Posts Tagged ‘Vol Bloggers’

As I mentioned the other day, any of you that have regularly read Gate 21 have probably notice the deafening sound of the silence here for the past month or so.  That silence was prelude to this post.  There is no better way to say it than to quote the words of the legendary John Ward:

It’s Time…

I started Gate 21 in 2007 not really knowing what I was getting myself into.  I really had no concept of what it was that I wanted to do with the site or, in fact, how I would do it.  I just decided one day that I could write a blog as well as the next guy and within 10 minutes, the original version of Gate 21 was live for all to see over at WordPress.com.  Within 2 months, I had over 10,000 visitors and had taken the site to a privately hosted (i.e. I had to pay for it) server and debuted the cartoonish looking site that hung around until mid-2009 when I overhauled the site once again.  You are looking at that version now.

Since that less-than-auspicious beginning in 2007 I have spent literally thousands of hours writing, designing, re-vamping, updating, and otherwise working on producing and publishing Gate 21.  Along the way I have had had the help of many, many, people.  These would include writers HomeSweetHome and VolAmbassador, who have both made major contributions to the site over the past several years.  Then there were others across the blogosphere who have both assisted and collaborated with me on articles, memes, roundtables, Power Polls, BlogPolls, and running jokes.  These would include folks like Ghost of Neyland, MoonDog, LSUFreek, Will, Hooper, and of course—the best of the best—Joel at Rocky Top Talk.  These are but a few of the many with whom I have interacted and with which I have had the pleasure to become acquainted.

Then there are those of you out there across the blogosphere and the wider arc of the internet that have visited my humble site and read a bit of what I had to say.  There are even those of you who have taken the time to leave a comment here and there.  To each and every one of you I offer my sincerest gratitude for more than 2 years of interaction across the divide that is the internet.  I have not always been right about things, I have not always been serious,  I have not always been couth, but I have always tried to be honest about my views and perspectives on the world around me and my love for the Tennessee Volunteers.  All I can say is that these last 2 1/2 years have truly been a pleasure.

All things, however, must come to an end…

Thus, while it pains me on many levels, this will likely be the last post on Gate 21, at least for the foreseeable future.  And, now it is time for the Gate to close.

The thousands of hours that I have spent on this site have been a labor of love, as blogging always is.  While I may have advertisements here on the Gate, the fact of the matter is that I have lost money on this endeavour from the outset.  The cost of hosting the site alone has been substantial.  Yet, this exploration of “Life, the Universe, and the Bounce of the Ball” (Thank you Douglas Adams) has been a welcome and wonderful creative outlet for me, and one which has been far more “therapeutic” than I ever imagined.  And to those of you who have visited and taken the time to comment all I will say is that you never know just how much a single sentence left in the comment box or via Twitter really means to folks like myself who are blogging their lives away.

There’s really nothing that makes a writer feel better than knowing what they wrote was interesting enough that someone felt compelled to respond…

Now, however, the demands of my “real” life are such that I simply cannot maintain the Gate in the way that I have in the past.  It is hard enough to run a site with substantial help and a bevy of free time.  It is next to impossible to do that alone while trying to maintain a job, a family, and some semblance of sanity.  As I have said before, the informational cycle on the blogosphere lasts approximately as long as the attention span of a hyperactive 4-year-old who just ate 5 bags of Skittles and washed them down with three cans of Red Bull, and I simply cannot keep up with that.  My lack of timely comment over the past football season stands as a testament to that reality and one which I simply can no longer ignore.

I know, Frank, shocking isn't it?

These sorts of conclusions are not always fun, but they are necessary.  I think Lieutenant Frank Drebin probably said it best:

Okay, enough of the depressing stuff, now for the good news…

For those of you who have enjoyed my writing—though I am certain there aren’t that many of you—take heart!  I am not abandoning my devotion to Tennessee athletics only to go gentle into that good night.  While I may not be able to justify continuing on here at the Gate, I fully intend to continue writing about the Vols.  Why?  Because, in the words of Clay Travis, I simply cannot imagine not doing it.

Thus, it is my distinct pleasure and honor to announce that, effective immediately, I will be joining on as a writer for the VolNation Blog.  Thus, any of you who wish continue to read my mindless prattling, I’ll still be around.  I cannot overstate how lucky I feel at having the chance to jump on board at VolNation, and I hope to see some of you over there in the near future.  While my time at Gate 21 is now at an end, I am extremely excited about what the future holds in store for me at VolNation.

