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Wednesday
Posted: Wed, July 16th, 2014, 9:15 AM • Permalink
46 days sports fans!!!



SEC Media Days are fun. I've had a chance to catch up with some folks like Chris Vernon in Memphis and Andy Staples of SI along with guys like Ron Higgins and other wonderfully talented people. Proud of all their success. Great to see fine folks get ahead. SEC Media Days are also bittersweet because things truly have changed. It's such a corporate conference now. Everything about this event is corporate to the point where matters that were once a given no longer are. The relationship between schools and those covering the event are no longer cozy. Every team has a person texting everything a coach or player says on their official account. OK, I get it. Take UT for instance. They brought their own folks documenting the event from pillar to post for their website. Great. I think those people do a wonderful job. But they are only part of the equation. The rest of the media in Knoxville should get theirs as well and as it went yesterday, some did and some didn't.


Before you take what I'm about to say here as whining, please understand that this is exactly what I'm doing, but this is my space to do exactly that. There was once a time (back in the 1990's and into the 2000's) where UT had a representative like Bud Ford who made sure that EVERY radio station and other outlet across the state of Tennessee that came to media days in Birmingham got exactly what they needed.


Even when other radio stations in our market attempted to maneuver around me and tried and get me cut out of the loop, Bud would say on more than one occasion, 'My job is not to create a competitive disadvantage. My job is to treat everyone equally.'


So, yesterday at SEC Media Days, I waited around some 3 hours after being off the air for an opportunity to interview Butch Jones 1 on 1. I was only hunting for 5-7 minutes tops. No big deal, right? Wrong. As soon as Coach Jones came off the elevator from the group sessions he was grabbed by Paul Finebaum's folks. Fine. I get it. He's the big kahuna down here and a part of the SEC Network, ESPN and all that jazz. Then Coach Jones sits down with Jimmy Hyams and John Wilkerson live on the air. Great. Got it. Those guys do good stuff and they are the rights holder.


As they are sitting there I approached a member of UT's staff who will remain nameless (this isn't about embarrassing anyone in particular), to inform him of my request for a few minutes with Coach Jones. Before I get to him I overhear the UT representative telling a station in Atlanta that it would be 'impossible for Coach Jones to join them live on the air since he had been in Nashville for last night's festivities.' Cool. I get it, but I had to ask because I had to make this unnamed person say no to me and sure enough he did. To which I respectfully replied, 'you mean to tell me that I drove all the way from Knoxville to cover this event and I'm not going to get a few minutes one on one with Coach Jones?' And the answer was emphatically ‘no’.


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Which brings me to this, and this is the whole point of writing this here. I believe Butch Jones truly wanted to make his way down radio row and spread the Big Orange word because he's wired like that. I believe the folks running the show are intent on making relationships with the media locally and across the state and region selectively contentious. Look, I'm not a get in line ass kisser and I never will be. And I will not change. So, in that regard maybe I don't have a beef here because I piss people in power off from time to time.


At the same time I'm a proud UT graduate who's not afraid to love and tough love the Vols on the air when necessary. Besides, I've been at this game 20 years and for that I'm proud and feel blessed.



Here's the rub. I took what happened personally until I started asking around and realized that this is the way things go these days with UT and selective media folks. Those guys play politics with this coach, and they play favorites, and that stinks. 5-7 minutes with Butch Jones isn't making or breaking me, but it's the principle of the matter. And I want those in charge to know that I know the score and now you do too. Butch Jones and his entourage could have arrived early yesterday and accommodated everyone in the state that took the time and effort to drive there with a one on one interview. That's only right. In fact, this is exactly what Nick Saban does at Alabama and that guy flat out hates this stuff.


Butch Jones is great people and I hold no animosity toward him. He's simply the guy in the chair. As for the folks at UT calling the shots, your game is silly because forfeiting exposure when you're in the current state that UT football finds itself in is shortsighted and absurd. You folks should arrive 2 hours early and do every show on radio row that will have you. It's called spreading the word. Unfortunately, Tennessee is choosing to do this in the most selective and political of manners.


Here's UT's fine write up on what they did in Birmingham yesterday. Link


Some great notes stuff here from Patrick Brown of Chatty Times Free Press. Link


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Incredible appearance by Randy Moore on the show yesterday that go all choked up and made me cry in the process while discussing Shawn Williams who recently died after a bout with cancer. Randy said that Mr. Williams was a huge fan of UT hoops, calling him 'the biggest fan who never had a negative word to say about anything involving the program.' When Williams got sick with cancer, Cuonzo Martin found out and ended up reaching out to him and encouraging him on multiple occasions. Meanwhile when Donnie Tyndall learned of Williams’s plight he reached out to him on his death bed. Really touching segment that ended with Randy choking back tears while telling me that he how he wanted folks to know that there were some 'really great people involved in UT athletics that still do care.' You can hear Randy's emotional recounting of this story at roughly half past the first segment in yesterday's archives.



I was happy to see Mac Crowder get a moment in the sun yesterday. Good for him. Link


USA Today wonders if the young Vols are ready to win. It's a great question. And what does winning mean anyway? Link


I'm leading off today's show with Bill Hancock who is overseeing the new college football playoff. Some interesting stuff here from the aforementioned Andy Staples. Link




Sources tell me that Eric McKnight's appeal being denied by the SEC was strictly the call of Commissioner Mike Slive. In all fairness to Commissioner Slive, as I looked into McKnight yesterday after my program, I'm almost seeing his side of things. Here's a guy that's basically been in trouble virtually every stop along the way. In a selfish sense, I would love to see a remnant of Dunk City park it in the paint in Knoxville for a season but it wasn't going to happen.


