trying to get this out in time for the kentucky game. tough to write with the love fest going on for tim tebow right now, but hey i think the guy deserves every bit of it. he is the best player to have ever played college football. period. but let me begin.
Good News- i mean i know that this was vandy, and this is what most former UT players say about them "they always play you tough, but then let you win at the end." (unless rick clausen is your quarterback...) but nevertheless, here are some good things from last saturday. hardesty ran wild for career attempts and yards. 32 for 175. pretty good. luke stocker had a monster td catch right before the half. the crompdaddy through for 220 and 2 tds (bringing his total for the year to 25) oh and wes brown ran a pick back to end the game. pretty cool. and we had a walkon kid from baylor kicking for us....hope he doesnt miss.
Bad News- well...its bad that eric berry hasnt broken the record yet....and...??? it was vandy. yeah the norman kid had a few yards, but he usually gets a ton of yards.
Kentucky Prediction- randall cobb does it all for the cats, but its too bad he doesnt have much to go with him. the big orange get FS jackson back tonight, which should help slow the cates down enough for the crompdaddy and montario hardesty to get things going on offense. looks pretty dang cold in kesucky right now, which hopefully we will pound it on the ground and beat them physically pretty bad. big game bowl implications for both teams or at least the winner. 24 years in a row...i think the vols make it 25. big orange win 25- 13!
PUDGE
11.28.2009
11.20.2009
"Orange Colored Glasses- Ole Miss"
well let me say this from the start- before we even played a single snap this year i stated that we would lose to florida, alabama, and ole miss for sure. i was hoping for us to be able to go 8-4, but then we lost to ucla. so now its hopefully going to be 8-5. oh and consider this. "you cant get too high when you win and too low when you lose." i think UT fans are the epitome of that statement. after WKU we were going all the way. the next week when we lost to ucla we were going to go 1-11. lets be realistic people. we are an average football team. we have won some good games against good teams, and we have also lost some bad games to good teams. average at best.
Good News- nothing. nothing good happened. we got our brains beat in by a decent team. crompton played well enough i guess, but couldnt seem to get us over the hump sometimes...gerald jones and denarious moore had 5 grabs each.
Bad News- the rebels had dexter mccluster. he had 300 yds and 4 tds. enough said. well that and our defense lost another linebacker, all of the controversy surrounding the attempted robbery, our offensive line getting dominated, and we had another fg blocked!
Other News- this saturday is senior day. and this means that the vol seniors get announced and get to run through the T by themselves so that the fans and other players alike can thank them. it is a very emotional time for some of the players, and on the day when peyton manning ran for the fans as well. needless to say, this is an event held for the seniors and seniors only. which is why it really upsets me that the lane train is changing that. the way we play- change, practice- change, coach in games-recruit-talk to the media- change, uniforms- eh...change (i really like the orange pants on the road btw) but letting non-seniors run through the T - dont change. if lane wants to honor eric berry- who is probably playing in his last home game as a vol, thats fine- honor him somway. video tribute, play qb, something. he is a captain for crying outloud. but i dont think its a good idea for him to run through the T as a junior, just because he is a "special player" or even a good/maybe the best ever player. guys like peyton manning and heath shuler didnt get to run as juniors. hey and while youre at it lane how about letting gerald jones, ben martin, chris walker, and luke stocker all run. they are special juniors. or how about bryce brown. he is special too right? we are becoming more and more like the NFL everyday and i dont like it. if EB wants to run by himself, then come back next year and get the loudest ovation ever. but saturday he should run through with every other underclassmen as a part of the team, not a special individual.
i guess im getting more and more traditional (read old or old school) that i thought. oh well. seemed to work out pretty well for guys like fulmer, majors, dickey and neyland... Go Vols!
Vandy Preview- well they have freshman who is about to break herschel walker's all purpose yardage record for freshman. and before we go touting this kid as the next herschel- keep in mind he did it in 12 games, and herschel did it in 10... vandy ranks behind the vols in every offensive category except rushing, and they rush for 2 more ypg than we do. granted we are playing three frat boys at linebacker this week and a walkon at FS, but somehow i think the vols will cover the points (17) and get the win. maybe its the fact that vandy has only beaten us once in my life??? i dont know. call me crazy. 42-14 winner winner chicken dinner.
PUDGE
Good News- nothing. nothing good happened. we got our brains beat in by a decent team. crompton played well enough i guess, but couldnt seem to get us over the hump sometimes...gerald jones and denarious moore had 5 grabs each.
Bad News- the rebels had dexter mccluster. he had 300 yds and 4 tds. enough said. well that and our defense lost another linebacker, all of the controversy surrounding the attempted robbery, our offensive line getting dominated, and we had another fg blocked!
