[It wasn’t about Tennessee taking anything from Alabama."]

Lance Thompson should have been offered the DC anyway, IMO.  I heard that he wasn't interested, but also heard that he got passed over.  He had been the LB coach at bammer, and they offered the DC slot to the current LB coach.  So why not go back to bammer. Thompson hardly can be blamed.

Further, Lane made a big deal about getting Lance from Saban's staff, partially due to the fact that Lance is an outstanding recruiter, and Saban seemed upset to lose him. 

Whereas, when Sunseri came to UT, Saban publicly endorsed him.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7458507/alabama-crimson-tide-sal-sunseri-leaving-job-tennessee-volunteers

"Sal is an outstanding coach and really did an excellent job with each and every responsibility he had while he was here at the University of Alabama. Although we hate to see Sal go, we understand this is an opportunity for him to grow in this profession and take on the role of defensive coordinator," Alabama coach Nick Saban said in a statement.

The upshot is that I think Saban put one over on Dooley.  Endorsed Sunseri..."he's ready to be a DC" ..."He really is!"...or whatever, and totally fizzleed us.

But look what we see here...

http://www.mrsec.com/2012/01/checkmate-bamas-saban-takes-thompson-back-from-uts-dooley/

Dooley:  “I told Nick when I called him that it is a hard call because it wasn’t about a Tennessee and Alabama deal… And I was really pleased at how professionally he handled it.  And we have a friendship, too.  So that will never get compromised.  It wasn’t about Tennessee taking anything from Alabama."

Oh my....that is certainly true.   

Listening to Herman Cain talking to Robin Meade (OK, so I'm looking at Robin Meade) and he is stumping like crazy for himself.

I hope he runs again for the comedic value.

New post...this editor gets me every time.   

Back to my point about the 47%.  It shows to me, that Romney was in fact out of touch with most ordinary Americans.  I don't think he or most politicians have any idea what it takes to support a family of four on less than 50K a year, and he insulted these very people.  Who, ironically, were among his biggest supporters!   

It's in line with comments like "I'll bet you 10,000" (did you see the look on Perry's face, lol).  "I know NASCAR owners and I love NASCAR" or, replayed from a March show on Finebaum as I pulled into the voting booth parking lot yesterday, "I know the owner of the Jets, I know the owner of the Dolphins, and they are wonderful people but I prefer for Peyton to go to Denver because I am a New England fan and Robert Krause is one of my best friends". 

The reason Obama was able to exploit the perception that Romney was an out of touch wealthy heir who really didn't have to ever worry about money is because - well, he is.

Having said that, I have no doubt that there is still a rather large percentage (just not 47%) of our population that is dependant on the government and is unwilling for that to end.  And I definitely think that needs addressing.  I just doubt the politicians have the will to do it.  But I will be hopeful for a couple months anyway.  Let's see what happens by January (53 days to the fiscal cliff!     )

I thought about voting for Johnson, but did not.

I didn't like either major party candidate, but with Romney, the main problem I had was that he offered to cut taxes 25% across the board and failed to say how he would address spending, entitlements, and the debt.  Because, as you point out, neither side wants to tackle those.

The Republicans want to cut taxes and increase spending anyway, the Democrats want to increase taxes and spend even more.  Either way, you get a burgeoning and unsustainable debt.

I am mildly optimistic that they can compromise somehow on the "fiscal cliff".  Personally I hope they follow the Simpson-Bowles recommendations, and limit entitlement growth coupled with less deductions.  That will make a huge dent in future debt if so.

But I suspect they will keep slinging mud at each other to avoid taking any responsibility for the mess we are in.  I guess we'll find out.

I will push back on the 47% comment a bit though. First, it's not that 47% don't pay taxes, it's just the percentage that don't pay INCOME taxes.  Everyone employed pays payroll - social security and medicare/caid - taxes.   And that's a much larger percent of the population than 53%.  This website states that only 17% pay "no taxes at all".

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3505

Second, of the percent that pay no taxes at all, many are retirees who should not be taxed, many of whom have no actual retirement and mostly depend on social security.

So the 47% was way overstated, and IMO reflects a widely held misconception that there are more "slackers" in thie country than there are. 

"Joe the Plummer" was turned into an icon by McCain, who ended up featuring him at rallies in 2008, for asking Obama why he was going to raise his taxes.  Laughably, it turned out that Joe the Plummer was one of the 47%. He only made 38K a year and paid no income taxes.  This  perfect example illustrates exactly what I am talking about.  The perception of slackers feeding at the trough is way overblown.

Having taken a shot at Joe the Plummer, let me make it clear that I totally respect him as a person who works (or did  I think he might be living off his celebrity now) for a living.  So I would say that, using him as an example, there are many people that have a family and make less than 50K who work and pay no income taxes and I don't look down at them for that.

Goes to show what a cluster-fizzle Hamilton pulled.  Kiffin?  I still say "who the hell is that"?   

Simply an awful hire.  Losing record at Oakland and accused by AL DAVIS of having character issues.  Good gawd!  WTF was Hamilton thinking.

