It pretty much goes without saying that Jonathan Crompton’s journey as the Tennessee Volunteers’ quarterback  been a long and arduous one.  This Saturday, that journey moves one step closer to ending.

This weekend’s contest against Vanderbilt will be Crompton’s final home game for the orange and white and will be his one last chance to show the denizens of Neyland Stadium just how committed he has been to the fortunes of Tennessee football, how dedicated he has been to success as both a player and a leader, how much he has worked to become someone the Vols and their fans could be proud of.

It also represents the last time—perhaps the only time—for Tennessee fans of every stripe to show him just how much they appreciate him for what he has done.

Image via Wikipedia

Thus, I hope that all of you who make the trek to the game on Saturday will consider doing a little something special to show Crompton that we as the Vol Nation do appreciate his hard work, his effort, and his loyalty to the University of Tennessee.

I think it is the least that we as a fanbase can do.

In recognition of this, a special group has been formed on Facebook to celebrate Crompton’s contribution to Tennessee Football and to hopefully do a little something special for him on the Vol Walk this weekend.

For those of you out there who don’t recall, Crompton received death threats last season due to the Vols’ implosion.  Then, early this season, there were many who, again, questioned his abilities (including yours truly, I’m sad to say) and openly called for Lane Kiffin to bench the Vol senior in favor of reserve quarterback Nick Stephens.  This ignores the furor on the various chat boards.  This young man had to endure all of this while still trying to work toward winning games.  To Lane Kiffin’s credit, he stuck to his guns and was proven to have made a smart decision when Crompton had his coming out party against the Georgia Bulldogs.

Jonathan Crompton has played under four different offensive systems, and has had to re-learn everything throughout his entire time at Tennessee.  Yet, rather than complain or just give up, Crompton stuck it out despite his doubters.  He kept working, kept trying, kept pushing to be better.  Even though it probably took him a bit longer than he wished it had, he finally found that success that had so eluded him.  What’s more, in the process of attaining his goal, he gave the new era of Tennessee Football a fighting chance for respectability in its first year.

Despite his successes this season, it is doubtful that Jonathan Crompton will ever be remembered as one of the greatest quarterbacks to wear the orange.  With names like Peyton Manning, Andy Kelly, and Heath Shuler in the lineage, that is understandable.  Still, in many ways, Crompton has shown more determination, more perseverance, and more heart than any Tennessee quarterback in the modern era.

I think that means something.

Thus, I encourage all of you to not only join the Facebook group honoring Crompton’s contribution to Tennessee Football, but to also maybe do a little something on your own this Saturday as he makes his final Vol Walk toward Neyland Stadium—maybe a sign, maybe a salute, maybe a kind word.

In light of the events of the past week and the misdeeds of some of the Volunteers, I think Crompton’s type of dedication and sacrifice stands out all the more.

All I can do is to say that I am proud that Crompton wore the orange…

– So it goes…

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After living through the unmitigated disaster that was the 2008 football season for the Tennessee Volunteers, I was not so sure I was prepared to take a stroll with Clay Travis down memory lane via his new book “On Rocky Top.”  The 2008 season was the most gut-wrenching experience of my sports-watching life, one which Travis himself likened to having your arm amputated without laudanum.  It was truly painful and not merely because the Vols lost seven games.  Losing comes with competition, I can handle losing.  Watching an entire program, an entire fanbase, an entire state devolve into a constant state of turmoil, however, was the part that made it an experience that I was more than ready to forget.  Even  after nine months of good vibrations—buoyed up by the hopes and energy of new Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin and his band of invincibles—assuming that I was prepared to join Travis’ on his retrospective journey through the 2008 season, I wasn’t really sure I wanted to make that trip into the past.

I suppose, I was just ready to move on.

When first I saw that Clay Travis had written a book on the Vols 2008 football campaign, my reaction was that he picked one hell of a bad year to write about Tennessee.  I knew Clay was a fine writer, having read his work for CBS Sports.com, Fanhouse, and his book Dixieland Delight.  Still, I remember thinking to myself “Man, that really stinks for Clay—all that work to write a book about a 5-7 season.” After all, who wants to read about a team that loses, and loses a lot?

