By Brendan Loy
Google Street View has come to Knoxville.
For instance, here's the place I just came back from -- the Knoxville Visitor Center on Gay Street, where the WDVX Blue Plate Special takes place every weekday:
And here's a look at the Gay Street Bridge, seen from across the river in South Knoxville, with several downtown buildings, the Sunsphere, and the Henley Street Bridge in the distance:
(Hat tip: Michael Silence.) More after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
As I mentioned earlier, a severe thunderstorm pounded North Knoxville this afternoon. I had a bird's eye view of the storm from the parking garage downtown where I park for work, and I was able to capture several still frames of cloud-to-ground lightning from the videos I took with my digital camera. Here's the best one:
Here's what the storm looked like on radar at that very moment:
A wider, animated radar view can be found here. There are more lightning pics -- and other storm photos -- in my Flickr gallery, and several of those photos are highlighted on my photoblog.
UPDATE: One of my lightning videos is now on Flickr as well. You can see several lightning strikes, including the one pictured above.
P.S. The thunderstorm gave way to a beautiful sunset several hours later. Here are a couple photos of that:
Again, visit my Flickr gallery and my photoblog for more.
By Brendan Loy
Don't you love it when Glenn Reynolds gets a little pervy with his photography? I sure do! But what does Dr. Helen think? ;)
(I kid, Glenn, I kid!)
By Brendan Loy
New York Times travel writer Allison Glock spends 36 hours in Knoxville, which she calls "a place too unassuming to shout about but too comfortable to leave":
Knoxville, cheerfully ensconced in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains and banked against the Tennessee River, has an intrinsically lazy, soulful feel. The geography is soft, green and rolling. The climate is gentle, breezy and bright. Locals tend to be not just friendly — a given in most Southern towns — but chilled out, too. This is not the Old South of magnolias and seersucker so much as a modern Appalachia of roots music, locavore food, folk art and hillbilly pride. Or, as yet another city moniker aptly states, “Austin without the hype.”
WDVX's Blue Plate Special is prominently featured, as well it should be. Photo gallery here. (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)
By Brendan Loy
As I mentioned earlier, my parents are in town this weekend, and tonight my dad and I went to a Tennessee Smokies game. I had totally forgotten that Notre Dame's Jeff Samardzija is a Smokie (er, a Smoky?), but he is, and there he was, standing in the dugout right in front of us:
I couldn't resist saying something, so I walked up to the edge of the dugout and yelled "Hey, Jeff!" a couple of times until he heard me and looked over. I then said, "Go Irish!" He responded with a sort of half-smile and quasi-acknowledgment that suggested he gets that all the time from Notre Dame fans who feel so passionately about the Irish that they figure it's perfectly reasonable to treat famous ND alums like long-lost buddies and thus randomly say "Go Irish" at them. Heh.
Alas, Samardzija wasn't pitching tonight, but it was cool to see him anyway. He's got a blog, by the way.
Anyway, the Smokies won the game, 8-3, and we had a good time. Here are a few more pictures:
By Brendan Loy
Becky, Loyette and I spent Memorial Day communing with nature, as we hiked the Porters Creek Trail, a roughly 7-mile walk through the woods in the Smoky Mountain National Park.
It was very fun, if somewhat exhausting. (The hike to the campsite at the end of the trail was relentlessly uphill; the walk back was, naturally, downhill, and therefore mercifully less tiring.) We carried Loyette in her Kangaroo Korner slings, Becky using the fleece one and me using the mesh one, as we always do. We passed her back and forth throughout the roughly six-hour hike, and whoever wasn't wearing the baby would wear the backpack. So that worked out pretty well.
Loyette was amazingly tolerant of the long day. She got cranky exactly three times -- twice just before taking a long nap in her sling (i.e., she was tired), and once just before lunch (i.e., she was hungry). She's a great baby that way. :) Throughout the vast majority of the hike, she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and seemed very interested in all the new sights, sounds and smells. Of course, that meant not just the natural wonders of the forest, but also the more mundane "wonders" like the feel of cold condensation on the outside of our water bottle, and the way a plastic bag full of peanuts (a handy trail snack) changes shape when you grab the outside of the bag. To a baby, everything new is exciting and wondrous.
Anyway, the trail we hiked is renowned for its beautiful wildflowers in early spring. Since it's late May, there aren't as many wildflowers now, but there are some, and they're pretty. Here are a few that I photographed:
See also this one and this one.
Oh, and the trail also has a somewhat scary bridge, quite reminiscent of the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm (although with a railing, admittedly):
It's hard to tell from the photos, but there's really quite a steep drop-off; the water is maybe 15 feet below you in the middle. And given the narrowness of the bridge, it's legitimately somewhat nerve-wracking to walk across.
I really wanted to find a large stick, hold it up, and proclaim, "You cannot pass! I am the servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. Dark fire will not avail you, Flame of Udûn! Go back to the shadow! You shall not pass!!!"
