Quick Note before we begin. If you're in the neighborhood tomorrow I'll be playing with the Fountain City Ramblers Thursday night at Clancy's Tavern and Whiskey House on Gay Street Thursday night from 7-9p. Spread the word. We're going to have a great time! Hope you can make it down. We have a varied set list touching all genres but majoring in fun. I'm even going to sing a song or two including Bartender's Blues along with Jim Croce's Operator. Lance, David, and yours truly would love to see you there. Mrs. B will buy your first beer if you ask nicely.
New replay rules in the SEC. What does this mean? We'll talk about it today. Cinco has some thoughts.
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Pop up the popcorn. Grab a Moosehead. The opening weekend of college football is going to be wonderful TV.
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Go Coleman Thomas go!
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Really smart stuff here from Tennessee.
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This fan base is CRAZY for football. Tech fan will be outnumbered at least 2 to 1 in Bristol. Book that.
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Hatfield's Nine
Tony,
Playoff action coupled with big off the field news for one of Tennessee's major rivals makes for an interesting couple of days. The spectacle of the NBA Draft Lottery provided some comic relief.
1. This summer evaluation period will be huge for the future of Tennessee basketball. The perimeter is fortified, but help in the post is desperately needed.
2. Alabama may be facing a crisis on its offensive line. If Cam Robinson is gone, they become very inexperienced across the front.
3. Rougned Odor got a raw deal. His reaction to a dirty slide by Jose Bautista did not merit an eight game suspension.
4. The Atlanta Braves are officially out of business til their new stadium is open. They'll be able to hand count the crowds the rest of the season.
5. The resurrection of the Sixers began in earnest last night. Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram are the star talent they've been chasing with their tanking the last few seasons.
6. The Lakers got fortunate. Falling out of the top three and losing their pick would have been a disaster for a team desperate for an influx of talent.
7. Cleveland has the look of a team who can go toe to toe with whichever Western Conference powerhouse reaches The Finals. They appear to have gelled at exactly the right time.
8. Golden State faces their own mortality in Game 2 tonight. Another home loss would spell doom for them.
9. The NHL playoffs are delivering once again. Both semifinals have the look of seven game series.
Be sure and join us at Clancy's on Thursday night for the downtown debut of The Tony Basilio Band. It promises to be a great deal of fun.
Keith
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Now it's time for a new Wednesday feature from Brian Hartman, producer of the Tony Basilio Show. We call this On The Other Side of The Glass.
On The Other Side of The Glass
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Play Bama twice?
If the 2016 Tennessee football season goes like many fans hope and expect, the Vols will have a December date in Atlanta. (Before I can think about Atl, they have to end the beyond ridiculous losing streak to Florida. But that is another blog for another time). Until I see otherwise, I am expecting their partner to be Alabama. (assuming the Vols do end the streak vs Fla) LSU is getting plenty of hype, but it is hard to trust their QB play. LSU's offense has been tailor made for a defense like Alabama's to match up extremely well against in recent times. Since Tennessee is going to be picked to win the East, the traditional 3rd Saturday in October match up could be repeated in the first week of December.
I've got to keep it real. It will be VERY difficult to beat a Nick Saban coached team twice in one season. I'll believe it when I see it. I would gladly sacrifice the October date in Neyland if it means Tennessee can win the rematch in December. That assumes that an October loss to the Tide doesn't prevent the Vols from winning the East. It would be a real shame to finally end Alabama's 9 game winning streak on Oct 15th, only to have it cancelled out 7 weeks later. Then it would feel like the win in October never really happened. Something to think about as the season draws nearer over the summer months.
Baseball:
There could very well be a coaching change involving the baseball program. 5 straight sub 500 SEC records with ZERO NCAA tournament appearances doesn't equal a 6th opportunity most of the time. If Dave Serrano does have to be replaced, Chris Burke should be strongly considered for the job. When the job was open in 2011, Burke's lack of coaching experience was a good reason to go with Dave Serrano, who had led two different programs to the CWS. 5 yrs later, Burke still has no head coaching experience, but he has many more connections due to his work at ESPN than he did 5 years ago. He has seen up close how other successful programs are run. He knows how to work with young players with his instructional academy that he runs. He knows where to find top prospects Chris Burke loves Tennessee much more than most, and would bring youthful enthusiasm with a strong desire to make his alma mater great at baseball again.
NBA:
I like the Warriors and Cavs in 6 games. The Thunder will not be pushed aside without a fight. Even before last night's Cavs blowout it seemed giving Toronto 2 games might be a tad bit generous.
Final note: With their win last night, Vol Baseball finishes 10-2 versus in-state opponents in the regular season. This is including 2-1 vs Memphis and 2-1 vs Vanderbilt. Make sense? Yeah. I didn't think so.
Brian
Great to see Rick Barnes taking laps up at Bristol Motor Speedway yesterday. I sure hope he starts finding some players. It's neat that he's a big NASCAR fan and that he's getting to finish his career in NASCAR country and all but......
Has there ever been a dumber off field incident/arrest than Cam Robinson's? Here's a guy that decides to go to a public park and get high at 2 in morning with a stolen hand gun in his car. Possession of a stolen handgun in Louisiana carries a minimum one year in jail. Robinson was projected to be a top 5 pick in next spring's NFL draft. Now he's heading for a cameo in the Longest Yard III.
Team Tony Basilio's Roster For The Weekend
Clay Carver
Billy Jarvis
Randy Sharpe
Dave Locke
Andy Loy
Roget
Assistant Coach
Tom Marine
Head Coach
Tony Basilio
Wanna play? E-Mail me commonfan@gmail.com
A musical giant left us yesterday in Guy Clark. An artist’s artist if ever there was one. An amazing talent. He wrote a songbook worth of classics.
Five Essential Guy Clark Compositions:
Desperados Waiting For A Train
LA Freeway: Jerry Jeff kills this live!
She Ain't Goin' Nowhere
Homegrown Tomatoes
That Old Time Feeling: Give me some Emmy Lou on harmony vocals.
3 More For The Road
The Randall Knife: Terrific lyrics about loss
Boats To Build: From 1992 off LP of same name.
The Last Gunfighter Ballad: Features Waylon on harmony vocals.
I'm a conspiracy guy all the way. Here's what I believe happened with the NBA lottery last night. The 76ers were forced at mid-season to bring on Jerry Colangelo and faze out Sam Hinkie after the Sixers became a tanking eyesore. Philly lost every game possible in the past 3 seasons with very little to show for their efforts. It was so bad that guys like Jordan McRae that could've helped them were either released or shipped to the D League. Finally, after cacophonous complaining from fellow owners, the league forced the 76ers to act. Now, I'm not one to believe in such things, but what are the chances that the 76ers win the draft lottery finally a few weeks after Sam Hinkie was shown the door? Plus Brian Colangelo is the new GM of the team as Jerry practiced a little league orchestrated nepotism. Here's the problem I've always had with the draft lottery. They don't do the drawing in front of the cameras. Why not? What is there to hide? I've never understood this. Shouldn't the league want transparency? Of course Boston and LA landed in the top 3 last night. What else did you think would happen?
That OKC/Golden State series is about to get very interesting. I agree with Brian Hartman. That series is either going to go 6 or 7. Don't sleep on Billy Donovan. He's got those guys playing. Role players are stepping up. I still believe the winner of the west will win it all.
RIP Guy Clark.
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