The season starts today for my fellow Vols fans. It started yesterday for others, and today for some but today is specifically for people like me, and V00d3w and my close friend OfficerT, a rabid Arkansas fan.

Today is the first day our traditions have seen the light of day since last year. It is a special day. Rivalries are revived. Old arguments are renewed. Old friendships rekindled. As the days grow shorter, the weather cooler, and the wind holds a bit of a scent of winter in the air, these are the days when it all changes not just our programming, or our weather, but our lifestyle; at least one day per week.

Morning Breaks by the Spite Family Wilderness Retreat here in Southwest Missouri

Here at The Spite Family Wilderness Retreat we have many Game Day traditions.

I, and others, were recently asked if we were superstitious. Foolish I admitted I am to a point.

But those superstitions are based in my traditions. Those superstitions can be fun, especially if you have your friends involved.

It becomes fun for friends to ask about Volunteer Sunrise, your personal blend of coffee on Game Day morning while preparations are underway. It becomes fun when your friends want to get involved in creating a tradition, or if they want to perhaps modify your own such as an ingredient suggestion.

It becomes fun, as each Saturday becomes a rhythm with your family, friends, times they arrive, things that are done. Kids anticipate your wife or girlfriends brownies. Guys gather around the beer cooler as open flame is lit. The ladies laugh at their husbands as they set paper plates, and call out scores to each inquiry from the grill.

Its not just about superstition, it’s about traditions. Those traditions that lend a kind of stability to your life when it seems all else is going out of control. A day to look forward too each week, when at least 5 of them you feel you could do without. A small point of happiness, family, friendship, and a kind of explosive peace as the whistle blows and shouts are made at referee’s. Those traditions that can last a lifetime as your kids pass them on, or who ask you when the next football game is.

My day was made when my daughter spotted an orange at the grocery store at age 3 and asked “Daddy, are those from Tennessee?”. Because of the color.

These are the days that make life special, and those traditions, those superstitions only add flavor to its length.

Were everyday like this.

Go Vols

Tags: College, Family, Football, NCAA, Technorati, Tradition

It’s FRIIIIIIIIIIIDAY!!

And It’s FOOTBALL TIME IN THE SEC!

What more can ya ask for?!

Ok how about yer daily quote?

Baseball is what we were, football is what we have become.

- Mary McGrory

Yer music video?

Some Eye Candy?

Oh wait not what you were looking for? Hang on I’ll take the sting out

Texas Longhorns Cheerleaders

Rock on brothers and sisters! I’m picking up some bratwurst for the weekend tonight!

Tags: ACC, Bratwurst, Cheerleader, College, ESPN, Football, Game Day, Hot, MAC, PAC-10, SEC, Technorati

This is what "deep thought" looks like.

As much as I love UGA, its getting hard to say that I support this team.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a die-hard fan, but the latest news out of Athens has me wondering.

1)  WTF were the 4 alleged players doing with bratwurst at 2:00am…

2)  Where did said bratwurst come from…

3)  What are the college students doing with a sex swing in their dorm…

4)  Why would you “threaten” someone with a sex swing…

Here is the link to the actual police report that has the actual account of the incedent.  Wait, I have one more question:

5)  Why didn’t the “victims” ask the taxi driver to stop???

"Don't slap me, I just want a little bite!"

v00d3W

Tags: America, Bratwurst, College, Culture, Football, Go Dawgs!, NCAA, Registered Evil, Technorati, UGA

Who’s leading UGA QB derby?

No one knows right now, but Saturday’s closed scrimmage might help answer question.

ATHENS –- Each day, Georgia’s quarterbacks meet with their position coach, Mike Bobo. One topic never comes up in those meetings: a pecking order among the three quarterbacks competing this spring to be the Bulldogs’ starter.

“Coach Bobo really isn’t telling anybody, ‘You stand here,’ ‘You stand here,’” Logan Gray said.

“No, Coach Bobo hasn’t said anything, him or Coach Richt,” Aaron Murray said.

