If it's May...

...that means it's time to start looking for those college football publications. It's getting closer every day baby.



Starting Thursday, you can watch Athlon count down their Top 25 at athlonsports.com each day throughout the month of May. And you can expect something similar from Lindy's, Sporting News and the others very soon (Athlon's magazine hits shelves the last week of May). So if the NBA Playoffs aren't doing it for you...123 days.

And while we won't be blessing you with a long and drawn out countdown this year just so I can make the irrational argument that Tennessee's going to win it all when I'm at my most irrational just before kickoff - and while I'm sure we'll revisit this before the end of August, and will also be available to go back and look at next January just for fun when it's all said and done - in an attempt to get my opinion, for what it's worth, down on "paper" before it's swayed by any and all of these publications, we proudly present the post-spring practice SESB 2008 college football Top 25. Man, that'll look great in bold.

The SESB 2008 Post-Spring Practice College Football Top 25
1. Oklahoma
2. Georgia
3. Florida
4. USC
5. LSU
6. Ohio State
7. Missouri
8. West Virginia
9. Kansas
10. Texas
11. Clemson
12. Tennessee
13. Wisconsin
14. Arizona State
15. Texas Tech
16. BYU
17. Illinois
18. South Florida
19. Auburn
20. Penn State
21. Virginia Tech
22. Wake Forest
23. Oregon
24. Pittsburgh
25. UConn

Man, what if somebody comes across this and actually thinks I know what I'm talking about?

Celtics: Where's the killer instinct?

One thing we learned tonight in Atlanta's 97-92 Game 4 victory that tied this 1-8 first round series at two games apiece: these aren't - at least tonight, at least right now - your father's Boston Celtics.

Because I know this - if you let Al Horford talk down to Paul Pierce and get in his face at the end of Game 3, and then you let Joe Foreign Guy get in Kevin Garnett's face in the first half tonight, and there are no repercussions...I didn't like what I saw. At all.

(Edit: Here's video of both altercations:)

Game 3


Game 4


It's the Hawks. Don't try and sell me on home court advantage or "raucous crowds" in a city that hasn't cared about basketball since Dominique left. Don't try and tell me about youth and athleticism. And nobody wants Boston to go on and get Banner 17 more than me. And maybe they will. But I didn't see that championship killer instinct, at all, tonight. If these kids had pulled that mess on Larry Bird, it's over.

And sure, Kevin Garnett isn't Larry Bird or Michael Jordan. But you know who else didn't take that stuff? Kevin McHale, and the rest of the guys wearing green. It's not about talent, it's about team. If the Celtics are as good as they're supposed to be as the team with the best record in the NBA, and the Hawks are what they are - a 37-45 team that hasn't made the playoffs in nine years and got blown out by 23 and 19 in Boston in the first two games of this series, and you let them pull this rookie (in Horford's case specifically and for the rest of the team in the playoffs as well outside of Joe Johnson) stuff, and you don't respond with straight murder...it makes me worry.

(Let's clarify that by "straight murder" I mean not a contract hit on Horford the next time down the floor, but by playing the way you're supposed to and running this inferior team out of their own building. That's what the 80s Celtics teams would've done, that's what great teams do against 37-45 teams that get upitty, and when that guy got in Kevin Garnett's face tonight - not just any Celtic, but Kevin Garnett, the definition of intense on a basketball floor, I thought "this game is over." Instead, the Hawks won and now feel like they can play with Boston.)

So we go back to Beantown on Wednesday night for game five in a series that's now more interesting than the rest of them, in what was supposed to be the easiest wash of the first round. And while the youthful Hawks will continue to play footloose and fancy free, there will be pressure on Boston. Again, the Hawks are 37-45 and Boston has every reason to win Game 5 and then win the series and move on - and hey, maybe in two months we're laughing about all this in the NBA Finals - but the weight of expectation will get very heavy if things get tight in the second half of Game 5. From the second quarter altercation on tonight, I watched with a vested interest that wasn't there in the first three games, because now things might be a little in doubt.

Maybe not with Atlanta for Boston...but if you don't man up and respond with dominance to something like that tonight...I hope we can find it further on down the road.

Erik Ainge to the Jets

As the Titans continue to play "who?" in the NFL Draft, with a penchant for stretching the bounds not only on name value but for school as well (Winston-Salem State, anyone?), something really good did happen of relevance to this blog on the draft's second day: the New York Jets picked Erik Ainge, to an audible roar from the NYC crowd.

Why Ainge fell to the latter stages of the fifth round, nobody knows. But I do know that if I was going to handpick an opportunity for Ainge to go into with the best chance of not only making the roster but competing for snaps, the Jets would be at or near the top of that list. It's a tough crowd, no doubt, but I make the point that they cheered when Chad Pennington was hurt and are similarly unsatisfied with Kellen Clemens at this point to say that I can very easily see Ainge stepping in and making noise here. Joey Clinkscales, ex-Vol, is the Jets director of scouting, which I'm sure helped here. And on the whole, the Jets weren't very good last year. But while lots of teams could've taken Ainge as a viable backup option, he'll have a chance to be in the mix with the Jets, and I can easily envision him becoming the focal point for that volatile fan base in calling for new blood under center. These are, of course, the same fans who'd turn on him in an instant if he failed to perform, so it's pressure either way, but still...I think this is about as good as you could ask for from Ainge. Vol fans have only had Peyton Manning to cheer for at the quarterback position in the NFL, so who knows...

Random Thoughts - Saturday April 26

11:12 PM
In some sort of sick self-fulfilling prophetic way, if you start the day talking about roller coasters and how well things are going for all of your teams, by the end of the day things will have changed. The Braves fall to 0-8 in one run games and lose to the hated Mets, the Titans only frustrate on draft day with picks that I don't care to spend any more time on right now, and then the Celtics find a way to put some drama in their playoff series with the Hawks by allowing Josh Smith to flirt with a triple-double and surrendering 100+ points in a Game 3 loss. As Indiana Jones once said, "Oh rats."

Actually, if there's some sort of twisted silver lining in all this fun today, it was Al Horford's 4th quarter antics against the Celtics. While the Hawks did do a good job closing the game out, and Horford is every bit the great player he was at Florida as an NBA rookie (17 points 14 boards tonight), he hit a shot late in the 4th with the game relatively in hand, after Paul Pierce went for a steal and fell down. After hitting the shot, Horford stopped, bent down, pointed and screamed something at Pierce on his way back down the floor. Not that the Celtics need extra motivation to beat the Atlanta Hawks, but at least now this should make things more interesting in Game 4.

And finally...congratulations to former Vol Luke Hochevar, who won his first major league game today for the Kansas City Royals. Because we always like to end on a good note.

7:44 PM
So the Titans folks in the front office and Jeff Fisher are lauding Chris Johnson's gamebreaking speed and ability to score a touchdown every time he touches the ball. Fair enough. But here's what's troubling to me after doing a little research:

Johnson ran for 1423 yards at East Carolina in 2007, but he only cracked the century mark five times. His numbers are inflated by two things: a gargantuan performance against the "mighty" Tiger High defense at Memphis (301 yards), and the real money-maker, his Hawaii Bowl work against Boise State (223 yards). That's impressive, no doubt. But his other 100 yard performances - against Houston, UTEP, Tulane - add more fuel to the fire that this has the makings of a mid-major player playing well against mid-major competition.

In East Carolina's four non-conference games against Virginia Tech, North Carolina, West Virginia and NC State, Johnson had a combined 51 carries for 186 yards (3.6 per carry). That's not making me feel any better.

True, ECU did a nice job of getting him the ball in the passing game. True, maybe the Titans can line him up wherever and use him as a change of pace, and he plays better with better players around him than he enjoyed at ECU. And as I type this, I'm watching all the receivers come off the board in round two and waiting for pick 54 to come around with no idea where the Titans are going now...and honestly, at this point I think they might just take another RB just to piss me off.

Nobody's more optimistic than me. And I'll love this kid if/when he gets on the field and cheer for him like all the rest. But the armchair GM in me is still shaking his head.

(In totally unrelated news while I wait for the pick...IGN.com, whose rankings I heavily respect, gave Grand Theft Auto IV its first perfect 10.0 score in a decade and is calling it the best video game since Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is generally considered as the consensus pick as the best video game ever made. Hmmm...)

Jacksonville has picked Derrick Harvey and Quentin Groves. I fear this as both a Vol fan and a Titan fan.

Then, with Limas Sweed on the doorstep, the Steelers, our old friends from the AFC Central, steal him away. Not that we've seen that we could assume that's where the Titans were going to go, but still...now all of the top-tier receivers are off the board.

ESPN, who's usually great at commercials, keeps showing these Baseball Tonight commercials with the guys from the set inserted into classic baseball moments. If I hear about John Kruk's egg salad sandwich one more time, I'm going to throwup.

And then, with the Titans pick in, DirecTV somehow inexplicably cuts away from the ESPN ticker to show me Corona and NASCAR HotPass. We come back, and now I have no idea who the Titans have picked. And no, I can't wait 30 seconds for Boomer to tell me. The aforementioned roller coaster has taken a dive. Now I'm seeing Mike Tomlin and they're not telling me what just happened. WHO DID WE PICK?! I can't wait to be disappointed!

...who did we pick?

...who did we pick?

...for the love of God, who did we pick? It's great to know that Brad Cottam is now the #12 best player available on Kiper's board, but I'd like to end this suffering and watch the Celtics with a much greater assurance that they'll make me feel better. WHO DID WE PICK?!

Because at this point, I refuse to look it up online. I want ESPN to tell me when they're good and %$#ing ready. You're reading my insanity as it happens, right here, right now.

WHO DID WE PICK?! DON'T GO TO COMMERCIAL!! #$@!

Baltimore takes Ray Rice at 55. What about the Titans at 54?!

.................................

.........after four commercials and some awkward silence from the ESPN folks, who are now talking about the %#%!%! music - Green Bay took Brian Brohm, which really is stunning and now we've gotta talk about that, I'm sure, for the next 15 minutes - I'm still waiting. I'm going to find out from the freaking team scroller, which was on the M's when the Titans actually picked about eight minutes ago. Screw you, ESPN.

After all this, Jason Jones, DE Eastern Michigan, better get to Canton one day. Maybe tomorrow we'll draft someone from Eastern Illinois. It's going to be an angry sermon in the morning.

5:52 PM
With all due respect to Chris Johnson's 4.24 at the combine...(facepalm).

You know what this sounds like? You know who he'll be confused with? Chris Henry, running back Arizona, picked in the second round last year after not taking a wide receiver in the first round. Or Chris Brown, running back Colorado, picked in round three in 2003. And those first two guys have been, thus far, forgettable.

They're trying to spin this for the Titans and say that he'll be the lightning to LenDale White's thunder. First of all...isn't that what Henry was supposed to do? And second of all...do we really like LenDale's thunder all that much in the first place? And to re-re-emphasize the greatest point - the Titans are picking 24th, and no wide receivers are coming off the board. Your greatest need is wide receiver, and they're all available. So you're telling me that the best option for the franchise is to pick this kid from East Carolina when you've already got a #1 running back, and that zero - absolutely none of the wide receivers in this draft - can help you more than this kid can?

They're making the point about the lack of productivity from first round wide receivers in recent years, and that's true...but once again, look at the depth chart right now:

Titans Wide Receivers
Justin McCareins
Roydell Williams
Brandon Jones
Justin Gage
Paul Williams
Chris Davis
Biren Early
Mike Williams

Alright, all together now: "Who?"

Even if you don't think Devin Thomas (who I never thought would still be on the board), DeSean Jackson, Limas Sweed or Malcolm Kelly is a positive contribution to that group...we can't trade down? We can't go in another direction?

Hopefully, I'll be linking back to this blog years down the line when Chris Johnson is a household name and not just the third punchline to the point I made earlier. The Titans pick again at 54 in the second round. We'll see where it goes from here.

4:28 PM
So we've had severe thunderstorms here in the Ceres area, which knocked out the DirecTV satellite feed from picks 10-12. So imagine my surprise and mixed elation when the feed returns, and I discover that Jerod Mayo has gone at #10 to the New England Patriots. Guess that decision to turn pro early was a good one, eh?

Everyone's general dislike of the Patriots aside, well done for Mayo, getting to be the first piece of the "faster, younger, better?" Patriots defense and an opportunity to compete for instant playing time or even a start on an 18-1 team. I missed the commentary from the talking heads on the pick, but I know Kiper loved him. Good for Mayo, and now all the more reason for the Titans to go wide receiver.

Delivering the historical relevance you know and love from this blog:

Tennessee First Round Draft Picks - Last 20 Years
1988 - DB Terry McDaniel - 9th - Raiders
1988 - WR Anthony Miller - 15th - Chargers
1989 - LB Keith DeLong - 28th - 49ers
1990 - none
1991 - OT Charles McRae - 7th - Bucs
1991 - OT Antone Davis - 8th - Eagles
1991 - WR Alvin Harper - 12th - Cowboys
1992 - DB Dale Carter - 20th - Chiefs
1992 - DE Chris Mims - 23rd - Chargers
1993 - DE Todd Kelly - 27th - 49ers
1994 - QB Heath Shuler - 3rd - Redskins
1995 - RB James Stewart - 19th - Jaguars
1996 - none
1997 - none
1998 - QB Peyton Manning - 1st - Colts
1998 - DB Terry Fair - 20th - Lions
1998 - WR Marcus Nash - 30th - Broncos
1999 - LB Al Wilson - 31st - Broncos
2000 - RB Jamal Lewis - 5th - Ravens
2000 - DE Shaun Ellis - 12th - Jets
2001 - none
2002 - DT John Henderson - 9th - Jaguars
2002 - WR Donte' Stallworth - 13th - Saints
2002 - DT Albert Haynesworth - 15th - Titans
2003 - none
2004 - none
2005 - none
2006 - DB Jason Allen - 16th - Dolphins
2007 - DT Justin Harrell - 16th - Packers
2007 - WR Robert Meachem - 27th - Saints
2008 - LB Jerod Mayo - 10th - Patriots

Last year, the Vols had more players on NFL rosters than any other school outside of Florida State and Miami, and has had more players drafted in the last ten years than any other school besides Ohio State. If ever you wonder why we tend to recruit well...well, those numbers don't hurt.

