Talking Points: So much for that.

Every day in the life of a UT fan seems like a new experience.  First, we're getting used to leading the SEC.  Second, we find ourselves playing the #1 team for the right to become #1 ourselves.  Then we're #1!  (Woo!)  Then we get to defend #1.

Now we know what it feels like to lose the #1 ranking.  As an avid football fan, it's a little odd to me that a loss wouldn't be the end of the world, but that's indeed the case in this crazy basketball world we find ourselves in.  Opinions abound on the subject, and while I had the chance to recap my feelings in the Post Game thread, here are the thoughts of a few bloggers around the land:

• Ghost of Neyland from 3rd Saturday in Blogtober (typo fixed. gah. --hooper) has an immediate postgame analysis in his usual prose of clarity and insight.
• Fulmer's Belly is a little more blunt about the loss.  (I feel the pain, bro.)
• BruceBall Blog has some health advice.  In retrospect, he's got a point.
• VolNation provides a very interesting insight Pearl's impact.  This would have fit better in yesterday's Talking Points, but late is better than never.
• Lawvol from Gate 21 generously provides his take here at RTT - insight you'll find nowhere else! (It's the post below this one if you haven't already read it. Feel free to leave comments for his post on his post.)
• READER REQUEST: If you know of a clean, insightful Vanderbilt blog, please provide a link in the Comments.  This game meant a lot to them, too, and I'd like to link an article or two from the other side if somebody's writing good analysis over the game.  It's always good to get the flipside of a story.  I'll bump the link here (with credit, of course) if it's appropriate to bump.

• the Worldwide Leader writes the usual.  Currently, their men's basketball front page refers to Vandy as "State Champs" due to ESPN's phenomenally short memory.
• SI's coverage of the game seems to imply that the Vols handled postgame very well.  Granted, we weren't defending an undefeated streak, but it's good to see the team keeping perspective.
• Ratings for the Memphis game were unbelievably high.  In case the 30.9 makes no sense to you, a Memphis site translates the numbers into actual viewers.  Nielsen loves them some Tennessee state basketball.

• Keep an eye on A Sea of Blue for Wildcat perspective on Sunday's upcoming game.  Tru runs a fantastic site, and several of his commenters provide great insight. They'll be pumped for Sunday's SEC East-deciding game.

Just remember, this is the best the Vols have ever been in school history.  There's still a lot to go, and this loss doesn't have to imply the end of the magic.  We have Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina, the SEC tourney, and the NCAA tourney to enjoy.  Vandy earned their time in the sun; let's look forward to the next adventure.

UPDATE [2008-2-26 10:47:00 by hooper]Almost completely unrelated to the previous links: MoonDogLeft from The World According to MoonDog has a terrific article on Copyright Law with regards to blogs. It's written for the layman even though it includes a lot of legal info and links. If you get a free moment, I'd recommend reading through it to get a better feel of this subject. With all the cross-linking and fact-checking that goes on in blogs, copyrights are something to have a good general feel about. We don't all need to be lawyers, but having a vague sense of the boundaries helps us all to maintain a clean and family-friendly environment.