Stranko’s hosting the latest BlogPoll Roundtable! Woo-hoo! I’m late, so I’ll get right to it.

WARNING: This post is loaded with links to audio and movie trailers, so . . . beware.

1. Education. List the region of the country you were born in, what universities you attended and at least one other you would have attended if your alma mater didn’t exist.

I grew up just outside of the Quad Cities (Rock Island and Moline, IL and Davenport and Bettendorf, IA) in a little town called Taylor Ridge, Illinois. After several years of playing in a rock band, I moved to Florida to enroll in the Music and Video Business Program at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, where I played a little, wrote a little, and recorded a little, including Gotta Do, one the songs I link to below.

After several years in South Florida, I moved to Nashville and enrolled at Belmont University to get a BBA with an emphasis in Music Business. The Belmont experience was great, and I would recommend the university to anyone. The place is a veritable breeding ground for talent. One of my favorite writers — James Isaac Elliott — is a professor there, and fellow students Brad Paisley, Ginny Owens (warning: audio!), and Selah’s Todd Smith are all having great success today as artists. And those were just the ones that were there at the same time as I was. Steven Curtis Chapman was there and gone before me. As was Trisha Yearwood (warning: audio!). The list goes on and on. Music Row is filled with Belmont grads you’ve never heard of working behind the scenes.

But as for me, providence moved me further east to Knoxville, Tennessee for UT Law School (I was wait-listed at Vanderbilt in Nashville until it was too late), where I became addicted to blogging (heavily influenced by my torts professor, a.k.a the Blogfather) and to Volunteer football. I have since moved further east (and a bit north) to the Tri-Cities (Johnson City, TN, Kingsport, TN, Bristol, TN, and Bristol, VA (and yes, that’s only three)).

2. Sports Affiliations. List your top 10 favorite teams in all of sports in descending order. For instance, your alma mater’s football team may be number 1, but perhaps there is a professional team that squeezes in before you get to your alma mater’s lacrosse team.

As a lawyer, I feel an uncontrollable urge to state that I am not affiliated with the University of Tennessee. Or any other university. Or anyone. No affiliations here. Not a one. But here are the teams I like:

1. Tennessee Volunteers football
2. Tennessee Volunteers basketball
3. Indianapolis Colts
4. Tennessee Titans
5. Lady Vols basketball

I’m with Orson – I can’t name more than a handful. The more you have, the less obsessive can be about each one.

3. Movies. List the movie you’ve watched the most, your favorite sports related movie, the movie you secretly love but don’t like to admit it (possibly a chick flick or b film), and the movie you were (or still are) most looking forward to from this summer’s season.

Movie I’ve watched the most: From the Hip, is a very under-appreciated film starring Judd Nelson, Elizabeth Perkins, and an exceedingly creepy John Hurt. The Amazon plot synopsis really doesn’t do it justice, and the tagline (“Getting to the top means working like a dog!) entirely misses the mark. The movie is a great self-discovery film, and it’s absolutely creepy in some places and downright hilarious in others. The courtroom argument over the admissibility of the word “a**” is hilarious. Every time.

This is Spinal Tap is a close second.

Favorite sports-related movie: Remember the Titans. Bruckheimer + sports = summer solace.

Movie I secretly love but don’t like to admit: Pride and Prejudice. What can I say? I live in a house full of females. Even the dog is a girl. And really, you do have to marvel at the ability of the Brits to absolutely zing somebody and still maintain good form.

4. Music. List your favorite band from middle school, high school, college and today. Also, as with the movies, include the song you secretly love but don’t like to admit.

Middle school: Kiss.

High school: any rock-anthem, big-haired 80’s rock and roll band. See, e.g., Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Van Hagar, etc.

College: Well, since this is the I Wanna Talk About Me edition of the BlogPoll Roundtable, I’m going to say . . . me. An original of mine — Gotta Do – was the lead cut on the school album, and it got a little (very little) airtime on cable access t.v. The song’s pretty dated (it sounds like it was written in the early 90’s, which it was), but at the very least, you have to hear the improvised guitar solo. Everything but that and the drums is me. Me, me, me. And me.

