We still have a spot open for Friday's mailbag.
From the "Talk Too Much studios," let's go.
Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin, center, talks with Cameron Tatum (23) and Skylar McBee (13) during the basketball game against Kentucky on Saturday. Kentucky won 65-62.UT hoops
We have stated more than once that it's difficult to see UT as an NCAA tournament team without an SEC tournament title. That belief has not changed after the Vols' improbable win at LSU on Wednesday night.
We have stated more than once that Cuonzo "The Conz" Martin deserves serious consideration for coach of the year. That belief was only solidified after the Vols' rallying overtime win at LSU on Wednesday night.
Taking personal lives and family out of the equation, what are the best three compliments you can pay a coach? What three things are the difference between even very good coaches and great coaches, and this is beyond the X's and O's and even recruiting the Jimmy's and Joe's. Here's our three and see how The Conz has fared during his first season with the Vols.
1) His team overachieves. Name an NBA player on this team. Jarnell Stokes, the five-star recruit who joined the Vols in December? Maybe, but remember Stokes, who led the Vols with 18 at LSU on Wednesday, should be looking at sub-state match-ups and talking about prom dates since he should be a senior in high school right now. Now this team is far greater than its parts, and that's a great measure of coaching.
2) His team competes every play, every half and every night. Sure there were some ugly growing pains early - and the marks on the resume will hurt come bubble time - but other than going to Kentucky (and here's saying half the NBA would struggle at Rupp) and the egg UT laid at Alabama, when was the last time UT was overwhelmed. Yes, Vandy put a whipping on the young Vols in Memorial, and that should make Saturday all the more interesting when the 'Dores visit Knoxville.
3) His team believes. On the road Wednesday, UT did not lead until making a 3-pointer early in overtime. LSU either led or was tied for the first 40:23 of last night's game, and UT still won.
And watching the final half and the overtime of Wednesday's win 74-69 win over LSU, it became obvious that The Conz has swept the above list. And while this bunch is not the most talented team on the floor most nights, they have got an energy and a Molotov cocktail of spunk that is a special feeling of confidence, competitiveness and cohesion. Bill Rafety would call it "onions." Tanaka in "Major League II" would call it "marbles." Miles Russell in "Uncle Buck" ultimately would call it several things. And these Vols have it.
Consider the following numbers: UT went 7-1 in February, including a 3-1 mark on the road; UT has no real star, rather it relies on the hot hand and is willing to share the basketball to find that hot hand; UT was 3-6 after losing at College of Charleston on Dec. 14, since they are 14-7 overall and have a plausible shot at the No. 2 seed in the SEC tournament. Chew on that.
U.S. golfer Tiger Woods, left, shakes hands with his former caddie Steve Williams after the Presidents Cup Golf Tournament at Royal Melbourne Golf Course in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. The handshake between Woods and Williams was routine. The loss by Woods and Steve Stricker turned out to be the real drama in the Presidents Cup. (AP Photo/David Callow)Lighten up Francis
Tiger Woods got irked with a reporter Wednesday. Some ink-stained yahoo - those sports reporters can be such nincompoops - asked Tiger some specific stuff about Hank Haney's book, which will be released later this month before the Masters. Woods got irritated and glared and made some sarcastic remarks. So it goes, we guess. The question was fair, Tiger's response was childish and now it's a story. (That said, Tiger was treated with such kid-gloves for so long by everyone - his handlers, his family, the press, everyone - that there's no way to expect him to handle a tough situation with any type of aplomb. As Ron Burgandy says, "It's science.")
OK, we all know Eldrick Woods has struggled. Hey, dude has been through a bunch of stuff in the last two-plus years, and while most of it was self-induced, it's still a mountain of personal problems that played out in the most public of fashions.
Hey, this is not a sympathetic plea for Woods - if you become a billionaire (yes, billionaire with a 'B') because everyone wants to watch you do amazingly great things, you don't have much of a beef when everyone wants to watch amazingly emotional things, too. The public is a fickle bunch, and that's business you have chosen.
That said, any angst and anguish Woods endures because of Haney's book is on Haney. C'mon Hank, dude paid you well to be his coach, and by being the coach to the best player on the planet you get to say you were the coach of the best player on the planet. That has to help the resume, right?
So did you really need to write a book about Tiger and cash in an extra bucks? Really?