The three quarterbacks -– Gray, Murray and Zach Mettenberger –- have evenly shared snaps with the first-team offense in the seven sessions of spring practice so far. And they will do so Saturday morning when the team holds a closed scrimmage in Sanford Stadium, undoubtedly the most important day yet in their competition.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Murray said. “Coach Richt was talking [Thursday] after practice that this is going to be the first test for everyone, to see where everyone is at, to see what we have learned, to see where we have come after two weeks of practice.”

The scrimmage will be Georgia’s first of three allowed by the NCAA during spring practice.

“This is my third spring, so obviously I’ve found out scrimmages in the spring are what are judged probably the most and the biggest,” Gray said. “With this being our first one, and with the quarterback competition going on how it is right now, obviously it’s going to be really important.

“But I don’t want to make it the end of the world,” Gray added. “If one of us has a not-so-good day, I don’t think that’s just going to kill us, or put somebody out of what’s going on. But I think everybody is going to be excited to go out there and go live for a long period of time and make plays at all positions.”

Gray’s view of the competition so far is that all three quarterbacks have had “really good days” and “days there could be improvement.”

He said the quarterbacks have focused on day-to-day progress, rather than fretting the high-profile competition.

“We’re just all three of us trying to get better and correct the mistakes we’re making,” he said. “I think all of us have done a good job of trying to come out and work hard every day and take care of our business.”

For his part, Gray believes he has improved his passing accuracy.

“I felt like I’ve had some really good days where I’ve been hitting my targets better maybe than I did in the past,” he said. “I just have to keep on running the offense on a consistent basis so the coaches know every single time I’m in the huddle hopefully something good can happen.”

Courtesy ajc.com

Wow, what a concept, have 3 of your QB’s actually compete for the top spot instead of just chosing one due to the fact that he is the Senior, hence the messed up season last year.  Maybe something finally hit Mark Richt in the head, and got him thinking clearly about how to run a football team.  I can see it now: 

{ begin dream sequence…….

   *blam!*…. whoah, what just nailed me in the head….wait a sec – I’m havin’ a vision —– I should let the best players on the team be in the First String, wow, it all makes sense now, It doesn’t matter if he is a senior or not, I should just let the best player start!   Better yet, I should have a competition to weed out the weak, and let the strongest prevail!!! 

end dream sequence. }

Well, with all that said,    GO DAWGS!!!!!!!

v00d3W

Tags: America, College, Football, Go Dawgs!, NCAA, Registered Evil, Technorati, UGA Mark Richt, UGA New QB, UGA QB contest

The Fulmer Cup has gone far, far too long without an update. The Big Board is brought to you shiny and updated courtesy of Brian, whom you may recall as the man whose genitals are huge enough to recall the enormous donkey-rope of Reggie Nelson himself. Tabulations and justifications follow.

Tags: College, Football, Fulmer Cup, Registered Evil, Technorati, UGA

He that is busy is tempted by but one devil; he that is idle, by a legion. Thomas Fuller

My Bachelors program is going pretty well. However I must confess the program itself is a tad frustrating.

You see in every class we are assigned to perform work and assignments in teams. You have individual work on top of this.

The individual work I have no problem with.  The team work I have had has not been…inspiring.

My first team went ok. We had one individual who participated about half the time. of our four team assignments she did two of them and basically did nothing the last two. She apparently passed because she is in my current class. I have no clue how.

My current team has been a nightmare.

I went through in advance and posted a topic for every assignment we had coming up through out the course. that way the team could discuss them as a group and get to work early.

That failed miserably.

For example out final project is due Saturday. The post has been open since the middle of February.

I have been the only person posting in that forum. I even went so far to post a note that said “Uhm, hello?”

Now thats not to say the team does not work. For the last 3 weeks I developed a simple method.

I call it the “Screw-you-people-I-aint-gonna-fail” method of leadership.

