Chest-bumped to the front.  A thorough writeup of a first impression by XRayVol.  [Note by hooper, 12/01/08 9:53 PM EST ]

 

I've been uncharacteristicly quiet about this this whole situation for a while because I was trying to sort out all my feelings about it. Ugh...feelings. Bleck!  Anyhoo...  I was also waiting to see who the new coach was going to be and gather my thoughts about him. I've seen. I've gathered. Here we go.

Firstly, I, as I'm sure most of us do, mourn the loss of The Papa. He was truly a great man and a great coach and I for one will sorely miss him. And yes, I cried when they carried him off the field. I don't care who anybody thinks they are, if you're a true Vol fan that was a VERY emotionally charged moment. Just ask Kiffin. He cried too. Or so he said. A great era has ended and it should be revered and honored as such. I wish Coach nothing but the best and hope to see him return as an intregal part of the University and the Program. So does Kiffin. Or so he says. And as of right now, that's enough of that.

 

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Rightly bumped to the front page.  Very well-deliberated thoughts from XRayVol.  Also, don't miss Getoffmyvols's take here.  --hooper

Hello RTT. Good to see y'all again. I've been uncharacteristically quiet over the last few weeks. Some of that is due to technical difficulties, some because, well to be honest, I didn't know what to say.

Over the last few weeks, I saw our team get handled by Florida and Georgia, underachieve at Auburn, come back to play a near perfect game with Miss. St. and go on to flummox with two big rivals. The season has been tumultuous to put it mildly. I have experienced sheer heartbreak this season, as I'm sure you all have. We couldn't not have.

One phrase, I think, can summarize this season:  "Technical Difficulties"

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As I said earlier, I'm restarting this little thing. Hope y'all enjoy it. But during the feetball season it will expectedly include thoughts about our team. So let's start with that.

Oh, and these points of interest aren't in any particular order.

I'm glad we won. Albeit unimpressively, a good win. I think a step in the right direction for the most part. However, some things piqued my interest.

That had to be, without a doubt, the MOST animated I have ever seen Phillip Fulmer on the sidelines. And I gotta tell ya. I LOVE it. Wanna see more of it. We NEED more of it. Papa has to get more involved during the games like he did Saturday. I think it's a key ingredient to our looming success.Chewing guys out, smacking helmets... Kids wanna see their coach be emotional. Tells them how much you care about what's going on. Good work Coach. Keep it up.

Why did I not see Brandon Warren become a target until the 4th quarter? Especially after Luke Stocker's performance, or lack thereof I should say. He needs more attention. Now.

Why didn't I see Austin Rogers catching passes over the middle? Is it just me or didn't that work for us last season?

I'm beginning to become quite concerned about Crompton's ability to perform under pressure. Given, this was a better show than UCLA, but he's still making too many mistakes, especially under duress. It seems like he's having trouble making decisions. Do I pull the ball down or throw it? Who do I throw it to? Uh-oh, here comes a rusher. Aahhh!! Just make a decision already. And make it a good one.

Speaking of which, and I know most of you don't want to say it, but... I liked what I saw from Nick Stephens. Yeah, yeah I know it was late in the game when their D was tired, but that doesn't take away from the good things he did. Just something to think about. That's all I'm saying.

Gotta run the ball more. Duh. Need to see more of Mo-Hard inside the Orange Zone. Oh, and I've officially opened the Lennon Creer Man Crush Club to prospective members. Come on in. We got lotsa goodies for ya. This kid is definitely the future and a strong addition to short down situations. I know, UAB's defense and all that. You cannot deny the kid's talent. I'd like to see some Wishbone with him and Mo-Hard. I think it could be devastating.

And last but definitely not least, we have got to tackle better. If we tackle like that against Florida, our goose is cooked. And in case you haven't seen my little avatar, beating Florida is supremely important to me. But if we can't tackle UAB, there's no WAY we can tackle Teblow or Harvin or just about any of their guys. Get to work Chief!

OK. Just some points to ponder. Things I hope that people getting paid to run this team are thinking about. Now, with that out of the way...