But alas, there was another pair of hikers sitting on a rock nearby, well within earshot, so I had to contain my weirdness. :)
I did, however, do what my dad and I call the Indiana Jones pose -- notwithstanding the fact that, to my knowledge, Indiana Jones never did any such pose.
Anyway, I'll upload some more pictures of the hike to Flickr shortly, and link to them here when they're online.
P.S. I think this photo is cool:
UPDATE: As promised, here's the Flickr gallery. It's two pages long. Enjoy!
By Brendan Loy
As I mentioned previously, Becky and I went to the Knox County Democrats' Truman Day Dinner last night at the Knoxville Convention Center, where we were treated to a keynote address by none other than than the Ragin' Cajun himself, James Carville, described in the event's program as "the most famous political consultant in America" (something I think Karl Rove might take issue with).
Carville was as advertised: bombastic, outrageous, and hilarious. He was also, despite his well-known LSU fandom, dressed in a Tennessee football jersey throughout his remarks:
It was a Peyton Manning jersey, presented to him by the Knox County Democratic Party chairman, and he wore it proudly because, as Carville pointed out, Manning was born and raised in Louisiana. "He was our gift to your state," the native Louisianan said. "Don't expect any more."
A press release in advance of Carville's speech said he "will be giving his analysis of the primary campaign of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama," but in fact, he mostly steered clear of that topic, except to mock the hand-wringers who believe the battle is killing the party. "Don't worry," he said. "We'll be united." He added, "I'd much rather be in the party that's got two good candidates than in the party with one bad one."
The Republicans, Carville said, are the ones who are imploding (a theme echoed today by Peggy Noonan, who I'm guessing doesn't agree with Carville all that often). He then summoned his political strategy expertise and offered some free advice to the Republicans: "PANIC!!!"
But his most memorable jabs were reserved for a former Republican candidate for president, Tennessee's own Fred Thompson. Carville quipped that Thompson was "the only presidential candidate in history to test positive for ambien." (The audience roared.) Carville also said, to uproarious laughter, that Thompson is a big supporter of President Bush's education policy: "He wanted to make sure no child was left behind, so he married her." Heh.
I think my favorite line, though, was his reference to the topic that made this blog famous. Carville mentioned that he'll be giving the commencement address at Tulane this weekend. "I left Louisiana in 1986, and it took me 22 years to get back," he said. "That means I'm getting to Louisiana faster than FEMA got there."
You can read local news coverage of Carville's visit from the Knoxville News-Sentinel and Volunteer TV, and a bloggy interview at KnoxViews. Also, via Knoxville Talks, here is the local NBC affiliate's interview with Carville before the dinner:
As always with these sorts of events, you have to sit through all kinds of warm-up acts before the main event, and those included speeches by U.S. Senate candidates Bob Tuke and Mike Padgett, both of whom are vying to take on Lamar Alexander in November. (The primary is August 7; there are six Democrats on the ballot, but Tuke and Padgett are considered the front-runners.)
Both men spoke a little too long, I'd say, mostly repeating similar talking points: the Republicans are to blame for everything that's wrong with the country, Lamar Alexander has been in Washington for too long and is out of touch with ordinary Tennesseans, etc. Becky thought Tuke was the better speaker by far; personally, I thought Padgett was just about as good, but suffered from the fact that he spoke second, and by that point the audience was getting bored, having already heard all the good anti-GOP lines, and was ready for Carville to speak. Even so, it's odd that Tuke seemed to connect better with the audience, given that he's from Nashville whereas Padgett is a local boy.
Regardless, in all likelihood, Tuke and Padgett are fighting for the right to be a sacrificial lamb in November. According to a Rasmussen poll last month, Alexander leads 59% to 30% over Tuke and 58% to 31% over Padgett. But don't tell that to anyone at last night's event. It was basically a big pep rally for the Democratic Party, and although one speaker acknowledged that it can be "tough to be a Democrat in East Tennessee," folks at this shindig were incredibly upbeat about their chances in November. Of course, political self-delusion is a well-practiced art (just ask Carville's favored presidential candidate!), but I can see why there'd be some optimism: between the general national mood (Tuesday's special election in Mississippi was mentioned numerous times) and the recent scandals in the Republican-dominated Knox County government, it seems like, if there's ever a year when Democrats have a chance in East Tennessee, this would be the year.
By Jay Johnson
I know that I have personally been guilty of being overly critical of some college athletes about their performance on the field of play. Someone's not giving full effort, a step too slow, or otherwise just not putting it all out there on the floor for their team and their fans.
Here's a story that should make everyone check that attitude for a minute.
Tennessee's preseason All-America guard, Chris Lofton, started off the 2007-08 season in an absolute funk. He wasn't scoring, his play seemed a bit lackluster, and couldn't hit a three to save his life.
Well, the facts were really that he was battling to actually save his life.
Diagnosed with testicular cancer following a random NCAA drug screen after the 2006-07 season, he fought a private battle with the cancer, with only the closest of the close among his family and friends knowing what he was going through.