2:52 PM
In my churches that I pastor here in southwest Virginia, on a small circuit with congregations ranging between 15-40 people every Sunday morning, we take celebrations and prayer requests from the floor. And every single Sunday without fail, the prayer requests outnumber the celebrations at something like five or six to one. Even when I mention this and bring it to light, it doesn't change things for more than a week - our needs and what's wrong can so often feel more pressing and rise to the surface quicker than our blessings and what's right.

So as I sit here today, on one of those rare days when all the sports world converges with the NFL Draft, the playoffs in the NBA and the NHL, and plenty of Saturday baseball, including Braves at Mets - this is one of the good days.

Tonight, the Celtics will go to Atlanta for Game Three of their opening series with the Hawks, which thus far has lacked drama, just the way we like it. The Celtics have been the best team in the NBA all season and have shown no signs of slowing down in the postseason thus far. Of all my beloved teams on this blog, Boston currently sits at the top of the heap when it comes to the championship potential and the dreams being realized.

But one year ago at this time, we were a different kind of excited. A year ago this weekend, we were getting ready for ping pong balls. A year ago, we were fired up about the chance - and a less than 50% chance at that - of getting either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant in the NBA Draft, and then being fully prepared to buy into a multi-year rebuilding project around one of those two guys, with the hope that maybe, maybe someday in the future, we'd have a chance to contend.

And when the balls didn't fall our way, we were left destitute and broken. Having already suffered through a season where we barely won 20 games and two straight misfires on the postseason, five years since our last trip to the conference finals and 20+ years from our last banner, it seemed like the ping pong balls and their random chance were our last hope. We were much in need.

But the last 365 days for the Celtics are an example of many things - the shape of modern sports, the win-now mentality that prevails across the board, the value of a dollar and a superstar - but above all, it's proof that things can turn around. There's always tomorrow, and one of these tomorrows is going to become today.

Sports fans who invest themselves into their team deal with the roller coaster the rest of their lives. Just using the Celtics as an example - my grandparents were there for Russell and Cousy, rode the slide, were there for Bird, rode the slide again, felt the bottom fall out over the last two decades, and now we're on pace to finish on top again. If a franchise like the Celtics can have 16 World Championships and still be relying on ping pong balls last year, and can still make such an improbable turnaround in one year...it's always the roller coaster. It's not always up and it's not always down...but it always moves forward as long as your team is playing.

That being said...things are pretty good right now.

The Celtics are the pinnacle, though that'll certainly be challenged the deeper into the playoffs we go. And really, the Lady Vols are so far above everyone else that I don't spend much of any time with them on this blog because they're a given until the Sweet 16 every year. The Braves are 12-11 and saw Tim Hudson get chased in the third inning today at Shea, currently trailing the Mets 4-2 in the 6th (and as soon as I type that and check again, now it's 4-3. See, good things are happening). And even though the Braves have missed October the last two years, the memories of the last 15 years still ring true, and Atlanta is still a contender. Before those 15 years, Atlanta was terrible, going worst-to-first in 1991. I remember, even if faintly, the worst years. I remember having to find a playoff team to cheer for every October, because the Braves with Dale Murphy wouldn't be there.

I also remember having to find a bracket team in March. I remember being very fond of UCLA and even owning a pair of authentic UCLA home white shorts from EastBay in the mid-90s. I remember riding the roller coaster another notch up and being so excited just to make the dance under Jerry Green in 1998. And then I remember going back to the empty bracket under Buzz Peterson.

Three years ago, Tennessee Basketball was an afterthought. An absolute afterthought, and when Bruce Pearl showed up, we were all hitting the reset button and preparing ourselves for another long rebuilding process and hoping to make the NIT in his second season. That's not an exaggeration, that's exactly what we were hoping for.

Three years later, everything has changed. And even though the Sweet 16 remains the barrier, I could type this wearing my SEC Champions hat, and more importantly, I know that next year - especially now with Tyler Smith returning, but even without him - the Vols will be in the conversation. The Vols will be able to compete for championships.

You can't always be the Celtics. You won't always be the best or the most talented. The men's basketball team certainly isn't that. The football team in Knoxville hasn't been in that breath since 2001. Talent ebbs and flows for any program or franchise in any sport, ask the Yankees.

But what's key, I believe, are the two words I've been using more than any others - competitive and relevant.

The final goal is never to be competitive, the final goal is always to win championships. But no one in any sport shows up to every preseason camp as the most talented team. But a select few do show up with the ability to compete.

This has never been more true than with Tennessee Football. Preseason rankings or whatever else you want to use aside, this much I know to be true: the Vols will enter the 2008 campaign the same way they've entered most of them for the last 20 years: good enough to beat anybody they play. Maybe not as talented across the board as we were in the late 90s to just show up and win with the T on the helmet in a college football - and especially SEC - landscape that's increasingly competitive. But there's no opponent, anywhere, that's so much better than us that we've got no chance. The Vols are relevant, the Vols are competitive, and if you win, you get to the end result.

Which brings us full circle back to the NFL Draft. As Matt Ryan walks across the stage and picks up his Falcons jersey, and every Atlanta fan hits his own personal reset button, the Titans wait at #24. Under Jeff Fisher since their origin as the Titans 10 years ago, they've been in that competitive/relevant category more often than not. As I've said before, last year I think the Titans got as far as they were going to go, and haven't made significant improvements thus far in the offseason to stay or increase that threshold. So the Draft, as always, carries great weight for Nashville and all Titans fans as we try and stay among the conversation and compete.

You can see the roller coaster in the faces of Jets fans on one end, and the Giants fans in their Super Bowl gear on the others. This is why sports are great. And right now - for the Vols, the Braves, the Celtics, and hopefully the Titans today - life is pretty great too.

ESPN Fan Satisfaction Rankings

For the sixth consecutive year, ESPN and ESPN The Magazine have released their professional sports Fan Satisfaction Rankings, comparing teams in all four major professional sports (yes, hockey still counts) and rating them against each other. Franchises are ranked based on "bang for the buck" (wins per dollar revenue directly from the fans), player-fan relations, ownership (with an emphasis on honesty and loyalty), affordability of tickets, parking and concessions, the gameday stadium/arena experience, overall value of players and coaches (including talent, effort and likability), and their ability to win championships, past present and future.

Among the three beloved franchises on this blog, the Atlanta Braves ranked highest at 21st overall (out of 122 NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL teams) and 6th in baseball. The Braves scored especially high marks on player and coach value, with Bobby Cox ranked 6th overall in that category. The Celtics finished 43rd and the Titans 50th, both highly respectable.

According to ESPN, the team with the most satisfied fanbase belongs to the Indianapolis Colts, who didn't finish first in any individual category, but scored in the Top 25 in everything except stadium, and they're getting a new one. The least satisfied fanbase? You guessed it - the New York Knicks, with an embarassing display in almost every category.

The leaders in every category:

Bang for the Buck
1. New Orleans Hornets
2. Buffalo Sabres
3. Indianapolis Colts
4. Jacksonville Jaguars
5. Golden State Warriors
(last - Boston Red Sox)

Fan Relations
1. San Antonio Spurs
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Pittsburgh Penguins
4. Dallas Mavericks
5. Anaheim Ducks
(last - New York Knicks)

Ownership
1. San Antonio Spurs
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Detroit Red Wings
4. Detroit Pistons
5. Dallas Mavericks
(last - Seattle Sonics)

Affordability
1. New Orleans Hornets
2. Jacksonville Jaguars
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Milwaukee Brewers
(last - Toronto Maple Leafs)

Stadium/Arena Experience
1. Green Bay Packers
2. Minnesota Wild
3. Columbus Blue Jackets
4. Seattle Seahawks
5. Dallas Mavericks
(last - Florida Marlins)

Player Value
1. New England Patriots
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Portland Trail Blazers
4. Detroit Red Wings
5. Green Bay Packers
(last - New York Knicks)

Coach Value
1. New England Patriots
2. Detroit Tigers
3. San Antonio Spurs
4. Los Angeles Angels
5. New York Islanders
(last - Atlanta Falcons)

Championship Value
1. Carolina Hurricanes
2. New England Patriots
3. San Antonio Spurs
4. Detroit Pistons
5. Detroit Red Wings
(last - Detroit Lions)

Overall Rankings
1. Indianapolis Colts
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. New Orleans Hornets
4. Green Bay Packers
5. Anaheim Ducks
(last - New York Knicks)

To see all the info and track the rankings back thru 2003, check out the database at ESPN.com right here.

Random Thoughts - Sunday April 20

Where 10,000 hits happens. Soon.

The State of the Vols: Post-Spring Practice
This is going to sound weird, but aren't you more comfortable with the Vols right now than you have been in the last three seasons?

Think about it - after the 2005 disaster, you weren't feeling exceptionally good about anything in the spring of 2006. After a 9-4 "turnaround", last spring we were trying to figure out who at all was going to catch the football with zero experience returning, similar to how it looked on the offensive line and exactly how it looked at defensive tackle.

There are variables this spring, no doubt - Dave Clawson's offense, Jonathan Crompton, the ends and the linebackers. And those first two are typically huge deals, putting in a new offense with a new quarterback (though Chris Low made the point on ESPN.com's recap feature about Saturday's spring games at Missouri, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, USC, Virginia Tech and West Virginia that maybe it's for the best that it's all brand new with a brand new quarterback). But despite the new pieces on offense, this is as good as I've felt about the Vols the day after the Orange & White Game - which I haven't even seen, by the way, only read about and watched highlights and the TiVo will catch it tonight on SportSouth - since 2005.

Not to make this comparison on the 10th anniversary...but it's similar to how I felt in the preseason of 1998. We had some weaknesses then and everybody else was talking about Florida and Georgia and writing us off...but even if we didn't have an abundance of raw talent, I liked our team and I liked them at every position. (Also of note: UT signed an agreement with Dish Network, who brought us the Spring Game and is also sponsoring the much anticipated "Perfect10n" DVD later this year to celebrate the 98 team, this on the heels of the 07-08 basketball highlight DVD to be released in June. Among the football celebrations will be two (Dish Network) Legends of the Game from the 98 team at every home game, and the real anniversary celebration the weekend of the Alabama game (Saturday, October 25) with a function at the Tennessee Theatre and something special, I'm sure, during the Bama game.)

Crompton has never been the starter going into a season, but he does have valuable game experience and went 13 of 20 for 266 and 3 TDs in the O&W (Chris Low: "Everybody, from Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, to first-year offensive coordinator Dave Clawson, to Crompton's teammates, were all in agreement when they exited Neyland Stadium on Saturday, Crompton was ready.") Plus he puts that tuck-and-run dimension in our offense that we haven't seen since Brent Schaeffer. He won't be confused for Tim Tebow, and we haven't seen the finished product...but I feel good about Crompton. And the percentage of Tennessee idiot fans who were generally unhappy with Casey Clausen and Erik Ainge, and retrospectively dog Tee Martin...hey, can't get any worse for you guys right?

You like the backfield. Arian Foster needs only 684 yards to become Tennessee's all-time leading rusher, the beneficiary of being the #1 option for roughly three and a half years. And has been the case throughout his career, he won't be the only option - Montario Hardesty and Lennon Creer remain more than capable. You like this a lot, and I'm sure Dave Clawson does too.

And unlike last year at this time, you like the wide receivers. Not only for what you know about already - that Lucas Taylor, Austin Rogers and Josh Briscoe are capable - but for what else we might learn about Gerald Jones. That for guys like Quintin Hancock and Denarius Moore, the best might still be in front of them. That Ahmad Paige was the most improved player this spring, and that Kenny O'Neal is still out there. This time around, there's proof to go with potential. How much - and the impact of Clawson and Latrell Scott vs. Cutcliffe and Trooper Taylor - remains to be seen, but it's a positive at this point. Even at tight end, where Luke Stocker stepped up big this spring and Jeff Cottam should be back by fall.

And despite all this, it was the offensive line who made the cover of the spring prospectus as the most balleyhooed (I'll use that word any chance I get) unit for the Vols this season. Josh McNeil, Anthony Parker, Jacques McClendon, Ramon Foster and Chris Scott have less name recognition than some of the great Vol lines of the past, but they carry a world of experience and four sacks allowed from 2007, best in college football. Again, maybe some of that was Cutcliffe, and he deserves credit - but these guys know what they're doing, and it should work well under Clawson too. No superstar pieces, but along the line you have to like everything you see.

There are more questions on defense, sure. Demonte Bolden and Dan Williams return to anchor the middle and could improve, while Antonio Reynolds and Xavier Mitchell are gone and leave two holes. While their experience and occasional playmaking will be missed, what everyone is talking about is a return to the good ol' days coming off the end: speed. And lots of it. Robert Ayers and Ben Martin give the Vols more speed off the rush end than they've had in recent memory, and Wes Brown is experienced too. This line may not be dominant, but the ability to get to the quarterback - which hurt the Vols more than anything else in their three regular season losses - should increase in 2008.

Linebacker is the biggest hole, but there's still one proven commodity in Rico McCoy, game experience in Ellix Wilson, and a winner to be named later between Adam Myers-White and Nevin McKenzie. And yeah, you can tell the college football magic is working on me already as I'm turning gaping holes into small molehills. I'm not saying we're the most talented team in the country. I'm just saying I like what I see right now more than I've liked it at any point in the last few years. It doesn't mean much - I liked it in 2005, and we all know how that turned out. But still...

And the secondary, of course, is the bread and butter defensively. Demetrice Morley, "Eric Berry son!", and whoever the best two at corner are among Vinson, Willingham, Gaines, Rogan and Johnson - you like this too. The Vols should do some atoning for the sins of the '07 defense this season.

Daniel Lincoln is back. Britton Colquitt will be in October. Dennis Rogan returning kicks.

