Comments by NOLAvol
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Posted on April 24 at 8:10 a.m.
IN SUMMARY: Pat made two comments with the intention of maintaining a high standard of conduct in women's college basketball ...so Geno feels personally attacked.
Yep, that's about it.
I'd rather live, work and play under the morals Pat learned on the farm than the (non-)scruples Geno learned in Philadelphia.
I'd rather treat my oponents with respect than the way Phillies fans treat their "guests."
I'd rather NOT be Santa at an Eagles game.
Posted on March 26 at 2:44 a.m.
That's really strange about the ESPN coverage... in Chattanooga (Comcast) we got to see nearly the entire game. Might be worth inquiring with your local cable provider about this one!
Posted on February 26 at 8:48 a.m.
Last Sunday's game was my very first Lady Vol game--a trip I've wanted to make for over 20 years, living most of that time away in New Orleans. And after their first game at Starkville, I was sure that, though we would not be seeing a game against an SEC power, we would certainly be seeing some excellent basketball as the Lady Vols would surely kick it up a notch after their previous malaise.
So, was going to the game a birthday-worthy experience? Sure. Was it a disappointment? Well, though I don't want the people who gave me this gift to know... yes. The old adage is true: fans come hoping to see great basketball, but they will never be disappointed by great effort.
That said, college athletics should always be about the players, not the fans. Here's what I wish I could communicate to our ("ours" by adoption--not expectation) young lady Vols:
The joy (and occasional danger) of being 18-22 in college is discovering all the things "I can DO." That ability to DO releases you from the long suffering tethers of adolescence and propels you into full-fledged adulthood. It's heady stuff!
But there's a difference between that ability to DO and the ability to turn it on, focus, and DO IT whenever you determine it's TIME to do it. Being able to "flip the switch" and turn it on when needed FEELS more powerful, but it's a practice that actually WEAKENS you. Working/playing at your best ALL the time, regardless of circumstances (or competition, or fear of injury, or fatigue, etc.) builds CHARACTER--what you ARE as opposed to what you DO.
Please, ladies, don't EVER get yourself caught in the trap of defining who you ARE by what you DO. It'll screw up your life, for sure!
Who you ARE will transfer to anything you do for the rest of your life. Your ability to do on the court--or anywhere else--will always be limited by the skillset you've developed. The ability to do will not transfer to new activities which demand a different skillset. But character will always transfer to any new challenge which demands a new skillset.
And believe me, though it will be years before you realize it, life IS a series of ever-decreasing capabilities--a shrinking list of things you can "turn on" whenever you choose. That can be a depressing, debilitating process--in the absence of character. But, when faced with proven character, it can be the most envigorating challenge of your life (because the things you do LATER in life are the most important things you'll EVER do--other than develop character!).
Lady Vols, we don't want our applause to stop when you no longer wear the orange--we want to be fans of YOU... for the rest of your lives!
Posted on October 24 at 7:54 a.m.
#1 reason the Vols run a complicated offense that few freshmen (receivers, backs, QBs) can quickly become proficient with? It's much closer in concept to what the NFL runs, which is a key part of our recruiting pitch and separates UT from many of the schools they're recruiting against.
#1 incidental benefit? You don't lose as many Juniors (from the offense) to the draft if it takes them 3 seasons to really learn it and show what they can do (think Stallworth, Price, Meacham, et al., who suddenly blossomed their senior years after we grumbled through their "disappointing, underachieving" junior seasons)--and with the way the NCAA figures graduation rates, losing a Junior to the draft can be a double-killer to a program.
#1 Concern? Since the NFL can't find enough quarterbacks capable of running complicated offenses against all the defensive schemes they're facing now, I wonder if some version of the spread offense will begin to appear on Sundays. The NFL will HAVE to do something soon--you can't sustain a 32-team league on the shoulders (brains?) of Manning, Favre & Brady.
All these things have a cycle, and certainly change will come to the NFL. For college teams like UT who are totally dependent on recruiting out-of-state talent, preparing players for the NFL is vital. BUT if we change schemes before the NFL does, we lose that recruiting advantage--even if we guess right about where the NFL is eventually heading.