The men's Golf team tore it up in Georgia this weekend! Yeah buddy! The #10 ranked Golf team finished the 20th Annual Carpet Capital Collegiate tournament 5 under par to finish 2nd behind #12 Chattanooga. The guys ran into some trouble on Saturday but played well Sunday to jump 2 spots and finish 2nd. Congrats guys on a good opening tourney. Next up for the Vols is the PING/Golfweek Preview Invitational Sept. 28-30 in Toledo, Ohio. Go kick some butt fellas!

The #23 ranked Lady Vol Soccer team, however, did not have such a good weekend. The Lady Vols were shut out for the fourth time this season falling to Pepperdine 2-0 Friday. To add to ther woes, the Ladies then travelled to UC Santa Barbara Sunday only to fall again 2-1. Sorry Ladies. The Ladies fall to 2-5 on the season and will finish out their non-conference schedule Friday the 19th hosting Western Carolina. Good luck to y'all.

The Lady Vol-e-ballers split their weekend losing to #17 Illinois on Friday, 3 sets to 2. They then turned around and beat Dayton Sunday, 6 sets to 3. Dayton ended up winning the tourney however, by having the least points scored against them. The Ladies are now 5-4 on the season and begin their conference schedule next weeend with Mississippi State on Friday the 19th and then Alabama on Sunday. Go git 'em Ladies!

Well, that's about it for Around The Hill. Let's wish all our competitors luck in their upcoming contests. And as for the Gaytors... I hope we run all over them.

GO VOLS!!!

  Well, it's been awhile since I made any kind of significant contribution to this site. That has a lot to do with the turbulence I've been experiencing over the last few months. In July, I got a new job at a new hospital and had to move and get orientated and find a place and so forth. So some disorientation equalled an unexpected absence. I was going to do a week to week look ahaead at the teams we were going to be playing but that got moved to the backburner and then extinguished all together, unfortunately. Lucky for us we have other, more qualified people here to do that anyway. Lots of other things had to take a backseat to the life change but it's all but gotten at least somewhat back to normal now and I should be able to return to doing some things that I had to let go for a bit. But I digress...

  I'm not going to take this opportunity to vent about UCLA. Even though I'd like to, I'm pretty sure everything that's needed to be said has already and I'd just be reenforcing what's already been covered. I have just as many questions and doubts as you do and they've all pretty much been covered in previous posts by more eloquent writers. All I will say is that I'm keeping a close eye on John Chavis and PRAYING that JC gets his game legs and wits about him and soon! Oh, and O-Line - I'm looking at you. And I'm looking hard.

  Last Spring I started a little thing called "Around The Hill" where I took a week to week look at the "other" sports being participated in by our athletes. I got an e-mail from The Hoop asking me if I would be reviving said contribution and the answer is, yes, I will.

  So far this fall, there aren't a whole lot of other sports being played right now. The men's Golf team starts their fall this Friday (tomorrow) in Rocky Face, Georgia at the 20th annual Carpet Capital Collegiate tournament. UT coach Jim Kelson calls it, "...the Master's of collegiate golf." With ten top-25 teams and several others, this looks to be a big test for the Vols. Let's wish them the best and I should have a recap for you on Sunday.

  As for the Ladies, the only sports in action right now are Volleyball and Soccer. As of right now, the Lady Vol Soccer team is 2-3 and plays at Pepperdine tomorrow night and has a match at UC Santa Barbara Sunday evening.  I'll keep an eye on that and let you know something Sunday, hopefully. If I can complete coherent thoughts. The Lady Vol-leyball team has played 2 tourneys so far and is 3-3. They open their home slate tomorrow morning vs. Gardner-Webb and has Illinios at 7 in the pm. They play Dayton Sunday at 1 pm. Again, given the ability to hold my head up, I'll have some kind of report. If not then, then Monday.

  Thanks to The Hoop for the proverbial kick in the can to get this back on track. I'll do my best to keep you abreast of off-beat action amidst my unbelievable dedication to the Feetball. And by dedication, I mean self-progenated reason for somewhat irresponsible imbibing of adult beverages disguised as superstitious support of our Football team who as of right now appears to need all the support it can get. Good news for my local red-dot. Bad news for the liver.

  I'm the XrayVol and this has been Around The Hill. Stay tuned. Things are just warming up.

