To Stand or not to stand. A member of the sometimes down in front fan base breaks it down for you. In today's tonybasilio.com voice of choice.




Mike Hamilton tweeted that it was the little things that matter. He likened Dooley talking 'shower discipline' to John Wooden teaching his kids about socks. I hope he was kidding. Link


That the NCAA's system is wrought with hypocrisy is no revelation. That they continue to exist is mystifying. This AJ Green case is the latest sad chapter in the duplicitous realm of major college sports. The Coaches and administrators profit ad nauseam off the backs of mostly African American kids. Everybody gets rich! EVERYBODY. But one of those kids better not try to profit from all their hard work. Not even a little bit. It's so unamerican. It's so disgusting. I know, I know, we can't do anything about it. Because it's the way it's always been. Well that answer isn't satisfactory. Georgia's season is up in smoke unless the NCAA grants a stay. As it is, 4 games means Green misses a key stretch for the Dawgs including Saturday's game with South Carolina. UGA is in huge trouble without him on Saturday. Book that. Link


No AJ Green, and Murray makes his first road start. Ah, Dawgs are in trouble. Link



If Bryce Brown's father, who I will not grant an audience on my show, had any sense he would challenge the NCAA's transfer rules in a court of law. If he's going to pursue a frivolous lawsuit against UT based on the twitter account of some reporter from the ESPN, he needs to make his son the Curt Flood of college football. It's time to emancipate these kids. And yes, I use the word emancipate purposefully here! What's right is right. And not having a release is no way to treat a kid. Even if the Dad is a loon and the kid didn't give Dooley a chance. The NCAA needs to get real in a lot aspects. Transfer rules and the Green case are the tip of the ice berg by a nice place to start.


Starting with tonight's Miss State/Auburn game, this is must see TV. Tons of great games! Link

How do you defend Oregon anyway? You hope and pray that young QB doesn't handle it well. I'm starting to think that this is UT's greatest chance. Come ready to make some noise! Link

I'll take the Saints to roll the Vikings tonight. Something tells me Favre struggles this year.


Chris Berman is so 80's. So why not a cheezy mid 80's mustache to ring in the 2010 season. Link


So Tim Tebow signed up for a twitter account yesterday and he had over 18,000 followers in the matter of hours. That guy has pop! Wonder how many times Verne and Gary signed up. Link


How many times is former Bear Super Bowl Champion Dan Hampton going to apologize for being an insensitive rube? Link

That Cody Pope thing was really scary yesterday. Rumors are really something. And you read them right along with me. Wow. I just hope that kid is OK. Very sobering and scary in that period between mid day till early evening when those rumors were flying around. Link


Tennessee's not commenting but when your face goes numb, that's pretty scary indeed.


Let's face it. If UT has a shot on Saturday, the UT fans have to really bring it. They have to come ready to roll the entire time. The down in front fan base has to cede the moment to those who are a little more demonstrative. You must let those who are yellers and screamers do their thing. It's one of the great hopes we have. Oregon loves this Thomas kid at QB. Let's see how much. Let's see what it's like for this kid to get rattled. Let's see how he responds. This isn't going to happen if your constantly sniping at the fan in front of you to 'sit down', 'I'm trying to see the game'. If you're trying to see the freakin' game, stand the heck up. And if you come with a losing, silent attitude, you will leave that stadium a silenced loser. If the Cal crowd from the Longshore game shows up, UT could shock the world. If not, it's going to be a long day I'm afraid. The crowd can be a huge factor. Will you stand up and be counted or will you just sit there and take it?




Don't completely diminish Boise State in the way that Gene Stallings did. Thinking they would only win 3 games against an SEC schedule is ludacris. If Boise played UT's schedule, they would represent the SEC's East in Atlanta. Look at it with an open mind. At worst, they are 10-2 versus UT's schedule. The defense flies to the ball and went heads up with a very powerful Tech team. I'm serious here. Don't laugh. Should they be ranked in the Top 5 right now? Absolutely not. But a division winner in the SEC's East should be good for about a #10 to #12 ranking. Which is about where Boise is.


Uncle Mike has to be torn up right now. Jonathan Crompton has been outright released. Even from the Chargers practice squad. Poor kid. Link


I don't know about you, but I sort of see Crompton in a different light after all that Kiffin love they gave him around draft time and all the talk about how they were USC loyal and all that non-sense. Whatever. That's just not for me.


Somebody in the News Sentinel blames Mike Hamilton for Crompton's NFL demise. Read the comments below that article I linked above. Crompton would make a decent back up for somebody in the UFL. Maybe.


Did Kanter take a pay cut to go to UK? Might be a real first here! Link


Here's the NY Times story that's going to blow the lid off of this. Link


This is the first you'll see of Europe pushing back on US colleges invading their turf for players. Those people hate it when we steal the cattle.