You do.

Clay Travis’ new book “On Rocky Top” is one of the best sports books I have read in a long time.

Obviously, “On Rocky Top” focuses on my beloved Vols, which makes me naturally predisposed to read it, I suppose.  It does not, however, make me predisposed to actually like the book.  In fact, to date, I do not believe I have ever managed to finish a book written exclusively about the Vols—which is a bit ironic coming from a person who publishes a sports blog dedicated to the team—yet, it is the truth.  In my experience most single team memoirs are either so objective that they read more like a surgical note from a neurologist, are so “rah-rah” as a result of the writer being blinded by his or her passion for their team to the point that they refuse to acknowledge reality, lack any semblance of an understanding of the English language, or are so mind-numbingly focused on minutiae that reading them is like eating sawdust without butter.  Sometimes they are all of the above.

Then there is “On Rocky Top”…

Clay Travis does not try to draft the authoritative history of one of the worst football seasons ever for my alma mater, he does not attempt to give the clichéd insider’s look at what goes on behind closed doors at Tennessee, he does not simply re-visit and re-hash the events of the 2008 football season for Tennessee.  No, in “On Rocky Top” Clay Travis describes every season for every fan of every college football program, and he does it beautifully.

Tennessee is but the lens through which Travis explores not only the comings and goings of life in a big-time college football program, but more importantly takes an honest look at sports and fandom from a perspective that is, at times, as poignant as it is personal.  He explores a side of the world of sports so often relegated to the back of our minds and that small voice of reason drowned by the noise of a screaming crowd in a raucous stadium.

Travis writes:

I want my team to win more than I want anything on earth right now—even though I know how irrational my desire is, how insignificant this game is in the grand scheme of life.  All of us, we fans, always say that we realize there are things more important than sports.  Yet, even still, why do we feel the need to make this claim if we don’t, at some times, doubt whether this is actually true?

Deep down in all of our hearts, we’re all a bit ashamed, frightened even, by how much we care.

Most examinations of fandom tend to focus on the outward evidence of the passion that fills the heart of the fan.  There are a bevy of books that show the all encompassing mania that some fans exhibit: children named after players their parents never met, cars and houses bedecked in gaudy school colors, logos shaved onto heads and mascots tattooed on bodies, and so forth.  Travis avoids these trite expressions of what it means to be a fan—short for “fanatic”—and looks more at the bonds that hold disparate and far-flung groups of individuals with little or nothing in common together as a “family” of fans.  He takes a journey into his own experiences as a fan and as a writer granted access to the inner sanctum of college football.

In the process, Travis does, in fact, chronicle the exploits of the 2008 Vols, and chronicle them well.  Yet he does so through the eyes of a fan, rather than from the dispassionate roost of the pressbox.  In so doing, he explores the reality that fans judge players and coaches—people they’ve never met—by a set of rules that is irrational, erratic, and wholly unfair.  Travis takes you inside not only the Vols locker room but inside the lives of the players and coaches—humanizing them is ways that are uncommon in the world of “superstar” athletics and modern sports media.

In particular, he looks at the effects of fan anger and outrage on Tennessee center Josh McNeil, former Vol running back Arian Foster, quarterback Jonathan Crompton, and former coach Phillip Fulmer, among others.  Travis shows how morally unfair the actions of anonymous fans can be when launching faceless attacks.  Talking with Josh McNeil, Travis writes:

In the wake of games, fan anger now mixes with player frustration.  Junior center Josh McNeil confesses, “I listen to the radio shows on my way home too.  I listen to the fans.  Sometimes I want to call in and talk with them. I want to say, ‘Oh, yeah, well, you think I suck? Well, why don’t you come tell me that to my face?  Here’s my address, come meet me here and we’ll talk about it.  Just you and me.’  I wouldn’t ever do it, but I want to.  Sometimes I want to real bad.”

Travis’ concludes that oftentimes fans bask in the comfortable anonymity of the stands—noting that no one ever says anything negative to the team on the Vol Walk when they are face-to-face, saving those barbs for the internet and call-in shows.