You can't win championships in April. And the task now goes to offseason programs and more growth. But right now, even drinking the orange kool-aid of college football like I do...right now I like this. And we'll see where it goes from here.


Is Tyler Smith the difference between rebuilding and reloading?
Bruce Pearl calls him his most important recruit - an impressive distinction given that the Vols are picking up Scotty Hopson (#2 SG) , Renaldo Woolridge (#10 SF), and Philip Jurick (#13 C) among the Top 65 players according to Rivals.com, plus PG Daniel West - but the general consensus right now appears to be that if Tyler Smith returns, the Vols are a Top 10 team, and if he goes pro, the Vols fall back into that messy SEC top-tier picture instead of standing above it. And next year, when we don't talk about how unusual it is to be talking about basketball almost a month after the season ended, you'll know we've really arrived.

ESPN.com has Tyler Smith rated as the #39 overall prospect should he enter the NBA Draft, which would be early second round if form held. I think the potential for Smith is much higher if he stays, as he'll get more touches and more opportunities to fill up the stat sheet in the absence of Lofton and JaJuan (man, it'll be weird to not type those names next year).

We're still waiting on his decision, but the point to make here is that even if he goes pro, thanks to Pearl's deft recruiting touch and picking up Hopson at the buzzer, the Vols shouldn't fall too far from the top. And they'll at least be in the relevant conversation. Which is further proof that this isn't a Jerry Green (or others in the SEC in the last ten years that aren't Kentucky/Florida) scenario where the Vols ride one recruiting class to glory, and when they leave the program takes a step back for several years to rebuild. The Vols have ascended - even though we're not one of those six star programs yet and we still haven't solved the Sweet 16, you have every reason to believe that the Vols will have more chances to break the wall down next year and in the foreseeable years to come. This too, I like.


Titans/NFL Draft: Can we get some help?
More than half of the mock drafts you'll find on the internet have the Titans taking a wide receiver at pick #24, a shade lower than what we've seen over the past few years and the bittersweet portion of making the playoffs. And while no one can seem to reach a consensus on which receiver it could be - Malcolm Kelly, Limas Sweed, DeSean Jackson - WR seems to be the general idea.

It troubles me, then, when I hear some other experts talking running back. And others still promoting defensive line. Look, I'm all for the Titans drafting Jerod Mayo (if he's still around) at 24 for selfish reasons. Beyond that, if they don't go wide receiver, I might physically harm myself.

Last year, when everyone screamed for weapons for VY and after the Titans hadn't addressed those needs via free agency, the Titans went defensive in the draft again, taking Michael Griffin in the first round. So after another year where I feel like the Titans got the most they were going to get out of this lineup (and subsequently sent Norm Chow packing)...once again we have a pretty sizeable void in the free agency world, unless you count Alge Crumpler as a wide receiver, and yet again we come to draft day, and whereas I used to put all my faith in Jeff Fisher and the front office on draft day...now I'm a little shaky.

From 1998-2000, the Titans straight murdered the draft, especially the early rounds. Killed it. Got Samari Rolle in the second round and Benji Olson in the fifth in 98, nailed Jevon Kearse at pick #16 in 99, then got Keith Bulluck at #30 the following year. And there have been other jewels - Al Haynesworth at 15 in 2002, and the jury's still relatively out on VY and LenDale White from 2006.

But for a franchise that's celebrating 10 years as the Titans, the presence of a quality wide receiver in that decade just isn't there. You could make a small argument for Derrick Mason, but I don't buy it and give lots of that credit to Steve McNair (who gets a big tip of the cap upon his retirement and a thank you from Titans faithful for transcending the franchise, being its face upon arrival, and taking us to the doorstep of the title).

Instead, the Titans have shown a great deal of interest in signing veterans who are, shall we say, past their prime. Carl Pickens and Yancey Thigpen. Eric Moulds and David Givens. And I think we can all see me writing "Alge Crumpler" in this space next season if things don't go well. Steve McNair had Eddie George and the same hardnosed defense, and VY is a long way from Steve McNair right now. We need weapons.

The answer may not be Kelly, Jackson or Sweed. But I do share Haynesworth's frustration about the addition and subtraction with this team, and it is with fear and trembling that we go into next weekend and the draft. The Titans have to get better to stay competitive for championships. I still trust Fisher and the guys to make the best decisions for the team...I'd just, you know, like them to agree with me a little more often.


NBA Playoffs Opening Round - Game 1's
I can't tell you how great it is to be sitting here and watching the Celtics in the playoffs for the first time in three years. The Playoffs are the only thing that competes with football in terms of the number of opportunities - you need 16 wins to get the job done, just 16. So much pain and joy rides on every opportunity.

With the Celtics up 14 near the end of the third quarter and me becoming more and more okay with cheering for Rajon Rondo on a regular basis, here's what we've learned in 48 hours:

- This is still a league run by superstars...which is good, because the stars have been out to play thus far. LeBron put in 32, a momentum-changing alley-oop early, and two key buckets late to put away the Wizards in Game 1. All that talk from Gilbert Arenas about being the best end of game player in the league was all for naught in the last five minutes on Saturday.

- Tim Duncan scored 40 points in 51 minutes, hit his first three in two years to send the game to double overtime, and helped the Spurs win one of the most exciting opening round playoff games in NBA history over the Suns. This game and this series has an NBA Finals intensity, and boy did it show yesterday. In case you missed it, here's the end of the 4th quarter and highlights from both overtimes condensed into 9 minutes:




- Chris Paul said and proved that Jason Kidd couldn't guard him, going a sick 15 of 23 for 35 points and 10 assists in New Orleans' Game 1 win over Dallas. And much like much of the world is just finding out about Paul, the same for Dwight Howard with his 25 points and 22 rebounds in Orlando's opening win.

- Same story but an unexpected actor in LA, where Pau Gasol atoned for all those Memphis Grizzlies Playoff sins with 36 points and 16 rebounds, as Denver had zero answer for him. I'm now convinced that this is the easiest series to see a sweep in.

- And just for good measure, now we've got the wrench in the equation, as the Sixers went into Detroit and came out with home court advantage, coming back and then holding on for a 90-86 win over the Pistons.

So far, the NBA couldn't have asked for more, and we're only two nights in. The fun continues this week, as we'll go Cavs/Wizards and Rockets/Jazz tomorrow night before filling out the rest of the week with tripleheaders. It's a good time to be a basketball fan.


We haven't even talked about the Braves yet...
...and what I've been meaning to say for several days is now much easier that the Braves have won four straight, swept the Dodgers and are now back to .500 at 9-9. You don't expect a .500 team 18 games into the season to have these numbers, but the Braves are actually +31 in runs scored, 96-65. Fun stat: 7 of the Braves' 9 losses this season have been in one run games.

So yeah, we could've won more. But when you consider that in 18 games, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Mike Hampton have all already missed at least one start, plus bullpen injuries, and the Braves are still 9-9 and +31 in runs...I like this. Combine that with the fact that Chipper Jones is .458 with 6 homers, and John Smoltz is 3-0 with a 0.56 ERA...getting healthy and staying healthy will have something to do with it, but the Braves look the part of the contender they should be.

WWE: King of the Ring returns on RAW

Tomorrow night on a special three hour RAW, the King of the Ring Tournament returns after a two year absence (and away from its usual June PPV spot). It's unknown which eight men will comprise the field, or what the stipulation for the winner will be, but the entire tournament will take place tomorrow night. And while the main event for Backlash next week is just a WrestleMania rehash (plus JBL), the Shawn Michaels vs. Batista feud could have some legs...though they may have jumped the gun on it by inserting Chris Jericho as the special guest referee. But at least he appears to be headed back towards the heel turn.

Hey, remember when you cared about the NHL Playoffs?

Yeah, me too. I can tell you more about the guys on NHL '94 for the Genesis right now than I can any of these players today. The Predators went home again in the first round today, and we shed a silent tear. Maybe next year, Nashville.

2008 ESPN Thursday Night College Football Schedule

We'll get around to some Orange & White thoughts soon, but thought I'd throw this up here while it was in front of me:

2008 ESPN Thursday Night College Football Schedule
August 28 - NC State at South Carolina
September 4 - South Carolina at Vanderbilt
September 11 - North Carolina at Rutgers
September 18 - West Virginia at Colorado
September 25 - USC at Oregon State
October 2 - Pittsburgh at South Florida
October 9 - Clemson at Wake Forest
October 16 - Florida State at NC State
October 23 - Auburn at West Virginia
October 30 - South Florida at Cincinnati
November 6 - Maryland at Virginia Tech
November 13 - Virginia Tech at Miami
November 20 - Miami at Georgia Tech
November 27 - Texas A&M at Texas
December 4 - Louisville at Rutgers

2008 NBA Playoffs Preview

Buckle up.


The NBA Playoffs represent the longest postseason in any sport, running this season from April 19 to mid-to-late June, depending on the length of the series in the earlier rounds. The playoffs are annually compelling whether or not your team is in it, although for me this is a childhood flashback and the first real time I've seen my Celtics walk into the playoffs with a realistic shot of winning it all. My grandparents raised me on the C's, but I was too young to appreciate Boston's three championships in the 80s; my first real memories as far as what I saw when it happened revolve around Magic hitting a sky hook and breaking Boston hearts when I was 6. I missed the prime of Larry Legend's career and all the titles therein. But now, Boston is more than just relevant, and won't be surprising anyone if they advance they way they did back in 2002. This is the most excited I've ever been about the playoffs; it's the thing that's carrying me between the Sweet 16 and UCLA, and I hope to be invested in that for another two months.


But even if you're not a Celtics fan, there's more to get excited about with these playoffs than any other that I can remember. Even when the league drew its highest ratings with the Jordan Bulls, was the outcome ever really in doubt in those playoffs? This season, no matter how good Boston has been, they're not the overwhelming favorites. And thanks to the insanity that lives out west, no one is. I would argue that half of the teams in this thing walk into it feeling like they've got a legitimate chance to win it all. Seeding is worthless out west (the 2008 NBA Western Conference is the most competitive conference from seeds 1-8 in the history of professional sports). And even among teams that don't feel like major contenders, you've still got LeBron, you've still got Arenas, you've still got Dwight Howard...this is basketball at its very best.

(By the way, ESPN, is it really breaking news when Isaiah Thomas is not retained as head coach by the Knicks?)


A preview of the opening round series:


EASTERN CONFERENCE
#1 Boston vs. #8 Atlanta

CELTICS - Starters
G Rajon Rondo
G Ray Allen
F Paul Pierce
F Kevin Garnett
C Kendrick Perkins


CELTICS - Bench
G Sam Cassell
G Eddie House
F James Posey
F Leon Powe
C Glen Davis


HAWKS - Starters
G Mike Bibby
G Joe Johnson
F Josh Smith
F Marvin Williams
C Al Horford


HAWKS - Bench
G Acie Law
G Mario West
F Josh Childress
F Solomon Jones
C Zaza Pachulia

Let's start with this: if the Hawks win, it would be the biggest postseason upset in the history of professional sports. These aren't the '07 Warriors, who were 42-40. The Hawks backdoored their way into the playoffs (Philadelphia and Atlanta, the 7 and 8 seeds in the East, are on a combined seven game losing streak) and are brutally young. Still, I'm glad they're in and the city (hopefully) will support them - they made the moves like a contender, trading for Mike Bibby, they've got at least one proven playoff threat in (ex-Celtic) Joe Johnson, and they're loaded with raw youth and lots of upside for the future.

That future probably isn't now, though. The Celtics sport the best record in the NBA (66-16) and beat the Hawks by double digits in all three meetings this season. The Playoffs are the reset button for all 16 teams who get in (especially out West), so Boston must refocus now and reassert its dominance. This part shouldn't be hard - Pierce, Garnett and Allen have all played in the conference finals before and know what it's like to get through the first round. But before we start talking about 16 wins for Banner 17, let's remember to take them one at a time, and let's also know that any dreams of Boston dominating the field, I feel, are unrealistic - I think this is the only round where you'll be able to use that word. Detroit looms in the conference finals, and either matchup in the second round draws game conflict - you've either got to stop LeBron, who we'll see attempt to take it to another level in the playoffs again this year, or you get the Wizards, back at full strength playing together, and a team that went 3-1 against the Celtics this season, at stat you'll start hearing a ton of as soon as the Wizards get a one game lead on the Cavs in that series.

For now, Boston just needs to restart the engines and go. We'll give the Hawks one game for their youth and upside potential, and for the simple fact that we've never seen this Boston team in the playoffs, so there's nothing tangible to stand on. Yet.

SESB Pick: CELTICS in 5


#4 Cleveland vs. #5 Washington

CAVS - Starters
G Delonte West
G Devin Brown
F LeBron James
F Ben Wallace
C Zydrunas Ilgauskas


CAVS - Bench
G Damon Jones
G Daniel Gibson
F Wally Szczerbiak
F Joe Smith
C Anderson Varejao
(injured - Sasha Pavlovic, ankle, 2-3 weeks)


WIZARDS - Starters
G Gilbert Arenas
G DeShawn Stevenson
F Caron Butler
F Antawn Jamison
C Brendan Haywood


WIZARDS - Bench
G Antonio Daniels
G Nick Young
F Dominic McGuire
F Darius Songalia
C Andray Blatche

For the third straight year, the Cavs and the Wiz get matched up in the opening round of the playoffs. Two season ago, everybody learned who Gilbert Arenas was when he went toe to toe with LeBron and almost pulled it off. Last year Arenas was hurt, and that favorable matchup helped propel the Cavs towards the NBA Finals.

This time around, it's the Cavs who are hurting - both literally with Pavlovic, who won't play in this series at all, and figuratively - since essentially blowing up the pieces surrounding LeBron and trying again in the great trade deadline of 2008, the Cavs have been hovering around .500. There's potential there, sure, with Ben Wallace and some pieces coming off the bench, but we haven't seen it yet. We know that LeBron can transcend in these moments, especially against weaker competition...but then again, this is easily the most competitive on-paper matchup in the Eastern Conference, and potentially in the entire first round.