Meanwhile, local sports fans and commentators were critical to varying degrees about Lofton's performance. There were calls for him to be benched along with wild speculation about what his problems on the floor were.
I just think that this is a good opportunity to remind everyone that college athletes are young kids, from divergent backgrounds, with any number of personal problems that can impact their play. So, before you take time to bash someone on a message board, call in to a talk show, or otherwise express an opinion without all the facts, slow down and take Chris Lofton's situation to heart.
By Brendan Loy
William M. Barker, the Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court*, is retiring.
*or is the proper title "Chief Justice of the State of Tennessee"? I'm not sure.
By Brendan Loy
Loyette, Becky, Casey (visiting for the weekend from Rochester) and I went on the March for Babies this morning on UT's campus. It was fun!
That's Becky pushing Loyette's stroller above, and Casey next to her. Here's a photo of Loyette and me, relaxing after the walk:
My t-shirt, if you're wondering, says, "Fatherhood: the toughest job you'll ever love."
Anyway, thanks again to everybody who sponsored us! We ended up exceeding our goal, with $620 in donations!
If you didn't sponsor us, but would still like to donate to the March of Dimes, why not sponsor the Neudorffs? They'll be marching next weekend in Rochester.
After the jump, some more photos of today's march here in Knoxville.
UPDATE: Welcome, No Silence Here readers! If you didn't know, "Loyette" is our baby's blog nickname, not her actual name. :)
By Brendan Loy
I'm traveling to Denver from May 4-6, and will be landing at the Nashville Airport (Southwest doesn't fly into Knoxville) at 8:25 PM on Tuesday the 6th. By that time, of course, results from the Indiana and North Carolina primaries will be coming in; indeed, winners may well have been declared before I land. Alas, I didn't think about this when I scheduled the trip.
Anyway, during my drive back to Knoxville, I'd like to listen to live coverage of election-related news on the radio. Hence, my question for Tennessee radio listeners: Are there any radio stations (presumably AM) in the Nashville area that would have this? What about in the no man's land between Nashville and Knoxville? And for that matter, what about in the Knoxville area? I almost never listen to the radio for this kind of thing, so I don't know.
By Brendan Loy
A 5.2-magnitude earthquake centered near the southern Illinois-Indiana border rattled several states this morning, including Tennessee. Becky and I didn't feel anything; the quake happened at 5:37 AM EST, when we were still asleep, and it didn't rouse us. But some East Tennesseeans were awakened by the distant tremor.
Here's a map showing the epicenter, and another map showing where people have reported feeling the quake, and how strongly (close-up here):
If you're a Californian wondering how on earth something a puny as a 5.2 quake (or "temblor," as you guys say out there) could be felt so strongly, and in places as far afield as Chicago and Knoxville, it's because, as explained here, "seismic waves in the East travel farther and pack more destructive punches." The exact reason for this phenomenon is a topic of much debate among scientists, but "one explanation is that eastern geology is older and simpler, with fewer faults in the ground to slow the travel of quake waves." See also here:
Earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S., although less frequent than in the western U.S., are typically felt over a much broader region. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast.
That point is graphically illustrated here.
Of course, this morning's mini-quake is nothing compared to the Big One that will someday destroy Memphis and cause massive devastation all across the region.
P.S. Brian Neudorff has more, and some history.
P.P.S. Ann Althouse felt it. (Hat tip: InstaPundit, who didn't.)
By Brendan Loy
Hey, I thought of something non-political that I can blog about: pretty pictures! Those always work. :)
As a follow-up, sort of, to my shiny old cars post, here is my promised photo gallery of "Springtime in Knoxville." A few highlights:
That's Neyland Stadium in the distance in that bottom picture, and the Tennessee River on the left... in case you were wondering. The middle picture is of Knoxville's Krutch Park. And the top one was taken from a downtown parking garage. Those white trees are gorgeous (though they aren't white anymore; they turned green a couple of weeks ago).
Anyway, again, the full album is here. It starts on March 6 and continues through April 9 (and I'll add to it if I take more pictures that belong in it). Nothing photographically spectacular, IMHO, but some nice pictures anyway. It's truly a beautiful time of year here.
By Brendan Loy
Last weekend, Becky, Loyette and I went to "Harriman' Cruisin 2008," a street festival in the kinda sorta nearby town of Harriman. Basically, Harriman Cruisin' involves a bunch of car buffs parking their classic cars all up and down Main Street and letting people ooh and aah at them. Here's my photo gallery.
As the title and the above photo suggest, it's mostly pictures of shiny old cars, but there are a few miscellaneous shots of what is otherwise, frankly, kind of a depressed, Rust Belt-ish looking downtown area. (See, e.g., here and here.) In fact, if you look closely, you might see some small-town folk who look a little bitter and might well be clinging to religion and, er, antipathy to people who aren't like them. ;)
Anyway, we had fun. Old cars are neat. We even saw a Ford Model A! Here, again, is the link to the gallery.