Finally, Travis takes a long look at the end of the Phillip Fulmer era in a way that, again, lifts the objective veil and shows that the players and coaches involved are real people—human beings—and not merely pawns on a chessboard.  He chronicles the measured implosion of Fulmer’s final season, the back-room conversations leading to his ouster, and Fulmer’s own post-hoc perspectives on his firing.  Travis’ also details Mike Hamilton’s James Bond-esque “operation” to find the Vols new Head Coach Lane Kiffin.  An excerpt of this is available on FanHouse.

Travis book is a joy to read and beautifully covers the gamut of the sports-fan emotional spectrum.  His insights into college football and fans are sometimes laughably hilarious:

I don’t care how Tennessee wins. … If Jonathan Crompton gets under center, steps back from the line of scrimmage, removes his mouthpiece, and subsequently shoots Auburn defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks with a poison blow dart, I’m all for it.  Anything to win.

sometimes disturbing:

Arian Foster, seated on the bench, is approached by a UT fan. … The fan, who is wearing orange from head to foot and appears to be in his thirties, dog-cusses Foster to his back. … Foster does not bat an eyelash, pretending not to notice the fan, and eventually a member of the Georgia security staff leads him away from the fence behind the bench.  It’s come to this—Georgia security guards protecting Tennessee players from their own fans.

and sometimes moving:

My dad came to my house and sat next to me on the couch where I was feeding my 5-month-old son a bottle. … Finally, he turned to me and said, “You know, I read an article in the newspaper the other day about a dad’s funeral.  The son said, ‘We never really talked unless it was about sports.’  That’s really sad, isn’t it?”

My dad put his hand on my shoulder.  I continued to feed Fox.  “Yes,” I said, “that really is.”

We were both silent for a long time.  While Fox drank his bottle my dad smiled at him and occasionally made faces.  Finally my dad spoke again.

“I’m not as optimistic about this year’s team as you are,” he said.

He reached out and grabbed Fox’s bare foot.  “One day we’re going to get this little guy to a game too,” he said.

It occurred to me then that fathers and sons talk about a lot more than sports when we’re talking about sports.  And maybe in the end that’s why most of us are sports fans.

Clay Travis paints a vivid picture of the game and team that I love and follow as a fan.  In a broader sense—without pretension—he provides a wonderful image of what I like to describe as the “beautiful agony” that is college football.

In the end, Clay Travis’ “On Rocky Top” is a truly enjoyable book, one which fans of SEC and college football—and definitely all Tennessee fans—should read.

Trust me, you will enjoy the ride.

– So it goes…

Image(s) Courtesy of:    Clay Nation

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In case you haven’t heard, there’s a pretty great new Tennessee Football preview annual coming out in only a few short days.  It’s from Maple Street Press and is entitled: “Rocky Top Tennessee 2009.”

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking to yourself “those previews are all the same, a bunch of the same basic statistics and information re-styled to make them appear shiny and new.”  In most circumstances you would be correct, but this preview is a little different than most.  You see, Maple Street Press does not approach these sorts of publications the way that some of the other publishers do.  They turn independent writers and bloggers who are passionate about their team and ask them to write on subjects that are near and dear to their hearts.

The result is a 128 pages of thoughtful insight, analysis, and perspective that the mainstream press simply does not offer.  Furthermore, if your a regular reader here at Gate 21 and other sites across the web, you’ll recognize some of the writers and be pleasantly surprised at the ways Rocky Top Tennessee 2009 differs from the run-of-the-mill preview magazine.