If LeBron is of the Jordan mold, the Cavs win this series. Despite Washington's relative health and fun-to-watch quotient, they're not so good that LeBron and these pieces shouldn't get the job done. However, that remains to be seen. These two teams are talking already - and for DeShawn Stevenson, no one even knew who he was two weeks ago until he started calling LBJ things like "overrated" and then told Charles Barkley to "chill" after Barkley called Washington "the dumbest team in the history of civilization" for those comments.

When your team is a contender, all the other playoff series instantly become more fun to watch as well, especially the one that determines your next opponent. With or without that, I think this one is highly entertaining, and has experts divided. But if we get down to Game 6 or Game 7, it's much easier for me to envision the Cavs blowing up than the Wizards, who I think will play looser and ultimately better down the stretch. I believe that there's still only so much LeBron can do, and if the Cavs can't stop Washington, it won't matter how many points he scores. Mild, mild upset, but one Celtics fans and the NBA league office would probably rather not see, as Bron Bron goes home in the first round.

SESB Pick: WIZARDS in 7


#3 Orlando vs. #6 Toronto


MAGIC - Starters
G Jameer Nelson
G Maurice Evans
F Hedo Turkoglu
F Rashard Lewis
C Dwight Howard


MAGIC - Bench
G Carlos Arroyo
G Keyon Dooling
F Keith Bogans
F Brian Cook
C Adonal Foyle
(injured - Tony Battie, shoulder, out for season)


RAPTORS - Starters
G TJ Ford
G Anthony Parker
F Jamario Moon
F Chris Bosh
C Rasho Nesterovic


RAPTORS - Bench
G Jose Calderon
G Carlos Delfino
F Jason Kapono
F Kris Humphries
C Andrea Bargnani

Here's your chance to learn that Dwight Howard is much more than that slam dunk guy, and that Toronto's not half bad either. Howard should be on the plus side of the matchup with Chris Bosh, but I think it'll be the supporting casts for both teams that help decide this one.

Orlando was swept out of the playoffs last year as the eight seed, but don't be fooled - you don't hear a lot about the Magic, but they're not just one of these East also-rans. Boston and Detroit have the two best records in basketball, so to be third in the East is no crime. And make no mistake - this is the best Orlando team in the post-Shaq era, both statistically (52-30) and on the floor.

The Raptors aren't used to postseason success either, and this is the league's biggest "who?" roster - plenty of people still don't know Bosh, and the second most identifiable player might be Bargnani, who's inconsistent at best. What you will have here are two good teams with two solid home court advantages - I think winning on the road will be difficult for either squad given their playoff inexperience.

Orlando is simply the better team, so we're going with them - I wouldn't be surprised to see them pushed here, but I'm really interested to see exactly how good they can be. If this series doesn't push them, the next one certainly will.

SESB Pick: MAGIC in 6


#2 Detroit vs. #7 Philadelphia


PISTONS - Starters
G Chauncey Billups
G Richard Hamilton
F Tayshaun Prince
F Rasheed Wallace
C Antonio McDyess


PISTONS - Bench
G Rodney Stuckey
G Arron Afflalo
F Jarvis Hayes
F Jason Maxiell
C Theo Ratliff


SIXERS - Starters
G Andre Miller
G Willie Green
F Andre Iguodala
F Reggie Evans
C Samuel Dalembert


SIXERS - Bench
G Louis Williams
G Kevin Ollie
F Rodney Carney
F Thaddeus Young
C Calvin Booth

The Detroit Pistons, the forgotten sons of the NBA, have made the Eastern Conference Finals five consecutive seasons, a remarkable feat. And it's mostly the same cast, which makes me not understand how people sound so surprised when they do well. Outside of San Antonio, you won't find a more battle-tested unit than Billups, Rip, Tayshaun, Sheed and McDyess. The bench has gotten younger and thinner, but this is without a doubt the best starting five in the NBA.

So, can we pencil them into at least the second round? Philly is an interesting story, starting the season 16-28 and then going on a 24-10 tear to make the playoffs and threaten for the five seed, before losing four straight games to close the regular season. They may not have Iverson anymore, but they can run with Miller and Iguodala.

The Pistons have been here so many times, I always expect them to come out a little sleepy. I don't think Philly is good enough to win this series on any level, but I do think they'll steal a game or two along the way before the Pistons fully wake up, just in time to advance to heavier competition.

SESB Pick: PISTONS in 6

WESTERN CONFERENCE
#1 LA Lakers vs. #8 Denver

LAKERS - Starters
G Derek Fisher
G Kobe Bryant
F Lamar Odom
F Vladimir Radmanovic
C Pau Gasol

LAKERS - Bench
G Jordan Farmar
G Sasha Vujacic
F Luke Walton
F Ronny Turiaf
C DJ Mbenga
(injured - Andrew Bynum, knee, questionable)

NUGGETS - Starters
G Anthony Carter
G Allen Iverson
F Carmelo Anthony
F Kenyon Martin
C Marcus Camby

NUGGETS - Bench
G Taurean Green
G JR Smith
F Eduardo Najera
F Linas Kleiza
C Steven Hunter
(injured - Nene, groin, questionable)

If you like points, welcome. If you like superstars, welcome. And you see 1 vs. 8 and you think it won't be competitive, but this is the Western Conference, and you throw seeding out the window in every series. This one should be highly entertaining.

The Lakers average 109 points per game and are led by Kobe Bryant, and whether or not he wins the MVP, his fingerprint on this season will be left starting now, in the playoffs. Even surrounded by Gasol and Odom and their nightly double-doubles, and whether or not Bynum gets back, this is Kobe's team, and his first real solo team with a chance to go the distance. It rises and falls on his shoulders.

Meanwhile, Denver brings two 25+ point scorers to the table in Iverson and 'Melo, and George Karl said in Sports Illustrated a few weeks ago that when this team is hot, no one in the NBA can beat them. And he might be right. Denver averages 111 per game, the highest scoring playoff offense (the Lakers are third).

The differnce here is defense - the Lakers play some, the Nuggets don't play any. And that's an understatement. I'm interested to see if the Lakers and especially Kobe play with some undue #1 seed burden, especially if Denver wins one of the first two games. The Nuggets should play fast and loose but don't always play together at crunch time, but they can really use that to their advantage if they get one early. However, Kobe has shown all signs that he's matured, and if that's the case, the Lakers should be fine. And yeah, you're right, I do want to see them in the Finals.

SESB Pick: LAKERS in 6

#4 Utah vs. #5 Houston
(Rockets have home court advantage)

JAZZ - Starters
G Deron Williams
G Ronnie Brewer
F Andrei Kirilenko
F Carlos Boozer
C Mehmet Okur

JAZZ - Bench
G Jason Hart
G CJ Miles
F Matt Harpring
F Paul Millsap
C Jarron Collins

ROCKETS - Starters
G Bobby Jackson
G Tracy McGrady
F Shane Battier
F Luis Scola
C Dikembe Mutombo

ROCKETS - Bench
G Luther Head
G Aaron Brooks
F Steve Novak
F Carl Landry
C Chuck Hayes
(injured - Yao Ming, shin, out for season)
(injured - Rafer Alston, hamstring, day to day)

Here we go again. These two teams danced this dance last year, and once again Tracy McGrady failed to get out of the first round. It's not all on him, but I'm not sure he knows that (he said as much last year). This will be T-Mac's seventh trip to the postseason, and he's never been out of the first round. Two of the last three years he's made it to game seven. Last year was really the first time you looked at the matchup and thought Houston had the better of it, and they've got homecourt in the same matchup again this year...

...but it isn't the same matchup. I know they won 22 games in a row and most of them without him, but the absence of Yao Ming isn't to be taken lightly. I know Mutombo has plenty of playoff experience, but is that who you want against Boozer and Okur? Utah is the best team that no one's heard of - the casual NBA fan still doesn't know Deron Williams and still thinks Boozer is "that guy from Duke" - and you think about Utah and how un-sexy they are and what not, and you miss that this is an excellent offensive and well coached team. Utah is arguably the best NBA franchise to never win a championship, and in this conference in this season, don't think that they're not good enough to do it now. Don't think the league office isn't sweating a Detroit-Utah NBA Finals.

Still, it comes down to this, as it probably too often does for me in sports: I'll believe it when I see it. For Houston and T-Mac, I'll believe it when I see it. I think Utah is a real threat. I think Houston could be. But given the choice between the two, what we saw last year, and history, it's an easy pick for me.

SESB Pick: JAZZ in 6

#3 San Antonio vs. #6 Phoenix

SPURS - Starters
G Tony Parker
G Manu Ginobili
F Bruce Bowen
F Tim Duncan
C Fabricio Oberto

SPURS - Bench
G Jacque Vaughn
G Michael Finley
F Ime Udoka
F Matt Bonner
C Kurt Thomas

SUNS - Starters
G Steve Nash
G Raja Bell
F Grant Hill
F Amare Stoudemire
C Shaquille O'Neal

SUNS - Bench
G Leandro Barbosa
G DJ Strawberry
F Boris Diaw
F Sean Marks
C Brian Skinner

Another rivalry in progress, and just the same that the league and ABC want T-Mac to prevail, despite the Spurs dynasty in progress, the Suns are the second best option from the West if you can't have the Lakers in the Finals as far as television ratings go, especially if they have Shaq - a Lakers-Suns Western Conference final would be ideal. And it's not out of the question.

But again - what's the evidence that you pick against the Spurs in the postseason? And what's the evidence that Phoenix - with or without Shaq - is championship worthy? They've been an outstanding regular season team for the last three years, and yeah, maybe they got the short end from the referees in this matchup last season. But it's a stretch to make me go against the Spurs, again, in this series. Like all the Western Conference matchups, it should be highly competitive and entertaining...but in the end, the Spurs should really be everyone's pick until proven otherwise; they've earned that right. But oh yeah, we're going seven.

SESB Pick: SPURS in 7

#2 New Orleans vs. #7 Dallas

HORNETS - Starters
G Chris Paul
G Morris Peterson
F Peja Stojakovic
F David West
C Tyson Chandler

HORNETS - Bench
G Mike James
G Jannero Pargo
F Bonzi Wells
F Julian Wright
C Melvin Ely

MAVS - Starters
G Jason Kidd
G Jason Terry
F Josh Howard
F Dirk Nowitzki
C Erick Dampier

MAVS - Bench
G Jose Juan Barea
G Eddie Jones
F Jerry Stackhouse
F Brandon Bass
C Juwan Howard

You look at these lineups and if you haven't watched the NBA this season, you think the Hornets have no chance. And maybe the Mavericks are still coming together with their best basketball in front of them in the Jason Kidd era redux. But the Hornets are up there with the Wizards and the Jazz as a team that's incredibly fun to watch that no one's seen. If I had an MVP vote, I'd give it to Chris Paul. And the rest of them ain't bad either - David West, Peja, Chandler. This team is every bit as good as their record and their seeding...

As for Dallas, how will they respond in the playoffs this time around? Even as a seven seed, they'll still be carrying the burden of both last year and this year's expectations, especially after trading for Kidd. If Dallas gets out of round one, I think they become very dangerous.

...but I don't think they get out of round one. New Orleans has no playoff experience while many of the Mavs have been to the Finals, but still, I think the Hornets are the real deal, and are the type of team that can ascend to another level and gain national attention in the playoffs. They may not go all the way, but I think they'll get past round one and the Mavs, again, in seven.

SESB Pick: HORNETS in 7

2008 Titans Schedule

(Complete schedules for all NFL teams at nfl.com)

Tennessee Titans 2008 Schedule
Week 01 - vs Jacksonville (1:00 PM)
Week 02 - at Cincinnati (1:00 PM)
Week 03 - vs Houston (1:00 PM)
Week 04 - vs Minnesota (1:00 PM)
Week 05 - at Baltimore (1:00 PM)
Week 06 - bye
Week 07 - at Kansas City (1:00 PM)
Week 08 - vs Indianapolis (Monday Night Football - 8:30 PM)
Week 09 - vs Green Bay (1:00 PM)
Week 10 - at Chicago (1:00 PM)
Week 11 - at Jacksonville (1:00 PM)
Week 12 - vs NY Jets (1:00 PM)
Week 13 - at Detroit (Thanksgiving Day - 12:30 PM)
Week 14 - vs Cleveland (1:00 PM)
Week 15 - at Houston (1:00 PM)
Week 16 - vs Pittsburgh (1:00 PM)
Week 17 - at Indianapolis (1:00 PM)

Some thoughts off the cuff...the Titans get a huge break because even though they were a playoff team last year, they finished third in their division, which means while Indianapolis draws New England and San Diego under the NFL's format where you play two other in-conference teams who finished in the same place you did in their divisions, the Titans get Kansas City and the Jets. The rotating portion of the schedule brings the AFC North and the NFC North against the AFC South this season, which again, could be worse. There's also just not a particularly brutal stretch on the grid this season, which hasn't been the case in the last two seasons, until you get to the very end. If the AFC is as competitive as it was last year, you don't want to see vs Pittsburgh/at Indy to close the season. But all in all, I like the way this looks.

Update: EA Sports NCAA Football 09

EA Sports is now updating their website at ncaafootball09.com every week with new information about the game, something that's becoming more common in the industry and thankfully so - Nintendo recently used a year long build up to Super Smash Bros. Brawl with great success. Among the updates this far, which you can find in the news section here and where all future updates should be:

- Images of new player models
- Images and comparisons with turf and stadiums for this year (including a very cool shot of Neyland Stadium)
- The official word on new features direct from the website:

Here's a taste of what you can expect to see in NCAA Football 09.

In the coming weeks we'll take a deeper dive into each of the features below, so check back for more detailed information.