Every Wednesday I effectively say screw it, and assign everyone a topic, how many pages they have to write, what I expect, and when it needs to be turned in to me.

This method has worked very well.

Save for one individual.

Whom has not turned in a single group assignment since we started.

What makes it bad is, the individual will send me text messages saying they are working on it.

They will continue to post in the forum, and to send me text messages 2 days after the assignment was due that they are working on it.

This week is our finals week.

All week I have waited for the group to participate. Once again I used my screwit methodology and executed a note with assignments.

This time however I placed a side note.

I need everyone’s parts by no later than 08:00 Saturday Central Time.
On that note, twice now I have done someone else’s work, so the team would not suffer.

If your work is not turned in with the rest of the teams your name will not be included on the final project paper!

Vicious? Probably.

Tactful? Probably not.

Do I care? Not really.

However, if I see the individual in another class I have decided 2 things.

1. My MBA will be pursued elsewhere. and
2. I will refuse to work in a team with the individual in question.

So much for higher learning being the path of adults, heh.

Each time she fails to complete her assignment, I end up doing the work for her. Not because I want her to pass. But because I do not want the rest of the team to fail because of her laziness. So in effect I am doing my school work and half of hers.

Help me out here.

If your paying for this, why in the hell would you sluff your work? I mean seriously? Am I the only one who doesn’t have 20 grand a year to blow just to hang out in a online education system and not get my education?

My goal is at least within sight.So that helps.

One more year and I can transfer back to where it all started.

Tags: College, Higher learning, teamwork, Technorati

Every good tailgater knows that there are two things that must happen to have an awesome tail gate: Planning and Preparation.

Every fan knows that, the special room you have set aside to show your loyalty, must also have two things:  Planning and Preparation.

For those of us whom live many miles from our beloved favorite/home teams location sometimes both of these items present quite a challenge.

Decorations are hard to come by. Knick knacks your opponents have are not so easily obtained.

One need only refer to myself and OfficerT’s frequent tailgates to see the difference.

He brings two tents with Arkansas Razorback markings, a grill painted red, a propane tank cover, numerous chairs, plates, cups, glasses, silverware and even a helmet to stick chips in.

I bring a beer glass, a bottle opener that plays Rocky Top and the Barbecue Utensils with UT stamped on them.

Its not that I don’t own UT stuff.

Ask anyone whom has worked with me and they’ll tell you I’m…well…obsessed

However it’s just not as easy, nor as logical to purchase some items I would use….such as a tent. It might get used once every 4 years when we play Arkansas. The rest of the time would merely earn me odd looks.

However I have found someplace, my fellow displaced fans, that will let you buy pretty much anything you could ask for….and then some.

Allow me to show you Fan The Fire.

It is Tennessee fan nirvana.

From ties, to cufflinks, from tents, to plates, towels to vehicle floor mats, it literally has everything.

I am told they have stuff for other schools as well.

But seriously…….who’d want something with Vandy on it when you could own this??

I am going to be sooooo ready for October……

Tags: College, Fanwear, Football, Go Vols, NCAAA, Technorati, Tennessee, University of Tennessee, Volunteers

Chuck Smith, former Tennessee Volunteer and more recently New York Jets Pass Rush Specialist has came back to Tennessee as the new Defensive Line Coach.

Smith is a giant among men in the D-Line business, having ran his own business helping Defensive Lineman get on top of their game, before finally being dragged kicking and screaming in to the NFL.

Among his star pupils are three former Vols — Albert Haynesworth, who this past season signed a $100 million contract with the Washington Redskins; Robert Ayers, a 2009 NFL first-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos; and Shaun Ellis, who made the Pro Bowl with the Jets this season.

Smith also has worked with Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour and New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora.

In the 2009 NFL draft, seven linemen selected in the first five rounds trained under Smith, including Ayers.

Hat Tip Rocky Top Talk

Tags: College, Defense, Go Vols! Football, Go Volunteers!!!!, NCAA, NFL, Technorati, Tennessee, Volunteers