Why do I know this?  Well, I am pleased to say that I am one of the writers featured in annual, along with many others you will recognize.  The annual was edited by Joel from Rocky Top Talk and, as one of the many contributors, I have to say that I honestly believe that you will be impressed with it.  Here are a few of the articles included:

Eric Crunch Berry
by David Hooper (of Rocky Top Talk)

Five Impact Freshmen And The Class Of 2009
by Josh Ward (a contributor at Go Vols Xtra)

The Agony & The Agony
by Holly Anderson (of Everyday Should Be Saturday and Snarkastic)

Self-Inflicted Wounds
by Joel Hollingsworth (of Rocky Top Talk)

And Now A Word From Your Enemy: The Florida Gators
by Spencer Hall (of Everyday Should Be Saturday and the Sporting Blog)

And Now A Word From Your Enemy: Georgia Bulldogs
by Doug Gillett (of Hey Jenny Slater)

Assembling a Coaching Staff
by Drew Edwards (of the Knoxville News Sentinel)

Introducing The New Coaches
by Brad Shepard (of 3rd Saturday in Blogtober)

Southern Cal Comes To Knoxville
by Bruce Feldmen (of ESPN the Magazine and author of “Meat Market”)

Reversing Apathy
by Will Shelton (of Rocky Top Talk)

Relative Pain
by Brian Cook (of MGO Blog)

“Football Is Not Fun If You Lose. Period.”
by Clay Travis (former writer for CBS Sports.com and Deadspin and publisher of Clay Nation)

Still Sparkling At 90
by Matt Fisher (degenerate shyster who has also been known to operate under the name “lawvol”)

At any rate, I hope you’ll give it look.  The annual will ship directly from Maple Street Press starting July 6, and will appear on newsstands in Big Orange Country on July 21.

– So it goes…

**Disclosure: “Lawvol” is a writer and contributor for Rocky Top Tennessee 2009, however, neither Gate 21 nor lawvol received any compensation for this review, which was neither requested nor solicited by Maple Street Press. 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.

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It’s a rainy and stormy afternoon here in Knoxville, but Tyler Smith is brightening the day for Tennessee hoops.

Smith announced he’s going to stay for his senior season. Obviously this is good news, because Tyler’s the best player on Tennessee’s team. Additionally, Smith will be the fifth senior Vol for next year, alongside Wayne Chism, J.P. Prince, Bobby Maze, and Josh Tabb (walk-on Quinn Cannington is also a senior). A nice senior core for the Vols as they look to add a second SEC Title in four years. At this point, your way early SEC favorites have to be (in no particular order) Kentucky with the Jodie Meeks-Patrick Patterson combo and influx of studs, defending champs LSU with Tasmin Mitchell (who’s been at LSU since Stromile Swift) and Marcus Thornton, and Tennessee.

Welcome back, Tyler

A couple of other notes: first, a shout-out to bosgap at Losers With Socks who called this 9 days ago. Now I wouldn’t say they were going too terribly far out on that limb, but kudos to those guys scooping this, adding another feather in their hat of breaking news well in advance.

Secondly, a shout-out of thanks and best wishes to Philip Jurick, who is transferring and thus providing a way for Tyler to come back by opening up a scholarship. I saw Jurick play a little bit at last year’s Rocky Top League, and while I saw some promise, I also saw a project of sorts. He showed some really positive inside defense but his offensive game was very lacking. With Tyler’s return and the addition of Kenny Hall to the Chism-Brian Williams-Emmanuel Negedu platoon, I highly doubt Jurick would have been able to break into the big-man rotation next year.

Speaking of the Rocky Top League, last year I took upon myself the task of “covering” it using the start I started out with – “The View From The Hill.” I went every night and took some video and some pictures and mental notes and observations, and I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately I won’t be able to do that this year, as I won’t be able to go every night and I’ll miss the first week of it. That said, if you’re in Knoxville on a Monday or Wednesday the next three weeks, do head over to Bearden High School and watch some games.

Sure, there’s no air-conditioning and outside of the Tennessee players the other competitors are small college or high school players, but it’s a cool experience. Of course it’s glorified pick-up basketball with referees and clock, and the defense is highly lacking, but nowhere else will you get this close to the Vol players. If you’ve got kids, I can almost guarantee you will get autographs from the entire team, as well as some other former Vols like everybody’s favorite Dane Bradshaw, and a couple of my personal favorite former Vols Ron Slay and C.J. Watson.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the best part…IT’S FREE

– … to me.