You can hear some more of my stuff at my other blog – View from East Tennessee – which is currently down due to a migration mix up on the part of my hosting provider. Probably just as well.

Today: Favorite Musical Groups: Brad Paisley (and not just because he was at Belmont at the same time as I was), Tower of Power, John P. Kee, and Steven Curtis Chapman. There are a lot of others. It’s mostly about the song, except with Tower of Power, where it’s mostly about the horns. You gotta love The Educated Bump (Click on the iTunes buttons to listen):

Favorite Albums:

Spilt Milk. Think the Beatles meet Queen. Well-crafted, quirky lyrics all wrapped up in a nice, melodic package and peppered with interesting musical events all happening at the same time. Not a bad (or even mediocre) song on the entire album. It’s by a group named Jellyfish.

5. Books. Favorite book you’ve finished, worst book you’ve finished and the book you really should read but haven’t gotten around to it.

Favorite finished book: Thr3e by Ted Dekker. Brilliant.

Book I really should read and worst book I finished: Blink, the Power of Thinking without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s both because it’s a book that I probably should read and because I’m afraid that if I do, it will be the worst book I’ve ever finished. I really liked The Tipping Point, and so I rushed out and got Blink as an audiobook to listen to in the car. Gladwell’s whole premise is that you can make good decisions about most things in just a couple of seconds. Well, I decided about that fast that I wasn’t going to like the book, so I quit listening to it. Hmmm. Maybe he’s right, which would mean I should read the thing. But if I do and I like it, then I didn’t make a good decision after two seconds, did I? You see my dilemma.

6. Travel. Favorite city you’ve ever been to and the one place you still must visit before you shuffle off this mortal coil.

Favorite city: Knoxville, TN. Duh.

Need to visit: Athens, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Fayetteville, South Bend. Places like that.

7. What do you love most about college football in 20 words or less?

I knew Kyle was going to have trouble with this one. Let’s see:

In today’s time-shifting culture, it’s one of the last things huge crowds experience together in real-time.

Greetings to Burnt Orange Nation readers. If you’ve already read my guest post over at BON, scroll on down for the continuation. For all the rest of ya, you can just start here.

Many thanks to Peter, who was kind enough to grant me some time at the esteemed BON podium to voice some thoughts on two quarterback systems from the perspective of the Unburnt Orange Nation. Perhaps y’all were too busy enjoying your undefeated season last year, but I’m guessing that you probably also noticed the other UT’s agonizing, season-long descent into oblivion.

The Tennessee post-mortem is ongoing, but it’s pretty clear that one of the primary factors in our season of futility was our inability to settle on a single starting quarterback. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reliving the agony by reviewing last season’s VFRT posts and the articles to which they linked. Out of that sadistic exercise emerged several principles that I feel a need to disseminate as a public service to others in the college football blogosphere.

First up is a list of Rules Governing the Employment of 2QB Systems. Next are the Early Warning Signs, a list of symptoms indicating a vulnerability to full-blown onset of that debilitating condition known as the Quarterback Controversy. After that comes a summary of how these Rules and Signs played out on Rocky Top in 2005.

Rules Governing the Employment of 2QB Systems

1. The Rule Against 2QB Systems. With only two exceptions, 2QB systems should be avoided like the bird flu.
2. The Evaluation Period Exception. A 2QB system may be temporarily necessary to evaluate the available talent in game situations to determine which QB should be the long term starter. The evaluation period should be as short as possible and should under no circumstances last longer than four or five games.
3. The Epinephrine Exception. Use of two QBs may be desirable on rare occasions when a starter is having a bad game and the team needs a change of pace and a kick in the britches.
4. The Waffle Exception to the Epinephrine Exception. You only get one shot of epi, and it should only be used with well-established starters whose confidence will not be shattered by the substitution. Beware of the temptation to use it with recent winners of a quarterback duel. If you absolutely must change your mind once a “final” decision has been made on a duel, YOU CANNOT DO IT AGAIN. If you yank your first “final answer” QB because he’s melted down, he’ll no longer be a viable option, so stick with his replacement as long as he’s anywhere in the vicinity of competent.