Well Virginia and Colorado were both close, but went for Obama.  Those were tossups anyway.

Looks like I missed on Florida.  Florida was closer to being a toss-up than I thought.

Oh well, it was interesting following this...

LOL,did You ever want to go to Notre Dame?

No, not go there, but I did like the football team.  My first real year of following CFB was 1977.  Followed Notre Dame from the Purdue game, when Montana came off the bench in the third quarter and led them back from a 3-TD deficit, to the Cotton Bowl where they crushed Earl Campbell and undefeated, no 1 Texas 35-7 even while taking a knee at the 2 of Texas with time running out.  They drilled SoCal 49-14 that year when SoCal was at the height of the Robinson years.

Montana didn't start until the third game of the year, and Notre Dame actually lost their second game to Ole Miss, of all teams, on the road.  Without that loss, I would tout them as one of the greatest teams of all time.

I suppose you could say they were from the Purdue game on.....

Olivia Wilde as Leia...because she's HOT!  And frankly, she is descended from British royalty and looks like a princess, so why not.  She may be too young though.

The dude that played Indy's son in Raider's 4...Shia LeBeuf...as Luke.  Why not take on all the Lucas legacies.  (LOL! - just kidding). Ummmm.  DiCaprio?  Have no idea.

Hard to say who Luke could or should be...no idea actually.  I am pretty bad with actors...just really DGAS about celebrities. Not one to read the tabloids or watch Entertainment Tonight.

Han Solo...hard to say really.  Harrison Ford is one of a kind.  That would be tough.  Does he need to be middle aged, or relatively young?  Answer depends on that.  Could Liam Neeson pull it off?  Nah, too serious.  Robert Downey Jr.?  That's the best I can do in five minutes.

I would actually prefer that they focus on a whole new generation and bring in the actual actors for cameos as old dudes, while they are still alive, but that may not be what Lucas had in mind, and I want them to stick with his plan.

Strong says he will not leave Louisville, and Tom Jurich will not let Strong leave Louisville. 

I forgot about that.  But in spite of what Jurich says, Strong has to recognize that Tennessee is way better than Louisville.

I'll never forgive my mom for selling all my Star Wars stuff in a garage sale.  I had probably 75 of the figures, An X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Millenium Falcon, Landspeeder, and probably more that I can't remember.  That stuff would be worth a fortune today.

Wow, the figures would be worth a lot, in the box, definitely and even out of it.

I was in the 5th grade when Star Wars came out, and my mom babysat a 5 year old at the time.  He had every single action figure and would bring them with him to our house.  I thought they were so cool that I would sometimes "help" him play with them, I am not at all ashamed to admit.   

I still have the original Obi Wan figure that I found in the street one day.  Light saber is long gone, probably worthless, but I have it.  I also have a tie fighter and X-wing of the miniature variety.

If we can't win it, I'll be pulling for Indiana.  I've always liked them the best of the "Big 6".

My home state until I was 15...definitely my second favorite college team.  Oh wait, I have to move Purdue ahead of them since I have  degree from there...but it's close.   

Glad to see them finally back.

Clearly, they ponied up that dough just for Willow and Labyrinth. 

Thanks for the update guys, glad to hear it.  While I am a huge Star Wars fan, I haven't been hanging breathlessly on every press release by Disney, so I actually had no idea that the sequels were the main reason they made the purchase, as you seem to imply.  For all I know, they might sit on the product and collect merchandizing like they did for years with the Muppets, though they eventually did do a Muppet movie or two.

So...sequels to Star Wars.  All for it! I hope that they follow Lucas' general idea for the movies, at least.  He was a bad to horrible director, but his overall storytelling ability is among the best IMO.

OSU is a tough place to win at considering how big Oklahoma and Texas are there. He gets My respect for winning year after year with the competition They have!

The thing about OSU is that T Boone Pickens has donated $100 million to them, just like Phil Knight (I think?  Nike guy) has donated tons of money to Oregon.  Although OSU has nowhere near the tradition that UT has, right now they are a better program than us, and he is deep into building their program.   I doubt he would leave OSU for anywhere, to be honest.  Maybe USC if Kiffin gets fired, but I would be willing to bet that T Boone is happy with the progress at OSU and would pony up a bit to keep him there.

I mean, if you spend $100 million on a freaking college football team, what's a couple more million a year to keep Gundy.   

But yeah, Gundy is A MAN!  Who is FORTY YEARS OLD!   (or was....)   

Edit: The better question is why I'm sitting on the toilet at 3:30 a.m. crunching numbers in the midst of a season in which I've already stated that I've entered DGAS mode. 

DGAS, or CGAS?  CGAS would explain the long post.   

Looks like they are really serious about it.  Was afraid it was all talk.

The OL has been awesome this year, and almost all are back

I think we only lose one starter.  Not sure of the two-deep

Sorry Bandit, but you are just plain nuts.  Every time we play in Nashville, there is just as many, if not more, UT fans than Vandy fans.

May be.  I have only been there once, a couple years ago, and it was pretty close IMO.

Mostly I am saying, they outnumber us in their own stadium, in a year they are pretty good, ICCL.   