Other News- this saturday is senior day. and this means that the vol seniors get announced and get to run through the T by themselves so that the fans and other players alike can thank them. it is a very emotional time for some of the players, and on the day when peyton manning ran for the fans as well. needless to say, this is an event held for the seniors and seniors only. which is why it really upsets me that the lane train is changing that. the way we play- change, practice- change, coach in games-recruit-talk to the media- change, uniforms- eh...change (i really like the orange pants on the road btw) but letting non-seniors run through the T - dont change. if lane wants to honor eric berry- who is probably playing in his last home game as a vol, thats fine- honor him somway. video tribute, play qb, something. he is a captain for crying outloud. but i dont think its a good idea for him to run through the T as a junior, just because he is a "special player" or even a good/maybe the best ever player. guys like peyton manning and heath shuler didnt get to run as juniors. hey and while youre at it lane how about letting gerald jones, ben martin, chris walker, and luke stocker all run. they are special juniors. or how about bryce brown. he is special too right? we are becoming more and more like the NFL everyday and i dont like it. if EB wants to run by himself, then come back next year and get the loudest ovation ever. but saturday he should run through with every other underclassmen as a part of the team, not a special individual.
i guess im getting more and more traditional (read old or old school) that i thought. oh well. seemed to work out pretty well for guys like fulmer, majors, dickey and neyland... Go Vols!
Vandy Preview- well they have freshman who is about to break herschel walker's all purpose yardage record for freshman. and before we go touting this kid as the next herschel- keep in mind he did it in 12 games, and herschel did it in 10... vandy ranks behind the vols in every offensive category except rushing, and they rush for 2 more ypg than we do. granted we are playing three frat boys at linebacker this week and a walkon at FS, but somehow i think the vols will cover the points (17) and get the win. maybe its the fact that vandy has only beaten us once in my life??? i dont know. call me crazy. 42-14 winner winner chicken dinner.
PUDGE
11.19.2009
"My Poor Reds"
i know that most of you dont give a dang about the reds, or maybe even baseball in general, but i do. and yes i know that the world series just ended and pitchers and catchers dont report for another 3 months or so, this is what baseball purists like to call the "hot stove" season. this is the time of year when teams are trying to get better, dump salary, or stay ahead of the market. this is also the time of year when fans can start hoping for a better year and getting hopes high for the following season...
what boggles my mind is how and why the reds choose to spend their money- which we dont have much to spend to begin with, and the fact that we are trying to dump our 4 highest paid players (brandon phillips, bronson arroyo, aaron harang, and francisco cordero) and ill be honest only one of those makes sense- cordero. with closers being- 1st plentiful, and 2nd- seem to come from nowhere every year, why would a small/medium market team pay so highly for an so called "elite" closer? granted he did have a pretty good year last year, but who knows what the next will bring- and we arent a big market team so we need to be careful on who and what we spend our money on. but just bear with me and ill show you why we should keep the others. first of all the dodgers, phillies, and cardinals all seem like locks to repeat and get to the playoffs. but who will win the wild card? marlins? mets? braves? cubs? giants? nobody knows and any of those teams could make a stong case for it, but so can we. our lineup could be something like this.
1st base- joey votto- a great young slugger who hit .322 last year with 84rbis and 25 hrs- despite missing 30+ games. could move to left to fill that hole and help make room for another young gun yonder alonzo
2nd base- brandon phillips- one of our highest paid players and rightfully so. easily one of the top 3-5 second basemen in baseball (utley, kinsler, pedrioa and who else? you think robinson cano puts up numbers when he is the only bat in the lineup- yeah right.) ps he is a continual 30/30 threat and last year knocked in almost 100 rbis and that was with the horrawful start he had and missing a month due to injuries
short stop- this is where things could get tricky...cause we dont have one. and all good teams have a good SS. last year jerry hairiston, alex gonzalez, and paul janish combined to hit .317 or something like that. internet rumors seem to think that we are going to try and sign orlando cabrera, which he would be alright- and he has had some postseason success!
3rd base- and this is where things get stupid for the reds. scott rolen- at 11 mil a year. granted we did play better down the stretch, and he gives us a veteran, but we traded edwin encarnacion- a young and upcoming (error and injury prone 3b) for someone on the way out. but we are going to pay so much for his service it doesnt make sense...
Out Field- (who it should be) well jay bruce is our new slugger (strike out or homer) gets our RF, drew stubbs- our top pick a few years ago and played really really well in his call up should play CF and since johnny gomes lance nix seem to be the same player coupled with wladimir balentien and maybe yonder alonzo/joey votto. id say this- chris heisey- a red hot rookie to be, yonder alonzo (if hes ready) or johnny gomes. ok so LF may be a little up in the air, and to be honest we have some guys that im not even sure are still with the reds (chris dickerson anybody? darnell mcdonald?)
OutField- (who it will be) RF- jay bruce, CF- willy taveras- a highly overpaid (3 million) and underproducing player- something the reds cant have. and LF- yeah i dont know. but itll be some scrub for sure because dusty baker is a moron.
Catcher- another interesting spot for the reds- we need to resign ramon hernandez. period. corky miller, craig tatum and ryan hanigan suck.