It's Wide Open
- Bigger holes, cutback lanes, and open receivers, making the game feel more wide open than ever before

- Directional pump fake on the R stick

- New college specific tackling engine

Home Field Advantage with new mini-game components
- Pre-play confusion and difficulty making adjustments when on the road against tough teams

- All new toughest places to play with dynamic rankings

All-new Mascot Mode with User Controlled Celebrations
- Mascot Games

- Interactive TD celebrations

College Atmosphere & Pageantry
- All-new Dynamic Crowd System

- College sidelines are packed with additional players, mascots, cheerleaders, and more

- All-new authentic fields with new textures, lighting, and field degradation

- New college player models, including more than 50 alternate uniforms

- User Customizable Stadium Sounds & Music

- Breakaway crowd reactions

Depth & Innovation
- Online Dynasty is here!!!

- Roster file sharing online

- Improved recruiting system in Dynasty mode highlighting ease and accessibility

- New post game presentation and play by play commentary

- 1-4 player offline co-op

- Return missed field goals

- Bluff your play art to confuse opponents

- Formation audibles

- Smart routes

- Bobble catches

- Better passing control

- Post play continuation

- All-New Mini Games

- Random play selection in practice mode

- Quick replay

- CPU vs. CPU (watch mode)

- Smooth 60 FPS on PS3

- Even teams option in play now

The new features are always just a bonus, as I've said before, because the majority of people who play this game would take the version from last year with new rosters and gleefully play away. This game is a win going in every single year.

That said, the stadium lighting stuff actually looks a lot cooler than it sounds when you see the images. Stuff like dynamic crowd systems will need to be seen to be believed, but it will be nice to have alternate uniforms out of the box instead of waiting all freaking year for EA to release them around December for an extra fee as downloadable content, when you're almost done playing the game.

Online dynasty might be what I'm most excited about, and is one of those obvious options that's been out there for years and now seems like it'll finally be put to good use. That and EA's "at last" consent to use roster file sharing - meaning someone else can put all those names in and we can all reap the benefit without having to circumvent the system. All in all, anytime EA makes the annual gameplay tinkering improvements while adding to the atmosphere with the crowds, and making the changes that fans have been calling for all along...at this point, this is all very, very promising.

It's in the game July 15.

College Football in April

I love watching The Masters every year, though this year my Sunday ritual of coming in from church with some KFC or a pizza and fully appreciating CBS's limited commercial interruption for about six solid hours will be taken away from me, thanks to a meeting 90 minutes from my house. However, now I've found something else to do on Saturday.


Just as soon as we got March Madness out of our systems, here comes college football. And while the Vols will be scrimmaging tomorrow before playing the (Dish Network) Orange & White Game next Saturday - further proof that Mike Hamilton will earn, son, including charging UT students for football tickets (which made me furious until I learned that the only SEC schools who still give free home game tickets to students are Vanderbilt and South Carolina) - ESPN is pulling out all the stops in about twelve hours.

GameDay - and not the B team, the real deal with Chris, Lee and Kirk - will be live on location in Gainesville tomorrow, starting at 11:00 AM on ESPN2 and then picking up on ESPN at noon, before televising the Gators' spring game live at 1:00. And yeah, maybe you're pissed because it's the Gators...but you'll watch, won't you? I'll TiVo it gleefully, because now that the Final Four is done and with another unbearable week between now and the start of the NBA Playoffs, and especially now that they've taken my Sunday at The Masters away from me...I need to see the helmets and pads popping, even if it's the Gators. We'll scout 'em.

141 days...and only seven until the Orange & White.

SESB 25 Favorite Sports Movies: Top 5

5. Rounders (1998)
The best sports movie (thus far) of our generation, and no, it doesn't matter that it's about cards. While everything you're getting ready to see after this I was too young to fully appreciate at its release and feels like an 80s movie even though one of them isn't, Rounders feels like it belongs to my generation, because it does.

First of all, you have to remember that when this movie came out, No Limit Texas Hold 'Em was a virtual unknown to the casual card player or those who'd never stepped foot into a casino. This is well before the World Series of Poker became an ESPN staple crop, or you saw a ton of celebrities playing it, or I could turn on my XBOX 360 and play with people all over the world in about 30 seconds. All of the excitement that the game generates is replicated in this movie, except for many of us, we'd never seen it before. So from the opening scene where Mike McD gets busted out, to the dramatic final showdown, the card playing in this movie was equal parts new, exciting, and realistic - the winning hand at the end of the movie isn't four aces, for example.

The actors in this movie are much bigger stars now than they were then - Matt Damon had been Will Hunting, but that was really it and he wasn't the megastar he is today. And Fight Club didn't come out until the next year, so it wasn't cool to think Ed Norton was awesome just yet. Famke Janssen hadn't been Jean Grey, we only knew John Malkovich as Cyrus the Virus (which actually makes his brief but important role as Teddy KGB - which is what I'd name my kid if I were Russian - even more intimidating), and John Turturro was playing a much different role than The Jesus two years before he was Pete in O Brother Where Art Thou? Throw in Martin Landau and Gretchen Mol, who you hate in this movie in exactly the way you're supposed to, and you've got a ton of great actors before you know they're great. When you combine that with the story and the cards, you've got something special.

The first time I saw this, I wasn't expecting much other than the fun ride of a card movie, much the same way I went into 21 and got about exactly what I was looking for. Rounders, instead, hooks you from the beginning with Mike's big loss, and makes it where you can't wait for him to get back to the table by the time he does. Worm lives up to his name. And the way they win and then lose back the money they owe is classic, all building to the final showdown. The ending isn't perfect, which actually makes the movie better, but it's much much different than the Ron Shelton twists, and in this case incredibly rewarding, even though Mike ends up right back where he started. I feel like this movie is out there and a huge percentage of people who would love it don't even know about it. There's nothing wrong and everything right about it. And while it hasn't become transcendent into culture and my memories the way everything from here on out has, perhaps one day it will. And even if it doesn't, I'm still okay with it being the best sports movie of my generation.

Favorite Quote: While "In the poker game of life, women are the rake" is an absolute classic, the line early about "Listen, here's the thing: if you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker." sets the tone for the rest of the film.


4. Major League II (1994)
Comparing this movie to the original from 1989 is really apples to oranges based on one thing: Major League is rated R, Major League II is PG-13. And to me, the second movie actually benefits from that fact. The first one is a classic and would easily be on this list if we weren't doing the "one from each series" rule. And even though this is originally based on me being eight when the first one came out and thirteen for the second and probably not getting the majority of the R-rated humor, watching them both now at 26, I still prefer the second one.

It builds, of course, on the first one, and the main core - Wild Thing, Taylor & Dorn, Cerrano and Willie Mays Hayes, and Lou, with smaller roles from Rachel Phelps and one scene from Rene Russo, plus the complimentary parts from Harry Doyle and Randy Quaid as that guy in the stands - is all back. I don't care that Omar Epps is in this one instead of Wesley Snipes. What I do care about are the additions - most notably, Rube, who has some of the funniest stuff in the whole film, and Knoxville's finest, David Keith, as Jack Parkman. Also, Elsa from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is in this, which I'm pretty sure is the only other place I've ever seen her.

And lots of the points you can make about those guys are built on the first movie, but improved. Charlie Sheen is the master of movies like this; while we all enjoy his more serious stuff from the 80s, these movies and Hot Shots! allow him to pull off stuff with a straight face that's just incredibly funny - his deodorant commercial in this is almost as good as the preview for Willie's Black Hammer/White Lightning movie with Jesse Ventura ("Mine fell first." "Mine are the deadest!") And it doesn't get old that Pedro Ceranno grows up to be the President of the United States on 24.

The jokes in this thing are still good even if it's PG-13, it still draws an audible laugh from me every time I see it. And I don't know, it's just something about seeing this team back again, making another run at the title, that mirrors how you feel at the start of a new sports year. If you take away the pieces, it won't work (see Major League III) but with all of them together, it's even better the second time around.

Favorite Quote: The whole movie


3. Caddyshack (1980)
What can you say about this that hasn't been said already? This movie isn't my generation, but it's funny in all of them. Between Ty Webb's rapid-fire sarcasm (the line that made me fully appreciate this movie when I got older is "You're crazy!" "That's what they said about Son of Sam."), Carl Spackler's lunacy (the other day in Ceres I was talking about the Dalai Lama and immediately said "Big hitter, The Lama", which drew only the blank stares I'm used to), and Al Czervik's over the top nature combined with the way Judge Smails reacts (this is a family blog, which really limits what we can say here or about this whole movie, and I don't even like Rodney Dangerfield that much, but every single line he has in this movie is gold)...this might be the most consistently funny movie from start to finish in the history of film. Really. On this list, this movie should really be 2B, because if I'm in the mood for something funny, I go here, and if I'm in the mood for something more serious, I go to the next option with equal frequency. If you need me to explain further why this movie is great, you haven't seen it.

Favorite Quote: Again, the whole movie


2. Rocky IV (1985)
Alright, let's get this out of the way:

Why it's better than Rocky: Because he wins at the end.

Why it's better than Rocky II: Because honestly, everything before the fight in this movie is kinda slow

Why it's better than Rocky III: Because when Mick dies, there's no real way to get even, because you can't fight age and Clubber didn't kill him. When Apollo Creed dies, vengeance be thine.

Why it's better than Rocky V: Because the name of the movie isn't Rocky V

Why it's better than Rocky Balboa: Go back to the top of the list.

Remember, favorite not best. And I mean, while I realize these movies get more and more ludicrous as time goes on, if you're going to go, you go all out: fighting Ivan Drago in Moscow on Christmas for no money just about does it.

This movie isn't just about the USA and evoke patriotism - it's us against the Commies. And as anyone born before the fall of the Berlin Wall will tell you, the Russians are the bad guys. Anything's better when the Russians are the bad guys - that's how it's supposed to be. If you played war growing up before the Persian Gulf War, the Russians were the enemies, and our culture glorifies such a thing so that I played World War III as a kid with my GI Joes and thought about how awesome it would be to finally throw down with the Russians. Plus, you get to hear their national anthem, which as we learned from this and The Hunt for Red October, is pretty freaking sweet.

And this is as close as we get, really. But we'll take it. Because when Drago kills Apollo Creed - and let's all remember how shocking it was when that fight ended, and you're thinking he's hurt bad but ultimately he's fine (like Ray Jackson in Bloodsport), and then the camera cuts to a funeral - the guys making this movie knew exactly what they were doing. Let's put Rocky in Siberia and let him train. Let's put him in another situation he can't escape from and he can't win, against a genetically engineered superfighter about 15 years ahead of his time. Then, let's beat the crap out of him round after round after round, but he won't go down. There's really very little skill in Rocky by this point, no switching hands, no element of surprise, none of that. It's just taking a beating and staying up.

Now, if this movie has a flaw, it's this, as Bill Simmons and others have pointed out before - the most insane and ludicrous part of a movie that has equal shares of both is the Moscow crowd turning on Drago. If they ever showed this movie in Russia, there might be rioting. I want to see a director's cut where the crowd doesn't like Rocky until after the fight is over, and then he makes that speech. Not a moment before. I want to see a cut where Rocky puts Drago down and there's total silence. That's how it should've ended.

But that's the best I can do. If the last 30 minutes of this movie came on right now, I'd drop everything I was doing to watch it. This is the pinnacle of competition in sports movies.

Favorite Quote: "You got him hurt bad. Now he's worried. You cut him! You hurt him! You see! You see! He's not a machine, he's a man! Want it more than he does. No pain. No pain. No pain!"


1. Bull Durham (1988)
Not only is this my favorite sports movie ever made, but it's easily one of my ten favorite movies of any genre. Equal parts comedy and drama, and not just a favorite but one that belongs on any "best" list. I'm not sure this will ever be topped in my lifetime.

The Ron Shelton formula really works best in this movie, with an ending that's not exactly what you'd expect but ultimately satisfying for Crash, Annie and Nuke in their own ways. And while you can think what you like about Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins on the political front, in this movie they're both incredibly good. The three of them carry the film (a theme played out in the other Shelton movies, except Tin Cup where it's four of them).

This thing has no wasted time or scenes - it's tight at under two hours but it moves from point A to point B with no problems and lots of entertainment. The humor is both intellectual and slapstick. The story is appealing to men and women. Like Caddyshack - if you need it explained, you haven't seen it.

Favorite Quote: "Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic. " - Crash Davis

Lady Vols vs. Stanford - Women's National Championship Live Blog

10:40 PM - Lady Vols 64-48
2008 National Champions
"Anything less than a National Championship is a failure." - Candace Parker. Woe to the person who follows Pat Summitt, whether that's next year or in another decade. Or two.

But as we wind it down towards the inevitable, I'm also running out of ways to describe the greatness of the Lady Vols. Pat Summitt will get to 1000 wins next year, which has never been done. 8 National Championships in the last 21 years. ESPN is running down some of this stuff right now, and if anybody does it right, it's us - no rebuilding, only reloading. Five seniors leaving, no tears will be shed.

The press is still on up 14 with 2:00 to play, and you've gotta love it. More people hate UConn than the Lady Vols on a national level because I'm convinced they too are afraid of Pat Summitt, and Geno just has a certain worm-like quality about him.

Here comes Vicki Baugh out onto the bench with crutches, which is great to see and we hope her injury isn't too serious as she feels the love from the orange faithful.

Mike Patrick makes this point too - that the quality and depth of women's college basketball is so much greater than it was in the 90s, and even in the early part of this decade...and yet the Lady Vols still win back to back National Championships.

This doesn't get old.

10:29 PM - 58-44 Lady Vols
Vicki Baugh goes down and Nicky Anosike is crying, which isn't something you see everyday.

Candice Wiggins throws up her second airball of the night, and keeps looking at her hands when she does it like the wide receiver that dropped a wide open pass. They don't have the answers. 23 Stanford turnovers now, and even though the Lady Vols haven't fully pulled away, a lead hovering between 8-12 starts looking a lot better when you get under 6:00. Unless you're Memphis, zing! You get the feeling that one more bucket would put this thing away at 56-44 with 5:00 to play...but even clanging another one, the Lady Vols are there with another offensive rebound. We've leaned on Stanford all night long, and now either the Vols or the clock will push them over.

Looks like it's Candace Parker who'll do it with a free throw line j.

