New administration
Yeah, I watched Joe Biden get sworn in.
Yeah, I made my kids watch, too.
Yeah, I was encouraged by the majority of his speech. Hopefully even.
And HECK yeah I was super impressed with Amanda Gorman. Wowser. When I grow up I hope I am as good with words and composed as that young lady.
But, even as the symbolism of the locale and the nightmarish events of two weeks ago were looming over everything, the words were a great first step.
But it's the first step in what is a marathon to find our way back to the middle, gang, and both sides must be willing to walk the talk of Wednesday.
And those words, while needed and motivational on Jan. 20, will be little more than testable history come June this summer and next.
Those words were from the leaders, and the work must be done by all of us. I will do my part, I just hope the newly empowered anti-Trump leaders will, as we phrased last week, make sure we are headed in the right direction across the spectrum and not just the opposite direction of where we were.
Anywhere but Knoxville, apparently
Last Vol in the building turn the light out please.
You know the rules. Here's Paschall with four more UT football players entering the transfer portal, including two sophomores in RB Eric Gray and LB Henry To'o To'o who were the Vols best offensive and defensive players.
(Side note: Beyond the impact of losing To'o To'o's game-changing abilities, it's especially painful for those of us who occasionally found ourselves at softball fields during the season and listened to Vols games on the radio. Because listening to Vols Radio Network sidekick Tim Priest say ol' Henry's last name was joyous.)
The decision of the four former Vols Wednesday continued the flood of current and once-pledged future Vols exploring options in a time of much unrest in Knoxville.
Ten members of the staff, including head coach Jeremy Pruitt, were shown the door Monday, and now the immediate impacts on the roster are being felt.
Yes, it hurts. And watching UT try to patch together a running game and a front seven - Gray led the Vols in rushing and Ty Chandler was second, and he's headed to UNC for next season; To'o To'o led the Vols in tackles and Quavaris Couch, who also split Wednesday, was third in stops - will be painful.
But that's the price of doing BID-ness when it comes to these matters. You are going to lose players when you fire the coaches that brought those players in, no matter how inept the coaches are or right the decision is.
And these players should have that choice, so it's not pointing a finger at that decision. But the mistake UT made was not firing Pruitt.
It was hiring Pruitt in the first place.
Keeping arguably the worst coach in the SEC so the leading tackler and the leading rusher of a 3-7 football returns in the extended hopes of finding a way to go 6-6 and make the Birmingham Bowl is a fool's errand.
So, best of luck Henry. You too Eric.
Now, UT go find the guy (or gal, for AD) that will find the guy that will find the better versions of Henry and Eric and start to get UT football back to being UT football.
The way it's done
Amid the strife and struggles all around us in January - cue Crash telling Larry Hockett, "We're dealing with a lot of bleep" - Justin Thomas' verbal five-putt has, for the most part, gone unreported all things considered, especially when you factor in how much how many love to clutch their pearls.
Quick back story: Thomas missed a very short putt and dropped a homophobic slur that starts with 'F' and sounds like a gross insect often found in rotting meat. A live mic caught Thomas' word, and well, there you go.
Thomas apologized. Sponsors, including Ralph Lauren, dropped the PGA star. So it goes when you are in the business of making money off your image, and that image gets tarnished, especially when that tarnish is self-applied.
Less quick back story: In my lifetime, the word Thomas used has moved greatly. Most of you know that I watch a fair amount of Law&Order reruns on Sundance and other channels, well, that word is used frequently and relatively unapologetically in the early years in the 1990s and even has been erased from the episodes. And I'm willing to bet a whole lot of us a certain age or older have used that word. And used it more than once.
Even to this point: If we went back 30 or so years and told you a PGA player lost sponsors because he dropped the F-word on a live mic, well, everyone's first guess at that word would be the same - and different from the one he used. And, if Thomas had dropped that other F-word rather than the one he did, it would not have been as bad, you know?
That's not an attempt to excuse Thomas' speech. Not at all. And he's paying for his mistake.
But I also know far too many folks who make their living in golf who have far too many good things to say about Thomas to not mention that as well.
