Archive for the ‘Headlines Links & Lies...’ Category

Interesting and well written dissection of the Tennessee vs. Auburn game from last season by the guys over at Joe Cribbs Carwash.  I particularly liked this little gem:

The second-half capitulation against LSU was much, much closer to what we should have expected from the D the rest of the season than what they managed against Tennessee’s howling vortex of Suck…

• via: Joe Cribbs Car Wash: “Review of DEATH: Tennessee”

“Howling vortex of Suck” — I think there’s a double meaning there…

I can’t prove it, but I really think this guy may be Tennessee Volunteers Assistant Football Coach Ed Orgeron’s long lost butt-kickin’ brother.

Video: Vinnie Jones: Ed Orgeron’s Long Lost Brother?

• HT to / via: Funny or Die!

I mean, they are at least cousins or something…

More to come this week as my little off-season remodeling project finally nears its end.

The boys over at 3SIB have posted an absolutely priceless (a/k/a hilarious) look at some of the improvements made in EA Sports NCAA Football 2010.  A few of the best include:

• In addition to Dynasty, there is now an “Alternate Reality” mode where the season ends in a playoff that still doesn’t include Utah or Boise State.
• If you don’t edit Auburn’s schedule at the start of the season, the only team on the schedule will be Alabama.
• If you play as the Volunteers in Dynasty mode, during the recruiting phase of the game the volume on the TV goes way up to the point that your neighbors complain.

• via: New features in EA Sports’ NCAA 2010 | 3rd Saturday in Blogtober

Considering that I am all about riding the coattails of others, I added a few of my own suggestions in the comments, which include:

• New Gameplay Settings:

  • When playing as Tennessee, there is a special post-play celebration code (Easter Egg Code “CRUNK”) which leads to the entire coaching staff ripping off their shirts.
  • When playing as Florida, there is a special code which can pump-up the team, when entered, the head coach transforms into a giant monster and eats three of the Florida players.  This results in an increase in speed and accuracy of 10% for the next 8 plays for the Gators, but if overused can result in a forfeit due to having fewer than 11 players.
  • When playing as LSU, with each touchdown the coach’s hat grows by 1 foot.  If you score enough for his hat to reach the moon, then the team automatically advances to the National Championship.
  • When playing as Tennessee and the player is controlling No. 14 on defense, there are special “fatality” codes (a’la Mortal Kombat) which result in massive bloodletting and mayhem after open field tackles.

• New Crowd / Stadium AI Settings:

  • When playing as Florida, in the stadium settings you can select “Jorts-out.”
  • When playing as South Carolina, you can control the volume of the “ThunderChicken” (rooster-crowing / being slaughtered / getting run over by a truck) noise played over the PA, allowing you to turn it up to the point that it actually blows the other team out of the stadium (and into the nearby Cow Palace) for one quarter.  This, however, results in a 10% loss in effectiveness for the Gamecocks as a team due to the fact the entire team is deafened for one quarter and unable to hear the signals from the sidelines.
  • When playing as Kentucky if, after leading by 3 at the half, the opposing team scores a touchdown in the first 2 minutes of the 3rd Quarter, 3/4 of the fans in the stadium leave immediately.
    • When playing as Vanderbilt if the same situation occurs as above, then the Vanderbilt fans begin pulling for the visiting team, giving the opponent a home field advantage.
  • When Playing as Florida, there is a special code which allows the quarterback to levitate above the line, walk on water, cure the blind, and results in Florida automatically being awarded 8 touchdowns.
    • For all other teams a slightly different code can be entered enabling “Tebow Mode” which results in the same result as above.

Go check it out, it’s some great stuff…

– So it goes

Over the years, I have often criticized Knoxville News Sentinel Sports Editor John Adams for his excessive fault-finding with the various athletic programs at Tennessee.  Since the ascendancy of Lane Kiffin as the new head football coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, however, it has seemed to me that suddenly Adams had gone soft.

Well, Adams’ recent column on Daniel Hood proves that I am wrong…

In his article, Adams concludes that Hood’s past (at age 13, he was convicted of assisting a 17-year-old in the rape of a 14-year-old) means that the Knoxville native should not be given a chance to play for the Big Orange.  This is classic Adams, complete with his longstanding habit of attacking the Great Punkin for no readily apparent reason.

As for the substance of the article, I cannot say that I entirely agree or disagree with Adams, but I do take issue with his willingness to publicly attack Hood.  I’m not making any excuses for Hood or his past actions (and apparently neither is Hood), but it seems to me to be a bit heavy-handed to walk in as a moral inquisitor standing in judgment over the kid in the way that Adams does.

Furthermore, while Adams appears to clothe the article under the guise of pointing out that Hood’s troubled past does not help with Coach Kiffin’s efforts to instill a new sense of discipline at Tennessee, what the article is really about is taking one more shot at Phillip Fulmer.  Adams writes:

The main problem I had with former coach Phillip Fulmer’s program wasn’t the won-lost record.  It was the arrest record.  There were too many off-the-field incidents and too little discipline in return.