Stanford's getting no more rolls off the rim, the Lady Vols are taking their time, and the orange faithful are getting loud. Time to start making more room in the TBA rafters.

More Meat Loaf!

10:16 PM - 52-43 Lady Vols
I'm running out of ways to say it, and hopefully it won't come back and bite them (and I don't think it will), but the Lady Vols have had several opportunities to put this thing out of reach, and whether it's missed layups or turnovers they haven't been able to do it. This game is quickly moving from entertaining to sloppy. The theme of the second half is "clang".

"Pat Summitt was so mad..." - there's a Chuck Norris comparison in there somewhere. Holly Rowe says she's like a mom. I wasn't nearly as afraid of my mom as a child as I am of Pat Summitt right now.

I wonder if Stanford feels like I did watching the men play Louisville in the Sweet 16 - you're only down single digits, but it feels like a mountain in front of you because you're cold and the other team is making it tough. Copy and paste, we're in the same place.

10:05 PM - 50-40 Lady Vols
Calhoun's of Knoxville > Outback Steakhouse

Eh...Stanford misses free throws, Lady Vols turn it over. UConn is kicking themselves, and good for them. Here's another Stanford turnover (#18), but the Lady Vols can't convert. Stanford is actually out-shooting the Lady Vols at this point, 50% to 46%.

Lady Vols get the short end of the stick on a call, but The Masters soothing music makes everything better. But that's okay, my district decides to call a meeting on Sunday afternoon 90 minutes away from my house. You think pastors don't watch golf?

That might be the first three second call I've seen in basketball on any level this year.

Mike Patrick says that Stanford doesn't get many runs, and to my recollection they haven't had any - six points makes a run, much like three wins makes a streak (see Major League). And unless the Lady Vols decide to be extra good to them, there's been no evidence thus far that one is coming anytime soon. The Lady Vols were up five at the first break and eight at the second one, and thereabouts we remain.

9:56 PM - 46-35 Lady Vols
See...score, halftime, score, rebound, foul shots. Just like that, this thing goes from "Tennessee is killing them" to "we've got a ballgame!" in about thirty seconds. But Auguste puts in a big answer, and Shannon Bobbitt should've made it worse, but she was the classic "too open" and misses on the three. You still just feel like Tennessee is playing so much better than Stanford, but they just can't quite pull away.

I'll say this, and it's been true for years - nobody celebrates a drawn charge or a loose ball hustle play like the Lady Vols, floor to bench, who still huddle up with the best of them, and with their own score-steal-score, it's back to 10.

Then Candace Parker gets pissed after not getting a call, and goes right back at it for an and-one. I bet other teams hate to play us. Make up call on the other end...same story for 25 minutes, can the Lady Vols push this lead out towards 15+ and put Stanford away, or will the Cardinal keep hanging around?

9:30 PM - Halftime - 37-29 Lady Vols
To clarify, I meant jump shots for Anosike, who's clearly capable of getting points inside. The Lady Vols have held this 5-10 point lead throughout, which breeds false comfort. You'd love to see them pull further away, because Stanford remains a score-steal-score away from being right there.

But it's really defense that's making that even a possibility. Appel has been the best player on the floor for Stanford thus far, as they keep making just enough plays to stay close. But they're making Stanford pay for doubling down on Parker, mostly via Shannon Bobbitt. It's scary to think what the Lady Vols do if Parker's not wearing long sleeves.

During the break, I also read that Ben Hansbrough is transferring from Mississippi State. I tell you, it's getting to be like football round these parts as soon as the season ends with all these defections.

Tennessee is hitting plenty of free throws and, again, keeping this thing at a healthy distance. As I'm sure you've heard plenty of over the last month, the first five minutes of the second half will be crucial (though it was interesting over on the men's side the way, on Saturday, Kansas kept walloping on UNC thru the first five minutes of the second half, then Carolina made their comeback), but unless they come out of the locker room aflame, you've gotta like everything about this one so far. Except that Stanford shot at the buzzer.

Nicky Anosike is a triple major?! What are they, Mike? Don't leave me hanging!

Maybe Tara Vanderveer will punch Rebecca Lobo for me.

9:09 PM - 21-15 Lady Vols
I think it's a shame that less than 24 hours after Kansas wins its first National Championship in two decades, the lead story is about their coach wanting "security" from the program. Some would view that as a thinly veiled threat to the KU administration to pay up. And not that Bill Self hasn't earned it, clearly. But it's still unfortunate - their one shining moment is already over.

Looks like Summitt and Pearl have been working together on guarding that inbounds pass, down to putting a big on the inbounds (wo)man.

The Bottom Line tells me that Ronald Steele, Marreese Speights, and Anthony Randolph are all leaving the SEC for the NBA, which right away makes me think "Tyler Smith is better than all those guys". Only Randolph hired an agent, so who knows. The men were ranked #10 in Luke Winn's off the cuff Top 10 for 2009, assuming Tyler Smith returns, so even though we lose Lofton and JaJuan, there's plenty still left in the cupboard.

It's a shame that while fewer folks are tuning in for this tonight with UConn back home, you've got an entertaining ballgame thus far with plenty of points and few bad shots. Nicky Anosike reminds me of Torry Harris in Kevin O'Neill's offense. "Shoot under no circumstances."

8:58 PM - 17-9 Lady Vols
Meat Loaf in an AT&T commercial! His name was Robert Paulson, and he needs work.

Look at the size on the floor for Stanford...and a nice catch by ESPN on the shot clock accidentally being reset when a shot didn't hit the rim.

First horrendous call of the night - if that's a jump ball, my name is Robert Paulson. Neither team is taking full advantage of the other's mistakes, but you still have to like where the Lady Vols are right now. Great point about Stanford, down seven, facing their biggest hole of the tournament thus far. I always wonder in situations like this if a team gets down double digits early to the Lady Vols, if there's a part of them that panics even more because it's the Lady Vols.
Nice, nice up and under by Appel. Off a steal there were about three fouls on both sides that some officiating crews would've called, but I like that they're letting them play. I also like 5'2" Bobbitt going to the hole on 6'4" Appel.


8:48 PM - 12-7 Lady Vols
Stanford has a 6'4" presence to matchup well with Anosike. That'll be a huge matchup. Also huge was Hornbuckle hitting a shot early to avoid the doughnut until the final seconds again tonight. Stanford's controlling the pace early, and I wonder if Pat wanted them to run right with them or try and slow it down.

At 7-7, Parker takes a bad shot (which is actually noted, which almost never happens in the women's game), but right now the Lady Vols pretty well without her with two threes from Bobbitt...

...and then they get a steal and did a psuedo-alley-oop to her. The Lady Vols are on pace to score 100 points.

8:32 PM - Tip-Off
Speaking of uniforms, while I do think Stanford's black is solid, it goes against the point about knowing who you're watching when you turn it on. This is why if the Vols - ladies or men, basketball or football - ever go to something in black, it needs to be a "one night only" sort of deal. Because as cool as it would look - and it would, especially black pants with black helmets - there's nothing better than the orange. Four months later, I'm over it and I hope the football team breaks out the orange pants again soon. Because you can't get enough.

We'll have to see if Candace Parker has that Daniel-son thing going again tonight where when she gets hit, she's obviously in pain and you feel it with her.

I have no idea who Sarah Lenore is, but I bet the Stanford people are pissed because she's putting the country twang on the anthem. I especially liked the part about the land of the fray.

Alexis Hornbuckle is 5'11" and plays guard. So does Wiggins. I remember when a 5'11" girl played post, and I'm not that old.

And Holly Rowe isn't wearing her Janet Jackson hat, so I'm disappointed. And I still want to punch Rebecca Lobo in the face. You know women's basketball has gained some equality when I'll use a sentence like "punch her in the face" without thinking twice. Taurasi too.

Here we go...

8:15 PM - Pregame
I love the fact that Tennessee is one of those teams that have their own color that clearly stands out in an arena or a crowd - no one else and no other fans wear our orange, so you know who you're dealing with when you see it.

This is the 13th time we've seen the orange in the National Championship Game, playing for their 8th championship. A stroll down memory lane:

Lady Vols in the National Championship Game
1984 - 1 Southern Cal 72 - 3 Tennessee 61
1987 - 2 Tennessee 67 - 1 Louisiana Tech 44
1989 - 1 Tennessee 76 - 1 Auburn 60
1991 - 1 Tennessee 70 - 1 Virginia 67 (OT)
1995 - 1 UConn 70 - 1 Tennessee 64
1996 - 1 Tennessee 83 - 1 Georgia 65
1997 - 3 Tennessee 68 - 1 Old Dominion 59
1998 - 1 Tennessee 93 - 3 Louisiana Tech 75
2000 - 1 UConn 71 - 1 Tennessee 52
2003 - 1 UConn 73 - 1 Tennessee 68
2004 - 2 UConn 70 - 1 Tennessee 61
2007 - 1 Tennessee 59 - 4 Rutgers 46

You can see, for one, why we'd like to see UConn again...although the Lady Vols have taken them out in some memorable tournament games along the way, the Huskies are 4-0 in their four title game meetings against Tennessee.

But that's for another day, because tonight it's Stanford, who beat the Lady Vols 73-69 in overtime back in December. Perhaps the Lady Vols can get hot and build the second part to another streak of three tonight. Maybe Candace Parker is better than Candice Wiggins. 'Ace vs. 'Ice, as ESPN is showing, is nice. (Holy crap, they just showed Tyler Summitt! That dude is shaving!) But more than individual talent, can the Lady Vols be the best team on the floor tonight? This is the first women's basketball game to ever make the TiVo - hopefully we're 40 minutes away from the University of Tennessee feeling all good about herself once again.

For the Memphis fan on your list...

On sale at Amazon now!

SESB 25 Favorite Sports Movies: 10-6

(Blog note: check us out tomorrow night where we'll once again be breaking out the live blog, this time to cover the Lady Vols' attempt to win their 8th National Championship against Stanford, at 8:30 PM EST)

10. Bloodsport (1988)
At the top of this piece, we discussed what is and isn't a sports movie - but my thought is, if we're going to talk about Karate Kid in a few paragraphs, then we've gotta also count Bloodsport. This was Van Damme's first - and best - "blockbuster" film. Everything else borrows from what's started here, from the splits on the chairs, to those crazy facial expressions. As a kid, when you watch the Karate Kid movies you get the sense of, even if in small part, how fighting would really be. When you see this though, this is much more exciting. The early round bouts in the fighting montage are all entertaining, and as good as Frank Dux is as a face, Chong-Li is easily one of the baddest bad guys in cinematic history. I mean, he kills a guy. And then what he does to Ray Jackson in their fight is Ivan Drago/Apollo Creed light. The whole thing is set up and then plays out beautifully between Chong-Li and Dux, including the fighting blind trick at the end. Of all those cliche 80s fighting movies, this one stands alone.
Favorite Quote: Crowd: "CHONG-LI! CHONG-LI! CHONG-LI!", plus his own crazy expression and arm movements. Sometimes I like to yell this at kids when I kill them at Halo 3, just to mess with their heads.

9. Days of Thunder (1990)
I'm not a NASCAR fan. I've lived in Tennessee and Virginia my entire life, and yet somehow I've escaped it. I don't dislike it, and my grandparents are pretty passionate about it. It's just that when I get home from church on Sunday afternoons, my TV belongs to the Braves in the summer and the NFL in the fall. The flip side of that is that all of the apparent inaccuracies in this movie make no real difference to me, and I'm just entertained. And while Talledega Nights isn't bad, it doesn't hold a candle to this. I will fight for this argument with everything I have: no matter how crazy Tom Cruise may be in real life - and he's in his own little realm when it comes to crazy - his movies are consistently among the best and/or most entertaining of the last 20 years. They may not all get five stars, but you turn on Risky Business, Top Gun, The Color of Money, Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, Days of Thunder, Far and Away, A Few Good Men, The Firm, Interview with the Vampire, Mission Impossible, Jerry Maguire, Mission Impossible II, Vanilla Sky, Minority Report, The Last Samurai, Collateral, War of the Worlds, Mission Impossible III...the dude makes fewer bad movies than most, and again, even if they're not the best, they're always entertaining. Days of Thunder is the perfect example - I don't like NASCAR, but I like this movie. Cole Trickle is a great name. Robert Duvall and Fred Thompson are great in this. Rowdy Burns is a great character. And you'd never heard of Nicole Kidman before this. It's pure 80s in 1990, but it's just great fun.
Favorite Quote: "Control is an illusion, you infantile egomaniac. Nobody knows what's gonna happen next - not on a freeway, not in an airplane, not inside our own bodies and certainly not on a racetrack for forty other infantile egomaniacs." - Dr. Lewicki

8. The Karate Kid (1984)
Every kid who ever saw this at least wanted to go to the dojo and get started, even if that never panned out. And while I will freely admit that the first movie I ever saw three times in the theater was Karate Kid III (a very respectable list that also includes Home Alone 2, The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith), the original is still the best of the three. And just as the fighting is real, when Daniel gets hurt, you feel it - something he was good at portraying in all of these movies. Elisabeth Shue was everyone's fantasy girlfriend for a time in the 80s as Ali Mills (until we found out that she dumped him for some college guy in Karate Kid II). And the end of this movie is still classic. I wonder how this thing holds up with kids today, who probably would think it's boring and not violent enough at all. But for our generation, this thing was, and is, awesome.
Favorite Quote: Of course, it's "Sweep the leg." Cobra Kai 4 life.

7. The Natural (1984)
This should be required viewing for everyone. Of all the movies on this list of favorites, this one is actually the best movie. The cast is outstanding. Anyone who ever played baseball that's seen this movie wanted to be Roy Hobbs and name their bat. The women in this film are great, whether it's Iris or the ones who are trying to kill him. The classic ending fulfills on every level. And anything with Joe Don Baker in it is a winner. Nothing more to say - this is a pure classic.
Favorite Quote: "Pick me out a winner, Bobby."