Which is why, when asked about it Wednesday, Thomas did not disappoint in his honest and direct answer.
Not sure why so many celebrities and sports stars are so bad at this.
The fans and folks know we're all human and we all make mistakes. Sure, you pay for them to varying degrees, but honest apologies and responses and admissions are almost always accepted. And even when they are not accepted - depending on what the mistake was and its magnitude - they certainly are respected.
And appreciated.
This and that
- Side note: My A2 schedule has changed a touch. My big picture ramblings will run on Fridays rather than Thursdays on A2 in the TFP. Tomorrow, I'll take flight on a topic that I've never covered before. How's that for a tease, Alejandro?
- My apologies, I have been college hoops pickless this week. That was a product of forgetting, not necessarily protecting. Especially since we may have decided to wet our beak a little on Auburn catching 6.5 at Arkansas last night. We're 4-2 officially here, and we'll ride with Arizona and lay the 2 against Arizona State. (Also looking at Iowa and over that team total, because those dudes score. The Hawkeyes have scored north of 80 in all but two of their games all year, and in every outing since Christmas, Iowa has been held under 86 one time.)
- Speaking of that, pickers gotta pick right? Here's Morgan Wallen's new one, "Somebody's Problem" and for those wondering, yes, in the isolation of our COVID confrontations, the 5-at-10 mullet is going STEEE-rong. (Or maybe that should be STEEE-WRONG.) War Mullet.
- There is no doubting the firepower the Brooklyn Nets have assembled. There also is no doubting how challenging that assembly will be to direct and discipline. Kyrie Irving returned from a personal sabbatical Wednesday night and he and cohorts Kevin Durant and James Harden showed out. One of the issues will be what's the goal because after Durant scored 38, Irving poured in 37 and Harden notched a triple-double, KD had this to say: ""It felt right," Durant said of playing with Harden and Irving. "Felt perfect, felt like we belong together." The issue was it was only perfect on one side of the floor, and the star-studded Nets lost by 12 to decidedly mediocre Cleveland.
- Wow, so Drew Brees missed roughly a month after suffering 11 broken ribs and a punctured lung. Now we learn that he played the whole season with a bum foot and a torn rotator cuff, via his wife's social media posts. Wow.
- Not sure how this can be described as good news, but Fox News has fired one news editor and is losing another veteran bureau chief as the station announced it will feature less news shows and more opinion programming. We need more news professionals, not more carnival barkers, and that's both sides of the fair, from the Tilt-a-Wirl to the SkeeBall.
- While we are here, if you're OA News, do you not break whatever small bank you have left and pitch every penny to The Donald for an 8 p.m. Eastern opinion show? Considering his following, it would be the biggest hit on cable TV, because not only his cult would watch (what 10 percent of the country, at most?) the extreme Trump haters (hi, Clay) would watch too if for no other reason than to have something to complain about on Twitter.
- So we had a single Powerball winner, with the ticket sold in Maryland.
Today's questions
OK, we've got a few to spread around.
First, big picture: Should I explore a podcast? Thoughts?
Speaking of Josh Allen, and to merge some of the excellent emails from some of you about our Deshaun Watson chatter Wednesday, who do you put 3-thru-5 in the QB conversation right now? Not long term, who is 3-thru-5 (after Rodgers and Mahomes of course) on your want list to win a game Sunday and/or for the 2021 run?
And speaking of carnivals, better way to spend your tickets, SkeeBall or bumper cars? Also, which was your go-to carnival game to spend $5 in tickets to win 75 cents in crap-tastic stuffed animals?
Side movie reference: The Jerk is awesome, including scene when Navin R. Johnson is a professional weight guesser. "Navin you have taken in $15 dollars and given away 50 cents in crap"
"Ah, it's a profit deal. That takes the pressure off."
Side question off the side movie reference. Steve Martin, underrated, overrated, properly rated? And here's Martin on The Jerk, which Martin co-wrote, and its back story.
As for today, hey Spy, did you know today is the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century? Blackjack anyone?
Rushmore of 21? Go, and remember the mailbag.