A community of reasonable fanatics.
Tomorrow will be 77 days until it’s Football Time in Tennessee. Today is one day until Omaha. Growing up, it felt like football could always have the kind of year they just enjoyed in 2022. The Vols finished in the Top 15 14 times in 19 seasons from 1989-2007. There […]
Last Monday, we did some research on how the 2022-23 Vols finished in the Top 16 in football, men’s & women’s basketball, baseball and softball for the first time in school history. That ride ain’t over just yet: Baseball always has the opportunity for the last word on an academic […]
Tennessee’s five-year strategic plan for the athletic department was released 11 months ago. In the “competitive excellence” section, the plan calls for the Vols to earn the top Director’s Cup finish in the SEC, and for each sport to strive for a Top 16 finish nationally. Tennessee just won the […]
Lady Vol softball went through Alabama 10-5 yesterday, opening the Women’s College World Series with a bang. Up next: the two-time defending national champs from Oklahoma, who boast an average 57-1 record this season. The two met last season, with Oklahoma winning deep into extra innings. The Sooners carry all […]
A couple of years ago when we lived in Virginia and Mississippi State was making its way through the College World Series, someone in our church asked what we thought about the Bulldogs as Tennessee fans. I’ve used that conversation to highlight the importance of change in SEC football scheduling: […]
We could get some news from Destin next week on the 2024 SEC football schedule, with the long-awaited debut of Texas and Oklahoma in the league. Everything in college football, from the expanded playoff to the return of the video game, is headed toward change one year from now. Both […]
Tennessee’s sports calendar never really ends, which is great when you’re good at everything. Softball hosts their regional this weekend, while baseball is at South Carolina, trying to play their way into hosting theirs. The hope is both teams give us the chance to watch them play into the month […]
Something I find myself saying a lot – and will continue to do so joyfully – is that the 2022 team is best understood not just in how they left the wilderness, but that they found the promised land. It wasn’t just the first time in 15 years the Vols […]
Last May, when Tennessee baseball was on its historic tear, we started looking at how hard it is to win an SEC Championship. When a team was making it look as easy as that group was, you can forget that the Vols had just four league titles in the five […]
Tennessee tied its second-best mark with five players taken in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft last weekend. The 2023 draft class joined 2007, 2002, 1998, and 1992 at that mark, trailing only the 2000 draft class with a boatload of players from the 1998 national champions. That […]