Talking points: you go fight some mo!

by Joel on May 11, 2009 7:56 AM EDT in Rocky Top Talking Points Comment 1 comment

Tennessee football

The Number of the Day is 11. Somebody must have sent out a memo or something because every major online news outlet has a story on the fact that 11 players have left the program since Lane Kiffin took over. The last four out were Tyler Maples, Ahmad Paige, B.J. Coleman, and Darris Sawtelle. John Adams says not to fret, because the team didn't really lose all that much and because it's a relatively minor negative side effect of a bigger positive: Lane Kiffin's brutal candor with his players. Also, 11 Vol football players will be working on a master's degree this fall. Good for them. Good for the five more who will be finishing a second undergraduate degree, too.
No hard feelings. Former Vol linebacker and GA Kevin Simon, who worked for the new Kiffin regime for about seven weeks before ultimately being let go and then taking a position as a scout for the Dallas Cowboys, has nothing but good things to say about Kiffin. He thinks Tennessee shouldn't lose more than three or four games. This year. Really.
Former Vol Mark Jones has signed as a free agent with the Tennessee Titans and is looking forward to an opportunity to replace Chris Carr as the Titans' return man. Who else besides me misses that dude?
An under-the-radar innovation. One of Tennessee's new GAs -- read, not- or under-paid football coach -- is Mitch Browning, who has 27 years' experience. Browning decided that the opportunity to work essentially for free under Monte Kiffin was better than any other opportunity out there for a guy with great experience, and it's a great way for Lane Kiffin to add more experience to the coaching roster than any other program in the country.
Twenty questions. Tom Mattingly recounts some of the more interesting questions he's been asked about Tennessee football over the years.

Tennessee basketball

Dane Bradshaw and Clint Dowdle are having a basketball camp June 29-July 3 at Farragut Middle School. Follow the link for more information.

SEC

Mark Richt has suspended two players for multiple games. Junior tight end Bruce Figgins loses six games and sophomore defensive end Justin Houston loses two games, reportedly for violating Georgia's substance abuse policy.

NCAA

Tomahawk Nation does some heavy lifting in looking at FSU's rushing defense the way it should be viewed: without accounting for sacks.
Rick Pitino is apparently not interested in the Sacramento Kings job after all.
And a little something to get you started this Monday morning (chest bump to Gate 21 for the find):

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Eleven's Everywhere

The Associated Press wrote a story on the 11 players who UT left for various reasons. Here’s what likely happened. The AP writer had a deadline and no good original ideas because we are in the doldrums. The writer scanned the older but still-recent articles by UT beat writers and local papers using Lexis Nexis (Kiffin’s name, UT Football, latest stories, etc).

The AP writer then re-writes the unoriginal story, adding in their own quotes or spin. Then the AP puts it out there electronically to a media subscriber base. Because it’s the Associated Press, the article gets picked up by a bazillion outlets – sometimes with a different headline, or fewer paragraphs or without the AP writer’s name on it.

It’s the ultimate in lazy journalism, but that’s how most papers (print and electronic) get filled these days. In the Memphis Sports section, for example, you may have three or four original columns on a Sunday compared to 90% canned material from the wire services.

You probably weren’t really asking how it works, but that’s how it works.

by memphispete on May 11, 2009 6:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs