An Outside View: Some Hit and Run thoughts at the Halfway Point

It’s hard to believe but the football season is half over. Thought I would share some of my observations to this point. –Our publisher isn’t too impressed with the football panel. Joe Karl was overheard saying, “When I said I wanted pickers they must have thought I meant for a bluegrass band.” With my shot at first place gone, my only goal is to beat those blame girls. –Being a teenager can be tough especially when you are in high school and your dad predicts in the paper that Sullivan North will beat the Eagles. Some players took offense and said they were going to prove his old man didn’t know what he was talking about. If I had known it was that easy, I would have picked Fulton and Sevier County earlier this season. This week: Rutledge in a romp! –Titan is Greek for giant which aptly describes Tennessee’s NFL franchise. They are GIANT disappointments. Bud Adams isn’t happy which doesn’t bode well for the ever popular Jeff Fisher. –Seems Steve Spurrier still enjoys beating Tennessee. His Redskins’ whipping of the Titans had an eerie similarity to the ones his Gators used to put on the Vols. –It’s BCS season. In my opinion, if you take the “C” out of BCS you have a better description of the way the NCAA chooses its national champion. –The BCS is nothing more than a beauty contest. Since the ugliest girl usually wins Ms. Congeniality, my vote for that award would go to Notre Dame because nobody wins uglier than the Irish. –The Vols boasted that they signed the #1 running back in the country last year. Guess they didn’t see Maurice Clarett play. While Gerald Riggs is missing in action, Ohio State’s Clarett has emerged as a legitimate Heisman candidate. –There may be another O.J. like trial ahead. Johnny Cochren is all rhymed up and says he would rather negotiate than litigate but is prepared to take the NFL to court over its minority hiring practices. –What’s up with the high school teams in our county? Sevier County, Seymour, and GP are traditional powers but none are currently rated in their classes’ top 15 in most power rankings. Has the new Pigeon Forge school drained some of the talent? –Has Georgia replaced Florida as the team Fulmer can’t beat? A head coach makes three or four decisions every game that affect the outcome. Fulmer’s decisions at Athens to go for it on 4th down and forego two field goals cost the Vols six points and led to 10 points for the Bulldogs. That is a 16-point swing and they only lost by five. –The Vols can blame the Georgia loss on losing Casey Clausen, Why is it Fulmer never has a second quarterback ready for such an emergency? –Add Fulmer to the list of those criticizing Randy Sanders’ play calling. Why doesn’t Phil call the plays like Mark Richt and then he can’t blame anyone? Then again, he wouldn’t’ have an easy scapegoat. –One good thing about Tennessee’s game Saturday is that not many people saw it. They were all tuned into watch Phil Simms, the guy who coulda, woulda, shoulda been a Vol, crack again in a big game. And those fans who were watching the Vols fell asleep in the first half. –Best coaching job of the season goes to Houston Nutt who got his Razorbacks up after losing in six OT’s to the Vols and beat Auburn on The Plains. You have to love Nutt because he is one. –Parity is a word used by coaches when they lose to or barely beat a team they should have clobbered. –For years I laughed at fans who said Florida quarterbacks weren’t that good. It was the system they said. After watching Rex Grossman this season, I was wrong and they were right. It was the system. –Some MTSU fans who came to Knoxville with the Blue Raiders tell me they were treated much better last year in Gainsville and earlier this year in Tuscaloosa than by Vol fans. Fans who used to pull for MTSU first and Tennessee second now say their second favorite team is whoever Tennessee is playing that week. –The biggest bust of the season? The L.A., I mean the St. Louis Rams. Counting last year’s Super Bowl and the preseason, they lost 10 in a row before finally winning. –Hats off to Knoxville’s Chad Pennington. The guy who couldn’t even get the time of day from the Vols when he was at Webb is now a starter in the NFL.