I have a question for either Joel or Hoop. If I write something in another format, say Word, can I transfer it into a FanPost? Is it as easy as just copying and pasting? Or is something else required? I'd like to write a piece about the upcoming season but it'll be too long to do directly so I figured I'd do it in Word and transfer it is that's posible. I remember y'all talking about this when we first switched over but I can't remember. BTW, why does this Post have to be 75 words long? Thanks.

Apparently, Kenny O'Neal couldn't quite make the grades and will be transferring. Where? Who knows. I hate to lose this kid. He could've been something special with his 4.24 speed but I guess we'll never know. See KNS for story. Dangit!

Chest bumped to the front. -- ed.

Before we get to the Action from Around the Hill, a Big Orange welcome to Bobby Maze who signed to play B-Ball for us last week. His services are greatly welcomed as we need all the good guard play we can get. Pull on that Orange and go to work!

Well, there's a good bit of news from Around the Hill today, most of it from the Ladies' end.

But let's start with the men, which is a good news/bad news situation. First the good news:

The #8 Men's Tennis Team (23-3) had an excellent weekend at their NCAA Regional not dropping a set during their dismantling of Furman (16-11) 4-0 and Va. Tech (16-9) 4-0. UT started both matches off by winning the doubles point, continuing UT's undefeated mark (21-0) when winning the point. Now that the boys have cruised through their Regional, it's off to Tulsa, OK to join the other 15 teams slated to play for the National Championship. The Vols will start off playing 9th seeded Baylor at 1 pm this Friday the 16th. Tennis-ee is on a roll and should fare well in Tulsa. Let's wish them the best and hope they pull it out. GO VOLS!!!

On a more somber note:

Some, if not all, of you probably heard about the woodshed whoopin' we got from Kentucky on Sunday. The 20-5 debacle ended the home series in which UT failed to win a game, falling to 25-27 (11-16 SEC) and prolonging an almost epic slide from the once promising BaseVols, who at one point in the season were only 3 games out of first in the SEC and are now in last place in the East. The boys will face Furman in Greenville, SC Tuesday and then go to Columbia to play S. Carolina this weekend. UT's home record stands at 19-13 for the season. I'm not sure what kind of chances the team has now for the CWS but judging by their play lately, it's not good. Sorry boys, maybe next year.

Again, on the Ladies' side the news is good/bad so we'll start with the good:

A small number of the #19 Lady Vol Track and Field Team went down to Georgia to compete in the GA Invitational and had a very good day Friday. The Ladies entered in 6 events and won 4 of them. The wins came in the shotput, pole vault, the 1,500 meters, and we placed 1 and 2 in the discus. A fine day for the Ladies, congratulations!

Now for the rest:

The Lady Vol Golf Team ended it's season this Saturday in the 3rd round of the NCAA East Regional when they failed to shoot their way into the top 8, finishing 16th. This is the first time in five years that the Ladies won't be playing for the National Championship. Sorry Ladies. Florida won the team title finishing one stroke ahead of 3 time and defending national champion Duke. I don't need to tell y'all how unhappy that makes me. AArrgghh!

The #25 Lady Vol Tennis Team (15-9) took out #36 Illinois (12-11) 4-0 on Friday, dropping only 3 sets in #1, #2, and #5 singles (all three matches going unfinished as they weren't needed for the win). Unfortunately, they turned around and got drummed 4-0 by #3, defending national champ, Ga. Tech (21-5) Saturday afternoon. The loss ends the season for the Ladies at 15-10, a respectable record which ties for the most wins by them in the last 5 years. On the bright side, the future for Lady Tennis-ee looks very good with a lot of returning young talent who should make next season very interesting. Also, two Ladies, Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor will travel to Tulsa May 21-26 to compete in the NCAA Individual Championships. They will play doubles together and Ms. Whoriskey will also play singles. Best of luck to both these Ladies and let's hope they do well.