Braves Nation is in full meltdown mode. Link Hey, relax. The Phillies aren't going to run off on anybody any time soon. They're just not consistent enough. Yesterday they tried to squander a three run lead in the 8th with shoddy defense, pitching and decision making. Trust me Braves fan, the Phillies really aren't good. That said, they're somehow the first NL team to 80 wins. How is that possible? Beano is right. The top four teams in the NL east are better than anyone in the NL east. That said, the Phils will have a decent shot to win it all if they make the playoffs. Too much talent in the staff. Relief pitching with Lidge and Madson is back to a winnable level. And they've done it before.


Anybody know where I can get an AJ Green autographed jersey? I hear they're going for around $1,000. How about you? Link


How can you take the Heisman Trophy away from Bush and not award it to Vince Young. Give it to Johnny Majors or Manning. Or anybody for that matter. You can't not award it. Who do these people think they are, Major League Baseball in '94? Link



And what are they going to do if they take it back? Go and confiscate it with a SWAT team or use some of those ATF folks from the Ruby Ridge standoff? How silly. I'm hearing the DAC folks are leaning toward not doing anything after being pretty much panned from coast to coast Tuesday after letting out the trial balloon.

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Peace

TB

So the Vols are a 13.5 point dog this week according to the opening line. I'll take some of that 7 days a week and thrice on Sunday.


Derek Dooley is wonderful with the press. He gets up there and tells the truth and it's fun to watch and listen to as well. Very fun. Here he is breaking down the punt returner situation which is now wide open as UT prepares for Oregon.

“Of course, David’s (Oku) been back there so he’s experienced. Janzen has some play making ability. Eric Gordon does. Justin Hunter does. Those are four right there. I always want a guy who can change the game back there, but you want them to change the game for you. I think Gerald misunderstood me when I told him. I said, ‘We need a game changer back there.’ He almost changed the game.”


And with Jones out this weekend a probably next, the kids, Rogers, Hunter etc have to stand up and bring it.


Jarrod Shaw's ankle needs to heal up. UT needs him healthy this week.


LaMichael James gets back this week for Oregon after a huge season in the absence of Lagarrett Blount. This is a truly explosive offense. UT's hope has to be that Oregon's young quarterback (s) get bright light fright. It may be our only hope in this game.


Jacquez Smith was touched the other night before Tennessee's season opener with Martin. He told a great friend of mine on Sunday that the emotion of the moment before running through the 'T' was overwhelming. This is a kid who has been through an awful lot. He could have bolted when Kiffin did back in January but he stayed the course. So, UT is getting ready to run out onto the field and Jacquez said he was so overtaken with the emotion of the moment that he balled his eyes out. He said running through the 'T' was even better than he dreamed it would be. He said the noise was incredible on the field. He recanted that he couldn't hardly remember where he was for a moment as he was swept up in the emotion of all that's happened to him to get here and how incredible the noise and the crowd and the scene was. Thought you would enjoy that story.



One of Tennessee's top basketball targets if not their top target will be in this weekend for the Oregon game. You win championships with players like Adonis Thomas. Link




Rarely do games live up to their pre-season billing. Coming into last night's game, the top games of the first college football weekend featured some lesser likes. The top two games were East Carolina/Tulsa and Maryland/Navy. That is before the grand finale of Boise/Va Tech. And grand it was! What a great, eventful, dramatic contest between two well coached teams. Boise State is now 4-1 vs Top 10 teams since 2000. Va Tech is now 0-22 vs top 5 teams away from Blacksburg. Is Boise for real? I'd say that Defensive line was pretty stout last night. And when they had to have it, they ran the ball right at a great Tech defense. And there's no doubt that offensively, Boise has enough firepower to play with anybody. Kellen Moore manages a game nicely. Pettis is a big time receiver while Harper outran Tech's defense on that long touchdown run. Not to mention the way they use the tight end. Boise has won 27 straight games! When they play for it all in January, they will be on a 38 game winning streak. Oregon State is the only ranked opponent left for Boise. Nobody will come even close to them!


You take a 12-0 Boise or an 11-1 SEC Champ in the National Title game. We've got all year to kick this around. Link

Braves say they remain confident even though they probably shouldn't be. The Braves look scared while the stupid Phillies are schizo. Braves fans face the realization that they may not even make the playoffs if they keep this up. Do the math. 2 games separate the Braves from missing the playoffs. That seems incomprehensible. For the record, I still think the Braves win the division and the phillies may not be playoff bound. Link


Double A Alert! Get that Jason Allen Dolphins jersey out of the mothballs son. He gets the start this week. Link


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I say bring on the Ducks. We will be there in full throat on Saturday. It's what it's about.

Go Vols/Phillies

Tone