In the meantime, the Gate will not be disappearing (though, after the next few days, I really won’t be monitoring comments any longer).  It will still be here and you will still be able to send me hate mail via the contact form here on the site, at the email address listed in the sidebar and on the Ushers page, or via Twitter.  For those of you who have subscribed to the RSS feed here at the Gate, you can now follow me via the feed at the VolNation Blog.  The Gate will now take its place among the so-called “dotsam and netsam” that floats across the web.  Everything will stay right where it is—most notably, my tribute to Sam and Andy’s.

As for me, I am on to a new home on the web and new challenges.

So, for the last time, I bid you farewell from Gate 21.  To each of you out there with whom I’ve come in contact as a result of my time publishing Gate 21 over the past 2 1/2 years, I say thank you for reading, best wishes, and Godspeed.  Now, more than ever, I suppose my signature “tagline” seems appropriate.  Thus, I will end this final post as I have ended those that came before it.

Until we meet again … Go Vols!

– So it goes …

Well, I am almost done with the migration of the Gate from its current location on the web to its new home with my new hosting provider: Media Temple.  So far, I have been nothing but impressed with what they have to offer and I hope that there are many great things to come in the future here as a result.   I anticipate the “flipping the switch” for the change over in the next day or so, thus, my prior warning about the possibility that the Gate might “go missing” stands for a little while longer.  Such is life.

At any rate, due to being tied up with all my hosting-reconfiguration activities, I haven’t really had a chance to finish up the post I had planned for today. Thus, at a minimum I wanted to pass on a few links and what-not that seemed worth giving a look.

• The Big Orange Roundtable Returneth: For those of you that remember the Vol-blogosphere’s little foray into collaboration from 2008, the roundtable is back.  Thus, the Big Orange Brethren (myself included) kickoff the 2009 Big Orange Roundtable this week with the first installment hosted by MoonDog.  For those of you who were not around for last year’s roundtable, it is a weekly roundtable discussion where a host poses a series of questions to the collective brain-trust of the Vol-blogosphere who, respond with their BS insightful and thought provoking answers.  At the end of the week, the host provides a round-up of the responses and the comments posted by each of the member Roundtable sites, along with a few parting thoughts.  It is a great series that was a lot of fun last season. Go ahead and check out this week’s questions.   I plan on posting my responses in the next day or so.
• Ray Nettles and the Long Road to Redemption: Ray Nettles was a linebacker for the Big Orange from 1969-1971, winning All-America and All-SEC honors in 1971.  Over the past 38 years since leaving Tennessee he has struggled with his demons and his own brand of inner-conflict.  Now, however, he talks of redemption and finding his way back home from battles with addiction, marital strife, and now cancer.  Throughout his journey he has been supported by his former teammates in ways that even he has a difficult time understanding.

  Video: Ray Nettles Seeks Redemption

  This is a really powerful story of success, collapse, failure, and recovery which I highly recommend. Via: Florida Times-Union • HT: The Vol Historian

• The 2008 Football Season in Seconds: Joel, “the Flashmaster General” offers up a re-cap of the entire 2008 football season in only seconds.   How, you ask? Through the miracles of the Adobe flash player, that’s how.  Check it out, just in case you forgot… Via: Rocky Top Talk

• At least I drive better than this: I am really not sure why this lady was having such a difficult time driving a golf cart. They are fairly simple inventions.  Two pedals.  One steering wheel.  Four tires.  Needless to say, I won’t be riding with her anytime soon.

  Video: How Not to Drive a Golf Cart

  Now I know where personal-injury lawyers get their clients… Via: Fandome

At any rate, I hope to have the Gate migrated to its new home and to finally be set for the upcoming football season soon.

Until then, this will have to do…

– So it goes …

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Round-Up: It’s Football Time Again

My first week as the host of the totally awesome Big Orange Roundtable has come to a close, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. Actually, the Big Orange Roundtable has just completed it’s first run-through of all the Vol bloggers and it starts back up next week over at Yo’ Mama Slept With Big Wilt. I’m sure Thomas will have some excellent questions as it’s Florida week.