About a month ago, my nephew was just riding his motorcycle on Hwy 72 in Athens, AL and as he passed an SUV he looked over and saw a guy pointing a pistol at him and the guy shot him twice. The guy was mad at his father for sending him to technical school and just decided to kill some people. My nephew wound up with one bullet lodged next to his spine and another that went in his tricep and exited his bicep. He's alive but suffering all because of a maniac.

Wow!  I hadn't heard of that.  Crazy...and sad.

I did hear about the nutbag in Limestone County that fired a bullet into the back of a truck with an AK-47, killing a 25 year old young man whose only offense was being on a public road at 3:30 AM.  He and his brother had been at a cookout, and on their way home went to the end of a dead end road by mistake, turned around, and were on their way out.  The nimrod living in the trailer at end of said road pulled out his AK and fired a bullet at the truck as it was pulling away.  The bullet penetrated the tailgate, cabin, seat and young man, killing him.  The idjut firing off the round claims he shot into the air   , but has been charged with murder...I don't know what degree.  I didn't know the guy killed, but some good friends of mine did.  It's just totally senseless.   

Btw, Basilio's source says the short list includes Mullen, Strong and Petrino.

Petrino would win immediately, no doubt. But this guy has caused a train wreck everywhere he has gone. Do not want.

Strong, I like.

I'm not sure Mullen would leave Mississippi State for Tennessee, and I'm not impressed with him anyway. I know everyone was salivating over MSU being a ranked team. I had a MissSt buddy tell me when UT was playing them that I shouldn't feel bad because UT was getting beat by a top 10 team. I laughed at him and said that MSU isn't even a top 25 team...their ranking was due to their incredibly weak schedule. Now that they have started to play good teams, they're getting exposed. Big time.

I agree about Petrino.  Also agree that MSU was overated.  They played no one before us, and our defensive problems mean our game didn't count for much.  They lose again this weekend, but have a decent chance to sweep Arkansas and Ole Miss to close the season, though I think a split is about as likely.  But if they sweep the last two games, they may still barely make the top 25.

I was high on Mullen earlier, but not so sure now.  I do think he would leave MSU.  I would still, as a proven college coach, rate him above a former NFL coach.   At the same time, I am not sure quite what to make of his time at MSU - he greatly improved the product, but they are still a long way from the top tier, and...sadly....their recent recruiting is about even with what Dooley has done, maybe a bit worse, but not by much.  The NCAA mess might be just enough for him to not be an option.

However, Bandit calling "gamblers, drug addicts, and prostitutes" a democratic base is a bit offensive. Similar to those that believe in Santa Claus in the sky being a republican base? There I got my ofensive remark in too!

Well that isn't the total base just a significant   chunk of it in nevada.   

Romney-Ryan will win

Thank you for that comprehensive analysis!   

The polls have not changed this morning, so I am sticking by my prediction above.  Should be fun to watch.

I just hope we know something for sure by this time tomorrow.    The chances of a another 2000-style deadlock are actually pretty decent.   

Bonus question...what will Romney Ryan's record be, and what bowl game will they play in?   You seem to like to make those predicts.  I say 0-1 and no bowl, but Obama is only favored by a point.  I guess we'll see! 

 

I agree with you. And there may well be more Vandy fans at the game because I think they believe they will beat us and they all want to be there to see it.

Well since it's in Nashville it wouldn't surprise me at all.  We don't even quite outnumber them every single year even when we are good.

Not as loco as you thinking that you're "effing Hart up" by spilling the beans on his elaborate scheme here on VTTW.  

So, now that it's pretty much certain Gruden isn't coming you are going on record of saying how ridiculous it was all along.  On top of that, you now declare it is happening just as you suspected all along, even though you never said so before now.  Right.

I thought the hiring of Gruden was  ridiculous only when I heard how much he currently made, and frankly I don't recall when that was - probably a day or two before we played bammer.  When I heard that, it added to my belief that my hunch was correct, but I formed the opinion in between the MSU and USCe game. 

And what I thought was incorrect prior to that was not that Gruden would be hired, but that Dooley would be fired right after USCe.  I am on record below at least twice stating this opinion prior to us playing USCe.

And yes, the reason I didn't want my hunch "revealed" is because I have so much faith in it that I do think I have "exposed" Hart.  Which I freely admit is open to ridicule.   

I guess the difference between you and I is that I really don't give a rip about a 55-48 win over a mid-level Sun Belt team. As long as we're 0-5 in the SEC, it's a miserable season. As long as Neyland Stadium is 40% red on the third Saturday in October, it's a miserable season.

Rigghhhht.  But coming close to beating uga and USCe on the road, when it was WIDELY PREDICTED that they would dog whip us.  "There are no moral victories".

Ya can't have it both ways....

A W is a W and an L is an L.

You can look at the close and vomitous win over Troy and say you have no confidence in the future and I can look at the close calls vs. uga and USCe and say "hey, maybe we beat them next year", but it doesn't change the results of the games. 

And we have not had 8 wins since 2007, style points be dazammed.