Pitching- (and if you think that pitching doesnt matter- youre dumb. its why teams win. yankees- great pitching, phils- same things, braves of the 90's check. why the dodgers havent won in the playoff- no starting pitching, tigers and chisox of a few years ago, angles- good pitching. i mean really i could go on and on) but this could be our starting 5
1. Edinson Volquez- has the best stuff, but might not be back in time.
2. Johnny Cueto- another young live arm that keeps improving
3. Bronson Arroyo- a 15 game winner that eats innings and 3.84 era last year
4. Aaron Harang- no longer the top of the line starter we once thought, but he also eats innings and has a tremendous strike out to walk ratio. (however something doesnt happen when he pitches- the reds dont win....)
5. Homer Bailey- the former minor league sensation has finally arrived and was arguably the best pitcher in the national league, maybe even the majors the last month of the season 6-1 with a 1.70 era in his last seven starts. its true. go look it up.
and waiting in the wings in case of suckiness or injury is micah owings and darryl thompson (a 4A player ie- dominates triple A, but not ready for the bigs- and did win his first career start ever- at yankee stadium!
Bullpen- mike lincoln, danny rea herrera, jared "chops" burton, and arthur rhodes could/should/and have done a decent job in getting the ball to the closer (whom i say we need to rid ourselves of) and promote nick masset to that spot. but who knows. our problem last year was too many crappy players (janish, mcdonald, dickerson, taveras) playing too much. votto, bruce, and bphil missing at least a month each with injuries- ps you take the three best bats out of the lineup of any team and they would stuggle much less a team with as little talent as the reds. and a lack of starting pitching (volquez missing most of it, harang the last 8 weeks, homer bailey not getting to the bigs until late aug, micah owings not being ready)
and to think that we finished 6 games below .500 and 13 games out of first, despite not winning a game for 28 days (seriously) maybe next year will finally be the return of the big red machine...
PUDGE
what boggles my mind is how and why the reds choose to spend their money- which we dont have much to spend to begin with, and the fact that we are trying to dump our 4 highest paid players (brandon phillips, bronson arroyo, aaron harang, and francisco cordero) and ill be honest only one of those makes sense- cordero. with closers being- 1st plentiful, and 2nd- seem to come from nowhere every year, why would a small/medium market team pay so highly for an so called "elite" closer? granted he did have a pretty good year last year, but who knows what the next will bring- and we arent a big market team so we need to be careful on who and what we spend our money on. but just bear with me and ill show you why we should keep the others. first of all the dodgers, phillies, and cardinals all seem like locks to repeat and get to the playoffs. but who will win the wild card? marlins? mets? braves? cubs? giants? nobody knows and any of those teams could make a stong case for it, but so can we. our lineup could be something like this.
1st base- joey votto- a great young slugger who hit .322 last year with 84rbis and 25 hrs- despite missing 30+ games. could move to left to fill that hole and help make room for another young gun yonder alonzo
2nd base- brandon phillips- one of our highest paid players and rightfully so. easily one of the top 3-5 second basemen in baseball (utley, kinsler, pedrioa and who else? you think robinson cano puts up numbers when he is the only bat in the lineup- yeah right.) ps he is a continual 30/30 threat and last year knocked in almost 100 rbis and that was with the horrawful start he had and missing a month due to injuries
short stop- this is where things could get tricky...cause we dont have one. and all good teams have a good SS. last year jerry hairiston, alex gonzalez, and paul janish combined to hit .317 or something like that. internet rumors seem to think that we are going to try and sign orlando cabrera, which he would be alright- and he has had some postseason success!
3rd base- and this is where things get stupid for the reds. scott rolen- at 11 mil a year. granted we did play better down the stretch, and he gives us a veteran, but we traded edwin encarnacion- a young and upcoming (error and injury prone 3b) for someone on the way out. but we are going to pay so much for his service it doesnt make sense...
Out Field- (who it should be) well jay bruce is our new slugger (strike out or homer) gets our RF, drew stubbs- our top pick a few years ago and played really really well in his call up should play CF and since johnny gomes lance nix seem to be the same player coupled with wladimir balentien and maybe yonder alonzo/joey votto. id say this- chris heisey- a red hot rookie to be, yonder alonzo (if hes ready) or johnny gomes. ok so LF may be a little up in the air, and to be honest we have some guys that im not even sure are still with the reds (chris dickerson anybody? darnell mcdonald?)
OutField- (who it will be) RF- jay bruce, CF- willy taveras- a highly overpaid (3 million) and underproducing player- something the reds cant have. and LF- yeah i dont know. but itll be some scrub for sure because dusty baker is a moron.
Catcher- another interesting spot for the reds- we need to resign ramon hernandez. period. corky miller, craig tatum and ryan hanigan suck.
Pitching- (and if you think that pitching doesnt matter- youre dumb. its why teams win. yankees- great pitching, phils- same things, braves of the 90's check. why the dodgers havent won in the playoff- no starting pitching, tigers and chisox of a few years ago, angles- good pitching. i mean really i could go on and on) but this could be our starting 5
1. Edinson Volquez- has the best stuff, but might not be back in time.
2. Johnny Cueto- another young live arm that keeps improving
3. Bronson Arroyo- a 15 game winner that eats innings and 3.84 era last year
4. Aaron Harang- no longer the top of the line starter we once thought, but he also eats innings and has a tremendous strike out to walk ratio. (however something doesnt happen when he pitches- the reds dont win....)
5. Homer Bailey- the former minor league sensation has finally arrived and was arguably the best pitcher in the national league, maybe even the majors the last month of the season 6-1 with a 1.70 era in his last seven starts. its true. go look it up.
and waiting in the wings in case of suckiness or injury is micah owings and darryl thompson (a 4A player ie- dominates triple A, but not ready for the bigs- and did win his first career start ever- at yankee stadium!
Bullpen- mike lincoln, danny rea herrera, jared "chops" burton, and arthur rhodes could/should/and have done a decent job in getting the ball to the closer (whom i say we need to rid ourselves of) and promote nick masset to that spot. but who knows. our problem last year was too many crappy players (janish, mcdonald, dickerson, taveras) playing too much. votto, bruce, and bphil missing at least a month each with injuries- ps you take the three best bats out of the lineup of any team and they would stuggle much less a team with as little talent as the reds. and a lack of starting pitching (volquez missing most of it, harang the last 8 weeks, homer bailey not getting to the bigs until late aug, micah owings not being ready)
and to think that we finished 6 games below .500 and 13 games out of first, despite not winning a game for 28 days (seriously) maybe next year will finally be the return of the big red machine...
PUDGE
11.15.2009
"Who Shot Charlie Brown?"
Many of you are probably curious as to the title of my post today, but there are a select few that know creator of this quote. and for the record im not talking about charles schultz. No, today i come to honor a different man- a great man- my grandfather. for most of my life at grandma and papa's any time someone wanted to watch a movie and he got asked what he wanted to watch he always said..."who shot charlie brown" (and it took me several years to realize that it wasnt even a movie- and if it is a movie im not sure that i want to see it haha!) but, and i have nothing to back this up, but lots of people talk about THE question or questions that they are going to ask jesus when they get to heaven- and if there really is such a question and answer time, i sure do hope that papa asked him that...
what follows is a letter that has been floating around in various forms/states/ideas and like for the last several months. i have no idea how its really going to turn out, and maybe this is just my way of dealing with it....
Dear Dub-
It is so different now. and you know that better than i do. It different for me just calling you that, but it seemed like the right thing to do. But Papa, im not sure what else to say. Its been tough without you. We all miss you something terrible, and we all love you very much. I feel bad for miller, because he is the one left with you. I got your name, but he got you. just everything about you and the way you lived your life, i think he feels the pressure of it too sometimes, but dont get me wrong, you left me a pretty good name to live up too, and it wont be easy. We will do our best to make you proud.
Papa, this is something that i am proud of- you and the quiet life that you led. Throughout the week of your celebration service there were so many people that came to say goodbye. Papa youll never realize the impact that you had. NEVER. every time that we were there more and more people wanted to come see you and say goodbye. and as tough as it was losing you, seeing all of the wonderful friends and family was nice. with you being a man that never said much, much less anything bad- i sometime wonder if you ever made an enemy. you wouldnt believe the amount of people that showed up. i was blown away. You made some really really good friends while you were here, and they are taking really good care of grandma- so ill thank them when you get the chance.
Here is the thing that i am most impressed with- on the day that god called you home, as we were all at still at the hospital brother bert( a neat guy himself) was talking to me and miller and was telling us a story of one of the last visits that he had with you. he told us that the only thing that you were concerned with, was that you hadnt done enough for jesus. (now i would argue that every christian can say this, but thats not the point) and Papa i just want to tell you that its not true at all. I cant think of a more Godly example of a person- the way that you carried yourself all the time, the way that cared about your wife, and the way that you loved your children and grandchildren. The best way to look at a man's life is to look at his family, and Papa, you did a pretty darn good job. If nothing else you showed me something that is priceless, Papa you showed me what true love really is. First of all you were married to the same woman for over FIFTY YEARS! i just hope that i get married and live to be 50. what an incredible testimony to you both. and i have no doubt that it was your unyeilding faith and belief in jesus that got you through most of those tough times. you were always so quick to tell us that god had been good to you- and i believe you. another way that you showed me true love was in your relationship to me. now i know that you and grandma grew up in different times and things were tough and you didnt have much, but that didnt matter to you. because you had each other. and i know that you and grandma didnt have tons of money, but you showed us love by being there for us. it didnt matter what or where it was. if you could be there you were. sometime even just coming up to watch baseball practice in college on nice days. i miss that. and papa i know that you know im a head coach now, and itll be great and i hope that lots of family gets to come and see, but it just wont be the same without you there. thanks for that. i never said it enough, but thanks.
there is so much that i want to tell you, but papa there is so much that i want you to tell me. How awesome is heaven? i mean i know that i wont ever understand until i get there but i cant imagine? and papa tell me what its like to be healthy again? how does it feel to be free from the oxygen? as much as we came to accept it as you, it sure must be nice to not have to worry about it or your tanks anymore right? (oh if you can believe it- its quieter at grandma's now..) But Papa this is what i really want you to tell me. and i know that there were lots of talk about you and uncle rudy getting to go on hikes again together, and thats a nice picture and all- but what was it like when you met jesus? if uncle rudy got to take you on that great hike that would be neat, but words cant describe what it must be like. seeing jesus face to face. being able to worship him in person- and i know that you were just a hummer in church, but im willing to bet you can sing in heaven. gosh the things that youve seen and done. how amazing.