GOOD WORK EVERYONE!!

Enough of me, time for me to share the Roundtable’s answers. Since we’re all family here on the Roundtable and I’m just a nice guy, I’m going to include everyone in the round-up. You’re welcome…

(1) So we’re all still pissed off from losing to a UCLA team we would without a doubt beat at worst eight times out of 10, and now a pretty bad UAB team comes to Knoxville before the epic showdown with Florida and the rest of the SEC gauntlet – the deep breath before the plunge, if you will. What I simply want to know is what do YOU want to see from the Vols this Saturday?

Most of the answers to this question involved three things: (1) running the football, (2) some reason to feel positive about Jonathan Crompton, and (3) better coaching.

The always funny Jai Eugene at LWS wants better hands from the receivers (and Arian Foster). Thomas at YMSWWC used this question as an opportunity to bash RayCom’s three Daves. MoonDog wants the coaches to show that they actually can adjust in-game. Ghost over at 3SIB wants our offensive line to find their male parts and lead the way to an unstoppable running attack.

Much like Ghost, Will at SESB wants a reason to believe…and to pound the football only as to prepare for the Florida showdown next Saturday. New Roundtable member Patrick (what a great name!) at C4J uses his days of living in the B’ham and makes it personal: he wants to kick the Blazers while they’re down with a 65-point beatdown an old-fashioned ass-whoopin’.

(2) Flashback to Saturday night in Gainesville: up 23-3, Florida gets a good punt return by Brandon James inside the Miami 20. With 1:56 left, Urban Meyer sends Tim Tebow back in, and, after a screen pass, a throw into the endzone, and a lost-yardage run, Florida kicks a sand-in-the-face field goal with :25 left, prompting a death stare from Cane coach Randy Shannon and eventually a “handshake” at midfield after the game. Thoughts?

I have to be honest, I asked this question for the sole purpose of bashing Urban Meyer and watching others do it too. I hate Urban Meyer. Ghost also hates Nick Saban, but respects him. Urban? Not so much. Thomas calls Urban an asshole. Patrick does wish Randy Shannon had punched Urban’s face off. Jai? He makes the Gators/Patriots comparison.

MoonDog and Will took the higher road and didn’t express dislike for Urban Meyer or his move, with good reasoning. MoonDog points out the Gators’ recent fails against Miami and sending the message that Florida is the state’s best team as good enough reason to kick the field goal. Will went all sneaky – he says Miami should act like it’s not big deal on the outside, but use it for motivation to build up to the next meeting with the Gators and exact revenge then.

(3) And finally, a question that I’m not sure has been so directly asked in the course of the Roundtable, but one that needs answering: the “woo” in Rocky Top…do you “woo” and why do/don’t you “woo”?

This question sparked quite a bit of debate, as I thought. We actually had a comment on Gate 21 saying a trumpet player back in ‘92/’93 “woo”ed once. The band caught on and started doing it, then the stadium followed and the rest is history. Whether that’s true or not, the “woo” has been a part of Rocky Top as long as I can remember. But the consensus on the Roundtable? The “woo” sucks.

Thomas says “woo”ing is only for Ric Flair (see below…). MoonDog wants to shoot the aforementioned trumpet player for starting it. Patrick went with the gutsy admission of his love of the “woo,” expressing his inner Mike Gundy. Will? admits he enjoys the “woo,” but also defaulted to Ghost, whose answer was nothing short of epic…

This is going to bring into question my manhood, but I’m OK with that. I’m confident in my sexuality, but I must answer this with a story.

My wife — Mrs. Ghost — is a beautiful but immature lady. I love her, but she’s a Bama fan, No. 1, and No. 2, she absolutely loves 1980s music. Now, I’m not talking about the Thompson Twins, Howard Jones, Africa and all the tolerable stuff. No, no, no. My wife loves the New Kids on the Block. (I have another name for them … Yes, it’s the same as yours.) Well, Mrs. Ghost has been beside herself about the release of NKOTB’s new album — which since I download … er… bought, she HATES by the way — because she loved, loved, LOVED that new song about the Girls of Summer, or something like that.