UPDATE: As noted in comments, the above-pictured car is (I think!) a 1959 Chevy Impala. Here's an old "subliminal" TV ad for it, featuring Pat Boone and Dinah Shore:
Ain't YouTube great?
By Brendan Loy
Joe Lunardi has published his initial, ridiculously early, meaningless yet fun, pre-pre-season 2009 Bracketology projections. (Hat tip: BK.) His #1 seeds are North Carolina, Duke, Texas and Pittsburgh. 2007 finalists Kansas and Memphis drop to #2 and #3, respectively, and UCLA plummets to a #7. w00t! :)
More importantly, Notre Dame is a #2 seed (without Gene Cross? Hmm...), Gonzaga is a #5, and USC is a #9. Frankly, those all seem high to me, but maybe I'm just a pessimist about my own teams. (Although, if so, it didn't prevent my irrational Zag-xuberance last year.)
Tennessee falls all the way to #9... where they're matched up in a brutal first-round game against #8 Davidson. (Stephen Curry FTW!) This year's mid-major superpower that almost beat UT, Butler, is on the bubble but out, as are the Washington Huskies. The UConn Huskies, though, are sitting pretty as a #2 seed. Oh, and the University of Hartford Hawks, after falling one game short in 2008, make their NCAA Tournament debut in 2009 as a #16 seed. Hurrah!
Yeah, so, we have a college football season to start -- and finish -- before I'll get really excited about any of this, but it's fun to look ahead. :)
By Brendan Loy
In the last half hour, a spooky sort of here-come-the-storms feeling has definitely settled over Knoxville. Tornado warnings off to the west. I'm heading home, and should beat the storms.
UPDATE: I'm home, in case anyone was worried. :) No major storms yet here, though I think Jay's hometown of Loudon got pounded. [UPDATE: Apparently not.]
Looks like we may get some action in 30-45 minutes, but overall, the line of storms appears to be weakening. Indeed, thankfully, there are no more tornado warnings at the moment.
LATER UPDATE: The line of storms kind of fell apart as it neared Knoxville proper, so we were largely spared. But one isolated storm cell did move over a while later, bringing some heavy rain for a few minutes and briefly turning the sky a weird shade of yellow -- I'm not sure what that was all about. Here are the "before & after" shots, at 8:02 PM and 8:07 PM:
Hmm... upon further review, sunset was at 8:07, so maybe the sunlight at 8:02 was somehow shining through the clouds and rain at some weird angle, producing the yellowness.
It was a bit spooky, though, regardless.
By Brendan Loy
Becky e-mails that The Weather Channel "is telling people in western Nashville suburbs to take cover." That would be because of the tornado warning for central Cheatham County. And that line of storms is headed our way. "Methinks it'll be one helluva night," Becky writes. Indeed.
UPDATE: The big Dogwood Arts Parade in downtown Knoxville, scheduled for 7pm tonight, has been postponed to next Friday April 25 due to the approaching line of storms.
By Brendan Loy
...does this mean there's going to be a parade?? I love parades!!
UPDATE: Local news says there will be a celebration at Thompson-Boling Arena at 5:30 PM tomorrow, free and open to the general public, with doors opening at 5:00. No word yet on any parade plans.
P.S. My Facebook profile asks the question:
By Brendan Loy
It's Candace vs. Candice (and Smoky vs. The Tree) in the women's national championship game, and Jeff vs. Jeff in the Living Room Times women's pool, as March Madness officially ends tonight.
If the Tennessee Lady Vols, led by Candace Parker, beat the Stanford Drunken Trees Cardinal, led by Candice Wiggins, in tonight's title showdown, then Jeff Freeze, a 1992 Indiana alum, will win the 11th annual Times women's pool. If Stanford prevails, then Jeff Vaca, a 1982 Cal alum, will be the pool champion.
The game starts at 8:30 PM EST on ESPN. Gamecast here.
P.S. If Tennessee wins, there will be three contestants in my pools who correctly predicted both the men's and women's champions: Chris Aemisegger, Dan Port, and... Loyette! Heh. (If Stanford wins, there will be no such contestants.)
UPDATE: It's 37-29 Tennessee at halftime.
UPDATE 2: The Lady Vols win!
The final score was 64-48. I guess they used up all the drama in their Final Four win over LSU:
By Brendan Loy
Ever since I saw (and photographed) the above-pictured robin en route home from work on March 6, I've been meaning to put together a "springtime in Knoxville" photo gallery for the blog. There are a ton of beautiful flowers, trees and other lovely signs of spring in this part of the world. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to make the album yet, but I hope to do so soon.
I'll definitely have a lot more material to work with after today, as Becky, Loyette and I ventured out to the Crescent Bend Tulip Time festival this afternoon, then walked three miles along the riverfront, snapping photos all the way. Here's one pic from the tulip gardens:
Very pretty. It was an absolutely gorgeous day here, and it looks like a very nice week ahead. It all puts me in mind of the song "Rambles of Spring," one of my favorite Makem & Clancy numbers -- of which, conveniently enough, I found a YouTube clip recently. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds has some nice pictures from yesterday as well.
