Observations From Tennessee Mizzou:

Tennessee got pulled into a street fight last night and for the first 25 minutes they were getting beaten up badly.

Cuonzo's guys play TOUGH on defense. Much tougher than they did here in Knoxville.

Nicodemus Christopher's (AKA Whoopie Gold's Gym) hair was on fleek last night.

The Tubbs were right where they belonged last night. Directly behind Tennessee's bench. Do they get paid to attend all these events? Because they should. Such great fans and pseudo mascots.





Officiating in the first half last night was exactly as the game should be called. Let the guys play. Twice the game went WAY past the TV timeout. In fact with 2:09 to play was when the second TV timeout was taken. I've never seen that and it made the game feel more like a scrimmage.


Tennessee is so well coached on offense. They are really becoming a very nice team.


Admiral Schofield has is developing into the MVP of this team.


Cuonzo Martin allows his guys some offensive freedom they didn't have during his Tennessee days.


Tennessee did a nice job using the clock in most positions.


Jordan Bone's change of pace dribble is coming.


Tennessee's defense failed them at times last night. Mizzou got a few too many looks in close for comfort.


Porter's little brother has a horrible looking jump shot.


Cuonzo Martin looks so hard in that beard. Gawwww. That cat looks like Isaac Hayes on the Hot Buttered Soul LP Cover. Link


As a hoops fan it was fun to see some energy in that arena last night. Mizzou should have a good basketball team. Good for them.


27 All at the half and it wasn't that pretty.


Teams combined for 8 fouls in first half.


Vols didn't score from the 1:44 mark to the first all the way till 15:23 left in the game. Hard to win when you do that on the road.


Vols took a brief lead but Mizzou turned it up on Tennessee in the second half.


Then Mizzou went 7:43 without scoring and the Vols got it to 1.


Cuonzo Martin looks like a perfect fit for that job.


Rick Barnes gets the best whistle of any coach that I've ever seen here. And I'm talking Pat Summitt included. He chews on refs from pillar to post and they come for him down the stretch time after time. Last night was no exception. As Tennessee was cutting into a 10 point deficit late several bang bang calls went Tennessee's way.


Mizzou Didn't make a field goal in final 6:40 and won 59-55.


That was a game for the ages. You live to be 150 and not see another one of those.


Glad To Be Done With Cuonzo: Tennessee won't see him again until maybe the SEC Tournament. This is a good thing. Though I must say, Cuonzo vs. the Vols was barely a footnote in the college hoops world.




Cuonzo's Tennessee Tenure In One Word: Purgatory: It wasn't exactly heaven and it wasn't hell. Just somewhere in between. Cuonzo was sooooo boring when he was here and his teams played uninspired basketball until that petition dropped.







If You Wrote That Petition: I want to invite you into the Ray Mears Studio to tell your story about how that thing exploded. We're doing a bunch of these the story behind the story podcasts. So, if you have any ideas/contacts to suggest for these features, please e mail me and I'll take it from there.


New Gate Twenty One: Our celebratory Gate Twenty One Podcast drops today with Tony Robinson discussing the 1985 Tennessee Auburn game (Click to listen).This one is sure to make you smile!!! Money back guarantee.


Next 'X' Cast: Will be Friday night. Live!!! I'll let you know the time in tomorrow’s blog. And yes, this show will be archived and will available on demand for you.



My Mother Always Said There Were Exceptions To Every Rule: No real sports fan wants to ever see anyone get injured....BUT Tom Brady hurting himself just a lil bit in practice yesterday....And MAYBE just enough to perhaps impact Sunday's game????? Would that hurt your feelings if Mr. Perfect injures his throwing hand???? Yeah. That's what I thought. I mean come on. Even if you're a Patriots fan you're bored to death with them. The Patriots are Yankee Bama (great line Beano). They're coached by a joyless wonder hell bent on world domination and will do anything to achieve this....Even cheat....Am I making this up???? I think not.



Yankees: Sorry Beano but the Yankees are the REAL Yankee Bama. Y'all have won too much for too long. It's disgusting that your rebuild consisted of a wildcard berth where you were one game away from the world series. That's really sickening.



Clemson: You were fun and all but Tennessee has a real coach and now you're annoying. Leave our players alone. Quit paying the top guys in our state and let us have them. It's time for you to know your role and get out of the way.



Red Sox: 2004 was mildly amusing but could any of us predict we would see the birth of something so sickening. EVERYTIME the Red Sox and Yankees play the national media tells us how important it is to the rest of us.



Ohio State: I liked them better when they were like Tennessee. Which is to say a program with a HUUUUGE fan base that turned out for some cool tradition, amazing players and hadn’t won a Natty in the black player era? I like them better when Earl Bruce was there. Jim Tressel started it and Urban Meyer has continued this sickening run. And those fans???? You talk about some obnoxious people. The best thing about 75 is that it goes north!!!



Duke Basketball: Absolutely sickening. Disgusting. Gross. Horrendous. I'm so sick of Coach K. He needs to go away and stay there. My favorite moment in any NCAA Tournament is when they get eliminated. My friend and family will tell you that this isn't an act. I'm not kidding here.



North Korea and South Korea might be joining forces in the Olympics but I want zero part of the above squads. ZERO!!!!



I'll say this right now as an Eagles fan....My guys are in the final four and this is a terrific accomplishment but I'd sacrifice the Eagles this weekend for someone other than New England to win the Super Bowl.






Tee Mail:


Vandy Joe!!! So great hearing from you. I agree with you. The Jennings deal smacks of desperation......for the WHOLE VANDY NATION and the REST OF THE HOOPTIE programs in the SEC. Tennessee is getting ready to ascend back to the top. And your correspondence is born of desperation because you know that Vandy's popcorn flatulence is the Tennessee series is OVER. FOREVER. JuJuan Jennings isn't a bad kid. He's just a guy that's needed to be led. And that hasn't happened here. His promo that he cut on Vandy prior to that game was one of the best things I've seen from a kid on that campus in the past 10 years because it was pure honesty. Not one of his words was coached or corporate. Everything he said was straight up fact. As far as I'm concerned, he's my kind of guy. I realize some of what he said might of gone over your phake elitist Vandy head but rest assured he doesn't like losing to y'all and neither do I. So YASSSS Vandy Joe!!! Give me the Fulmer Cup, and pass the SEC Championship on over while you're at it. Put that in your phake erudite pipe and smoke it.




On a serious note, this is heartbreaking. I can't imagine being this young man's family, friends and love ones today. Live is so precious. Link


Is Cade Mays going to play right away in Athens? He just might. Link


The rest of the NFC is saying yes...keep Sark. Link



I've always thought as Auburn as a warm Buffalo. I think this should work out. Link



Without Collin Sexton: Bama beat Auburn last night. Solid win for them. Pearl looked like he was getting ready to explode down the stretch in that one.



Final Thought...Takes One To Know One: Pat Bradley on the call of UT Mizzou last night was soooo annoying. That is one annoying Yankee. He NEVER and I mean NEVER shuts up. Sheesh.

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