And lastly, the Lady Vol Softballers did just what I wanted and whooped GA 5-2 on Thursday, completing the season sweep of the Dirty Dawgs. Gotta love beating GA at anything! However, unfortunately, the Ladies turned around and got beat by the only other more un-holy school in the East. Yup, the doggone Gaytors. #14 UT (47-14) lost 6-1 to #1 FLA (61-2) Friday evening in the semi's of the SEC Tourney, ending their season. The good news, however, is that the Ladies have been given a national #13 seed in the NCAA's and have been granted a Regional to host! This will be the 4th consecutive year the Ladies have hosted a Regional in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately though, it's no cake walk. The Vols' Regional will include Big South Champion Winthrop (36-17), Louisville (30-21), and ACC Champion Va. Tech (44-15). UT will start off the weekend with Winthrop at 5 pm on Friday the 16th. If the Lady Vols get through the weekend, they will face 4th seeded Michigan (48-6) in a best of three series at a Super Regional for the right to go to Oklahoma City. This is UT's sixth NCAA Regional and their 5th consecutively. UT has made three straight trips to the Women's CWS finishing 3rd in 2005 and 2006 and 2nd last year. Let's wish them luck and hope they make it a fourth straight trip. GO VOLS!!!

That's all the Action. Like I said, some good, some not so good, but we still have a few irons in the fire so to speak. It's not summer just yet.

GO VOLS!!!!

The weekly chest bump to the front for XRayVol's Around the Hill.

Well, before I get into the Action from the weekend, a few things I'd like to comment on first.

1. Marvin Harrison may have shot somebody this week... wait. What!? MARVIN HARRISON WHAT!? No. This has to be a joke, right? Or maybe just a misunderstanding. Yeah, a misunderstanding. He was probably just somewhere near where a shooting took place. Yeah. And they won't be able to connect him to it. Sure. Just a big misundersanding. Marvin Harrison would never be involved wih something like that. What? The gun? Belongs to him? Awww, crap!  It's always the quiet ones.
2. Ryan Perriloux. This would probably be better news except that the guy who's behind him is supposedly a Matt Flynn type and said to be quite good at his job. Not that we'll see LSU except in Hotlanta but still...
3. Chris Lofton. I'm sure I can't say anything about this guy that hasn't already been said in the last few days, but it doesn't matter because there aren't enough accolades or praises or just plain positive adjectives in the English langage to do this young man justice. Seriously, on the list of all-time most admirable Volunteers, or just people period, Chris Lofton stands alone. He has become my all-time favorite, and like Joel said, the model that I would teach my kids to strive for. Nothing but love and the best of luck to him in the future, which I'm sure will be bright.

Okay. Just had to get all that out of my system. Now, not a whole lot going on Around the Hill right now but I'll give ya what I got.

The BaseVols had a rough weekend dropping three straight to the Commodores in Knoxville despite a ninth inning rally in the third game Sunday. This was the first home SEC series lost this season by the Vols (25-23, 11-13 SEC) and adds to an already concerning skid. The Vols will host Kentucky this weekend for the final home series before finishing at South Carolina the next. With a couple of games inbetween, that'll do it for this season with the SEC Tourney next, beginning on May 21. Let's hope the boys pull it together for this stretch before the tournament.

The men's Tennis team begins NCAA Tournament play this Saturday the 10th at 11 AM vs. Furman. Let's look out for that. The boys should get through the weekend okay but let's wish 'em luck anyhow.

That's all the men's Action but for the women...

The #25 Lady Vol Tennis Team (14-8) will begin NCAA Tournament play at Ga. Tech this Friday at 3 PM vs. #36 Illinois (12-10). UT already beat Ill. in January 6-1 and if they win will face the winner of #3 Ga. Tech vs. Alcorn St. The Yellow Jackets are mounting a defense of their 2007 National Championship and will be difficult for the Lady Vols to get past. This is UT's 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance which is admirable in itself. Let's wish the ladies luck and hope they can pull out the upset.

The #12 Lady Vol Softball Team (46-13, 14-12 SEC) also had a tough weekend on the diamond dropping all three of their games with #2 FLA (59-2, 27-1 SEC) including a 3 hour and 47 minute, 11 inning marathon on Saturday night (remember, they only play 7 innings). That series ended the Lady Vol's regular season and they will play next on Thursday, May 8 in their opening round of the SEC Tournament in Baton Rouge. The #4 seeded Vols will face #5 seed Georgia at high noon (insert whistle from Eastwood movie here). Let's hope they beat the far out them Dirty Dawgs!

Well, that's it from Around the Hill for now. See there Hoop, on time! I'll let y'all know somethin' when I know somethin'. Till then... GO VOLS!!!