Continuing with this “Summer of Love” (especially while I am out chasing my butt until, at least, the end of June), I want to give a big shout out to what I consider to be the best message board on the web for Tennessee fans: Smash South Sports.

Smash South Sports (or SSS) is a top-flight outfit which — in my opinion — succeeds in areas where others fail: maintaining balance.

There are numerous message boards out there, and typically they are either the sort where only the most true-blue “homers” who never question anything about the program are welcome, or they are a ranting-and-raving free-for-all inhabited primarily by those who simply want to flame away and complain about anything and everything they dislike about a given subject.

In other words, most message boards are either pure white bread or something akin to a leisurely stroll through hell…

That is what makes SSS different. It is unfiltered — so you can speak your mind freely without the unnecessary interference from overly aggressive moderators. I have never seen anyone get “moderated” due to the fact they take an unpopular or atypical position. By the same token, SSS is not a house of rants where all the posters do is complain and look for ways to call for the firing of coaches, the skewering of players, the burning of stadiums and so forth.

It is, however, a place which welcomes open discussion of a frank and often humorous nature. Furthermore, the community is one where the people get to know one another in the process of discussing all things related to Tennessee athletics, and beyond. I’ve tried a number of the message boards out there, and — in my book — SSS is the best when it comes to web forums following the Vols and the SEC.

On top of all of this, SSS has one board known as the Fark Factory, dedicated to the creation and sharing of farks (a/k/a photoshopped images) related to Tennessee and SEC sports. The Fark Factory was the recipient of the 2007 College Football Blogger Award for the Best Photoshop for the now legendary “Fark of the Covenant” which pitted the best photoshop artists for Tennessee against those from LSU in the run-up to the 2007 SEC Football Championship Game. The Fark of the Covenant is perpetually preserved at SSS, and many of the farks from that thread are also on display at Gate 21’s own Tennessee Home for the Visually Offensive for your viewing pleasure.

At any rate, if you’re looking for a great Tennessee Message board, give SSS a look. It bills itself as “the message board for the fans … by the fans.” I think it delivers.

– Go Figure …

**Disclosure: While Gate 21 and Smash South Sports both feature hyperlinks to one another, neither site, their parent companies, editors, nor webmasters receive any payment or other compensation of any type or kind in return those links. Furthermore, neither Gate 21 nor lawvol received any compensation for this review, which was not requested or solicited by Smash South Sports. This “Shout Out” represents the actual opinion of the author (for what that is worth) and was in no way influenced by any other person.

About the Author:  "Lawvol" -- I'm just a guy living in North Carolina who has an unnatural fascination with the color orange. Just because I'm a Tennessee alum and die-hard Volunteer fan doesn't mean that I can't poke a little fun at the Big Orange and anybody else for that matter. Feel free to complain all you want. >> Read more from this author

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