i know that this letter is getting long but there are just a few more things. Papa, your birthday would have been saturday and while grandma stayed up till midnight just so she could sing happy birthday to you loud and proud, i got you a present. and this is not something that can be bought with corruptible things like money, gold, silver, or jewlery. this can only be paid for by the blood of jesus. and maybe its not for you, but i have know doubt its because of you and your inspiration to me. friday night and saturday morning we went on a youth trip and i had a great time. but papa, i got to tell somebody about jesus. something that i had never been able to do. we had 5 get saved that night, and i was able to lead one of them to christ. i just wish i couldve seen your face when the angles came in to write his name in the book of life, but it wasnt anything that i did dont worry- god gets all the glory for it. but papa, dont you see? you did so much with your life- and because of it at least one more person is going to heaven. and thats enough right there. im not giving up though. ive been praying for this for years, and while he may have been the first that god gave me the opportunity to lead to salvation i surely am praying that he isnt the last. so happy birthday.
In closing i just want to tell you that as much as we miss you, and as tough as its been, especially on grandma- we know that you are in so much of a better place that we cant even begin to understand- and it would extremely selfish if we asked you to come back. so dont come back. dont you dare come back. we want you to stay where you are, and without any of the physical problems that you had yours last few year- we will see you again, so dont worry about us we will be fine.
Now, as you were always fond of saying, and im not sure why you would need them in heaven- a place with streets of gold, crystal seas, and pearly gates...Papa- dont take no wooden nickles...
I Love You
David
what follows is a letter that has been floating around in various forms/states/ideas and like for the last several months. i have no idea how its really going to turn out, and maybe this is just my way of dealing with it....
Dear Dub-
It is so different now. and you know that better than i do. It different for me just calling you that, but it seemed like the right thing to do. But Papa, im not sure what else to say. Its been tough without you. We all miss you something terrible, and we all love you very much. I feel bad for miller, because he is the one left with you. I got your name, but he got you. just everything about you and the way you lived your life, i think he feels the pressure of it too sometimes, but dont get me wrong, you left me a pretty good name to live up too, and it wont be easy. We will do our best to make you proud.
Papa, this is something that i am proud of- you and the quiet life that you led. Throughout the week of your celebration service there were so many people that came to say goodbye. Papa youll never realize the impact that you had. NEVER. every time that we were there more and more people wanted to come see you and say goodbye. and as tough as it was losing you, seeing all of the wonderful friends and family was nice. with you being a man that never said much, much less anything bad- i sometime wonder if you ever made an enemy. you wouldnt believe the amount of people that showed up. i was blown away. You made some really really good friends while you were here, and they are taking really good care of grandma- so ill thank them when you get the chance.
Here is the thing that i am most impressed with- on the day that god called you home, as we were all at still at the hospital brother bert( a neat guy himself) was talking to me and miller and was telling us a story of one of the last visits that he had with you. he told us that the only thing that you were concerned with, was that you hadnt done enough for jesus. (now i would argue that every christian can say this, but thats not the point) and Papa i just want to tell you that its not true at all. I cant think of a more Godly example of a person- the way that you carried yourself all the time, the way that cared about your wife, and the way that you loved your children and grandchildren. The best way to look at a man's life is to look at his family, and Papa, you did a pretty darn good job. If nothing else you showed me something that is priceless, Papa you showed me what true love really is. First of all you were married to the same woman for over FIFTY YEARS! i just hope that i get married and live to be 50. what an incredible testimony to you both. and i have no doubt that it was your unyeilding faith and belief in jesus that got you through most of those tough times. you were always so quick to tell us that god had been good to you- and i believe you. another way that you showed me true love was in your relationship to me. now i know that you and grandma grew up in different times and things were tough and you didnt have much, but that didnt matter to you. because you had each other. and i know that you and grandma didnt have tons of money, but you showed us love by being there for us. it didnt matter what or where it was. if you could be there you were. sometime even just coming up to watch baseball practice in college on nice days. i miss that. and papa i know that you know im a head coach now, and itll be great and i hope that lots of family gets to come and see, but it just wont be the same without you there. thanks for that. i never said it enough, but thanks.
there is so much that i want to tell you, but papa there is so much that i want you to tell me. How awesome is heaven? i mean i know that i wont ever understand until i get there but i cant imagine? and papa tell me what its like to be healthy again? how does it feel to be free from the oxygen? as much as we came to accept it as you, it sure must be nice to not have to worry about it or your tanks anymore right? (oh if you can believe it- its quieter at grandma's now..) But Papa this is what i really want you to tell me. and i know that there were lots of talk about you and uncle rudy getting to go on hikes again together, and thats a nice picture and all- but what was it like when you met jesus? if uncle rudy got to take you on that great hike that would be neat, but words cant describe what it must be like. seeing jesus face to face. being able to worship him in person- and i know that you were just a hummer in church, but im willing to bet you can sing in heaven. gosh the things that youve seen and done. how amazing.
