The Blue Workhorse

Over the holiday weekend, the University of Tennessee Athletic Department unveiled the new and improved compensation packages for the head coaches of the two headlining sports in Knoxville.

Both Phillip Fulmer and Bruce Pearl received what I will label as “more than modest raises.”

Obviously, the University of Tennessee is not alone in their bursting budgets and a seemingly endless flow of funds that are spent on, let’s face it, a game. The problem is that neither of these raises, regardless of amount, was justified.

Contest to Win Free DVD

Have you ever watched those Sports Illustrated commercials after every single championship when they have all of those championship related bonus items to give away to you if you become a new subscriber? Ever actually wanted one of those “free” gifts?

Probably not, unless it was actually one of your favorite teams. Well, if you are a fan of the Kansas Jayhawks or just college basketball in general, here’s a chance for you to get a DVD that’s even better than the SI’s video — Rock Chalk Championship DVD (retail $19.95). This DVD has every shot and every critical game from the Jayhawks’ season, including Mario Chalmers’ clutch trifecta to send the championship game into overtime.

I know there are some followers of the WNBA in places like Knoxville, Storrs, CT and other cities that have successful college teams, but does that really justify the prolonged existence of this bore?

After the outrage and outcry that occurred when Heisman’s first article about Bruce Pearl was sent to some Tennessee Volunteers’ web sites, and subsequently, posted on UT message boards, he felt the need to write a rebuttal to all of those upset by his original post and to clarify where his allegiances lie because being called a Kentucky fan is quite the blasphemous statement.

I am not one to jump on bandwagons, and I will not begin now. I applaud Pearl’s actions this past week, and I hope he remains consistent with these values. If so, many Volunteer basketball fans will have a team they can be proud of on and off of hardwood.

Driving to work a couple of days after the Tennessee Lady Volunteers won their 8th National Championship in women’s basketball, I heard something that made my blood pressure slowly begin to rise.
Before I go on, as a native Tennessean, I would like to congratulate Pat Summit and the team, as a whole, for representing themselves [...]

It took some rough free throw shooting by Memphis and a miraculous 3-point shot by Mario Chalmers to send the game into overtime before the Jayhawks outscored the John Calipari’s Tigers 12-5 in overtime to take home the national championship.

To continue our ‘Workhorse candidates’ series that we’ve been compiling after each round of the NCAA men’s basketball national tournament, we’re going to go ahead and hand over the NCAA ‘Championship Workhorse’ award to Chalmers, even though Darrell Arthur did have a hell of a game as well (20 points on 9-13 FG, 10 rebounds, assist, steal).

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams has to console Wayne Ellington after the guard finds out he’s not on a candidate for the ‘Final Four Workhorse.’ (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
And then there were two…
Two teams remain after Kansas assaulted former coach Roy Williams and his North Carolina Tar Heels and Memphis steamrolled past the UCLA Bruins. [...]