6. Jerry Maguire (1996)
This might be the perfect date movie. It's got all that "you complete me (tear)" stuff in it, with Tom Cruise when he was less crazy and a much younger looking Renee Zellweger than what I just saw in Leatherheads. The supporting cast are all great. But it's the fairly accurate portrayal of Maguire's sports agent, with enough NFL on screen time to please all the football fans, that completes this movie. It's funny, it's clever, it's good. Too bad that kid never made it.
Favorite Quote: While I use "Happy to entertain you as always" frequently in conversation, and I've become a fan of "I'm the oldest 26 year old in the world" recently, and there are a ton of lines from this thing that have been ran into the ground repeatedly, upon a recent viewing I like "Have you ever gotten that feeling, that you aren't completely embarassed yet, but you glimpse tomorrow's embarassement?"

SESB 25 Favorite Sports Movies: 15-11

15. White Men Can't Jump (1992)
For my money, while you may enjoy Hoosiers, Love & Basketball, Hoop Dreams or He Got Game, this is my favorite basketball movie. This is the first of three Ron Shelton directed films in my Top 15 (who also wrote Blue Chips and directed Play it to the Bone), who simply does sports movies better than anyone else. There are three really good performances turned in here by the three lead characters in Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes and Rosie Perez, and the movie doesn't work without all of them. The white hope with the money trouble, the street baller who says he's better than Jordan and is trying to protect his family, and Perez's Gloria, who dreams of being on Jeopardy and is pushed to her limits by Harrelson's Sidney Deane. And the on court basketball and hustle stuff is well played as well - like all of Shelton's movies, this one comes close to the formula but always swerves off course in the final act, and so while the end result may not be overly appealing with the audience, it's much more interesting and, in this case, true to life when it comes to Sidney and Gloria. And while Gloria has some of the best lines in the film, we're going instead with...
Favorite Quote: Sidney and Billy discussing the finer points of Jimi Hendrix

14. Any Given Sunday (1999)
This is a movie that everytime I watch it, I will it to be good. Coming in it had all the pieces - the dual QB threat with Dennis Quaid and Jamie Foxx (who you can still argue that this movie helped make a major star, because when I saw it in theaters I couldn't get over the fact that Al Pacino was having these in-depth conversations with the guy who played Wanda on In Living Color) the aforementioned Pacino as the head coach, the combination of names from the sports and music world to fill out the roster (LL Cool J, Bill Bellamy, Lawrence Taylor), plus roles from Cameron Diaz, Charlton Heston (RIP), James Woods, Lauren Holly, Ann Margret, Aaron Eckhart, John C. McGinley, and Jessie Spano as a prostitute. I mean, how can this movie miss? Yeah, it's a little long, and yeah, it's got Oliver Stone's fingerprints on it, which is a good and bad thing. And yeah, a movie that seemed to be going for mostly realism shouldn't have had that guy's eyeball ripped out in that last playoff game. But to make a point that I've heard several times before and totally agree with, you'll watch the whole movie just to get to Pacino's "game of inches" speech at the end. Plus, those Sharks uniforms are awesome. If this movie lived up to its billing, it'd be an all timer. It's still good...but all the great parts don't quite add up to a great whole.
Favorite Quote: "It's like my ex-wife. 21 different personalities and 7 of them hated me." - Jack Rose

13. Tin Cup (1996)
The second Ron Shelton addition to this list, and another appearance for Kevin Costner. I saw him on Inside the Actor's Studio a few years ago, and he talked about how this movie was his saving grace after making Waterworld and going through a divorce, and his apparently cathartic release shows in this movie. By the way, has any actor ever had a run like Costner from 1987-1994, where he made The Untouchables, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Dances With Wolves, Robin Hood, JFK, The Bodyguard, A Perfect World, & Wyatt Earp? He gets buried for Waterworld, and I agree, it's not very good...but then he did come right back with Tin Cup and then The Postman, which a lot of people don't like, but it's one of my favorite movies of all time. Costner still feels like an A+ movie star to me today just because of that run. Anyway, this movie is just fun - Cheech Marin is good in it, Costner and Rene Russo play well off each other, and Don Johnson joins the Shooter McGavin/Judge Smails pantheon as the perfect golf villains with his role as David Simms. And yeah, the ending does what Ron Shelton endings do. But that's part of its charm. And while this movie never achieved the same success as Caddyshack or Happy Gilmore, there are a ton of great quotes, lines and speeches in this thing. I've used "The Unfinished Symphony of Roy McAvoy" in a sermon before. The stuff just flows in this movie. Great, great stuff.
Favorite Quote: "Greatness courts failure." - Roy McAvoy

12. A League of Their Own (1992)
Sometimes you go see a movie and you've already made up your mind that you're not going to like it. Such is the case for lots of guys with this movie. But once we mature past that, hopefully, you find that this is actually a really good sports movie. Tom Hanks is great in this thing (Hanks 92-98: A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story, That Thing You Do!, Saving Private Ryan. Take that, Costner). He really carries it for the male audience, though Geena Davis is actually really good in this thing too. And this is probably Madonna's best performance, take that for what you will. You look at this thing now, and it's full of women who used to be high-profile actresses - Davis, Rosie O'Donnell, Lori Petty...anyway, the story is good and you don't find a lot of women's baseball movies out there, so it stands out. The ending is great in the way that it too deviates from the formula. This is the second movie on this list that sent me to the TiVo - sadly, no dice on this one.
Favorite Quote: Anything from Jon Lovitz

11. For Love of the Game (1999)
To this day, I don't understand why this movie isn't more over, to use the wrestling speak. Maybe people had given up on Costner by '99, maybe they felt like they'd already seen it. You didn't know who Sam Raimi was in 1999, before he made Spider-Man. And while the supporting cast in this thing isn't Hollywood A-list, they're all very good - Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Jena Malone, Brian Cox, JK Simmons - and it's just a great story. Costner's Billy Chapel goes for a perfect game while flashing back to his courtship of Preston's Jane Aubrey while mulling retirement. The tension, both in their relationship and while he's trying to finish the game, is very well played. And if you like happy endings, this one does it very well. I still just don't get why people don't buy into this movie; no need to search the TiVo for this one, I think I'm one of eight people who bought it on DVD.
Favorite Quote: The last scene

SESB 25 Favorite Sports Movies: 20-16

20. Friday Night Lights (2004)
The TV show, at least the parts of the first season I saw, was okay, but it's hard to stretch the sports-related drama out over multiple seasons in serious fashion, only Coach pulled it off well comedically. Anyway, the movie was good too, although the book is better, and apparently everything of modern entertainment value happens in Odessa, Texas. This movie is like Varsity Blues in the real world, and I like the way that you don't see the way it ends coming. You feel Bill Bob Thornton's pressure and that of Boobie Miles throughout, and the parents in this thing do remind me of some "when I was in high school" people I actually know. There are other football movies that are more fun, but this one's definitely more real.
Favorite Quote: "We've got to lighten up. We're 17." "Do you feel 17?" "I don't feel 17."

19. Field of Dreams (1989)
Here's a movie that easily gets better as I get older. When I saw this as a kid, it suffered on multiple fronts - the baseball it refers is from the early part of the 20th Century and didn't appeal to me at all, the plot seems long and slow, and it wasn't Bull Durham. True story: when I was in 5th grade, a teacher asked a student to go get "the Kevin Costner baseball movie" from the library to show a scene from Field of Dreams, and the kid mysteriously comes back with Bull Durham, cued up at scene with Crash and Annie in the bathtub. As I'm typing this, Kelly Johnson just crushed a grand slam into right field to put the Braves up 9-3 on the Mets. It's good to have baseball back. Anyway, watching this again last year as an adult, it's really a great movie, with a great story on multiple fronts. It's still not the most entertaining sports or baseball film in the world, but the story moves you and the soundtrack to this thing is really haunting. One of those movies you can take something different from each time. And if you're thinking hey, what was I doing watching Bull Durham at age 8, well, you've probably never met my grandmother, and you should hear what the kids on Halo 3 are saying these days.
Favorite Quote: Anything from Terence Mann or Moonlight Graham

18. Remember The Titans (2000)
While Bill Simmons recently blamed the surprising success of this movie for watering down many of the sports movies that followed - and he's probably right - this is the formula done at its very best. The racial tension and high-pressure situations are there. The movie focuses on both the offense and the defense. The players hate the coaches at the beginning and love them by the end. And unlike a lot of these sports movies, this cast looks even more impressive eight years later - aside from Denzel and the always underrated Will Patton, the football team includes Donald Faison and Ryan Gosling, and two of today's most popular young female stars, Kate Bosworth and Hayden Panettiere, both have relatively important roles in this thing. This isn't necessarily something you'd want to watch every day, but every now and then it reminds you that this is really just a solid movie - as stated, the formula done right.
Favorite Quote: Coach Boone's "We will be perfect" speech in training camp

17. The Sandlot (1993)
While Field of Dreams is a movie I didn't appreciate as a kid and now I really enjoy, The Sandlot is a movie I both really appreciated then, and I find new appreciation in now. This is also one of those movies that works really well for both guys and girls, as there are plenty of women my age who still have a crush on Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez. This is just a good story about growing up and friendship and the bonds of sports and all that "it's cliche because it's true" stuff. It's also funny in a way that's not over the top but still makes me smile, like throwing up at the amusement park, or the look on the kid's face when he pretends to be dead so Wendy will give him mouth-to-mouth (she's still around, Marley Shelton). And while this is another movie where the kids in the cast never really turned into much, let's not forget that James Earl Jones is in this one too, and the main kid's mom is Marion Ravenwood.
Favorite Quote: "FOR-EV-ER! FOR-EV-ER!"

16. Happy Gilmore (1996)
From here, this list crosses into films that I would watch from start to finish without hesitation if they came on TV right now. If this movie is all the way down at #16, it's all gold from here. This, for me, is the best movie of Adam Sandler's career. And this movie is up there with Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut as the films I laughed the hardest at the very first time I saw them. The fight scene with Bob Barker might be the funniest thing I'd ever seen in my entire life at the time, and is still way up there. This movie is funny from the beginning, with the hockey stuff about how Gilmore got thrown out of a game for trying to stab someone with his skate. Shooter McGavin is the perfect villain and has some of the best lines of any sports heel ever. If you watch Lost and you keep trying to place Jack's wife in those flashbacks, she was Virginia in this movie long before she was in Ed. Ben Stiller is great in his small turn as the nursing home attendant, as is Kevin Nealon on the golf course. Apollo Creed is in it. I mean, come on. And here's the real clincher: all the things that Adam Sandler does now that feel so tired, in 1996 were fresh and awesome. The thing about this movie is everybody who loves it loves something different about it - it's that good and that full. I love this movie, and it's easily one of the five funniest sports movies ever, if not higher. It's really not fair to pick a favorite quote, so we'll just go with...
Favorite Quote: Anything from Shooter McGavin, along with the hand motions

SESB 25 Favorite Sports Movies: 25-21

In the last two weeks, I've seen 21 and Leatherheads. Both of which need more time to simmer before they get considered for a list like this (though I thought 21 was fine for what it was, and Leatherheads was marketed in a very clever fashion that makes you think you're going to see a football comedy, and instead you're going to see an actual movie that still ends up being pretty good), though it takes no time for me to tell you they're both better than Semi-Pro. But that gets one to thinking, and since I've been clamoring to count something down since we wrapped up the Best Vol Games bit more than a year ago, we've landed on this, my picks for the SESB 25 Favorite Sports Movies.

Right away, let's make the distinction: there's a difference between "favorite" and "best". Ask me what the best movie I've ever seen is, I'll probably tell you Raiders of the Lost Ark (because somebody my age has to say something besides The Godfather Part II). Ask me what my favorite movie of all time is, I'll definitely come back with Top Gun (because somebody my age has to say something besides Scarface). And with this list, we're dealing with favorite, not best. These aren't the Oscar winners or the highest rated; you won't find Million Dollar Baby on this list because whether it's a great movie or not, I'd like to never watch it ever again. These are the ones that when they come on TV, you don't change the channel. These are the ones in your DVD collection and the ones you keep replaying from your childhood.

Which raises another point: I'm 26 years old, and that's reflected in this list. While there will be several films on this list that came out before 1981, there's also a bias towards both what's more recent, and a small bent towards what I enjoyed as a child. So when you find things like The Sandlot higher than you think it should be, it's the childhood factor. There will be several movies that are on everyone's Top 10 list of the best sports movies ever made that aren't on my list at all, either because they just don't resonate with me (one in particular) for whatever reason, or because they're just too old.

And here's another interesting point to make: what's considered a sports movie? Some are obvious, some not so much. For this list, we're including both cards and martial arts, which means movies like Karate Kid qualify as sports movies. And so here's an interesting question: couldn't Gladiator be considered a sports movie? If we're going to count Bloodsport, why not Gladiator? Ultimately, it gets left out because it would skew the rest of the list (along with other movies like A Knight's Tale that do involve arena competition but ultimately are about something else), and as stated, the sole focus of the movie isn't sports. So while there's a great deal of card playing and horse racing involved, you won't find The Sting on this list, for example.

Finally, we're sticking to one film from each series if it applies, really so the whole list isn't littered with Rocky. Which means, when we get there, we'll have to have a discussion about why I'm one of the few people on the planet who enjoys Major League II more than the original.

And of course, as always, you're welcome to agree or disagree with me - that's what the comments are for.

So as we begin, here are some extra mentions, honorable and otherwise:

"Classic" sports movies I've never seen
Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)
North Dallas Forty (1979)
Seabiscuit (2003)
Miracle (2004)
Cinderella Man (2005)

Movie I will never see under any circumstances
Rudy (1993)

Guilty Pleasures/Honorable Mention
Best of the Best (1989)
Let It Ride (1989)
The Cutting Edge (1992)
The Program (1993)
Space Jam (1996)
Play it to the Bone (1999)
Blades of Glory (2007)

I'd like to pretend that never happened...
The Air Up There (1994)
Celtic Pride (1996)
The Replacements (2000)
Driven (2001)
The Longest Yard (2005)

Ladies and gentlemen...