By Brendan Loy
If you think the men's tournament is Chalk City, check out the women's bracket: the Elite Eight consists of four #1 seeds and four #2s. (Admittedly, chalkiness is more common on the women's side, where parity is less pronounced than among the men. But still.) #1-seed Tennessee sealed the deal last night with a 74-64 win over #5 Notre Dame, which is now 0-16 all-time against UT.
The Irish gave the Lady Vols a much better game than they did in an 87-63 loss back in January at the Joyce Center. In this one, ND led at halftime, 33-31. But between about the 18-minute mark and the 13-minute mark of the second half, Tennessee went on a 17-1 run, and Candace Parker wound up with a career-high-tying 34 points. That was just too much for the Irish to overcome.
In my 11th annual women's pool, six contestants correctly predicted the "all chalk" Elite Eight: Ken Stern, Kevin Pilz, Tom Caputi, Carol LaPlante, Joseph Hiegel and Lisa Velte.
Stern currently leads the pool with 316 out of a possible 352 points. He took first place from Chuck Wessell when #3 Texas A&M beat #2 Duke last night. Wessell, who had picked the Blue Devils, is now second with 313. Pilz is third with 311. Those three contestants are the only ones ahead of the "all favorites bracket," which would have 309 points. Complete standings here and after the jump. Information on who's still alive to win the pool -- 21 contestants in all -- here.
Incidentally, I forgot to mention this before, but in the men's pool (presented by the UCLA Bruins, blah blah blah), 28 contestants got the "all-chalk" Final Four right. Their names are listed after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
Notre Dame and Tennessee are about to get underway in a Sweet Sixteen showdown. The #5-seed Fighting Irish are the last chance to prevent an "all chalk" Elite Eight in the women's NCAA Tournament; so far, all the #1 and #2 seeds have won.
Incidentally, the women's pool standings and scenarios are updated through seven Elite Eight games. Ken Stern currently has the lead. The standings are after the jump as well.
By Brendan Loy
The Bruce Pearl to Indiana rumors are officially on.
By Brendan Loy
In the battle to determine my rooting interest for the remainder of the tournament, Tennessee leads Butler, 53-49 with 7:53 left.
In the other games still ongoing, it looks like Texas, Western Kentucky and Georgetown have the edge (though I'm still hoping for a Davidson comeback in the latter game). And earlier, Villanova beat Siena. I'll post a pool update after the conclusion of all four of the games currently underway.
UPDATE: What a great bunch of games those turned out to be!! Texas survives a furious Miami comeback, Western Kentucky does the same against San Diego, Tennessee wins a thriller in overtime over a game Butler squad, and Davidson rallies to stun Georgetown! WOO!!!
I realize it's easy to second-guess the committee after the games have been played, but man, Butler is way better than a #7 seed, eh? They should have been able to reach the Sweet Sixteen without playing a team as good as Tennessee (which arguably should have been a #1 seed). But alas. Great win for the Vols. They certainly had to earn it. I'll be rooting for them from here on out -- unless they meet Davidson in the Final Four (not totally implausible) or Western Kentucky in the title game (umm, kind of implausible), in which case I'll probably revert to my usual mid-major lovefest.
Anyway, pool update coming shortly.
By Brendan Loy
The first wave of Friday games is underway. ESPN.com's writers are hoping for some excitement: "Day 1's 16 NCAA tournament games were decided by an average of 16 points. Will Day 2's slate bring a return to the Madness?"
You know, if South Alabama beats Butler later this afternoon, Tennessee might have to beat American and USA to reach the Sweet 16? Unpatriotic bastards! :) Right now, though, they're struggling with American, which is outrebounding them 12-4. Huh?
Also underway: Gonzaga-Davidson. GO ZAGS!!!
Also, Drake-Western Kentucky and Miami-St. Mary's. It's mid-major hour! Only two BCS-conference teams are in action at the moment.
P.S. The latest NIT Pool standings are up, after last night's wins by Syracuse (over Maryland) and Arizona State (over Southern Illinois). Mark Gardner is still perfect, with an 18-for-18 record and 132 points. Ginny Zak is now alone for second place at 17-for-18 and 125 points. Eight contestants are tied for third with 118 points.
By Brendan Loy
The trouble with living in a state that has five NCAA Tournament teams is that you're locked into watching a lot of first-round games involving those teams, whether or not they're the most exciting game in progress. I mentioned this before with relation to Duke-Belmont pre-empting USC-Kansas State tomorrow night, but it's an even bigger issue on Friday, when all four time slots will occupied by games involving Tennessee teams, only one of which (Vanderbilt-Siena at 7:20, a 4-13 game) figures to be potentially competitive. The other games are: #2 Tennessee vs. #15 American at 12:15, #2 Texas vs. #15 Austin Peay at 2:50, and #1 Memphis vs. #16 Texas-Arlington at 9:40.
