…….Just How Serious Are the Preds Now?

The answer? They are very serious. Thursday afternoon, the Preds struck a deal for Philadelphia Flyers Center Peter Forsberg. Forsberg is easily one of the top 5 players in the NHL over the last 15 years, and sure he is in his mid 30’s but he is good, real good.

The Preds gave up Scottie Upshall and a few prospects to land a guy who could lead them to the promised land of Lord Stanley’s cup. It is a long way from October of 98 when the Preds hit the ice that night. We all knew one day that this team would be primed for a run deep in the playoffs and now they are.

Barry Trotz told me during the recent trip to Pittsburgh that we went on that he looks back on that first year and wondered what he was doing coaching in the league and then coaching with players he said, were either scared to death or should have been playing in minor league hockey.

But they keep fighting and hammering and hammering and fighting. It reminds me of the parable when a man traveling a long distance comes upon a farmhouse and he sees a light on. The man knocks on the door. Then he keeps knocking and knocking and knocking. Finally, the farmer comes down and opens the door and says, ‘the only reason I am opening this door is that you will keep knocking.’

And the Preds kept knocking and the door is opening. But at the same time with expectations, come results, good results. Not just the best record, but all the way. This could and should be the year.

Reinfeldt great choice for Titans GM…..

The Titans introduced Mike Reinfeldt their new General Manager today. After attending the press conference the TItans seem about as far away from the Chargers fiasco as possible. Instead of a bunch of egos trying to push and pull their weight, the Titans seem determined to work together with one goal in mind,,,,,,,,,bring a Super Bowl title to Nashville. Everyone usually says all the right things at scheduled press conferences, but today you could tell that Reinfeldt was sincere when he said all decisions will be a team effort. He did make it clear Bud Adams will have the final say since he writes the checks, but stressed that decisions will be a team effort. From scouts to Jeff Fisher and Steve Underwood, Reinfeldt wants everybody’s input.

That is the way to in today’s world. Several minds working together to achieve the same goal is miles better than one ego-maniac clamoring for all the decisions and praise.

What are your thoughts. Do you like team effort, or one dictator?

Thru the eyes of our sports intern, Jeremy….

Today’s blog entry is courtesy of our sports intern, Jeremy. He currently goes to Indiana University and is majoring in Sports Communication. We have tried to desperately talk Jeremy out of working in tv, more specifically sports because he will probably take our job in about 5 years, but I digress.

Anyway, we are going to let him write a no holds barred blog of what life is like with the Director (Chris Stout), one fat bald guy who won’t shut up (Big Joe), UT’s biggest football fanatic (Brandon Fisher) and the Sports Producer, Nathan Brooks, who after working with the aforementioned guys, is about ready to enter a mental ward.

Here you go Jeremy———

First off let me explain why, being from Indiana, I would want to come all the way down to Nashville to intern for reasons other than warmer weather. News 2’s sports director, Chris Stout, used to be the weekend guy in Indianapolis at Channel 13. His wife accepted a job 100 miles away down I-74 in Cincinnati. They decided to look for homes somewhere in the middle of the two cities to live and that place ended up in Batesville, IN (yes, that is where all the caskets are made). The house they chose was right next door to my family and we soon became good friends. It didn’t take long for me to take an interest in Chris’ job and he was even nice enough to take me to his station a few times. So….to make a long story short we kept in touch, he offered me a chance to intern and I couldn’t turn it down.

My first day here, probably couldn’t have been any crazier. My first night was a little over a month ago, the day Bobby Hamilton died. It was one of the biggest stories of the year for the department and I was just doing my best to stay out of the way. Things eventually settled down. That first week I asked a lot of questions, played with the editing equipment some and went out on assignment to help out. I met some guy named Joe Dubin who liked to talk and thought he was a comedian…it was long after that I realized he was. For the first two weeks I came to work every day even though it wasn’t required of me and the guys probably thought I was insane or something but I figured I made the trip down here to do this so I am going to get as much out of it as possible.

After 5 weeks, I have learned a ton, but most important…THIS JOB IS FUN. I have always told myself that I will never be one of those people who hate their job and dread getting up and going to work, and this job gives me that opportunity. During the day, I get to go out and interview players and coaches of local teams. There are times when I get to conduct the entire interview and there are times when the other guys take over. I get to go to a lot of the local games to help in production or game log (oh darn I have to go watch basketball). Things are pretty relaxed and the atmosphere is pretty loose around the office and on the job until we get to crunch time. The last hour before show time we are running out, getting information, editing, running to get postgame interviews, etc… I never really realized how wild a news room can be until I was thrown into the fire. Now that i’ve been here for awhile and I am comfortable with most of what I am doing, they have put more responsibilities on me. Only 2 weeks in they started to let me edit highlights and postgame sound for shows and I will be the first person to tell you how nervous it is watching work that you did go on air praying that there are no problems. When it is over, there is great feeling of self-gratification knowing that I helped to put together something that cool. I feel more pressure every day as they give me more responsibilty and gain more trust in me. It’s a rush when I return from the predators game at 10:05 and I have to put the post game tape in the system, pick out some sound bytes, edit them, cover them with game tape, and throw it into the system by 10:20. It isn’t easy and there are times when things get very dicey but it usually ends well, these guys are too good to let them go wrong.

By the time I finish my 8-week stint here I will have my own resume tape take home with me and send to employers when I am ready to go out into the work force. This is the coolest thing i have ever done and I will never forget my time here, the people here, including most importantly Chris Stout for giving me this opportunity. I am only 20 years old and don’t graduate until May 2008, but before I go out into the work force I want to accomplish a personal goal of mine which is go to graduate school. So before I leave you, I’d like to get some feedback from you. If you have any questions for me, ask them. Most importantly, if you have advice for me, please share it, I am all ears. Anything you want to say, go ahead, thank you.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants majority of DEI. He should get it!

It is just about time to go racing. The Big Bud Shootout is Saturday night in Daytona. The non-points race is the unoffficial start of the NASCAR season. The biggest story this week is Dale Earnhardt Junior’s wish list if he is going to stay at DEI. Junior said Thursday that he wants a majority ownership of his late father’s company if he is going to stay. I won’t bore you with details but he and his stepmother, Teresa, have not seen eye to eye.

Junior’s contract with DEI expires at the end of this season and both sides would rather get this done sooner rather than later. As for Junior’s demands………………… He’s got every right to demand majority ownership in his late father’s company. Anyway you slice it, Junior is DEI. If he leaves who knows what will happen to DEI. The bottom line is this: Junior is the most popular driver in NASCAR and his sponsors would follow him anywhere he goes. I know stepmothers and stepsons are usually not the best of friends, but hopefully Teresa will see how critical Junior is to the future of DEI.

This Bud’s for you Junior! You’ve earned it.

College Basketball Scores

NCAA Men

MTSU-76
Louisiana-Monroe-82

Trevecca-79
Bethel-73

Women

Tennessee-72
Aurburn-62

Belmont-65
Mercer-69

Trevecca-79
Bethel-65

National Signing Day. Who’s going where.

Philip Fulmer signed his biggest class ever today inking 32 high school players. Most national experts say the Vols easily have a top 5 recruiting class. Florida once again has the top ranked recuiting class. Vanderbilt’s class is ranked 64th. MTSU 98th.

Here’s a list of the Vols signings and other Tennessee schools:

By The Associated Press
List of players who signed letters of intent Wednesday, the
first day of college football’s signing period, with Tennessee’s
Division I-A colleges including position, height, weight and high
school or junior college:
MEMPHIS
Michael Antonescu, OL, 6-4, 290, Ridgeland (Miss.) HS
Cam Baker, WR, 6-0, 170, Osceola (Ark.) HS
Freddie Barnett, DL, 6-2, 300, Trinity Valley CC, Texarkana,
Ark.
Steven Black, WR, 6-3, 215, East Miss. CC, Birmingham, Ala.
Keenan Bratcher, DS, 6-2, 235, Milan (Tenn.) HS
Dasmine Cathey, DE, 6-3, 205, Ridgeway HS, Memphis, Tenn.
Darius Davis, DB, 6-0, 180, Whitehaven HS, Memphis, Tenn.
Mike Davis, RB, 5-11, 230, Northgate HS, Newnan, Ga.
Terrence Echols, OL, 6-2, 325, Northwest Miss. CC, Byhalia,
Miss.
Robbie Hardie, OL, 6-4, 290, Luella HS, Locust Grove, Ga.
Lionel Henderson, DL, 6-4, 275, W.P. Davidson HS, Mobile, Ala.
Ronald Leary, OL, 6-4, 345, Southern Lab HS, Baton Rouge, La.
LeRico Mathis, DB, 6-1, 185, Miss. Gulf Coast CC, Perkinston,
Miss.
Joel McCleod, DL, 6-3, 310, Everglades HS, Miramar, Fla.
Tommy Phelps, LB, 6-3, 240, Butler Co. CC, Roeland Park, Kan.
Jermaine Richardson, DB, 6-1, 190, Kendrick HS, Columbus, Ga.
Curtis Steele, RB, 6-0, 185, NW Miss. CC, Franklin, Tenn.
Cody Stubblefield, OL, 6-4, 305, Itawamba CC, Pontotoc, Miss.
Brent Sutherland, P, 6-4, 200, Hinds CC, Brandon, Miss.
Terrence Thomas, LB, 5-11, 230, Eufaula (Ala.) HS
Brent Todd, OL, 6-3, 320, Hinds CC, Pelham, Ala.
Dallas Walker, QB, 6-5, 215, Madison Acad., Ridgeland, Miss.
Tommy Walker, DE, 6-3, 270, Munford (Tenn.) HS
MIDDLE TENNESSEE
Colin Boss, OL, 6-4, 324, Berkeley Prep, Tampa, Fla.
Marquise Branton, RB, 5-11, 217, Armwood (Fla.) Seffner HS
Kevin Brown, S, 6-1, 185, Jefferson HS, Tampa, Fla.
Wes Caldwell, WR, 6-2, 170, Catholic HS, Lexington, KY
SaCoby Carter, DE, 6-2, 235, Hawkinsville (Ga.) HS
Demarcus Cleveland, DT, 6-2, 248, Jefferson HS, Tampa, Fla.
Dwight Dasher, QB, 5-10, 198, Charlton Co. HS, Folkston, Ga.
Antwan Davis, LB, 6-1, 206, St. Thomas Aquinas (HS), Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla.
Walter Dozier, WR, 6-0, 195, McCallie School, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Mark Fisher, OL, 6-4, 265, Goodpasture HS, Nashville, Tenn.
Landon Givers, LB, 6-2, 205, Phoebus HS, Hampton, Va.
Wesley Hale, FB, 6-1, 232, Morristown West HS, Morristown, Tenn.
Andrew Harrington, LB, 6-2, 210, East Central Mississippi JC,
Dekalb, MS
Ivon Hickmon, LB, 6-1, 210, East Central Mississippi JC, Lake,
Miss.
Antonio Hill, DL, 6-0, 240, Oscar Smith HS, Chesapeake, Va.
Rod Issac, CB, 5-11, 168, Miami-Dade Central HS, Miami, Fla.
Jeremy Kellem, CB, 5-10, 175, Deerfield Beach, N. Lauderdale,
Fla.
D.D. Kyles, WR, 6-1, 190, Armwood HS, Tampa, Fla.
Byron McLeod, TE, 6-2, 215, Jefferson HS, Tampa, Fla.
Jake Padrick, OL, 6-0, 285, US Air Force Prep, Fort Pierce, Fla.
Emmanuel Perez, DE, 6-2, 220, Everglades HS, Miramar, Fla.
Ted Riley, CB, 6-1, 190, East Ariz. CC, Boynton Beach, Fla.
Dwight Smith, DT, 6-1, 270, Swainsboro (Ga.) HS
Mike Williams, OL, 6-3, 260, Jefferson HS, Tampa, Fla.
TENNESSEE
Anthony Anderson, ATH, 6-0, 175, Austin-East HS, Knoxville,
Tenn.
Deshaun Barnes, DB, 6-2, 195, Lincoln HS, Tallahassee, Fla.
Eric Berry, ATH, 5-11, 195, Creekside HS, Fairburn, Ga..
William Brimfield, DL, 6-6, 300, Hunter-Kinard-Tyler HS, Neeses,
S.C.
Todd Campbell, WR, 6-0, 180, Franklin (Tenn.) HS
B.J. Coleman, QB, 6-4, 180, The McCallie School, Chattanooga,
Tenn.
Kevin Cooper, FB, 6-1, 240, The Baylor School, Chattanooga,
Tenn.
Lennon Creer, RB, 6-1, 202, Tatum (Texas) HS
Chris Donald, LB, 6-2, 220, Huntingdon (Tenn.) HS
Art Evans, ATH, 6-1, 185, Victory Christian Acad., Lakeland,
Fla.
Savion Frazier, ATH, 6-1, 225, Gar-Field HS, Woodbridge, Va.
C.J. Fleming, DB, 5-10, 165, Highland Springs (Va.) HS
Cory Hall, DL, 6-4, 255, Brainerd HS, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Josh Hawkins, RB, 6-1, 195, Loudon (Tenn.) HS
Gerald Jones, ATH, 6-0, 185, Millwood HS, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Donald Langley, DT, 6-2, 295, Seneca Valley HS, Germantown, Md.
Tyler Maples, ATH, 6-2, 190, Maryville (Tenn.) HS
Ben Martin, DL, 6-5, 230, La Salle HS, Cincinnati
Nevin McKenzie, DB, 6-2, 210, Trinity Valley CC, San Antonio
Rolando Melancon, DL, 6-2, 260, Lutcher (La.) HS
Darnius Moore, ATH, 6-0, 185, Tatum (Texas) HS
Kenny O’Neal, WR, 6-0, 195, City College of San Francisco,
Oakland, Calif.
Ahmad Paige, WR, 6-3, 175, Sterlington (La.) HS
Cody Pope, OL, 6-5, 270, Cathedral Catholic, San Diego, Calif.
Dennis Rogan, RB, 5-10, 182, Fulton HS, Knoxville, Tenn.
Darris Sawtelle, OL, 6-6, 295, Brother Rice HS, Birmingham,
Mich.
Rae Sykes, DE, 6-4, 240, Alcoa (Tenn.) HS
Daryl Vereen, RB, 6-1, 205, North Mecklenburg HS, Huntersville,
N.C.
Brent Vinson, ATH, 6-2, 180, Hargrave Military Acad., Hampton,
Va.
Chris Walker, LB, 6-3, 220, Christian Brothers HS, Memphis,
Tenn.
Rufus Williams, LB, 6-3, 225, Astronaut HS, Miami, Fla.
DeAngelo Willingham, DB, 6-0, 200, College of the Desert,
Calhoun, S.C.
VANDERBILT
Robert Ashabranner, DL, 6-2, 270, Cathedral Christian HS,
Beaumont, Texas
Jermaine Doster, RB, 5-10, 205, Robinson HS, Tampa, Fla.
Kyle Fischer, OL, 6-6, 300, Spring Valley HS, Columbia, S.C.
Tim Fugger, TE, 6-4, 225, Montini Catholic HS, Oak Brook, Ill.
Jamie Graham, WR/DB, 5-11, 175, Whites Creek HS, Nashville,
Tenn.
T.J. Greenstone, DL, 6-3, 260, Collins Hill HS, Lawrenceville,
Ga.
Theron Kadri, DL, 6-3, 235, Brighton (Tenn.) HS
Chris Mavre, LB, 6-0, 230, White Station HS, Memphis, Tenn.
Austin Monahan, TE, 6-6, 235, Phillips (Mass.) Acad., Charlotte,
N.C.
Larry Smith, QB, 6-2, 200, Prattville (Ala.) HS
John Stokes, LB, 6-5, 225, Memphis (Tenn). University School
Udom Umoh, WR, 5-11, 170, Peach Co. HS, Fort Valley, Ga.
Ryan van Rensburg, RB, 6-1, 220, The Bolles School,
Jacksonville, Fla.
James Williams, OL, 6-6, 300, Smyrna (Tenn.) HS