New UT coach Lane Kiffin has been all about discipline.  He has the attrition to show for it.  Four players have been kicked off the team, and another was disciplined before he left of his own volition.

You can’t say, “There’s a new sheriff in town,” because that implies the existence of a previous sheriff.  But by the end of spring practice, you could conclude this wasn’t business as usual.

So much has changed about UT football in the last few months, and virtually all of it for the better. A stagnant program is suddenly pulsating with energy.  Fans are excited and optimistic.

There’s a new offense, a new defense and a new outlook.

Amidst all the newness, this is no time to revert.

• Adams: Daniel Hood not good for UT’s new image | GoVolsXtra.com

I suppose my biggest complaint is that Adams felt the need to so directly attack a high school-aged player in order to justify the swing at Fulmer.  It just does not seem necessary to me since, as just about every article ever written by Adams other than the one he wrote the morning after Tennessee won the 1998 National Championship shows, he has hardly ever held back in going after Tennessee’s former coach.

I guess that would have just been too boring (I know I have been tired of it for years)…

Still, the article is thought provoking.  Furthermore, I suppose that with newspapers folding-up or thinning-down all across the country writers have to do whatever they can to sell papers.

Still, more than anything this one looks like a guy trying to find a story, and when one fails to appear simply reverting to his well-honed tactics of going after an easy target.  I guess even Adams is still afraid to unabashedly go after Kiffin.

Given the support that Kiffin has been receiving, that was probably a smart decision on Adams’ part…

– So it goes

Apparently, Auburn Tigers‘ head coach Gene Chizik really wants to impress recruits and eat away at some of the Alabama Crimson Tide’s supply of in-state players.

How, you ask?

By driving around Alabama in a stretch Hummer Limo.

So what’s next?  An 18-wheeler with the coaching staff’s pictures painted on the side?  Coaches arriving at a school on customized Harleys, like a motorcycle gang?  Helicopters?

Prospectin' and Profilin' -- Auburn style

Get ready. The circus could be coming to your high school very soon…

• via: Hot Corner: Auburn could trigger limo race – X’s and Uh-oh’s  |  al.com

In the words of Basilio, “interesting…”

Nice find by my friend, the Ghost of Neyland:

• HT to / via: You Simply Can’t Buy Advertising Like This | 3rd Saturday in Blogtober

Sweetness!  Gotta get me one of those shirts...

According to Brian Butler’s Potential Players.com, high school standout Bryce Brown has just signed with Tennessee.

• HT to: MoonDog for looking all across the web for 30 minutes while I accidentally heard about it on the radio.

More to come…

» Updated: 17 March 2009 — 11:00 am

Here’s an update and some thoughts on Bryce Brown’s commitment courtesy of the Blazer Chronicles:

Video: The Blazer Chronicles — This Could be the Year

In light of all the controversy surrounding whether Lane Kiffin told Alshon Jeffrey that he would “end up pumping gas for the rest of his life” if he chose to play for the South Carolina Gamecocks—which Kiffin adamantly denied in a follow-up interview with ESPN’s Chris Low—Coach Kiffin will appear on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption tonight (13 March 2009) at 5:30.  I am sure that Kiffin will have … interesting … comments to share with Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon.

I am sure that the Public Relations department at Tennessee is already hard at work on this one…

• HT to: Basilio

Heh!  This is just a little too funny.

Apparently, Lane Kiffin called things like he saw them while recruiting Alshon Jeffrey.  According to ESPN.com’s Chris Low, who recently got a chance to interview Jeffrey:

Kiffin was equally dogged. But when it was obvious that Jeffrey wasn’t going to Tennessee, Kiffin took off the gloves.

According to Jeffrey and Wilson, Kiffin told Jeffrey that if he chose the Gamecocks, he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina.

Jeffrey was doing his best to stay awake at that point, but that comment from Kiffin woke him up. He clearly hasn’t forgotten it, either.

“He said it, but it’s not worth talking about,” Jeffrey said.

Wilson was a little more diplomatic. He wrote it off as Kiffin pulling out all of the stops and simply not wanting to concede defeat. Wilson acknowledged that’s about as negative as it got that morning.

• via: A peek into recruiting with South Carolina’s Jeffrey |  ESPN

I can think of worse he could have said…

HT: Get the Picture

I realize that I have been doing a really lousy job of keeping up with things lately, and that I have done a less than stellar job at posting anything of substance.  Sorry about that.  Be that as it may, this post is really not going to change that since it is completely off-topic and irrelevant to a sports blog.  Still, if you are a geek like me, this video is still pretty cool.

This is the trailer for the new pre-quel coming out this May entitled, simply enough, Star Trek. The link will also take you to the Apple Movie Trailer site where you can actually watch it in 1080p HD.

Video: Trailer for Star Trek (2009) Pre-quel (in HD)

• HT to: TrekMovie.com

Judging from the trailer, it doesn’t look like you have to be a fan of the old Star Trek to enjoy this one.

Anyway, I just felt like posting this, so I did.

If you don’t like it, then sue me (not like I am not fully prepared to deal with that possibility)…

– So it goes…

Image(s) Courtesy of: UGO Movie Blog