So, I got the CD for her Sunday afternoon and on the way to church that night, she proceeds to pop in the CD and play the song that is on the radio right now. It is a terrible song with no vocal quality at all, but it’s got a catchy beat. Now, when I say that sentence right there, my wife says, “You know you like it.” And I hate it. The “B-A-N-A-N-A-S” song by Gwen Stefani was horrible. The “My Humps” song is my least favorite song of all-time. Going back even further, I despise “Love Shack” by the B-52’s. But it’s those songs — THOSE HORRIBLE SONGS — that get in your head. So, sure enough, when we were waiting for preaching to start standing on the front porch, I began humming the song. My wife gets a little half-smile, looks at me sideways and says, “See, you DO like that song.” I wanted to punch her.

Anyway, all that brings me to this: I’m completely and whole-heartedly against the WOO! in Rocky Top. I hate it. I think it’s stupid. If we wanted a stupid cheer, we’d have adopted Two Bits from the Gators or not let Ole Miss steal “Hotty Toddy” from us. I hate stupidity. And the “WOO” is our stupidity.

But, but, but in the heat of the moment after we score a touchdown and we’re dancing in the aisles and high-fiving complete strangers and clapping, I’ve caught myself WOOING before. I’m completely and abashedly ashamed. My fandom should be revoked.

That said, I hope there are thousands of WOOs! come Saturday.

Ghost, that took guts. Jai, not to be outdone, gives us his own history of the “woo,” and discusses how 14 year-old girls view the “woo.” I’m still laughing at his answer.

As I commented on 3SIB, I think everybody – even the toughest of the “tough” guys – deep, deep, down, knows they have “woo”ed before – they’re just in denial. And as my last act as Roundtable host, I’m going to plain straight overload on the “woo”…

Guys, it’s been fun. Maybe lawvol – who also answered my questions here – will let me answer next week…

Disbelief and embarrassment. It took a few moments for last night’s loss to UCLA to really sink in. This morning before I left for class I was trying to find a comparable loss that I’ve been a part of, and I’m not sure there is one (maybe Arkansas ‘99?). It’s been awhile since Tennessee can really truly say it was upset like it was last night.

Even my two roommates – neither of whom are the most diehard of fans – were nearly speechless after the game. Most Tennessee fans were expecting a relatively easy win, though I wasn’t totally convinced just based on last year’s West Coast trip. Few people, if any, outside L.A. expected a UCLA win.

After a quick cleanup of the apartment, quickly finishing off some (water), and getting a midnight snack out of anger, I ventured onto VolQuest for some comic relief. I didn’t read much from those message boards, but the meltdown was epic. Some of what I saw from the crazier side of our fanbase:

• “Fire Fulmer!”
• “Chavis and Slade still need to go!”
• “Who’s ready for basketball season?”
• “Clawson sucks” and “Clawson belongs back in the FCS”
• “Crompton sucks” and “I miss Ainge”
• another thread bashing Arian Foster for his fumble
• “Thank God for DEER SEASON!”

The scapegoat on much of Facebook last night was Daniel Lincoln (unfairly). Campus today was more or less ho-hum. I didn’t really hear much talk about the game as I expected, but then again those who cared the most were probably still emotionally, mentally, and most of all physically recovering from it (i.e., skipping class – I sucked it up and went). The team hadn’t arrived back as of an hour ago either.

Me? I’m over it. No use overreacting after just one game, especially after last year’s ups and downs. Admittedly I bailed on the season at least six or seven different times last year and learned my lesson. I would be foolish to do so this early.

As for my thoughts on the game itself, it’s simple: we got outcoached. I don’t want to say we got outplayed, but UCLA wanted it more later in the game. We should have won the game and put UCLA away in the third quarter but gave it away. Why? Coaching.

I liked what I saw with the defense. We shut down UCLA for all but two drives really for the first three quarters, but to Norm Chow’s credit, he adjusted and John Chavis did not. Chow went to quick three-step drops and easy throws to get Kevin Craft into a rhythm and raise his confidence after 4 INTs in the first half. Chavis? He went all ‘07 Bama-soft, letting the best safeties in the country play 25 yards off the ball while UCLA dinked/dunked down the field.

It’s not that Craft was throwing into tight spots against double coverage – dudes were WIDE OPEN. Again, can we not put a whole game together defensively? Chavis failed to make adjustments.