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Lofton back……….UT makes final push for Big Dance.

Vols top gun and the SEC’s leading scorer, Chris Lofton, returned to the Vols lineup tonight. The Vols hosting LSU in a rare must win game in early February. LSU is in the western division basement. The Vols are second to last in the east. I don’t need to tell you that basement dwellers don’t make the NCAA Tournament. We’ll have hilites tonight on news 2 at 10pm.

What do you think. Will either make the NCAA Tournament without an automatic bid?

……….Couldn’t have happened to a Nicer Guy…

Congrats to Peyton Manning. Love him or hate him, he is still a good dude and winning the Super Bowl Sunday only solidified his place in Pro Football lore.

It is funny, those that hate him call a corporate punch bag, but funny, no one ever says anything about Tiger Woods, or MJ, or Arnold Palmer who have made hundreds of millions of dollars off of advertising.

In the times I have dealt with Manning, all non-sporting situations, he has been classy and just a stand up guy. After the game, he talked about team character, team chemistry and winning as a team.

Congrats Peyton.

………TITANS GET NEW LEADER…..

News 2 Sports has just learned that current Seattle Seahawks Vice President of Football Operations Mike Reinfeldt, has been selected as the new GM of the Tennessee Titans.

Reinfeldt has over 16 years experience on the executive level in the NFL, serving the last 8 with the Seahawks. Prior to that, he was with the Green Bay Packers.

Reinfeldt also has some deep ties to Titans owner Bud Adams. He played safety for the Houston Oilers from 1976 to 1983, leading the team in interceptions 3 times, including a league best 12 int’s back in 1979.

Reinfeldt has a ton of experience in dealing with the salary cap and with player negotiations. A formal announcement is planned for next week.

…..Now that was a Crowd…

Stopped in to the Preds game Saturday night for about a period and a half and I gotta tell ya, that was the way every Preds game should be.

Sold out, loud crowd, lots of action on and off the ice and just a great atmosphere. I know we have talked about the Preds on the blogs in the last couple of weeks but nothing unites a city the way a winning team. In 1999, when the Titans had their great run, this city was on fire. I have a strong feeling that when the Preds make this playoff run, this city will go absolutely nuts.

But Saturday night was very electric. Almost everyone in a Preds uniform, and of course, the Preds winning over one of the best teams in hockey helped.

I have a feeling it will be a very special spring and part of summer for this Preds team. They travel to Pittsburgh for a Tuesday night game, then back home to play 7 of their next games at the Gec. Teams coming here are San Jose, Montreal and the Detroit Red Wings. We will know a lot of about this team after this very, very nice homestand.

Pages (50): « First ... « 34 35 36 [37] 38 39 40 » ... Last »