FanHouse Tennessee

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Pat Summitt wondered when her young Tennessee team would finally get through its growing pains and finally figure it out.

Ball State gave her the emphatic answer: maybe next year.

The Cardinals stunned the two-time defending national champions 71-55 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday night, snapping one of the more remarkable streaks in college basketball history.

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This isn't going to go over well.

Bristol Motor Speedway announced this week that beginning with the Food City 500 race weekend in March, all events -- at the speedway and dragway -- will be smoke-free in accordance with Tennessee state law.

NASCAR fans will now be limited in their smoking arrangements, with grandstands, terraces, suites, and restrooms off-limits for those who want to light up. The concourses below the grandstands will, though, still allow smoking in the area.

BMS is following along with the recent "Non-Smoker Protection Act" legislation in the Tennessee state government that prohibits smokig in sports arenas.

While some may argue that smoking is a right, I'd argue that because I'm not a fan of lighting it up, this is a good measure. I'm just not the biggest fan of inhaling smoke though I've certainly dealed with it in the past. A minor inconvenience for some for the health of all?

Sounds good to me.

(Feel free to let me know if you won't be heading to Bristol anymore because you can't smoke, I'll gladly buy your tickets)

Monster Mile Building 46-foot Monster Statue

A few years ago, Dover International Speedway started handing out race-winner trophies with "Miles", a fictional monster who has a penchant for destroying race cars that goes along with the 1-mile concrete track's nickname of the "Monster Mile".

Florida State tight end Brandon Warren moved home to Tennessee this January, withdrew from school, and announced plans to transfer to UT. He did this either to be at home with his sick mother or because he's plain homesick, depending on whether you're listening to UT or FSU fans at the moment. But Bobby Bowden is playing hardball:

FSU coach Bobby Bowden on Tuesday denied Warren's request to be released from his scholarship, meaning Warren will have to pay his own way if he transfers to the University of Tennessee as widely reported.

(Note this telling follow-up paragraph:

Warren, FSU's fifth-leading receiver as a true freshman, left school and returned home to Alcoa, Tenn., earlier this month. He has missed all of FSU's conditioning drills in preparation for the start of spring practice.

What about "he has missed a month of classes?")

Warren will appeal for a hardship waiver but seems unlikely to get one. Is this a coach protecting his turf, a player who's broken a commitment he made to the school, or just plain bad behavior on Bowden's part? It's hard to know without further details, but I lean towards the latter.

Cal may have a pretty good football team, but do they have their own Army? I doubt they have much of a Navy either. Tennessee has both and much more. I have never been to Berkley for a game, but I can imagine that the atmosphere is nothing like they are going to experience Knoxville on Saturday. I doubt that they have every heard 100,00 plus fans in orange singing Rocky Top. I doubt they have felt the kind of electricity that runs through a stadium Tennessee runs through the "T". I am sure they have great fans, but there is just something different about SEC College Football fans. Just ask Warren over at Rammer Jammer , Orson at EDSBS , or the thousands of fans at Vol Nation. Cal may win on Saturday, but the atmosphere battle has already been decided. I may be wrong, but I will let the Cal fans decide.

Some SEC schools like to kick off the season with a real challenge like Southeastern Utah School for the Blind. The Vols have never been a team afraid of scheduling tough out of conference opponents. Nebraska, UCLA and NC State are on future Tennessee schedules. Miami was on the schedule in 2002 and 2003. The Vols faced Notre Dame in 2004 and 2005. However, neither were the first games of the season.

Tennessee suits up against ninth ranked Cal on Saturday. The Bears may have looked like a cupcake team when it was scheduled 10 years ago, but not anymore. This game could either help the Vol Nation forget last season.... or Phil Fulmer starts looking for a good place to jump from Neyland Stadium.