Talking Points: No-sir-ee edition

by Joel Hollingsworth on Jul 1, 2008 7:50 AM EDT in Tennessee Volunteer Football

No-time-for-Saban Darris Sawtelle (RTT#12) will miss the upcoming season while recuperating from two arthroscopic surgeries. Dude will have two new shoulders come 2009.
GVX's Mike Strange doesn't understand what it takes to play in the NBA. He's not alone.
Coach Pearl is coaching a team in the 18th World Maccabi Games, a "spiritual, cultural and athletic experience for Jewish athletes." Put the man in charge of the Mossad, and we'd have world peace in 2010.
Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith are preparing for the NBA Summer League, whatever that is. Lofton is trying to choose between two teams, one of which is believed to be the Charlotte Bobcats due to the Buzz Peterson connection, and Smith is getting interest from both Dallas and Indiana. Or maybe it's Boston and Indiana. (Look at the URL; Ooh! Mystery! Intrigue! Error!)
Volquest has a great in-depth feature on Emmanuel Negedu, who sounds like a promising young man.
CBSSportsline's Dennis Dodd has left John Chavis off his list of the NCAA's top six linebacker coaches. Huh? Let's see: Al Wilson, Leonard Little, Jerod Mayo, Kevin Burnett, Raynoch Thompson, Eric Westmoreland, Darryl Hardy, Eddie Moore, Omar Gaither. Show me a linebacker coach better at getting guys ready for the NFL.
Also from CBSSportsline: UCLA's Norm Chow is the No. 1 offensive coordinator in the nation.
Tennessee just missed on Bruce Feldman's list of the ten most difficult out of conference schedules this season.
Southeastern Sports Blog relives the 1998 Tennessee-Florida game:

When Cooper's kick went up and drifted left, from our perspective it was "well, maybe..." and then you see the section of Vol fans directly behind and to the left of the goalposts start going nuts. And there's that 0.5 second moment where everyone in the stadium takes a breath, one big inhale before letting out more noise than I've ever heard in my entire life.

I remember saying "He missed it!" and then being conscious of not being able to hear the words come out of my mouth.

I said it again and didn't hear it again.

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Odd list from Feldman

I won’t question any of his team placements (it’s anybody’s guess, after all) but I am piqued a little by his explanations.

First, he brings up a curious point in media logic: why is Virginia always considered a near-elite? If the USC schedule is downgraded so much by a “down year” for UVA, what was he expecting the Cavaliers to be like? Honestly, a good year for Virginia is the exception.

Ditto for Notre Dame. He’s obviously expecting a huge turnaround from them. That’s not impossible by any means, but it doesn’t fit into the recent history.

Bonus points for East Carolina for filling out an impressive OOC schedule in true Georgia fashion: traveling about sixteen blocks their OOC games. Except they actually make a decent schedule out of it.

No mention of Alabama and their Clemson game. Interesting.

But all in all, there are probably more top-tier teams in that list than most people would expect. Good to see.

by David Hooper on Jul 1, 2008 8:10 AM EDT reply actions

UF 98

The realization that we might actually win the game didn’t once enter into my mind until it had already become reality. I was in the 7th row and by the time my feet touched grass, the south goalpost was toast.

by spiritofthehill on Jul 1, 2008 3:13 PM EDT reply actions