Offensively, it was U-G-L-Y. I’m not as down on the playcalling as much as everybody else, other than obviously we should have pounded the rock ALOT more. Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty were running well and it was working and obviously Dave Clawson should have stuck with it. The passes themselves that were called weren’t terrible – we had guys in spots to make plays.

That falls on Jonathan Crompton. First game jitters I can understand, but Crompton just wasn’t very good. The offensive line didn’t help with a poor game – the group was inconsistent running the ball and Crompton was seemingly hit every other play.

Being a student I’ve become very hesitant to directly blame players for losses (‘07 SEC CG and ‘06 Outback Bowl notwithstanding). Foster’s fumble definitely changed momentum but bottom line is that Tennessee should have put them game away by that point and still had opportunities to win afterwards. Crompton was decent when he had time to throw, but that wasn’t often.

UCLA’s gameplan wasn’t rocket science: play strong, physical defense and force Crompton to win the game, keep the game close into the fourth quarter and see what happens. The remnants of the Bruin offense came to life and they even got a special teams score to boot (no pun intended). Our coaches looked lost and confused.

Also, count me as one who now wants to see us playing Directional Schools for the Deaf and Blind to open up. These West Coast trips are good for recruiting and the program – when you win and NOT for openers. Last year and this year are just killing Tennessee’s national perception. I see no reason to risk all that in the season’s first game. Thankfully, we open up with Western Kentucky next year (followed by a revenge-filled visit by UCLA).

Like I said, I’m over the loss and I’m not bailing. Tennessee has LOTS of work to do, but to me the offensive problems are fixable. With a new QB and new offensive system there’s going to be growing pains. We’re just further behind than I think everybody thought.

I’m probably a bit more optimistic (if you couldn’t tell) than some of my fellow Vol bloggers. Beating Florida is possible, but work needs to get done. Beat Florida and this sick feeling will be soon forgotten. Obviously Tennessee will be a bigger underdog for that game with last night’s loss and (though overplayed) it’s worked out in the past. I’m just sayin’…

I opened the Gate back in mid-November of 2007 with no real idea of what I was getting myself into…

Even now — looking back — I’m still not sure what my goal was.  Due to poor planning and a complete lack of forethought, my first post did not go up until a few days before the Vanderbilt game — the second-to-last game of the 2007 season.  Gate 21 didn’t really develop it’s “persona” until early 2008, but since then things have really expanded and — assuming all the stats counters are correct — a few people have actually read some of the things I’ve had to say along the way.

But this “blogging thing” takes a lot of work…

Thus, seeing that football season is right around the corner, my “real” life job has eaten up almost every second of my life since May, and the fact that I lack any real ability as a sportswriter, it is my distinct pleasure to announce the addition of “Home Sweet Home” as a new writer here at the Gate.

For those of you out there who have been following the Big Orange Roundtable, you will recognize “Home Sweet Home” as the Patrick — the lead voice from The View From the Hill.  Why he wants to leave his highly respectable blog — built on quality and substance — to join-up with yours truly is, I’m sure, troubling to many of you out there.  It may have had something to do with me promising him fame, fortune, and a handful of stick-on tattoos.

Either way, here he will be — at least until he realizes what a blowhard I am.  To start out Home Sweet Home (as in “Rocky Top will always be, Home Sweet Home to me …”) will be taking charge of a few new features here at the Gate, the first of which will be entitled (ta-da!) “The View From the Hill.“

At any rate, I know that those of you out there in webworld will appreciate the addition to the staff here in that he actually knows how to write an article which is rational, informative, and substantive — which, I suppose, will also be a new feature here at Gate 21.  Needless to say, I am thrilled to have him in the show.

So be sure to welcome him on board when his posts start appearing in the near future.

Oh yeah, and try not to hold it against him that he’s affiliated with me…

– Go Figure …

Be sure to check out the Roundtable Roundup for Week 1 over at 3SIB!

Vol for One! One for Vol!

Ah yes, the age-old cry of the roundtable … well … something like that. Not to be shown-up by the folks from Bama, or elsewhere, we happy few, we band of brothers making up the Vol Blogosphere have united under the “Seal of the T” and declared ourselves in one accord (and, no, not the car made by Honda). We have pledged our loyalty and publicly professed our oath of allegiance to the “Order of the Orange” at any cost. Simply awe inspiring isn’t it?