Posted on October 17 at 7:56 a.m.
A smaller, ultra-quick linebacker seems to be the current theory among defensive coordinators on how to attack/disrupt these new spread offences.
Don't know how quick Spence is, but he could be that prototype. Of course, if you play a linebacker that small against a more traditional offense, he may only see action in nickel/dime situations, unless he also learns the safety position.
We're in for several years of unusual defensive platooning (and recruiting) as long as defenses have to plan for facing such varied offensive schemes through the season.
Posted on October 7 at 7:55 p.m.
If you've read the previous comments down to here, just looking up at the date of this post puts them all into perspective...
First, these southern Florida kids got to EXPERIENCE Neyland Stadium, UT fans, and Vol football at its best--WITH the not so insignificant knowledge that their families and friends back home were also able to watch this (one of several each season) nationally broadcast UT game.
Sometime later that night, they either watched or heard that the Gators lost on national TV to the #1 team in the country. But that's Saturday in the SEC... BTW, what's that conference Miami is in? How many nationally important games on Miami's schedule? I mean, besides when they play an SEC team.
There are a hundred different ways a young mind could interpret the events of such a day in Knoxvill, but I can't imagine how I could better plan one to create a more favorable impression of life as a Vol.
Posted on October 5 at 8:35 a.m.
[Before the post, kudos to iowavol for resisting the temptation to make the obvious segway from "stiffarm" to sexual prowess!]
Hey--whether it's tokin' or pokin'--if it feels good, DO IT!
(...until you go bankrupt)
But even then, maybe you can bum a nickel for another toke so for a half-hour you can get some relief from forever thinking about the future you COULD have had, and being reminded of how many OTHER people's futures would have been so much brighter, but for the harmless, natural desire to "feel good"--are your reading this, young Mr. Crews?
Posted on September 17 at 7:53 a.m.
Geography & demographics (read: recruiting) have been and will remain the weak link in Tennessee football--and recruiting is "square one" ...nothing else good is going to happen if we fail at recruiting. It IS a fact that no one has done a better job with recruiting than Fulmer, and if we replace him, it's got to be someone who is already recruiting successfully nationwide. That's a small pool to fish in.
But the big picture Strange's piece hints at is that we may all be in the midst of one of those "sea-changes" in the history of college football. Something that has proven successful for the past 15 years is suddenly getting whipped--not by a few rogue geniuses, but by big AND small teams alike.
There are some smart people on this site, and I'd like to see some analysis of what's evolving around us--especially with offenses. It's easy to understand how a spread offense puts "athletes" (meaning, in recruiting, getting a lot more out of those "tweeners" who won't be heavily recruited because they're too small to play running back in the SEC, but don't have good enough hands or not tall enough to play big-time wide receiver) into favorable one-on-one situations with reduced defensive help--thus negating both speed & size as defensive assets.
It's also easy to understand how asking only a few skill players to make reads on the defense allows an average offensive line to produce outstanding results, since they only have to make whichever block the defenders are "giving" them. I think this is also why they can get freshmen on the field so quickly, allowing them to use their athletic abilities and instincts without the encumbrance of having to think a lot on the move. These new spread offenses seem to offer a short learning curve at a lot of (but not all) positions.
Well, my main point is, don't fire deVoe--I mean, Fulmer--until you know what & who you need to replace him with. It may be several years before the next defensive genius figures out how to stop these new offenses--remember back in the 60s when the Triple-option came in to dominate college football?
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Posted on May 2 at 8:15 a.m.
Usually we become fans of a certain team by accident of birth: because our parents were already fans, or because of the geographic area in which we were born. Sometimes we even become fans of one school in reaction against the arrogance or extremes of another school's fans.
But what a richer heritage belongs to those who became Tennessee fans because of student-athletes like* Peyton Manning, Chamique Holtzclaw ...and this amazing young man, Chris Lofton!
* (There are many others; these are just the most often cited. What an awesome thread that would be... honoring all the life-inspiring Vols we've been privileged to cheer. Indeed, SO MANY of the Lady Vols have been exemplary role-models that they hardly stand out amongst their teammates.)
On Howell in awe of Lofton's silent battle