I hope that your neighbors have stopped shooting off their July 4 fireworks. Unfortunately mine haven’t…..I am still hearing them every night around 10:30. Oh well. I guess they figure if they have to travel 130 miles over the Jellico Pass they may as well buy a three weeks supply for their celebrations.

With Hillary conceding and McCain desperately reshaping his image to appeal to the more conservative members of the Republican Party, one idea will permeate the airwaves and the public discussion. In the coming weeks “party unity” will be a political buzz word thrown around in both democratic and republican circles. In many ways the upcoming 2008 campaign for Jonathan Crompton is no different.

Ten years have passed, and boy does time fly. As a nation we have lived through a president not having sex with a woman, an election fiasco, and two terms of G.W. Bush’s presidency. We lived through the dreaded Y2k crisis, 9/11/2001, started a war in two countries and are on the cusp of another presidential election.

The countdown to kickoff continues, and along with that comes a warning to the Volnation. Prepare yourself for an earful of prognostications declaring Georgia and Florida the heirs to the SEC throne for the upcoming football season. Yes we have seen and heard it all before. It seems eerily similar to the hype surrounding both of those programs last year. Meanwhile, in Knoxville, UT is quietly toiling away….installing a new offense and propping the confidence of a defensive front seven which was a very shaky unit last year.

Another round of spring ball has sprung and arduous wait for the fall has begun. Now Vol fans across the country are forced to brace themselves for high temperatures, summer gas prices, and the anticipation of what might be once the ball is kicked off in September. While there are a myriad of questions that will remain unanswered until then, the Volnation has one thing to look forward to. For the first time in two years there are some legitimate playmakers on both sides of the ball.

So far this spring the offense, and more specifically the quarterback play has been the story. Speculation about the new system continues to run rampant with the Tennessee faithful. In my attempt to understand the west coast offense, I have thoroughly researched its philosophy. As most of you know there are several variations of the west coast out there, but they all have one thing in common. They all use the passing game to set up the run.

Recapping the journey for the 2008 UT men’s basketball team is a bittersweet enterprise. Pardon the cliché, but when looking for an adequate comparison, “a roller coaster ride” is really the first thing that comes to mind. Somewhere between the elation of beating the number one team in country on their home court and the disappointment of the inability to make an Elite Eight appearance, optimistic fans have come to grips with the reality of our basketball program.

With a showdown with the Cards on the horizon and a berth to the final four at stake I am somewhat surprised that inspiration for guitar shots is not coming that easily this week. After all this is a historical time for the Tennessee basketball program. Perhaps like the majority of the board, I have spent so much time of my life focused on the sport of football, that the success of our basketball program is too novel for me to approach intelligently.

Just a few weeks ago the national media descended on Memphis to market what was the highest ranked regular season basketball game of the year. The media machine was in full force, and Tennessee and Memphis did not disappoint. If only for one night Tennessee (of all places in these United States) was the center of the basketball universe. Now one question remains. What were the members of the NCAA selection committee watching when all this was going on?

Long before the SEC athletic directors realized the revenue potential of March Madness my grandfather sat me down and unwrapped the great mystery of sports in the south. Before soccer moms and the three point shot, in every southern state, save Kentucky, he explained to me that there were two sports that mattered. The first was football and the second was spring football.