By Alex Norman The Southeastern Conference might be the gold standard in football, but in men’s basketball it is lower than bronze. With the exception of Florida, do you feel confident in any of these teams come NCAA tournament time? The Gators will be a number one seed, and Kentucky, with their roster 5-star recruits […]
By Alex Norman This was supposed to be the season that the Tennessee Volunteers returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011. There wasn’t going to be any “bubble” talk this time around. The Vols returned one of the SEC’s top scorers in senior guard Jordan McRae. They had forward Jarnell Stokes […]
By Alex Norman Consistent readers of this column have noticed how much joy I get from local sports talk radio shows. I don’t have official confirmation, but at last count I believe that there are approximately 493 local sports talk radio shows that folks can listen to in the Knoxville market. Former Vols, including Erik […]
By Alex Norman It used to be a day of surprises… but more and more, National Signing Day… the day high school football players sign their Letters of Intent to play at the college level, is a coronation and not an announcement. Most players make up their mind weeks or months before the big day. […]
By Alex Norman These days it is all the rage in the National Hockey League to play outdoors. This year alone, five games will have been played without a roof. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Los Angeles, California, The Bronx, New York and Chicago, Illinois, huge crowds have shown up or will show up. Not because […]
By Alex Norman Not going to lie to you, the good readers of The Knoxville Focus… I’m concerned about what is going to happen at Neyland Stadium on October 25th, 2014. As you certainly have heard by now, former Vols coach Lane Kiffin has been hired by Nick Saban to be the new Alabama Offensive […]
By Alex Norman “Losing feels worse than winning feels good.” – Vin Scully As I watched the end to the final (thank you baby Jesus) BCS National Championship game, I couldn’t help but feel empathy for fans of the Auburn Tigers. Their team had a 21-3 advantage late in the first half, gave that up […]
By Alex Norman On November 11th, Tennessee’s men’s basketball team opened the season with a road game against Xavier. A late Vols rally fell a bit short in a hostile environment, with the Musketeers hanging on for a 67-63 victory. The next day on local sports talk radio, the large majority of callers talked about […]
By Alex Norman Bruce Pearl is waiting… just as he has been since March of 2011, when he was relieved of his duties as Tennessee men’s basketball coach. In August of that same year, the NCAA slapped a three-year show-cause penalty on Pearl, stemming from recruiting violations in the now famous “Aaron Craft BBQ” saga. […]
By Alex Norman According to Google, Webb School and Knoxville Catholic High School are only separated by 1.9 miles. These days the power in their rivalry is located on the west side of that roadway. On Thursday, October 24th, the Spartans beat the Fighting Irish 34-7, their fifth straight victory in the series. The Spartans […]
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