25. Varsity Blues (1999)
Here's the problem with this movie - it came out six months too late. If this thing comes out when I'm a senior in high school during football season, it gets the special place in my heart. Instead, it was released in January, and I can vividly remember sitting in the theater, with Alcoa High School's season having ended (violently) in the state semifinals and Tennessee having just won the National Championship, and thinking I'd already reached the top of the mountain football wise, and now a movie about high school football was just a hair too late. It's still enjoyable and good to run through, and "Mox" is one of the best nicknames for a quarterback in any sports movie (as "moxy" or "moxie", your choice, is one of my favorite compliments for a QB). What hurts this movie is that it's terribly edited - in the final game, there are plays that start at the 20 yard line that turn into 40 yard gains according to the announcer, the clock is misused worse than in any football movie I know of, and at the end of the game, they don't even mention kicking a field goal, which would've tied the game. Also, no defensive players have starring roles. Still, good fun, almost special.
Favorite Quote: The end of Mox's "Let's be heroes" speech

24. D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994)
I was 12 when this came out, and so again, you get the idea. I'm sure the original is actually a better movie, but this one plays into one of the solid gold standards of movie-making: if you include a "United States vs." factor, the probability of me getting into it increases. It's still a kids' movie, with each of the players having their own special talent and all that. What's really odd about this movie is that none of the kids in it, with the exception of Joshua Jackson on Dawson's Creek, went on to do much of anything. Say what you want, but when the Ducks come out for the third period and make that comeback on Iceland before winning in a shootout...if the last 20 minutes of this movie came on right now, I'd watch it gleefully.
Favorite Quote: "This is a distraction. This is a fire in a barrel. And this is a distraction in a fire in a barrel. Any questions?"

23. Blue Chips (1994)
You look at this thing going in, and you think it's going to be stupid. Nick Nolte has to carry it. Shaq and Penny have major roles. And when I saw it as a kid, it was less appealing to me because it's more about recruiting and scandal than about actual college basketball (there's a joke in there somewhere). But when you go back and watch it now...it certainly still has holes in it, and Shaq looks like a small child, but the backstory is actually pretty good, and Nolte does a good job here. This came out a year after The Program, which still made my guilty pleasures list, and what's sad is that those two movies, for all their flaws and over-the-topness, are the best collegiate sports movies that've been made in the last 20 years.
Favorite Quote: Anything from Nolte's Pete Bell in the last 30 minutes of this movie

22. Slap Shot (1977)
Ouch, because anyone older than me reading this thinks this should be much higher. There's nothing wrong with this movie - I like Paul Newman and you're dead inside if you don't like the Hansons. If I'm 10 years older and from the northern states instead of the south, this probably makes the top ten easily; as it is, it's still a very, very good laugh and a good portrait of minor league hockey. If you're my age or younger and you've never seen this, it's absolutely worth your money to see it at least once. (Here's the beauty of this list: already, I'm like "Man, I haven't seen this in ages!" and I check the TiVo to see when it's on next...which is in three hours. Yes.)
Favorite Quote: "Puttin' on the foil!" "Every game!"

21. Kingpin (1996)
Little known fact: when this movie came out, I was in a bowling league at 9:00 AM on Saturday mornings. How awesome was I? This movie is just one of the many greats in the Farrelly Brothers pantheon in the 90s (Dumb & Dumber, There's Something About Mary, Me Myself & Irene). This is also the first look we get at two guys who always excel in sports movies: Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray. Throw in Randy Quaid as an oblivious Amish bowler, and you've got good stuff here. In doing "research" for this "piece", I found out that Murray once again ad-libbed most of his stuff in this movie, really did bowl three strikes in a row on the first take in the film's climactic moment (thus enhancing crowd reaction), and that the guy who yells "ERNIE YOU THE MAN!" at the end is Will Ferrell. Wikipedia may be the new kid on the block, but for movies IMDB will always be king.
Favorite Quote: (when Ishmael is trying to get Roy to quit smoking)
"Who's done more research than the good people at the American Tobacco Industry? They say it's harmless. Why would they lie? If you're dead, you can't smoke."

The Boston Celtics are the best team in the NBA - Pre-Playoff Edition

It's been true for awhile now. But before we launch into the playoffs in two weeks and the real season begins, let's just stop for a moment and bask in the glory, shall we?

While I'm sure it comprises the smallest percentage among the fanbases that read this blog, any Celtics fans along the way should definitely check out the hour-long B.S. Report podcast from Bill Simmons at ESPN.com or on iTunes from the first of this week, where he talks with Celtics' radio play-by-play man Sean Grande. Among the many interesting points and observations made in the podcast about Boston's great season thus far, which currently stands at 60-15 and one win away from clinching home court advantage throughout the playoffs:

- The Celtics are currently playing at a +10.5 point differential every night out. Only three of the Jordan Bulls teams have ever finished a regular season with a +10 differential or greater in NBA history.

- The Celtics have only been beaten by double digits twice this season, which would tie an NBA record if they make it through their final seven games without getting beat by 10 or more. The next closest teams this season have been beaten by double digits eight times.

- According to Grande, the Celtics have been in every single game this season with 4:00 to play in the 4th quarter.

- An opinionated discussion about Kevin Garnett vs. Larry Bird, with an intriguing argument that KG plays better defense than Bird at a higher differential than Bird played offense than KG, if that makes sense.

- Whether or not KG should win the MVP, in the best and closest race I can ever remember with Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul (who would get my vote if I cast it today), and why LeBron doesn't belong in that conversation this year.

- Whether Doc Rivers is lucky or good.

- How nice it is to be relevant again (amen), let alone the best team in the league.

I salivate for the playoffs right now. And the Lady Vols and The Masters will hold me over between now and then. So while I can't wait - but I will - to dissect the matchups and brace for two months of insanity, I will echo a point that's been made by several - in the Western Conference, seeding is essentially meaningless. The fact that these series are now seven games instead of five is going to pay off in spades. But unless they go seven games, seeding is worthless - the space between is too close, and it's more about matchups than seeding. With 6-8 games left for each of the nine contenders, none of them have clinched a playoff spot. Three games separate the top six teams, and three others (Dallas, Denver, Golden State) are locked in a three men enter two men leave situation for the final two playoff spots. If it ended tonight, Golden State would be on the outside looking in, and they're 45-30. Insane.

But what's more insane, and this point is made by Simmons & Grande as well, is that the two best teams in the NBA actually play in the Eastern Conference. And no matter how competitive nor how much fun the Western Conference Playoffs may be, make no mistake - the Celtics will walk into this thing with the best record in the league, which is the most credible evidence that they're the best team in the league. It was true in the winter. It was true at the All-Star Break. It's true on April 3. We're about to find out if this truth has legs into May and June.

Random Thoughts - Wednesday April 2

Wow, this year is flying by.

Tennessee Football: Not shying away from the big boys...
Everything's back to normal if we're talking about football first.

In a story that broke last week but I failed to mention, the Vols have inked a deal to play THE Ohio State University home-and-home beginning in 2018 (and lol to Fulmer's comment: "I'll be right here waiting for them." You've gotta love it when our head coach takes a shot at the miserable among us. Good for him.)

It'll mark the first time the Vols have played a Big 10 opponent in the regular season since the 1970s against Penn State, as the common fear has always been that we could see them again in the Capital One/Outback Bowl. But if you're wondering why we signed this thing a decade in advance...it's because the Vols have already filled the slate between now and then.

Say what you want about the SEC institutions and many nationally who refuse to play the big money non-conference contests in college football - Tennessee has never been one of them. Since 1996, the Vols have played one major non-conference opponent every season. We tend to see more of UCLA and Notre Dame than anyone else, but in the last twelve years we've also faced Syracuse, Miami and Cal. And that tradition is going to continue for a long time under Mike Hamilton. And I love this about us - we're not afraid, we engage the matchups, and it's something extra to look forward to every single season. Here's a look at the marquee non-conference matchups we've inked for the forseeable future - and while it's impossible to know right now if the Vols and the Buckeyes will still be among the nation's elite in 10 years, I love the fact that we pull the trigger on deals and matchups like this one without hesitation when the present moment is right. (You can find future schedule information for the majority of college football teams at NationalChamps.net)



TENNESSEE FUTURE MAJOR NON-CONFERENCE MATCHUPS
2008 - at UCLA
2009 - vs UCLA
2010 - vs Oregon
2011 - at North Carolina
2012 - vs North Carolina
2013 - at Oregon
2014 - at Oklahoma
2015 - vs Oklahoma
2016 - at Nebraska
2017 - vs Nebraska
2018 - vs Ohio State
2019 - at Ohio State

When it comes time to make the shorter-than-you-think trip up to Columbus, I'll be almost 40. Good times.


Is this the greatest Final Four of all time?
You want to say no because the Vols aren't in it, but still...for the first time in history, all four #1 seeds have made it to the end. This is really frustrating for your bracket pool, because while there are some smart guys and gals who know college basketball who still could've believed this would happen and picked accordingly, my guess is there's a lot of folks in your pool who were and are totally clueless and just picked all four top seeds, and when they did you felt educated and right in picking the necessary curveballs...and now they're atop your leaderboard and saying things like "Well of course, they were the four best teams...why wouldn't you pick them?" This is why I'm currently 17th of 19 in my bracket group, having picked only Kansas of the number ones to make it this far, and no further, because this is where the Vols were supposed to take over.

It seems kind of backwards, but I kind of want Memphis to win.

I don't want to watch it happen and I won't be cheering for them at any point. But if any of the other teams win, I don't feel connected - the Vols do play Kansas next year, so we could be facing the defending National Champions if they got it done (and I don't have any general dislike towards North Carolina, but Roy Williams isn't one of my favorite people, and I think I'd enjoy Kansas beating him instead of the other way around). So maybe I should pull for Kansas.

But if Memphis wins, then we're the only ones that beat them. On their floor, when they were #1, you remember, all that stuff. We're the one in their record books. And there's something about that I might enjoy. When Florida won their first one, I enjoyed having beaten them both times we saw them. This I'd enjoy even more. So we'll see. As wrong as I've been thus far, I'm sure it'll be Carolina and UCLA in the finals.



This time of year also means...
...it's time to start paying attention to the Lady Vols.

Especially now, since we're all needy and numb from the men's Sweet 16 loss. Candace Parker carried the ladies into the Elite 8 by beating Notre Dame, and then played through a twice-dislocated shoulder and a clutch shot from Alexis Hornbuckle to beat Texas A&M and get back to the Final Four. In another display of strength at the top, the women's elite eight included all four 1-2 matchups (UConn/Rutgers, Maryland/Stanford, UNC/LSU, Tennessee/Texas A&M).

It's a testament to the women's game that there are intriguing matchups out there besides just Tennessee/UConn in the Final Four - another SEC clash with LSU for the season series, another date with Stanford...but yeah, we really want to see Tennessee/UConn.




WrestleMania XXIV Review
I missed the first 90 minutes because I was speaking at my home church and they made the mistake of not putting a clock in front of me. But I got there just in time to see Ric Flair walking down the aisle before his last match, and everything following. And I'll say this - pound for pound, that was one of the best WrestleManias ever.


Some years you just don't have the sizzle. You don't have Hogan or Austin or Rock-E, you don't have some monumental encounter that's been built up for years, you don't have something incredibly innovative...but this year, you had all steak. The build up may not have been great, ratings may have been higher in the past, but none of that mattered - for what was put before us, we got a great show.


Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair did justice to the magnitude of the moment, to no one's surprise. Michaels' came up a little short on a reverse splash off the ropes through a table, which he caught with his ribcage on the front edge and it didn't break away in what looked like easily the most painful spot of the night. But not only did Michaels finish the match, also to no one's surprise, he still went for the high spots with a moonsault to the floor later, and they still traded old school rollups and false finishes right alongside three superkicks and several figure four attempts.

Flair's last stand, between the Hall of Fame ceremony on Saturday (where his speech apparently went more than an hour and was cut to around 10 minutes for TV, so there's a much greater incentive to buy the WrestleMania XXIV DVD for the whole thing), the match against Michaels, and a fitting final farewell (pastors love alliteration) in the main event spot on Raw on Monday - there's nobody else who could've pulled that off, and maybe no one who will again. Going out on one's own terms and then getting the due respect for your whole career...Ric Flair will always be the man.

The rest of the WrestleMania show was really good too, outside of the fireworks mishap that injured several. They moved the Triple H-Randy Orton-John Cena match to earlier in the card, which allowed Orton to get the smart win. Big Show and Floyd Mayweather did better than most thought they would, and Mayweather's brass knucks finish allows Show to keep his status and Mayweather to get his paycheck. And in an entertaining main event that shows The Undertaker can still entertain when someone else capable is in there with him, his WrestleMania streak went to 16-0 with a surprising triangle choke finish against Edge. Good stuff. And it's off we go towards WrestleMania XXV...

Turn that frown upside down baby

Pearl says he's not going anywhere

Scotty Hopson commits to Tennessee

Tennessee at UCLA moved to Labor Day, season opener

So you won't think this is an April Fool's joke, here's the release from Tennessee's official site.

Hot off the wire this afternoon, the Vols and ESPN have agreed to move the Tennessee at UCLA game, originally scheduled for September 6 (week two), to Monday, September 1 in a nationally televised spotlight at 8:00 PM EST. This also forces the Vols to move their original season opener against UAB from August 30 to September 13 (7:00 PM), which was an open date. The open date will move to September 6.

So this means that for the second straight year, the Vols will open on the road on the West Coast in a nationally televised primetime matchup, with a significantly greater possibility of losing than what we usually face in the season opener. We've seen how well this can work and how poorly it can work with Cal over the last two years. But like it or not, the deal is done.

ESPN had televised Miami-Florida State for a couple of years on Labor Day, and last year showed the Bowden Bowl. So apparently we're building a trend here. The Vols, I'm sure, will take the national television exposure, and while I'm a little upset that this probably means I won't be able to make the UAB game now, I'll trade it for a win in this spotlight against the Bruins to open the 2008 season.