i know that this letter is getting long but there are just a few more things. Papa, your birthday would have been saturday and while grandma stayed up till midnight just so she could sing happy birthday to you loud and proud, i got you a present. and this is not something that can be bought with corruptible things like money, gold, silver, or jewlery. this can only be paid for by the blood of jesus. and maybe its not for you, but i have know doubt its because of you and your inspiration to me. friday night and saturday morning we went on a youth trip and i had a great time. but papa, i got to tell somebody about jesus. something that i had never been able to do. we had 5 get saved that night, and i was able to lead one of them to christ. i just wish i couldve seen your face when the angles came in to write his name in the book of life, but it wasnt anything that i did dont worry- god gets all the glory for it. but papa, dont you see? you did so much with your life- and because of it at least one more person is going to heaven. and thats enough right there. im not giving up though. ive been praying for this for years, and while he may have been the first that god gave me the opportunity to lead to salvation i surely am praying that he isnt the last. so happy birthday.
In closing i just want to tell you that as much as we miss you, and as tough as its been, especially on grandma- we know that you are in so much of a better place that we cant even begin to understand- and it would extremely selfish if we asked you to come back. so dont come back. dont you dare come back. we want you to stay where you are, and without any of the physical problems that you had yours last few year- we will see you again, so dont worry about us we will be fine.
Now, as you were always fond of saying, and im not sure why you would need them in heaven- a place with streets of gold, crystal seas, and pearly gates...Papa- dont take no wooden nickles...
I Love You
David
11.12.2009
Orange Colored Glasses- South Carolina and Memphis
Ok i know that ive missed the last couple of weeks on this, so it might be a tad shorter, but im trying to get caught up today...
South Carolina-
Good News- i mean what can i say about this game on halloween. we started it off with a bang- two forced fumbles, two fumlbe recoveries and two big orange(black) touchdowns in about 4 minutes and never trailed or even looked back. so much was put in to the vols switching to black- more on that in a minute- that people forget that we whooped a top 25 team that night and dominated them the whole game. Montario Hardesty continues to impress me every single time out. he had 120yds and 2 tds that night- as well as a sick spin move on the first td he scored. as i said in the stadium that night- he is quickly moving up my list of all time vols. fighting through injuries, and several players ahead of him on the depth chart- to come out and have a season like this is pretty cool.
ok and what the heck kind of offense was socar trying to run? they had tons of talent/size with wideouts and tightends and i know that they threw for over 300 yds, but it was like nothing seemed to work. good job monte! and chad cunningham did a nice job filling in for daniel lincoln on place kicking duties...
Bad News- and i guess i need to give socar partial credit for this, but we were only 4 of 15 on third down conversions, granted we got such a big lead early it didnt matter, but i would have liked to see us convert a few more of those no matter the score or the opponent...
Other News- well in case you didnt notice, we donned black jerseys for the first time since 1921. and ill admit, at first i thought that they were as shaq says "horawful" (horrible+awful=horawful). but after seeing them on the tv replay they looked a little bit better. still wish that we had on white pants, but i guess we look like pumpkins and candy corn a lot anyways. as long as this doesnt turn in to being a every year type deal im ok with that. btw ask the georgia fans about the "black out" now. i think that they are like 2-4 or something...
and i this is what im excited about- being able to use them in next years ncca college football video game for PS3.
Memphis
Good News- the crompdaddy reigns!!! 300 yds and 5 tds! what a baller we have a qb! i mean he is 4th in the nation and leads the sec in td passes! ok seriously after throwing 6 picks in three games he has now thrown 3 in his last 6 games. much better. eric berry cut the magic number in half- and with 4 games left on the schedule*( im including us getting at least 6 wins and a bowl bid) surely he will break the record. ps dude has over 100yds on fumble recoveries too...we didnt run the ball a lot, but brown, hardesty, and oku combined for over 130yds. 1st team defense was off the chain...nick stephens even got in on the action tallying 100yds passing and 1 td.
Bad News-well lets go with the 2nd team defense. they gave up 21 pts and most of the 400yds, plus the tigers controlled the ball for most of the second half. now granted we were playing mostly 2-4 stringers, but still its memphis. id hate to see what would happen if we put these guys in against somebody good. then again thats why they arent starting and they got valuable experience to help prepare them for the future- another reason why getting a bowl bid will help us- those young guys get another month to practice with our stout coaching staff...
Other News- not much from this game. we expected to win and we did. please keep in mind this- crompton has 14 of his 21 (5-wku, 4-uga, and 5-memphis) so not exactly great D that he is throwing against, but hey- i would be worried if he didnt put up stats like that against bad teams. the boy is alright, not great, but im sure that people will always have the turnover prone crompton as the image. much like the one of erik ainge going uncle rico against lsu a few years ago- despite that EA is statistically one of the top qbs to ever play at UT and lead the vols to a 19-7 record his last two years...
