Dr. Fine. It will be interesting to see what becomes of that in the upcoming episodes.

This is mainly for B McD, but for anyone else who cares also. So I am playing in two softball leagues out at the Sportspark in Karns. First off, that place is awesome. They take really good care of the fields and it's a definite improvement over playing out at West End. Since Laurel didn't field a team this year, I'm playing with some guys from Calvary Chapel. They're all really nice guys and we have a nice group of older and younger guys, which is different for me as I am used to being one of the youngest on the team. Anyways, last night was my third game I've played out there since I have had a total of 3 games rained out so far. But it was the first time I got on base. I had been hitting the ball fairly well thus far, just right at people. So BMcD, I was 2-4 with 2 runs and 3 RBI's I think. I finally hit the ball good as I hit one off the fence, and I didn't even hit it hard (by the way, the fields we play on are huge, 300 feet to left and right). So hopefully, I can continue to get my swing back. As for the other league I play in, I play for Scripps Networks in a Co-ed league. More about that to come as I have a couple of thoughts about Co-ed leagues.

Coasters

2006-04-27T09:28:00.000-04:00

So I really haven't had much on my mind lately except for roller coasters. You see in two weeks the Young Professional group from West End is taking a trip down to Atlanta to Six Flags for the weekend. And a guy I work with is planning a trip to Cedar Point, located in Sandusky, Ohio on Lake Erie. So lately, I have been checking out Six Flags and Cedar Point to see what they offer now. For those that don't know, Cedar Point is considered by many to be the best roller coaster amusement park in the world. I went one time back when I was in 8th grade I believe and it was awesome. Located between Cleveland and Toledo, it's only a short 8 hr drive up I-75 from Knoxville. I suggest anyone that gets the opportunity to go, DO IT. And here's why:

First, it has the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world, Top Thrill Dragster. At an amazing 420 feet tall, and a record breaking 120 mph top speed, it is now my favorite coaster ever, and I haven't even been on it. Only a short 12 second ride, it launches you from 0 to 120 mph in 4 seconds, up a 90 degree lift hill, to the top of the ride, 42 stories above the ground, with a magnificient view of all of Cedar Point, which is on a peninsula surrounded by Lake Erie. It then drops you at a straight 90 degree angle 400 feet while completing one corkscrew on the way down. Talk about sweet. To learn more about the coaster and view pics and a POV video on the coaster, click here.

Second, Millenium Force. Voted the number 1 steel roller coaster in the world in 2005, Millenium Force was the first coaster built to rise over 300 feet. At it's apex, Millenium Force stands 310 feet tall with an 80 degree descent which allows it's riders to reach 93 mph. Force contains 310-, 169-, and 182-foot tall hills, two tunnels, and two 122 degree overbanked turns. With a vertical drop of 300 feet and a ride time of 2 min. and 20 seconds, it is a site to be seen. To see the Millenium Force, click here.

Third, the other 14 roller coasters that helped the park earn it's title as the best roller coaster park in the world. Yes, that's right, Cedar Point has 16 roller coasters, 9 thrill rides, and much more. If your interested, feel free to visit Cedar Point.

And for those interested, here is a photo of Millenium Force, background left, and Top Thrill Dragster, front right.

New Assistant

2006-04-26T09:07:00.000-04:00

So some of the biggest news going on in the world of Tennessee basketball these days is who is going to take over the second assistant position after Scott Edgar left to be the head coach at Southeast Missouri State. It appears right now that the two main candidates are Rod Barnes, former head coach at Ole Miss who was fired this year, and Bob Sunvold, who is the GM and head coach of the ABA's Kansas City Knights. So given these two candidates, heres my opinion on the situation.

Rod Barnes would appear to be the obvious hire here. He has a few things going for him. He has experience in the SEC and knows all the teams and coaches UT plays in the league. More importantly, he has probably a deeper knowledge about the Western Division teams that he played against twice a year at Ole Miss. Second, his teams have always been known to play tough half court defense. Plus, they always play hard. Being able to get your players to play hard is a tough thing to do and something that is usually overlooked when looking for a new coach to hire. Luckily, UT lucked out in that category with the Pearl hire, and look at the difference it made. Third, Barnes has a lot of connections into the Memphis, Alabama, and Mississippi area. Being in his location, he had quick access to all those areas, especially Memphis since its only about an hour away from Oxford. Some might argue that he isn't that good of a recruiter. Well, first, ask yourself this question. If someone was recruiting you to go to school, and you could basically have your pick of any school in the SEC, where would you go? Now, given I would say UT, but look at all the other options. Every other SEC town is better than Oxford, except for Starkville. Yes, Oxford is a very historical town, with lots of huge plantation houses and a gorgeous campus, but it's not exactly the happenin' town that most top notch basketball players are drawn to. And given that the program isn't that strong, it's a hard place to recruit to. However, if Barnes is hired, it won't be because of his recruiting. I'm sure he can more than hold his own in that category. I mean, how else did he become a head coach? Almost every head coach you ever meet is at least a good recruiter. Some are better than others, but almost every head coach is a great sales person.

But like I said, he won't be brought in to be a great recruiter. He will be brought in for his defensive knowledge, X's and O's, and his coaching experience. Many people don't realize how great it is to have a former head coach on your staff that knows exactly what the head coach is going through. So, I guess I endorse Rod Barnes for the open assistant position. And take this for what it's worth, but last week at the Kingwood Classic in Houston (one of the biggest AAU tournaments) Barnes was spotted in the crowd the day before current coaches were allowed to be there. And who was he watching, Cameron Tatum and Corperryale Harris, two of Tennessee's high profile recruits.