It’s a shame that it really didn’t happen like that, because that would be really cool — I bet I’d get a sword, a helmet, a horse, or something…

Anyway, as you may have noticed, Ghost of Neyland over at 3SIB gathered all of us together and talked us into starting our own roundtable for the Vol fans of the blogosphere. Since I am all about the group mentality — probably due to all the time I have spent in Neyland Stadium — I said that sounded like a great idea.

The way this works is that each week one of the blogs in the roundtable posts a series of questions which each of the others answer. The weekly “hosting” blog then links all the responses and gives a nice and tidy little re-cap at the end of the week. This includes looks at the comments from those of you that actually read what we have to say. Furthermore, if there are any questions you’d like to see discussed, feel free to add them in the comments section on any of the roundtable blogs or via email to any of us blowhards writers.

At present the roundtable includes: Fulmer’s Belly, Gate 21, Rocky Top Talk, Loser With Socks, the World According to MoonDog (a/k/a MoonDog Sports), The Power T, Your Mother Slept With Wilt Chamberlain, the UT Vols Football Blog, and the SouthEastern Sports Blog. If you’d like to join, feel free to let us know. If you want more information on how the roundtable works, you can check out Ghost of Neyland’s wonderful introduction over at 3SIB

Predictably, this is the first week and I am already running behind (sigh). I was supposed to post my answers yesterday, but — alas — here I am a day late and a dollar short. Be that as it may, I am always willing to pontificate, so here we go!

Week 1 (Questions in Sort-o-Teal-like color)

1) How good/bad do you think Jonathan Crompton will be in his first year as a Tennessee starting quarterback and what makes you think that?

I’m not quite sure what to think as we prepare to usher in the “Straight Outta Crompton” era. Based upon his performance when filling in for Erik Ainge in 2006, it is obvious that Crompton has some real skills, and is probably the most athletic starting quarterback we have had since Tee Martin. I have a feeling that new offensive coordinator Dave Clawson will find a way to help make Crompton productive. When you’re reassessing the entire offense, it’s no biggie to massage the system to meet the needs of the horses you have in the stable. It is possible, under Clawson’s more aggressive offensive system, that Crompton could come out of the gates blazing, and really put on a show for the Orange-clad faithful. He clearly has the ability to be the “guns and guts” sort of quarterback who can kill you both in the air with his passing ability, as well as by dropping his head and giving you a helmet in the solarplexus.

My real question when it comes to Crompton is not what he can do from a physical perspective, but rather what he can do from the mental side of the game. I realize that he came in under less-than ideal circumstances in 2006. He was a true freshman, and barely knew the offense. He was operating — more or less — on little more than pure instinct and ability. That said, I do worry a bit about whether he will try to be the maverick style player who has the ability to do amazing things on the field, and refuses to let the stuff between his ears get in the way — thereby making colossal mistakes from a decision-making perspective. Again, I am not presuming this about Crompton, but it is a concern given his 2006 performance.

All that fretting aside, I am really excited about Crompton. He has serious talent, some real-game experience, and has to be chomping at the bit to have his day as the lead dog. Most importantly for me, however, I just like the fact that he represents something new for Tennessee Football — a completely new offensive model. If he can get the mindgame down, I have a feeling that he is going to be one we will talk about for many years.

2) This question was posed on our site a few weeks ago by the Bama boys, and it brought some good discussion, so given UT’s rich history of scheduling home-and-homes with top-shelf BCS programs, what school would you most like for the Vols to play in the future and why?

Well, I have always been glad that the Vols avoid scheduling patsy’s like Tyrone’s North-Central Florida University of Animal Husbandry and Interior Design like some schools do (ahem … Florida Gators … cough, cough … the entire ACC). Still there is one school which I so wish would make the jump to Division 1 – Bowl Series (formerly Div 1), and that is Appalachian State. Given App State’s proximity to Knoxville, I would think that would be a great series to begin — I mean they have won three Division 1 – Championship Series (formerly Div 1-A) National Championships in a row, and knocked Meee-che-gun off in the Big House last year. That’s my atypical suggestion.

