Apropos for Tennessee to lose like that last night to close their season. They fought hard as they did all year but the Vols did just enough bad stuff to lose. You just knew that when that Vol base runner was picked off in the top of the 9th with Tennessee leading 4-3 that Tennessee was going to lose. And lose they did. LSU's leadoff hitter smoked a 2-2 pitch out of the park to tie the game at 4. From there Tennessee was only able to record one out before LSU won on a bases loaded single. LSU was trying to gift the Vols a berth into the double elimination round as they started a kid that had worked less than 4 innings all year and followed him up with a couple of less than stellar arms. Tennessee couldn't take advantage and win the game despite flashing some pretty good defense.


The Vols had 3 put outs at home that were huge plays but they made mental mistakes when it counted most. A base runner can't be picked off like that in the 9th while a ball got by Tennessee's catcher that allowed the eventual winning run to reach 3rd with only one out in the 9th. When this happened you just knew it was curtains. If the curtain falls on Dave Serrano his epitaph should read. 'Serrano 2011-2106 Looked Great On Paper, Not On The Field.' The worst part about this is that Serrano is a really great guy. It's a shame his teams just perfected the art of the close loss. The ball is now in the hands of the unpredictable Dave Hart.








This stinks for Joe Young. Link





Trace: I was expecting the win total to be 9.5. At that # you would expect action on both sides. If Vegas is truly trying to encourage action going both ways, why would they set the vig so high? It just doesn't make sense. Are they trying to sucker huge Tennessee $$$ into playing that over. Is this a sucker bet akin to a high point spread in a mid-November conference game? Then again Vegas is asking $140 if you want to try and win $100. Amazing to consider how much they apparently like this team in 2016. I say apparently because with Vegas we've learned that everything is sleight of hand. Motive is always a mystery with those folks. Or should I say the only motive is $$$.



Question: Will you put up $140 to win $100 on Tennessee finishing with 11 or 12 wins in 2016? My answer is _____________.





Yes Mike you did attend a Thursday night game in Louisville. Andy Kelly hit Carl Pickens to begin the game and it was all over but the shouting from there. That game was played in an old minor league baseball stadium. I was reminiscing with Chris Burke about this game earlier in the week through text messages. Apparently that stadium was a real dump compared to the modern digs Louisville currently enjoys. If you remember, Louisville was riding high after trashing Alabama in a New Year's Day bowl game in 1991. They thought Tennessee was going to roll over for them on ESPN. It didn't work out that way. Arron Hayden and Little Man Stewart ran behind a stout Tennessee offensive line that broke the will of Howard Schnellenberger's Cardinals.










MC: Great hearing from you. Call it what you will but I'm fascinated with old school wrasslin' because it truly mattered to the fabric of our society. Beau James was riveting in discussing the impact on East Tennessee on the entire world of wrestling as well as wrestling on East Tennessee. To think that on any Friday night 1/4 of the population of Knoxville was at a professional wrestling match is confounding. And I meet people every day that were moved by Ron & Don Wright and many of their contemporaries. It was real to me dammit.



BTW, if you want to check out Beau James' latest book, here's his web site. Really fun stuff here. Link










You think some stars of tomorrow are on display at the SEC Tournament?

ESPN's Keith Law has Florida's AJ Puk going #1 overall to the Phillies with Nick Senzel going 6th overall to Oakland. Hudson from Miss State is projected 10th to Chicago White Sox with Georgia's Tyler slotted to St Louis at 23rd. And what would the first round be without Vanderbilt as Sheffield is projected 34 to St Louis. Here's what I believe. Anybody St. Louis takes will be able to play. Anybody the Phillies take will have some sort of hidden malady like leg length discrepancy.


LSU. Are you buying or selling? Possibly 7 first round picks and lots of skeptics. Link


It's time for my producer Brian Hartman's turn as we go Through The Glass With Brian Hartman.




Brian: I'm with you. If you're going to move the game from Saturday, move it to Sunday PERMANANTLY. We missed our chance to do this. Mike Hamilton told me back in the day after 2004 that Tennessee caught a lot of flak from area churches for scheduling the game on Sunday Night. I believe the Sunday game should've been made our own tradition as part of Boomsday weekend. Of course Boomsday is now gone too so oh well.


Glad to see Josh Hart returning to Villanova for another season. That's good for college hoops.

Congrats Coach Cutcliffe. Link


Click and smile....Link


Coming tomorrow: Inside Cape Neyland. How Tennessee fares against first year football coaches in the past quarter century.


Final Thought: OKC versus Toronto might put the NBA back to the future. The #'s will be so bad that games could end up back in tape delay beginning after your nightly news. This was the NBA of the late 70's. Truff. Personally I think it would be a great story but it would be a ratings nightmare if a Canadian team faced OKC.





Tony

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