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Just a quick link or two that stood out to me…

Fred White does sports talk, and chats with VJ

First of all, anyone who remembers watching former Vol DB Fred “The Deuce” White from 1996-99 will be pleased to hear that Fred now has his own radio show courtesy of 1180 WVLZ in Knoxville, the same station that brings you Basilio and other great sports talk radio. The guys over at Vol Junkies recently got the chance to sit down and chat with Fred about his new show and get a few insights from the big man. Check out the interview over at Vol Junkies, and you can check out Fred’s show at 1180 am on your radio dial or in a live web stream from the WVLZ website.

Brian Butler’s tale gets even more twisted

RTT’s Hooper takes an interesting look at all of the issues surrounding the Tennessee recruit Bryce Brown’s “handler,” Brian Butler, on the heels of the announcement that the NCAA will be investigating Butler’s involvement the recruiting of high school athletes (not an investigation of any program in particular, but rather one of Butler and his Potential Players recruiting service).  It’s an interesting read, discussing the thorny path that high school handlers must walk, and the possible implications it can have for both recruits and the programs recruiting them.  Oh it’s a tangled web we weave…

MoonDog gets a facelift

In case you hadn’t noticed, the venerable and all-knowing MoonDog has gotten a facelift.  Well, at least his site has.  Slide on over and check out the new look for his prognosticating and pontification portal, MoonDogSports.com, which is pretty snazzy looking if you ask me (of course I did help a little with the makeover, so I suppose I’m biased).

Anyway…

Hopefully, I will get a chance to come up for air soon, and can continue on with my series looking into the impact of the nation’s economic woes on major athletics entitled: “The Cost of Sports.”  I also hope to simply get back to my standard fare of half-baked and poorly executed commentary on Tennessee sports.  Until then, however, all I can say is that I am trying my best and hope to be back in the saddle … someday.

– So it goes …

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Seeing as I am currently loaded up with more projects than I can keep up with (more on that in the near future), I thought now would be as good a time as any to send out a few “messages of love” to those across the web who are deserving.

Thus, I bring you a few points of interest worth exploring (along with a few links sandwiched in between):

First of all, there are a few new additions to the Vol-logosphere which require a quick mention:

Vol Junkies

Vol Junkies has been around for a while now, and has a great looking site which does a fine job commenting on the exact same thing the rest of us orange-wearing bloggers do, except—unlike yours truly—the man in charge over there actually has some idea of what he is about.  Furthermore, half of the site appears to be on fire (just go visit, you’ll see what I mean) Be it football, basketball, or politics, if it’s orange, VJ has it.  You can check it all out at: http://VolJunkies.com

Bleeding Orange

Bleeding Orange is another new Vol-log led by the eponymous Tennessy Vol who speaks from within the confines of the University of Tennessee (yeah, he’s a student).  He has only been around a short while, but has nonetheless put together some really good stuff which is worth giving a look, take for instance his recent breakdown on the Vols recruiting class.   You can check it all out at: http://bleedingorange.wordpress.com.

3rd Saturday in Blogtober (3SIB)

I've got your damn rivalry right here!

No, I’m not a complete moron, I realize that the guys over at 3rd Saturday have been around for a while (long enough to hit the 1,000,000 visits mark), but, however, they have relocated to their new home on the web: http://3sib.com.  Thus, make sure you update all your links, feeds, and other assorted items so you don’t miss anything, such as the Ghost’s thoughts on Lane Kiffin’s statements about Urban Meyer.

The tagline at 3SIB continues to be “Rivalry has its mail sent here…” for the time being, however, that mail just has one of those funky little forwarding stickers on it.

Finally, there is a blog which focuses on one of the key aspects of sports: food!

Fan Foodie

The guys that brought you Hugging Harold Reynolds have now put together a really cool new blog which looks at sports in an entirely new way.  Fan Foodie focuses not at actual teams, but on the restaurants, bars, and other questionable joints where we gather when we watch our favorite teams.  The concept is simple: get bloggers and sports lovers from across the country to write about their favorite haunts that are tied to a particular team.  The idea is to promote those great dives establishments where we have all passed out in the bathroom shared a meal and gotten into a fistfight “fellowshipped” with our fellow fans.  As long as people keep patronizing the great institutions tied to college and professional teams, they avoid ending up like Sam & Andy’s.  Furthermore, the info over there is idea intelligence when it’s time to go road-tripping.  Check it out at: http://fanfoodie.com.