In terms of more traditional powers, I am a fan of keeping the West Coast schools on our schedule for recruiting purposes and national standing. Thus, I would favor having a regular series with any of UCLA, Cal, USC, and maybe even Washington. The other schools which immediately come to mind are some of the Big 10 schools. While I know we have heard the “SEC Speed kills Big 10 Strength” argument till we are blue in the face, I still believe that the Big 10 is the other “real” football conference in the country. I would try to set up a regular Big 10 opponent in most years — my favorites in that regard would be Ohio State, Penn State, and maybe even a team like Purdue.

Under no circumstances should we ever waste our time on teams from the ACC, especially — and I know there are those who disagree with me — Virginia Tech. I would say the same for the Big East … unless you just want some easy wins.

3) A lot has been made of our lack of depth at defensive tackle. With Demonte Bolden, Dan Williams and Walter Fisher pretty solid, what other player do you think makes a big move toward becoming dependable?

I’m probably not the best person to analyze this question, but I agree with the other round-tablers that Donald Langley looks awfully promising, but he is untested. There are a few others who have shown some promise (such as Chase Nelson as MoonDog pointed out). So I guess I am hopefully optimistic that Coach Chavis will find ways to effectively fill the defensive tackle slots. That is probably a lot of faith to put into the defensive staff, but Chief has always impressed me with his ability to be flexible and make something out of nothing.

4) Neyland Stadium has undergone some wholesale external and internal renovations during the offseason, updating and improving the overall appearance. If you could change one thing about Neyland, what would it be?

There have been some major improvements at Neyland in just the last few years under Mike Hamilton which are as welcome as they are overdue. Apparently, the Big Dickey didn’t really care whether fans actually enjoyed themselves at the game — just whether they paid for tickets.

The main things I would like to see are, another Jumbotron at the opposite end, better parking (and parking allocation) for games, and a continued re-development of the concourses. I would also like to see a statue of General Neyland outside the stadium.

In terms of the seating, I would like to see more seating, but also better seating. This would mean not so much that the bleachers be replaced with chairback seats, but that the seats be widened so your butt can fit between the lines. All that said, I will mirror the sentiments of others that I would like to see the total seat-count exceed 109,000.

Other ideas I think could be cool would include:

• I would can the fireworks after a touchdown or a win, and would instead light up the sky each time by setting off an atomic bomb over at the old US Department of Energy Proving Grounds in Oak Ridge — trust me, you’ll see it.
• In the interest of adding seats maybe the athletic department could consider doming the stadium and adding seats on chains hanging from the ceiling, or use EDSBS’s suggestion that Tennessee allow treestands in the lighting support structures.
• In line with the old Mercedes Benz symbol at Legion Field (owing to the Mercedes plant in Alabama) I suppose we could put a great big Saturn sign over the Jumbotron to salute the Saturn plant in Spring Hill.  Neyland Stadium could be the “Saturn Vue of College Football” or something along those lines.  Of course, since they closed the plant in 2007, maybe we are a bit behind the curve.

Now those are some fireworks!!

Oh yeah, I also think the renovation of the real Gate 21 plaza outside the stadium should include paving the plaza with gold, platinum, and diamonds, and that the “21” sign should be approximately 100 feet across and illuminated 24 hours a day … but that’s just me.

5) Different UT fans have different opinions on last season. Was it a success? Was it a failure? Why do you think so?

I would call the 2007 Season a successful failure. I say that because the Vols were not expected to be all that great last year. Based upon Tennessee’s performance versus both the Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide the Vols were not very good — in fact they were lousy. That said, somehow the Vols managed to make it to the SEC Championship Game, and were one botched throw away from potentially defeating the LSU Tigers — who won that whole National Championship thing.

The end result is that the 2007 Vols probably accomplished more than they should have. The question is whether the expectations should have been higher? From my perspective — year-in-year-out — I care less about winning championships than being consistent. In that regard the 2007 Vols fell far short.

Of course, hope springs eternal, and 2008 is a new year. As the addition of Dave Clawson makes clear, “times they are a changin’ ” so at least I’m hopeful for the future.

So, those are my thoughts for this week, be sure to check out what the other roundtablers as well (in no particular order):

• 3rd Saturday in Blogtober
• YMSWWC
• World According to Moondog
• UT Vols Football
• Fulmer’s Belly
• Loser With Socks
• The Power T
• Rocky Top Talk
• SouthEastern Sports Blog

Oh yeah, next week I’ll try to be on time…

– Go Figure …