According to the local CBS affiliate, "At the network's discretion, all
games BUT the Kentucky vs Marquette game [Thursday at 2:30] and the Tennessee vs American
Game can be switched from/to during play to a better game of the
network's choosing." (The Kentucky game gets higher "regional" priority than any of the non-UT teams from Tennessee? Weird.) So, once Texas and Memphis open up big leads, they'll take us out to other games at some point (like maybe Butler-South Alabama in the 2:50 slot). That's a relief. But I'm doomed -- unless I go to a sports bar, which is a chancy proposition when you've got a baby -- to have virtually zero chance of watching any of Gonzaga-Davidson, Miami-St. Mary's or Drake-Western Kentucky, all of which I really want to see, but all of which are scheduled opposite Tennessee-American. Arrrgh.
(I tried MMOD at home the other day. It works okay -- better than it did with our ridiculously slow connection in South Bend -- but I still don't think it'll be acceptably smooth for live, fast-moving basketball action. It's a wee bit jerky, to an extent that might not be bothersome in some contexts, but will, I think, be problematic for watching live sports.)
By Brendan Loy
That's a healthy-looking line of thunderstorms that's headed our way.
By Brendan Loy
While watching a SportsCenter commercial last night featuring the Tennessee Lady Vols' head basketball coach, I came to a horrifying realization:
I think I'm starting to like Pat Summitt.
This is simply not acceptable. Pat Summitt is the enemy! She is UConn's nemesis! She is the anti-Geno! She is the devil-woman! It is the solemn duty of every good Connecticutian to resist the Evil Pat and all Her Works! I'm allowed to grudgingly respect her, but under no circumstances am I supposed to like her! Must... resist...
"We are the Big Orange Army... you will be assimilated... resistance is futile..."
Nooooooooo!!!!
By Brendan Loy
The good news is, the Notre Dame-George Mason game will be the primary ~9:30 game on the Knoxville CBS affiliate Thursday night. Sweet!
The bad news is, contrary to what I guessed last night, USC-Kansas State won't be the primary ~7:00 game. I guess they think Belmont, a Nashville university with 4,700 students, has a large enough following in East Tennessee that it makes sense to prioritize #2 Duke vs. #15 Belmont over the super-frosh showdown of Mayo vs. Beasley. Ugh.
I just hope our Comcast connection can handle MMOD. (Speaking of which, if you want a "VIP pass," you'd better sign up now -- they're 86% full!)
By Brendan Loy
Knoxville's Krutch Park in bloom. ... Meanwhile, I just got a text message from Kristin in South Bend -- where I'm guessing it's decidedly less springlike -- reporting that Notre Dame Law School has been evacuated due to a fire alarm. Hmm.
UPDATE: Our intrepid NDLS correspondent reports: "All ok, incident involved a microwave, a sandwich wrapped in tin foil, & a styrofoam plate." Heh.
By Brendan Loy
In the latest escalation of the Pat Summitt-Geno Auriemma War, Tennessee recently reported UConn for an alleged recruiting violation -- arranging a tour of ESPN's studios in Bristol for star freshman Maya Moore back when she was a recruit who was heavily prized by both schools.
ESPN, obviously keen to avoid "becoming the story" again in the future, says that "to avoid future incidents, our tour policy will now prohibit high school athletes from receiving tours at the request of a college or university athletic official."
But the bigger story here, in my mind, is the Summitt-Auriemma angle. It has become increasingly clear that these two really don't like each other. In fact, here is some exclusive footage of Pat and Geno going at it before a recent ballgame:
Correction: I'm told those are the Oral Roberts and IUPUI mascots. My bad. But if Connecticut and Tennessee meet in the Final Four, that's pretty much what it'll be like.
By Brendan Loy
With the state of Tennessee having such a great basketball year, I've been wondering how we stack up against other states in terms of our number of NCAA Tournament teams. Now, thanks to this nifty Wikipedia map, I have the answer.
If Middle Tennessee State knocks off Western Kentucky tonight in the Sun Belt title game, Tennessee will have six teams in the NCAA Tournament -- meaning exactly half of its 12 Division I schools would be dancing. (MTSU would join at-large locks Memphis, UT and Vanderbilt, and automatic bid winners Belmont and Austin Peay.) If that happens, Tennessee would probably finish tied with California for the largest number of teams in the Big Dance, and would either tie Indiana or finish first all by itself for the percentage of its Division I teams going dancing (among states with at least five Division I teams).
Continue reading "Tennessee: center of the basketball world" »
By Brendan Loy
The Tennessee Lady Vols managed to win the SEC Tournament over the weekend despite Coach Pat Summitt's lingering injury from a raccoon attack. (Hat tip: Michael Silence.)
Personally, if I were a raccoon, I wouldn't tangle with Pat Summitt. (And if I were Erin Andrews, I'd stay the hell away from Bruce Pearl. But that's another story entirely.)