Best night of the week on TV

2006-04-25T09:13:00.000-04:00

So Monday is officially the best night of TV ever. I mean, you really can’t do any better than Prison Break and 24. If you have never seen any of these shows, then you are missing out. They are some high quality television. I would recommend you begin watching them, but don’t, cause the seasons are almost over. So just wait until the repeats start airing this summer. Hopefully, every Tuesday I will be able to put up my thoughts on Prison Break and 24 as well as posting about Smallville on Fridays. So anyways, here it goes…..

Prison Break – OK, so it seems as though this week was a setup show for the weeks to come. A lot happened but not much was resolved. We were made aware of a lot of stuff, such as Michael and Lincoln’s dad’s involvement in everything that has happened. Apparently, he used to work for the government and quit and thus they pinned this on Lincoln to keep the dad’s mouth shut. Also, Abruzzi makes an appearance after everyone thought he was dead when T-Bag slit his throat. Well, apparently Abruzzi is back in on the escape and has “accepted” God now, yeah right!, but he has something else up his sleeve. It looks like he is working with Nick, the guy helping Veronica, although this is unbeknownst to Veronica. And Tweener learns of Scofield’s (Michael for those that don’t know) plan to escape through Scofield. Scofield has intrusted Tweener into the plan. However, Tweener reveals the plan to Captain Bellick. Somehow, I think this was part of Scofield’s plan though. So anyhow, within the next few weeks, it looks like a lot is going to happen. Look for the escape in the near future and other twists that I can’t even expect.

So my rant on 24 went a little longer than I expected, so I went ahead and split this into two different posts. Sorry about that, but I didn’t want a post to be as long as a book.

24

2006-04-25T09:12:00.000-04:00

24 – Now, for the best show on TV. So maybe this was a bad week to start the blog cause it seemed like 24 was really stretching this week. I mean usually there are only 1 or 2 things that make you say, “That would never happen.” But not this week. Jack continues to amaze me though. So on to the show. Kind of the same as Prison Break, nothing exciting happened, just setting up for the end of the season. One impressive thing about this show though, I don’t think Jack killed anybody throughout the show. If your not familiar with 24, then you might not realize that this might be a first. Anyways, Karen Hayes who is now in charge of CTU is getting very suspicious of how things are being handled by the president. She becomes more suspicious of him when Valerie who mistakingly helped Chloe escape, tells Karen that Chloe said that Jack said that President Logan was in on all the terrorist attacks of the day. Karen then calls and talks to Mike Novick about Logan and Novick isn’t sure what is going on either. Chloe is finally discovered after she has been hacking into CTU’s computers for almost the whole show (which means an hour for those that don’t watch the show). All I have to say is it’s about freaking time. I’m glad to see anyone can crack into a government agency’s computer for almost a full hour and not get caught til the end of the hour. Anyways, Karen decides to help Chloe and Jack and calls Buchanan’s house and tells him that Chloe needs to leave cause a tactical team is on the way to capture her.

Meanwhile, Jack tracks down Henderson thanks to Chloe’s help and captures him, but Henderson doesn’t have the recording. Therefore Jack leaves Audrey with Henderson, dumb move Jack, and leaves to go get the recording. Curtis is called to come pick up Audrey and Henderson, but somehow, Henderson’s men get there before Curtis does. Audrey goes and hides, and is grabbed, but by get this – CURTIS!!. Never saw that coming, please. Anyway, Curtis’ men kill Henderson’s men and recapture Henderson. Jack has tracked the recording down to a plane that is preparing to take off from the airport they were just at. This is where the show goes a little over board. The plane is a diplomatic plane and is being heavily guarded as expected. However, Jack is able to park his stolen police car next to a fence, and run and jump on a tanker truck and climb on top as it goes to fill up the plane. The truck pulls up to the plane where Jack jumps off onto another truck. He then climbs down onto the ground and notices the plane being loaded. Before the luggage loaders pull away, he sneaks over, grabs two bags off the luggage cart and climbs on the plane without being noticed. HELLO!!!!!!!! Where are all the heavily armed men that are guarding this freaking plane? Apparently, they are all blind. It just blows my mind. Well, next week’s episode looks to be promising as Jack is going to take over the entire plane to find the recording, so hopefully next week’s episode will be a little better.

I want to apologize for my little rant at the end, but I just felt that needed to be said. As noted above, this show is usually REALLY good, and was tonight, but I felt like it reached just a little too much. So hopefully, my reviews have spiked your interest a little and you will check out Prison Break and 24 on Fox, Mondays from 8-10. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Minesweeper

2006-04-24T12:20:00.000-04:00

So most that know me would agree that me and numbers get along and I would agree with them. And I realize that some people just don't get math. I have no problem with that. What blows my mind is when people won't even try something because it has numbers in it. For example, take one of my favorite games of all time, Minesweeper. Yes, that Minesweeper. The one that comes on almost every computer ever made. I have met a lot of people that have never even tried Minesweeper because it contains numbers in it. Or they have watched me play and just don't understand it. HELLO!!! It's not that hard to learn. I mean seriously, all you do is click on a square and either a number appears or a bomb blows you up. And there is basically no math invovled.

I have been playing for a while now, and while I think I am pretty decent at it, my fastest time ever on expert level is 92 seconds, there is a little strategy to it. Basically, Minesweeper is like anything else. The more you play, the better you get. And Minesweeper is basically all about patterns. The more you play, the more patterns you recognize. Thus, the more you play, the faster you get. So, my suggestion of the day, go sit down at you computer, and just try a game of Minesweeper. I know not everyone will enjoy it, but at least try it. And if you have any questions about it, just holla at me.