Anyway, those are a few of the new spots from around the web that have popped up lately.

Check them out…

– So it goes …

Image Courtesy of: Soda Head

**Disclosure: While Gate 21 and some of the aforementioned sites feature hyperlinks to one another, none of the sites featured above, their editors, nor webmasters receive any payment or other compensation of any type or kind in return such links.  Furthermore, neither Gate 21 nor lawvol received any compensation for this review, which was neither requested nor solicited by the sites discussed.  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.

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Miss Me?

Those of you who normally visit us here at the Gate will obviously noticed that, well, I have been non-existent since Thanksgiving. No lawvol did not ban me, change my password and lock me out of WordPress, and I have not quit blogging or anything else.

Simply put, I’ve had to finish up this semester with finals and studying and all that nonsense. Then there was the painting of our apartment, which is more than likely what I was doing when I wasn’t studying. As it is, I’m back in Memphis for the between-semester break.

Quite a bit has gone on since my last posting, and I’m sure I’ll have more on these things and others as they come about over the next however long. As it is here’s what I’ll touch on right here and right now with Vols football and hoops:

1. Farewill Philip Fulmer and hello Lane (and Monte) Kiffin.

Some Vol fan might have shed a tear or two, but I was all smiles of happiness watching Fulmer go out the way he did and the way he should be remembered: a winner

First off, an absolutely great performance in the season finale for the Vols as they beat Kentucky 28-10. The defense finished off an excellent season and the offense actually scored four touchdowns, running left, right, up the middle, around the end, all over the Cats. Even Jonathan Crompton completed that beautiful touchdown pass to Denarius Moore.

If there was a way for Coach Fulmer to go out, that might have been it: being carried off the field by a pair of seniors going out as a winner.

Honestly, that seems like a distant memory now, because these last two weeks have been all about new head coach Lane Kiffin and (a) the speculation of the staff he might/is assemble/ing and (b) the Sherman like march of recruiting. I think the guy finally returned to Knoxville a couple of days ago after tearing through the state, the West Coast, Ohio, and who knows where else. He’s gotten a commitment from Eric Gordon, some visits from guys who weren’t probably planning on it, and consideration from guys who might have had Tennessee out of the picture.

I am convinced Lane Kiffin did not sleep during his two week recruiting tear...

It’s obviously been two weeks as Tennessee’s coach, but so far so good if you ask me. He said at his press conference that he was going to try and outwork other coaches, and so far you can’t really say he hasn’t done that. And we’re still waiting on the completion of his staff, which won’t happen until after the NFL season most likely. Of the last regime coaches who are still in limbo, I would expect Latrell Scott to be the most likely to stay. And of course I think it’s all-but-official on Monte Kiffin as the defensive coordinator, which is great. Still awaiting word on Ed Orgeron and the rest of the staff. Lane was given an extra million for staff salaries, and Tennessee fans are being kept waiting on the potentially all-star staff Tennessee could have next year.

Finally, as fans, let’s give this guy a chance. If you watched the SEC Championship game, you realize we are quite a bit behind Florida. In fact, I firmly believe that the SEC going forward will be an Urban-Saban world that the rest of us will be living in. To be competitive, Tennessee was going to have to hire someone who could compete with those two guys in recruiting and X’s and O’s. Is Lane Kiffin that guy? Only time will tell. Some are skeptical (you know who you are), but I’m not. He’s young, he’s energetic, and I think he has a chance to be great.

Also, a shout-out to former offensive coordinator Dave Clawson, now the new head man at Bowling Green. Seriously, I wish him much success at his new place, and I’m glad he landed very much on his feet. Now I just hope he doesn’t take Latrell Scott with him…

2. Eric Berry gets Manninged

Someone explain to me how Eric Berry didn’t win the Thorpe award over Ohio State’s Malcolm Jenkins. I know Jenkins is like a no-brainer first round NFL pick and whatever and it’s harder to make a statistical impact at corner because you don’t get thrown to blah blah blah but that’s pure robbery.

