NO THOUGHT THURSDAY
BLOGGER’S NOTE: With baseball season at the mid-summer break; the SEC Media Days straight ahead; zero interest in NBA free agency and -thankfully- Vol footballers apparently behaving themselves these truly are the lazy days of summer.
Here’s a little brain mist for you:
-If I’ve ever disparaged the intellect of rasslin fans I should apologize. Especially after I spent most of the 4th watching a Three Stooges Marathon. Like Professional Wrestling the choreographers and sound effect guys of those shorts were pure genius.
-Moe, Larry and Curly would all be placed immediately into the Yankees everyday lineup. The “Bronx Bummers” have no one hitting .300 and other than Carlos Beltran (.298) and Didi Gregorius (.291) the rest of the frequent contributors are at .277, .277, .256, .254, .246, .245. .233 and .222. You might make up for that anemic attack with power but the Yanks rank 20th in MLB in homers (86).
-The game played at Fort Bragg between the Braves and Marlins is one of the great ideas in the history of professional sports. It may have been mostly about marketing MLB but the result was a wonderful tribute to our military personnel and a celebration of our country. Wonderful idea that needs to be continued.
-The fact that the Braves were involved however brought to mind my namesake Beano Cook’s famous line about the Iranian U.S. Embassy Hostages being given lifetime passes to MLB games upon their release;
“Haven’t these people suffered enough?”
-I’m a patriotic guy but not to the point where I could appreciate the hats worn by MLB teams in celebration of Independence Day. They looked like they were purchased at a Pigeon Forge souvenir shop.
-The Cubs are having a phenomenal year but there is no way they deserve to have their entire infield starting in the All-Star game. Anthony Rizzo (.281, 20, 61), Yes; Kris Bryant (.278, 25, 64), Maybe; Ben Zobrist (.291, 11, 43) and Addison Russell (.242, 11, 48), No Way. Daniel Murphy (.349, 14, 56) deserves to be the starting 2B and Corey Seager (.304, 17, 41) should be the SS.
-In final voting I selected Ian Kinsler (.288, 16, 52) in the AL and Starling Marte (.320, 6, 31 & 31 stolen bases) in the NL.
-It’s very disappointing that Tee Higgins chose Clemson over Tennessee. I can’t blame him however for believing he can better reach his potential with the Tigers considering our disappointing production from the WR unit and the ridiculous hockey substitution pattern the staff utilizes.
-Tee also probably has a projection issue. He sees Deshaun Watson delivering guided missiles downfield and Josh Dobbs struggling in that area. The problem is neither will be throwing to him when he reaches campus.
-Tennessee -23 vs Appy State; -11 ½ vs Va Tech and -12 ½ over Florida? Oddsmaker’s early lines show that they believe the Vols are poised for a special year. Or that much of the public does and are primed to lay big points and get soaked. Here’s hoping the former is correct.
-I will mix in one NBA nugget; I don’t blame Kevin Durant for leaving OKC. With Russell Westbrook with only one year remaining on his contract how could K.D. sign a long-term deal with the Thunder without some assurance his running mate would do the same?
-I’m so sick of losing to Alabama that I watched every minute of a replay of Tennessee’s 38-21 victory over the Tide at Legion Field in 1997 on July 4th. Sadly, right now ancient memories are all we have in the lopsided series.
Which brings me to:
DUBIOUS DOUBLE-JEOPARDY: The current 9 game losing streak to Alabama and even more maddening 11 game skid to Florida certainly can’t be laid solely at Butch Jones’ feet. As a matter of fact, both are co-owned by four coaching staffs. What Jones and staff must understand however is you will not enjoy a long tenure at Tennessee losing to your two main rivals simultaneously. Alabama was a riddle John Majors couldn’t solve (4-11) but his teams played even with Auburn (6-7-2). Phillip Fulmer’s struggles with Florida are well-chronicled (5-12) but he dominated Alabama (10-5-1). Vol fans are long-suffering and will excuse extended streaks against one foe. They will not -and should not- be forgiving with regularly losing the TWO most important games on the schedule.
UNSCHEDULED APPEARANCE: Due to Jurassic Softball Tournament responsibilities Friday I will make a rare Thursday appearance on
The Tony Basilio Show. Hope you’ll tune in -and call in- anyway.
FINAL THURSDAY THOUGHT: The SEC Media Days commence on Monday. Can College Football be far behind?