By Brendan Loy
USC leads Stanford, 45-35, with 16:51 left at the Galen Center. If the Trojans win and Washington State loses to UW tonight, USC will be the #3 seed in the Pac-10 tournament, and any possible Loy-Tran bet-deciding USC-UCLA game wouldn't happen until the conference final. If USC loses or Wazzu wins, the Trojans will be the #4 seed, setting up a possible semifinal matchup with the top-seeded Bruins.
In other news, last year's Notre Dame-conquering Big South champion, Winthrop, earned another auto bid to the NCAAs, joining Cornell on that short list and sending regular-season champ UNC-Asheville to the NIT as that tournament's first automatic qualifier.
Later today, three Tennessee teams will try to earn automatic NCAA bids of their own, as Cinderella story #6 seed Tennessee State, 15-16 and #215 in the RPI, faces #1 seed Austin Peay, also from Tennessee, in the Ohio Valley title game (ESPN2, 5pm), and Belmont, yet another Tennessee school, faces Jacksonville in the Atlantic Sun final (ESPN2, 7pm)
By Brendan Loy
One night after Stanford was blatantly robbed of a possible Pac-10 title share by a foul call so bad that even the UCLA players admit they got lucky, highly questionable refereeing struck again in the lower-profile, yet in some sense higher-stakes, setting of the Atlantic Sun quarterfinals.
Unlike NCAA-bound UCLA and Stanford, A-Sun semifinalists Belmont and East Tennessee State were fighting to extend their respective seasons -- win or go home -- when, with 19.4 seconds left and ETSU holding a 1-point lead and the ball, an official took it upon himself to completely change the course of the game by calling a technical foul on ETSU player Kenyona Swader, who appeared to lose his temper slightly after being fouled by a Belmont player. Belmont hit both technical free throws to take the lead, and ultimately won the game.
The TV announcers on Comcast Sports Southeast mostly defended the call, with the analyst repeating several times that Swader "swung an elbow." But his elbow made no contact with anyone, and it didn't even look like he's intentionally doing anything aggressive with it. I don't know what he said, of course, but unless it was about the ugliest, most egregious thing anyone's ever said in the history of college basketball, I'm not convinced that it justifies calling a game-deciding "T." All in all, to me, it looked like a very weak call, and one that's pretty ridiculous to make in that situation. But judge for yourself:
Good grief. Let the players, not the refs, determine who wins and loses. Is that so much to ask?
By Brendan Loy
Shannon's visiting us this weekend, and today we drove out to the Smokies. Here we are in Cades Cove with a sleepy Loyette:
Shannon, incidentally, sat next to Lady Vols star Nicky Anosike's 6-foot-10 brother, Ifesinachi (a.k.a. "E"), on her flight into Knoxville on Thursday. (He had requested to change seats because he couldn't fit well in his original seat near the back of the plane, and being next to 5-foot-3 Shannon worked well.) She said he was a really nice, friendly guy, and they had a nice time chatting on the flight. Their flight ended up making the news, in the lede of the AP article about Tennessee's senior-night win over Florida on Thursday:
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Nicky Anosike's family arrived just after halftime to see her play in her final home game at Tennessee on Thursday night.By then she and the third-ranked Lady Vols had already taken care of business.
"They are always late. I expected that, and I was prepared for it," she joked after her family's flight from New York was delayed.
Heh.
Anyway, back to today's trip to the Smokies... I also got a couple of nice photos of deer:
By Brendan Loy
*See note below about the changed title of this post.There are no adequate words of condemnation for this.
I'll try a few, though. Indefensible. Inexcusable. Disgusting. And, yes, racist.
The Tennessee Republican Party apparently thinks it's appropriate to smear Barack Obama -- or as they put it, Barack Hussein Obama -- with an official press release accompanied by an all-too-familiar irrelevant, inflammatory photo of Obama in Somali garb, described pointedly as "Muslim attire."
And they aren't backing down. Far from it, in fact. They say this deliberately divisive nonsense is necessary to "inform the Republican base." Oh yes, how "informative"! Good grief!
[UPDATE: The press release has been altered, with some of the offending material removed. You can see the original here. I've published a new post here addressing the state GOP's grossly inadequate "clarification."]
The people propagating this piece of trash may not themselves be racist or bigoted -- I strongly suspect they aren't, in fact -- but there's no question they are deliberately playing the race/religion card in a way specifically designed to appeal to those who would reject Obama because of some combination of: 1) the fact that he has black skin and Muslim ancestry, and 2) the utterly discredited, Internet-fueled rumors that he's some sort of radical-Islamist Manchurian Candidate.
And I'm just talking about the photo and the middle name (the use of which John McCain has specifically rejected as inappropriate). That's not even getting into how misleading and mendacious that "discussion" is, engaging in the sort of guilt-by-association via six-degrees-of-separation tripe that could land any politician in hot water. (Obama would be an anti-Israel president because... wait for it, wait for it... the board of a nonprofit organization on which he once served, once gave money to a "controversial Arab group," that once said it's opposed to Israel's existence? Really? ... I daresay I don't think it's terribly wise for Southern Republicans, of all people, to suggest that one's racial attitudes can be established through such tenuous links.)
