Strange: Don't need ESPN to say rivalry

NASHVILLE - OK, guys, it's your turn.

Rivalry Week is off and running. It's not on your calendar, like Mardi Gras or Labor Day, but if ESPN says it's Rivalry Week, I'll hop on board.

Tennessee and Vanderbilt collaborated Monday night on a spirited women's opener to a two-night, two-gender, one-state doubleheader at Memorial Gym.

The Lady Vols left the court to appreciative cheers from their orange-clad supporters after a 69-60 come-from-behind victory.

For approximately the first 33 minutes, Tennessee resembled the team that made dubious program history by going one-and-done in last year's NCAA tournament.

Then, out of nowhere, for the final seven minutes, the Lady Vols put the hammer down as convincingly as any of Pat Summitt's eight national champions.

For a second there, I thought I saw Candace Parker block a Vandy shot and then Tamika Catchings scoop up the ball and race down the court for a layup.

Nope, it was Kelley Cain on the block and Alicia Manning off to the races for the transition bucket that put Tennessee ahead to stay.

The biggest difference between this Lady Vols team and the one that lost here to Vandy last year and then got knocked out of March Madness by Ball Freaking State?

"We're mentally tougher,'' said Summitt. "They invested a lot in the off-season.''

So, tonight, Bruce Pearl and his UT men wade into funky Memorial Gym, hoping for sufficient mental toughness to stage a similar happy exit against Kevin Stallings' Commodores.

As for Rivalry Week, the ideal women's Monday-night lid-lifter would have been UConn-Tennessee. That delicacy, however, has been removed from the menu. Not even ESPN can put it back if Summitt says no.

So Vanderbilt will have to do, and, really, that's not a bad fall-back scenario.

"When you come here,'' said Summitt, "there's always a lot of Tennessee fans and you always know it's a game if we don't bring our 'A' game they can beat you.''

Tennessee's marquee rivalries tend to fall into the FBI's jurisdiction - they cross state lines. There's Alabama and Florida in football. Kentucky and Florida in men's hoops. And, of course, the late, great Lady Vols-UConn rivalry.

But there's rivalry gold (and black) to be mined when you're talking about Commodores and Vols showing up in the same house. Especially if that house is on West End Avenue in Nashville.

Vandy fans don't travel well to Knoxville. They don't even travel that well downtown to the Sommet Center for neutral-court affairs like, say, the SEC-Big East Challenge.

The Mid-State, on the other hand, is ripe with Big Orange fans.

I've never seen anything like the 1998 football game at Vanderbilt Stadium. Championship-hungry UT fans turned the place into a home game and hundreds more, lacking tickets, milled around outside in their orange wardrobes.

Tennessee hasn't lost a football game at Vandy since 1982. The 'Dores' only victory since was in Knoxville in 2005, the year of the alleged perfect storm.

The Lady Vols are almost equally as comfortable in Nashville, leading the overall series 54-7, 22-5 in Memorial Gym.

Baseball leans Tennessee's way, 164-138-2. However, since Vandy hired Tim Corbin, he's had his way with the Vols, going 15-3 until Tennessee swept a season-ending series here last year.

I'd say the rivalry glows hottest in men's basketball. UT leads 108-68, but it's pretty much a 50-50 proposition in the modern era.

The late Ray Mears poured gasoline on the fire in the 1960s and '70s, gleefully antagonizing Vandy's fans. UT's most recent three coaches - Pearl, Buzz Peterson and Jerry Green - are a collective .500 in Memorial Gym dating to 1998.

Pearl, channeling Mears, will break out his orange blazer tonight when he stalks the baseline.

He doesn't need ESPN to tell him playing Vandy at Memorial Gym is Rivalry Week for Tennessee.

Mike Strange may be reached at strangem@knoxnews.com or 865-342-6726.

© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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