Tennessee lost a great one in Mike Rollo yesterday. Today's blog is done in his honor. My condolences to all touched by his passing.
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National Pancake Day
I'm at IHOP on Merchant Road today for National Pancake Day. National Pancake Day runs today, March 3 from 7am-10pm.
Free short stack of buttermilk pancakes at 8 local IHOP locations.
Guests receive a free short stack of pancakes and in return, they are encouraged to donate to Children’s Hospital.
All money raised locally benefits Children’s Hospital. Last year, National Pancake Day raised more than $20,000 for Children’s Hospital.
Participating locations include:
• 7128 Kingston Pike, Knoxville
• 5604 Merchants Center, Knoxville
• 7048 Maynardville Pike, Knoxville
• 313 Lovell Road, Knoxville
• 7609 Mountain Grove Drive, Knoxville (near Chapman highway)
• 1802 Parkway, Sevierville
• 471 S. Davy Crockett Parkway, Morristown
• 355 S Illinois Ave, Oak Ridge TN
• 906 Turner Street, Maryville
• 3636 Parkway, Pigeon Forge
Hope you'll get out and support a great cause!
What's in a number?
UT promulgated some official number assignments for some newcomers. Tuttle-2 Butcher-52 Kirkland-34 Griffin-26 Dormady-12 Jones-66 Hall-76 Jennings-15 Phillips-5 Kamara-6 (Courtesy UTFootballinsider Twitter)
John Chavis has some splainin' to do. This is a great rip job by Ron Higgins. He even gets a 3rd and Chavis reference in here, though he doesn't use the term.
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Leslie Cikra will join me today against the backdrop that UT President Dr Joe DiPietro slapped down the gathering storm aimed at Tennessee AD in the past week. We've documented the attack on Hart from the Tennessean and identified the Lady Vol tie in that reporting even before the level of the beef against Hart came to light. It's obvious that the Tennessean is/was gunning for Hart. I use two verbs there because I'm of the belief that they are simply lying in wait for the next shoe to drop before ratcheting up the pressure.
In the meantime, we can confirm through several sources that DiPeitro has strongly encouraged/rebuked some powerful folks around this state (including some on the UT Board of Trustees) to stay out of the Lady Vol nickname controversy. DiPietro is calling it a done deal and a non-starter. This is a huge win for Dave Hart. Has he heard the last of these folks? Not by a long shot. Hart leaves ammunition there to be used against him because he has the self awareness of Kanye West. We will visit with Leslie and see where her movement goes from here.
For the record, I believe that Hart has handled this about as poorly as humanly possible. He showed horrible tone deafness toward these folks in the execution of this move. He didn't even attempt to build a coalition or get support from the programs and athletes impacted. NOTHING.
Making matters worse for Hart's cause is the unfair decision to allow the Lady Vol Basketball team to keep the moniker 'Lady Vol' but no other team on campus. No matter where you stand on this issue, that's pretty poor in terms of execution.
I stand 100% with Leslie Cikra in her cause and don't mind one bit giving her some air time today. Nor do I mind linking to her site for you to peruse.
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Tennessee is offering kids in 2017. They are the first offer for Corey Malone-Hatcher.
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Malone-Hatcher looks a little like Bruno Mars. Let's hope he gets here and he's in the spot on Saturday night.
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Ken Pomeroy thinks UGA has the best chance to beat UK of anyone on their schedule. UK opened as a 10.5 point favorite. Ready for a play? Take the Cats to flat out crush UGA. Don't believe the hype.
Virginia is a threat to beat UK if they can get that far simply because they can play some mean defense. Cavs are the first ever non-North Carolina school to win back to back ACC Basketball titles.
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Hey parents!!!! Specializing in sports is not the way.
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SEC Non-conference football scheduling is interesting.
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Australian rugby star is now a 49er.
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Tyler Summitt got love on NBC Nightly News last night.
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Seth Davis has some great ideas for reenergizing college basketball.
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Make college basketball a one semester sport.
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This is a great story.
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Jameis Winston files for trademark on 'Famous Jameis'.
Sunderland's Adam Johnson is in some huge trouble.
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Wow. Aaron Hernandez is a stone cold killer.
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Jon Stewart made me laugh last night on Monday Night Raw.
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Things got ugly last night after Texas/Baylor.
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The next time you snicker at Judge Judy, just remember she's knocking down $47 million per year after signing a new deal yesterday.
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I'll admit it. Mark Cuban is a guilty pleasure.
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Oklahoma blew a 20 point lead with 15 minutes left in losing at Iowa State last night. The win gives Kansas its 11th consecutive Big Ten Title. They clinched at least a share last night. That's some amazing consistency. The Sooners had an all time choke job last night. They were actually up 21 at one point before losing 77-70. That's a 28 point swing, a 49-22 run in the second half. Kansas has now won 15 of 17 regular season conference titles. At what point do you quit hanging banners? They're going to run out of room up there in Fog Allen.
Winners and losers at the NHL trade deadline. Notice you won't see the Preds here but you will see my Flyers.
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Great to see Brent Hubbs back on VolCalls last night. Brent we are pulling for you man. Great to have you back on the scene.
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Tony