It’s crap like that gives me plenty of reason to not care about any of the postseason awards, including and especially the Heisman. Call me a homer, bitter, whatever, but just like much of the rest of college football, it’s quite political.

Playing a DECEMBER road game against a team with a guy named Christmas: bad idea

3. Not sure any of us expected that…

My last basketball related words were of the high-praise variety, following the Vols win over Georgetown in the Old Spice Classic semifinals. Since then, Tennessee lost to a good Gonzaga team, sleep-walked by UNC-Asheville (mad props to Tyler Smith for turning the first triple-double in Tennessee hoops history), and got smoked by a Temple team playing at a high level at home.

Now I’m an optimistic guy, so here’s why Vols fans shouldn’t be totally freaking out: first, J.P. Prince was out and, though he gets a bad rap at times, he is quite a valuable guy for Tennessee. In addition, this was Tennessee’s first true road game with a number of new guys, Temple is no slouch, it’s still December, and Bruce Pearl is the coach. Remember two years ago when Tennessee went to South Carolina in mid-February and got run out of the gym similar to Saturday? Yeah, that team had less athleticism and they reached the Sweet 16. Let’s not get too bent out of shape here…

That said, things aren’t all hunky-dory. Defense is an issue. The press has been for the most part ineffective especially against Gonzaga and Temple, both of whom have experienced guards. Wayne Chism has yet to continue the growth and progress he made last year, and the platoon of him and Brian Williams have struggled the last couple of games. The three-point shooting has also been inconsistent.

It doesn’t get easier, as Tennessee faces off against Marquette in Nashville Tuesday night. The Eagles also have experienced guards in Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews. It will be interesting to see how Tennessee will bounce back from Saturday’s loss.

I will be in the house for that game, and if for no other reason, Tennessee should win because I’ve seen Tennessee lose in person all of twice in my most immediate past: LSU in the SEC Tournament two years ago and the loss at Memphis State in Bruce’s first year. I’ll have my camera, so hopefully I’ll get some quality photos and/or video and get to share them with you, the wonderful readers of Gate 21 (no guarantees, however…)

As it is, I’m glad to be back posting again and lawvol and I should have some good stuff going this month.

Images Courtesy of: Michael Patrick / KNS • Michael Patrick / KNS • H. Rumph Jr. / AP (ESPN.com)

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In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a great new video resource available on the web over at FanDome.com which has assembled one of the best and most varied collection of sports videos on the web.  What’s even better is that all of the videos are classified by team and sport—making it much easier to find what you’re looking for.  What’s more, if you take the 30 seconds required to become a registered user (registration is free by the way), you have the ability to affiliate with your favorite teams.  Thus, registered users get a profile page  which automatically displays all the videos associated with their team.  In my case—surprise, surprise—that would be Tennessee.  All of the major teams across the nation have their own FanDome categorized by sport.  Tennessee has both a Football FanDome and a Basketball FanDome.

The video upload process is amazingly simple, allowing you to upload from your own computer or from other sites such as YouTube.  To top it all off, the folks over at FanDome have created a series of video widgets which show all the latest content for a given team.  You can check out their widget over in the right sidebar here at the Gate (that’s this way  for those of you who are directionally challenged).  Thankfully, all of the content on display is embeddable, linkable, etc., just like this little clip:

The content is as varied and, at the same time, well-organized as I’ve seen on any of the various video sites across the web.  FanDome has really done a nice job in putting together its virtual smorgasbord of sports video.  If you like YouTube and the like at all, FanDome really is worth checking out.

– Go Figure …

**Disclosure: While both Gate 21 and FanDome.com feature hyperlinks to one another, neither site, their editors, nor their webmasters receive any payment or other compensation of any type or kind in return for those links.  Furthermore, neither Gate 21 nor lawvol received any compensation for this review, which was neither requested nor solicited by FanDome.com.  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.

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