Thursday, January 26, 2006

John Pennington--My favorite UT Blogger

John Pennington runs a blog and also hosts a radio/tv show in K-Town covering the VOL nation sports. Actually, he's very level headed and was down on the vols last fall long before the free fall began. In other words, he's not so crazy orange that his comments are one sided, as can happen frequently out of Knoxville, particularly out of the VOL network as one might imagine. In any event, I like him a lot, and I'll frequently post his comments on my blog.

Topic of the week for VOL fans--the $5000 fine given to UT for the fans charging the court after the impressive VOL victory over Florida last Saturday night. Needless to say, we've got something brewing up there with Bruce Pearl. I was fortunate enough to meet Bruce Pearl last fall, and he is every bit as animated and enthusiastic in person as you have probably been reading. Anyway, here are John's comments about last Saturday night in Knoxville-


Jeremy Foley Complains

Tennessee has been fined $5000 by the SEC for allowing students to charge the floor after Saturday night's win over #2, undefeated Florida. Florida AD Jeremy Foley then went to the media to complain about his team's safety and UT's lack of a commitment to security.

This, of course, would mean something if he weren't the AD at Florida.

John's Verdict: The idea of protecting players (and preventing possible injuries and lawsuits) is a smart one. However, I can't ever remember seeing a #1 or #2 ranked team lose a basketball game on the road when FANS didn't storm the court. Anywhere. Everywhere.

Coach Pearl and Mike Hamilton are correct in saying that UT fans shouldn't repeat the incident (again, I'm an "act like you expected to beat them" person), but a one-time scenario (that not ONE Florida player complained about) isn't the end of the world.

UT had extra security on hand, but apparently firehoses and dogs are in order... if you ask Foley. Aside from billy-sticking people, I don't know what security can do to stop kids from rushing onto the court.

And lastly, as I noted earlier, isn't Florida known for being THE worst place in the SEC for visiting fans? Perhaps Florida security could do something about fans that throw cups of urine at the wives of opposing coaches. Perhaps Florida security could do something about the verbal abuse that opponents' fans have to endure at Florida Field.

No? Then shaddup.

Foley needed to pick up a phone and call Hamilton, not the Gainesville Sun. (Remember how UT played the "good guy" during the Hurricanes Katrina/Rita mess before the LSU game last Fall? That's how you do it... behind closed doors. Outwardly, you don't pop your bill.)

Personally, I think that fans of every team that has to travel to Gainesville should start making lists of all the lewd, crude, rude and socially unacceptable behavior that they encounter at Florida... then mail them to ESPN. A nice long list of bad actions, that would probably read the same from fans of Arkansas to Tennessee to South Carolina, wouldn't paint a very nice picture of the Florida Athletic Department or their "commitment to security."

Here's a New Line

Sex calms nerves before public speaking- study Well, I must say, if you read the first 2 paragraphs of this article, it doesn't look like Bill Clinton would qualify for the full effect of the therapy mentioned in the title after all. However, if you are a public speaker, it's definitely something to think about.