Ole Miss Preview- its time to put up or shut up for the vols this week. we have beaten the teams that we should have (memphis, south carolina, georgia, wku, ohio) lost to teams we should have (florida, alabama) and lost two toss-ups (ucla, auburn) if we want to be a good team we need to beat a team that we shouldnt. we have proven this year that we can go and play on the road with the number one team in the land. twice. now we need to go play on the road and win. it will be tough because the have a good D- but not as good as some and QB jevan snead has got to break out of his slump at some point. id feel a lot better about this game now that they have been beaten several times- including a loss to south carolina- and we now have a balanced attack on offense. big orange have NEVER lost in oxford and i dont think that it will start on saturday. vols 31- rebels 21
PUDGE
South Carolina-
Good News- i mean what can i say about this game on halloween. we started it off with a bang- two forced fumbles, two fumlbe recoveries and two big orange(black) touchdowns in about 4 minutes and never trailed or even looked back. so much was put in to the vols switching to black- more on that in a minute- that people forget that we whooped a top 25 team that night and dominated them the whole game. Montario Hardesty continues to impress me every single time out. he had 120yds and 2 tds that night- as well as a sick spin move on the first td he scored. as i said in the stadium that night- he is quickly moving up my list of all time vols. fighting through injuries, and several players ahead of him on the depth chart- to come out and have a season like this is pretty cool.
ok and what the heck kind of offense was socar trying to run? they had tons of talent/size with wideouts and tightends and i know that they threw for over 300 yds, but it was like nothing seemed to work. good job monte! and chad cunningham did a nice job filling in for daniel lincoln on place kicking duties...
Bad News- and i guess i need to give socar partial credit for this, but we were only 4 of 15 on third down conversions, granted we got such a big lead early it didnt matter, but i would have liked to see us convert a few more of those no matter the score or the opponent...
Other News- well in case you didnt notice, we donned black jerseys for the first time since 1921. and ill admit, at first i thought that they were as shaq says "horawful" (horrible+awful=horawful). but after seeing them on the tv replay they looked a little bit better. still wish that we had on white pants, but i guess we look like pumpkins and candy corn a lot anyways. as long as this doesnt turn in to being a every year type deal im ok with that. btw ask the georgia fans about the "black out" now. i think that they are like 2-4 or something...
and i this is what im excited about- being able to use them in next years ncca college football video game for PS3.
Memphis
Good News- the crompdaddy reigns!!! 300 yds and 5 tds! what a baller we have a qb! i mean he is 4th in the nation and leads the sec in td passes! ok seriously after throwing 6 picks in three games he has now thrown 3 in his last 6 games. much better. eric berry cut the magic number in half- and with 4 games left on the schedule*( im including us getting at least 6 wins and a bowl bid) surely he will break the record. ps dude has over 100yds on fumble recoveries too...we didnt run the ball a lot, but brown, hardesty, and oku combined for over 130yds. 1st team defense was off the chain...nick stephens even got in on the action tallying 100yds passing and 1 td.
Bad News-well lets go with the 2nd team defense. they gave up 21 pts and most of the 400yds, plus the tigers controlled the ball for most of the second half. now granted we were playing mostly 2-4 stringers, but still its memphis. id hate to see what would happen if we put these guys in against somebody good. then again thats why they arent starting and they got valuable experience to help prepare them for the future- another reason why getting a bowl bid will help us- those young guys get another month to practice with our stout coaching staff...
Other News- not much from this game. we expected to win and we did. please keep in mind this- crompton has 14 of his 21 (5-wku, 4-uga, and 5-memphis) so not exactly great D that he is throwing against, but hey- i would be worried if he didnt put up stats like that against bad teams. the boy is alright, not great, but im sure that people will always have the turnover prone crompton as the image. much like the one of erik ainge going uncle rico against lsu a few years ago- despite that EA is statistically one of the top qbs to ever play at UT and lead the vols to a 19-7 record his last two years...
Ole Miss Preview- its time to put up or shut up for the vols this week. we have beaten the teams that we should have (memphis, south carolina, georgia, wku, ohio) lost to teams we should have (florida, alabama) and lost two toss-ups (ucla, auburn) if we want to be a good team we need to beat a team that we shouldnt. we have proven this year that we can go and play on the road with the number one team in the land. twice. now we need to go play on the road and win. it will be tough because the have a good D- but not as good as some and QB jevan snead has got to break out of his slump at some point. id feel a lot better about this game now that they have been beaten several times- including a loss to south carolina- and we now have a balanced attack on offense. big orange have NEVER lost in oxford and i dont think that it will start on saturday. vols 31- rebels 21
PUDGE
11.09.2009
"Pudge Poll- Week 10"
alright folks, a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks in the world of college football and im sure that there are millions that are waiting to hear whatpudgethinks about it. and i know that i didnt even get to talk about my vols and winning streak that they are on, so im gonna try to get that out sometime this week. plus a bball game (we are 3-4 right now). friday night is an all night trip to atlanta, revival this weekend at church, plus a special tribute later in the week. gonna be busy. so this is not as detailed as it should be, nor does it line up with the big polls, but here it is. and im going in reverse order because i dont have a lot of time...