Hey Woods is hardly a sympathetic character, but if you can't trust anyone in your inner-circle - Haney writes a tell, and we all know what kind of jerk-wad former caddie Stevie Williams is - that's a tough spot to be in. Granted, all of the personal stuff Tiger only has Tiger to blame. We can't say that enough.
But the rest of this stuff - including the Haney hardback - is hardly Eldrick's fault.
FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2011 file photo, Pittsburgh Steelers' Hines Ward warms up before the NFL Super Bowl XLV football game between the Steelers and Green Bay Packers in Arlington, Texas. Ward will be a contestant on the new season of Dancing with the Stars. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)Hines' Field no more
We have been consumed with the Manning saga in Indy, and rightly so since Peyton Manning has been the face of the Colts for a generation and he's about to be cast aside in a cost-cutting move that is tough to argue with because of Manning's rising age and deteriorating health. That the Colts have the chance to draft the next Peyton Manning makes matters even more clear, but no less sad.
Maybe sad is the wrong word, and maybe sentimental is more appropriate. But it's still tough to see those guys that have become connected with a uniform have to trade it in for another team's colors.
And while he was not the face of his team like Peyton was, Hines Ward was certainly the soul of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And with reports coming from the Steel City that the team is set to release Ward after 14 seasons with the club, it's another long-time star that could be looking for a new team.
We lament players staying too long and we cuss teams for cutting stars, but there's really no good solution for these situations. We'd love for Manning or Ward to finish their careers with one team, but injuries and salary caps and young talent and father time and all the rest stop for no player, regardless how special, loved or devoted. It's the circle of life in pro sports, especially in the NFL where a hard salary cap allows for little wiggle room and even less emotional connection.
Ward was a great, Great, GREAT player for more than a decade. Ward has vowed to return for at least one more year, and maybe he could work out something to return to Pittsburgh at a reduced rate.
So it goes, we suppose, and this offseason has made it more clear than every that loyalty is a luxury NFL teams rarely can afford.
Aerial file photo shows the home of former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan. Jordan's longtime personal residence was put on the market Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012, for $29 million. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)This and that
- Sad story part II: Orlando Woolridge was arrested for stealing aluminum tubing from a construction site (Former NBA player Orlando Woolridge arrested in La). Dude was the No. 6 pick in the draft in 1981 draft and played for more than a decade in the league. (Side note: Among the great players in that 1981 draft - Mark Aguirre, Isiah Thomas, Tom Chambers, Rolando Blackmon - the best overall talent may have been a portly point guard drafted in the 10th round out of San Diego State. Fortunately for all of us, though, that 10th round pick picked baseball, and Tony Gwynn was able to become a baseball Hall of Famer with the Padres rather than a reserve guard for the then-San Diego Clippers. That's your Paul Harvey, "Now you know the rest of the story" moment for the week. P.S. We love the draft. You know this.)
- Michael Jordan's Chicago home went on sale for a the rock-bottom price of $29 million this week. In a somewhat related story, if every other house of every other NBA player every went on sale, regular reader JordanRules would say those houses are no where near as nice as MJ's. Seriously, $29 million for a house? Seriously? That's some rarefied Air.
- Sad story part III: The SI report on UCLA and Ben Howland is far from a rosy picture about one of the elite programs in college basketball's. It's sad, and there appears to be two extremes setting up camps at the opposite ends of the story. Howland and UCLA appear to be quietly deflecting. The one player SI quoted by name has come out and said he was misquoted. The un-named sources are of course silent and un-named. That said, George Dohrmann, is a sharp cat, and while UCLA has circled the wagons, there's not a lot of high-volume denials, either.
- We're a week away from "Manning Up." A week from today, Peyton Manning will be due a $28 million roster bonus if he's still with the Colts. That's difficult to see, but hey, if he does get the bonus, he could almost by MJ's Chicago house.
Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones (10) makes his way to the next photographer during picture day before a spring training baseball workout in Kissimmee, Fla. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)Today's question
If Manning and Ward are looking for new addresses this offseason, that's two Hall of Famers who will finish their careers in strange and unfamiliar colors.
What is your top three of players out there right now that would look the strangest in new uniforms?
Here's ours:
1) Derek Jeter
2) Kobe Bryant
3) Chipper Jones
Discuss.