But even those who might want to debate the validity of those points will surely agree that, in any event, the inclusion of the photo is utterly indefensible, to a such an extreme degree that whatever legitimacy the press release might otherwise have had is utterly destroyed. In other words, even admitting arguendo that these "anti-Semitic" Obama connections ought to be discussed, this is not the way to do it -- not by even the remotest stretch of the imagination. As such, I'm sure everyone will also agree that the Tennessee Republican Party's disgusting, vile, racist tactics should be roundly and universally condemned, period.
(More here and here.)
All I can say to the Tennessee Republican Party is that, as an independent, centrist resident of your state who leans conservative on a number of issues, this is something that I will most certainly keep in mind as I ponder whether to support the candidates whom you nominate for state office in future elections.
Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party, whose name appears at the bottom of the press release, can be reached at billhobbs@tngop.org, or by phone at (615) 269-4260.
P.S. By the way, on the somewhat related issue of Obama's supposedly "anti-Semitic" foreign-policy advisor, Samantha Power -- not raised in the TN GOP release, but oft-discussed elsewhere, including here -- check out what the archliberal Max Boot, writing in the noted lefty publication Commentary, had to say. (If you don't know, both of those descriptions are entirely sarcastic.) More here.
NOTE: As several commenters pointed out, the issue isn't really whether Tennessee's Republican leaders are themselves racists -- which I'm sure they aren't -- but rather whether they are using deliberatively divisive, racist tactics against Barack Obama in order to appeal to the baser instincts of some of their constituents (which they clearly are).
As such, I've changed the title of this post (which was originally "The Tennessee GOP is run by racists"), along with some of the rhetoric in the first few paragraphs, in order to more accurately reflect my point -- and avoid distracting from the main issue with overheated rhetoric.
I apologize for going a little over-the-top in the initial version of this post. I was in a hurry and, frankly, quite angry. But the issue here is not whether Bill Hobbs, Robin Smith or anyone else in the party are personally racist. I never really meant to seriously suggest that they are. The issue is whether they are using racially (or religiously or ethnically) divisive tactics. That's what we (and I) should be focusing on.
By Brendan Loy
A pair of dual-propeller military helicopters just flew loudly over downtown Knoxville. Has the Georgian invasion begun? ;)
By Brendan Loy
The orange blazer had no magic last night, as #1 Tennessee lost to Vanderbilt.
So, who'll be #1 in the polls next week? Does Memphis take it back? Or perhaps North Carolina? More importantly, is Tennessee still a #1 seed? I'd think that, if they win out (including the SEC Tournament), they'd have to be.
Now, enough of this Go Big Orange business. :) It's time to start getting excited about tomorrow night's Notre Dame-Louisville game. GO IRISH!
By Brendan Loy
Barack Obama isn't the only frontrunner who will be on national TV tonight trying to defend his recently acquired top-dog status against a rival's onslaught. At 9:00 PM EST -- the same time as the Democratic debate on MSNBC -- the #1-ranked Tennessee men's basketball team will face #18 Vanderbilt on the Commodores' home floor. The game will be on ESPN, and Bruce Pearl will be in his orange blazer.
Go Vols & Go Barack!
P.S. I'm looking ahead a bit now, but take a gander at the Big East standings, and then ponder for a moment Thursday night's big game: Notre Dame at Louisville, 7:00 PM on ESPN. Holy cow. Mike Brey's boys playing, maybe, for a Big East regular-season championship? I love it! Oh, and did I mention it's part of an Irish Trojan doubleheader? USC visits Arizona at 9:00 PM Thursday, also on ESPN. Sweet.
By Brendan Loy
Heh:
A resolution drafted for filing in the state Legislature today rejects what the resolution calls "an assault on the sanctity of the borders of our great state of Tennessee."
Says part of the resolution: "The state of Tennessee elects to take the high road relative to this mythical dispute, instead of becoming embroiled in an election-year ploy initiated by the Georgia General Assembly through legislation which, while purporting to settle a boundary dispute in a friendly manner, is actually nothing but a veiled attempt to commandeer the resources of the Tennessee River for the benefit of water-starved Atlanta, which is either unable or unwilling to control its reckless urban sprawl."
Oh, snap! Georgia, you just got served!
(Previous post here.)
By Brendan Loy
I'm expecting a busy afternoon and evening, and thus probably won't be able to watch as much basketball as I'd like. But there's plenty to talk about, with the day's biggest games being Drake @ Butler at 5:00 PM on ESPN2 (the BracketBusters marquee game) and, of course, Tennessee @ Memphis at 9:00 PM on ESPN2. Although, don't sleep on Kent State @ St. Mary's at midnight on the Deuce, which Kyle Whelliston says is potentially the most consequential 'Busters game of them all, bubble-wise.
Anyway, here's the scoreboard. If you're watching the games and you feel like commenting, fire away.
P.S. Nice wins for USC and