1. Florida- "to be the man, you gotta beat the man" and they aint coming down from the top spot until they lose aka when they travel to knoxville next sept...
2. Alabama- they have played a much tougher schedule than texas and as far as im concerned are way ahead of them anyways. i cant wait for the national semifinal game in december aka SEC championship
3. Texas- well colt mccoy finally broke out of his season long slump against an ok team in ok st. hoping for them to get upset so that one of the next two teams gets in the BCS game.
4. Tie- TCU and Cincy- tcu- boasts and great D and cincy a great O. both are undefeated. both still have one tough game on the scedule and both will need help to get to the title game.
6. Georgia Tech- best team in the formerly tough conference known as the ACC.
7. Boise State- failed to impress voters on back to back friday night televised games. myself included.
8. LSU- eh...so what they got beat by florida and bama. id say that they could beat any of the other team ahead of them....
9. Oregon- yeah i know that they got upset last week. and by boise. but pac 10 champs are pac 10 champs.
10. USC- somebody explain to me how the trojans are ranked ahead of the ducks in real life? a loss at washington!!! and a got dismantled by the ducks. cmon people. face it. usc isnt that good this year.
11. tie- Iowa, Ohio State i think both of them suck. iowa finally lost- trailed in 9 of 10 games now. winner this saturday will be big 10 champ. congrats to the suckeyes. hope you dont get blown out by somebody in the bowl game.
13. Pittsburgh- i dont know anything about them. honest.
14. Miami- this is about right for randy shannons young team. top 10 next year.
15. Utah- big game upcoming against tcu...
16. Houston- Kasey Keenum should get an invite to the heisman. and then finish 3rd. behind ingram from bama and tebow. you question tebows stats- consider this. 0. as in 0 losses. the only stat that matters. best player on best team.
17. Penn St
18. Arizona- mike stoops is the best stoops in the game...
19. Oklahoma State- top wideout dez bryant is out for the year...
20. Wisconsin
21. BYU
22. Virginia Tech- wow. so much for my preseason national championship pick...3 losses. cmon beamer!
23. tie- South Florida, West Virginia- both big east schools are decent, but not as good as cincy and dont have enough credit or quality wins to move up. one will be out after they play this weekend. ill take the bulls.
25. Tennessee- thats right. the big orange crack the top 25. and why not. we are a national powerhouse, with great advantage when we play at home, a national player of the year contender, great young recruits ready to help, and one of the most exciting coaches in the nation.
ill let you decide on which UT team im talking about- football, mens bball, or womens bball. and here in the answer- youre right.
PUDGE
1. Florida- "to be the man, you gotta beat the man" and they aint coming down from the top spot until they lose aka when they travel to knoxville next sept...
2. Alabama- they have played a much tougher schedule than texas and as far as im concerned are way ahead of them anyways. i cant wait for the national semifinal game in december aka SEC championship
3. Texas- well colt mccoy finally broke out of his season long slump against an ok team in ok st. hoping for them to get upset so that one of the next two teams gets in the BCS game.
4. Tie- TCU and Cincy- tcu- boasts and great D and cincy a great O. both are undefeated. both still have one tough game on the scedule and both will need help to get to the title game.
6. Georgia Tech- best team in the formerly tough conference known as the ACC.
7. Boise State- failed to impress voters on back to back friday night televised games. myself included.
8. LSU- eh...so what they got beat by florida and bama. id say that they could beat any of the other team ahead of them....
9. Oregon- yeah i know that they got upset last week. and by boise. but pac 10 champs are pac 10 champs.
10. USC- somebody explain to me how the trojans are ranked ahead of the ducks in real life? a loss at washington!!! and a got dismantled by the ducks. cmon people. face it. usc isnt that good this year.
11. tie- Iowa, Ohio State i think both of them suck. iowa finally lost- trailed in 9 of 10 games now. winner this saturday will be big 10 champ. congrats to the suckeyes. hope you dont get blown out by somebody in the bowl game.
13. Pittsburgh- i dont know anything about them. honest.
14. Miami- this is about right for randy shannons young team. top 10 next year.
15. Utah- big game upcoming against tcu...
16. Houston- Kasey Keenum should get an invite to the heisman. and then finish 3rd. behind ingram from bama and tebow. you question tebows stats- consider this. 0. as in 0 losses. the only stat that matters. best player on best team.
17. Penn St
18. Arizona- mike stoops is the best stoops in the game...
19. Oklahoma State- top wideout dez bryant is out for the year...
20. Wisconsin
21. BYU
22. Virginia Tech- wow. so much for my preseason national championship pick...3 losses. cmon beamer!
23. tie- South Florida, West Virginia- both big east schools are decent, but not as good as cincy and dont have enough credit or quality wins to move up. one will be out after they play this weekend. ill take the bulls.
25. Tennessee- thats right. the big orange crack the top 25. and why not. we are a national powerhouse, with great advantage when we play at home, a national player of the year contender, great young recruits ready to help, and one of the most exciting coaches in the nation.
ill let you decide on which UT team im talking about- football, mens bball, or womens bball. and here in the answer- youre right.
PUDGE
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