This note from UT hoops. I knew Jordy Mac was going to show out and get a chance to make the Sixers. Granted it's only Summer league but still, it's a start for him. 'As a senior, @JordyMac52 averaged 18.7 points on 13.8 shots per game. In @NBASummerLeague, he averages 19.7 ppg on 12.7 shots.'


SEC is now in the business of covering itself. Will it be fair and balanced? I wouldn't bet on it. Link


Wonderful stuff here from Keith Hatfield, presented by Springs Dock Resort.
Hatfield's Nine
'We have officially hit the horse latitudes of the sports landscape. You have to take stories where you can find them.


1. The SEC denying Eric McKnight's senior transfer isn't a shock. The league administration has been openly critical of the rule since it was implemented.

2. While McKnight would have added depth, his loss isn't a crushing blow. People need to remember he was a pretty average player in the Atlantic Sun.

3. Emmanuel Mudiay's departure is a major loss for SMU. The Mustangs go from being a legitimate Final Four contender to just another good team.

4. As an aside to the Mudiay situation, the mess at Prime Prep Academy is a symptom of a major problem in college basketball. Eligibility mills pop up faster than the NCAA can strike them down.

5. Major League Baseball still puts on by far the best All Star Game. It's the only one that resembles an actual competitive contest.

6. Nike's farewell campaign for Derek Jeter is fantastic. It is a well deserved tribute to the ultimate class act.

7. SEC Media Days are proof positive that league fans have gone around the bend. It is total theater of the absurd.

8. I wonder if all the elite college coaches who passed on the Cleveland job have regrets. Coaching LeBron James in his prime is an awfully good gig.

9. Jordan McRae is doing all he can to make an impression in the summer for the Sixers. Here's hoping last night's ankle injury doesn't derail him.

Keith'



Dwight Tarwater prolongs his college career with Cuonzo Martin at Cal. Link


Now I see why Auburn didn't bring Marshall to Media Days. Link


Try as he might Commission (and I use that term loosely) Selig can't be happy about Adam Wainwright admitting that he served up a double to Derek Jeter in last night's mid Summer's night classic. Link


Or did Wainwright do it? He claimed in a strange in game interview (bottom 8th inning) that he was kidding and didn't mean to diminish Jeter's accomplishments. It was odd to say the least. Complete with a crack from Erin Andrews on the state of social media.


Cheap hit or not, Derek Jeter is an all star game legend as this stat dug up by Katie Sharp proves. 'Derek Jeter's .481 batting average in the All-Star Game is the 2nd-highest all-time (Min. 15 PA) behind Charlie Gehringer (.500)'


Bud Selig is really a swell guy. Link


Do these minor league players have a legitimate gripe? I think not when compared to college football players. Look, folks turn on the tube to go see college football while minor league baseball is a summer curiosity. Ironically, college football is in the competition zone while minor league baseball is in the development zone. Winning and losing at the minor league level isn't that big of a deal while in college it's everything. So, minor league baseball players mostly toil until the perhaps get to the show.


Final thought. No mention on last night's All Star Game telecast of the passing of neither Tony Gwynn nor Don Zimmer. One thing's for sure, the folks producing that didn't get the Olympics script where it's all about the dead. Still, it's pretty sad to not even acknowledge the passing of a couple of giants of the modern game.


Be blessed on your Wednesday

Tony

Caitlin Clark
Posted: Fri, Mar 1st, 2:21 PM
We can now officially congratulate Caitlin Clark on breaking the record for the most points scored in women’s basketball!

Caitlin Clark is the biggest superstar in college basketball (men’s or women’s). That’s not just me being a fan, Caitlin Clark is HER! Caitlin scored 49 points on February 15th to pass Kelsey Plum’s NCAA record for the most career points in women’s college basketball..... [more]
It's a Love Story
Posted: Wed, Feb 14th, 11:23 AM
Jared (the redneck from Roanoke, VA) thought the Taylor Swift coverage would end with the Super Bowl, but this love story isn’t going anywhere. In a game that was four hours and 18 minutes (that’s a total of 15,480 seconds). Swift only appeared for around 55 seconds! 55 SECONDS from the moment the game kicked off to the overtime touchdown.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3ONwhRyugP/.... [more]
Missouri Game Preview
Posted: Thu, Nov 9th, 12:56 PM
by Josh
The Vols did what they were expected to do against UConn. There's not really much to say about that game. The game this Saturday in Columbia, Missouri will decide whether or not this season is a failure in my opinion. If they Vols lose, they are staring at 8-4 and probably the Gator Bowl. Maybe Reliaquest..... [more]
Connecticut Game Preview
Posted: Thu, Nov 2nd, 6:19 PM
by Josh
The Vols are coming back to Neyland Stadium and I am returning after a discretionary bye week. I'll be honest with you. This year it seems like I've been writing the same preview over and over because the formula to win has been the same pretty much every SEC game. I didn't want to sound like a broken record so I needed a bit of a break from that.

I'll start with some general observations..... [more]



Calhoun's Atop Bearden Hill
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Knoxville, TN
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Calhoun's on the River
400 Neyland Drive
Knoxville, TN
865.673.3355

Calhoun's at Pellissippi Parkway
10020 Kingston Pike
Knoxville, TN
865.673.3444



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