Early Warning Signs

If your team exhibits any of the following symptoms, do like Chicken Little and sound the alarm:

• The Sideline Captain. Beware of captains on sidelines. In other words, do not underestimate the power of leadership and experience, and do not overestimate the promise of potential.
• The Early Success. Beware of early success using multiple QBs. It only delays the inevitable.
• The Rotation Scheme. Beware of pre-planned rotation schemes. Getting a backup reps in a game is all well and good, see e.g., D.J. Shockley, but pre-game plans to rotate QBs must be subject to change. Do not commit to any systematic rotation of QBs, whether every other play, every other series, or every X number of series. Never break game rhythm by pulling a QB when he’s hot. A team employing a rotation scheme is not only splitting game reps between two players, but is also surely splitting practice reps, which, instead of preparing both players for games, merely stunts the growth of both.

As you’ll see below, the 2005 Volunteers had all of the warning signs. Sophomore Erik Ainge started the first game while team captain Rick Clausen stood on the sideline. The coaching staff insisted on utilizing a Rotation Scheme “until one of them took the job,” probably based on the Early Success they had with such a scheme during the Evaluation Period the prior season with Ainge and Brent Schaeffer.

In 2005, though, the Evaluation Period Exception was again instituted, but neither Ainge nor Clausen really “took” the job in either of the first two games. Still, the coaches initially did not allow the evaluation to drag on, and they named Ainge “the starter” in the third game of the season against LSU. Unfortunately, Ainge morphed into a mushroom cloud in LSU’s end zone, and Clausen gave the team a much-needed shot of epi. The team then made another mistake by over-waffling, and when Clausen struggled a bit, they went back to the ruined Ainge, ruining Clausen as well.

BON READERS START HERE!

Case Study: Two Quarterback Systems and the 2005 Tennessee Volunteers

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Receivers coach Trooper Taylor — a character with character — is giving basketball coach Bruce Pearl a run for his money as the best interview on Rocky Top. Speaking with Dave Hooker and the guys from SportsAnimal99.com’s Sports Page last Friday, coach Taylor offered his thoughts on:

• what David Cutcliffe brings to the team;
• whether receiver Robert Meachem will finally live up to expectations of Vol fans this year: Best line: “I told him, ‘Potential’s not a compliment. That means you haven’t done it.’”
• how best to rotate receivers during the course of a game;
• the autonomy of position coaches at UT. Hear Dave Hooker giggle when Taylor admits that “[Coach Fulmer's] the head coach, if he wants me to peel potatoes in between series, that’s what I’ll do because he’s the head coach.”
• underclassmen receivers Josh Briscoe, Lucas Taylor, Austin Rogers, and . . . Casey Woods, who “may not run out of sight in three days on a curvy road, but he can catch it.”

“The Taylors always leave a place better than the way they found it.”

Coach Taylor’s been living that lesson since he arrived at Tennessee. The running backs are better than they were when he arrived, and this season he brings his infectious enthusiasm, wit, and wisdom to an underachieving receiver corps.

Here’s to hoping Taylor’s mother’s words ring true this fall.

Oh, almost forgot. Coach Taylor’s son’s little league team is involved in a contest to get their team on ESPN. Help ‘em out by heading over to KFC.com and voting for the Knoxville Fire 10-year-old team.

The Tennessee Volunteers’ game against the Florida Gators on September 16 has been set for 8:00 p.m. and will be shown on CBS.

Knowing what we know now, who would you have started at QB last year? There seems to be a consensus that the Volunteers would have been better off if the coaches would have simply made up their collective minds, named one of the quarterbacks the starter, and stuck with him all season.

But which one? That’s the question that plagued the coaches and divided the fans and the team all season last year. I’m not at all sure that the question was ever answered. Clausen’s numbers were better, and Ainge certainly, well, picture a mushroom cloud, but would Ainge have been better if he didn’t have to worry about the competition?

What do you think? Assuming picking and sticking with one would have been better than season-long indecision, and knowing what we know now, who should have been our quarterback? Rick Clausen or Erik Ainge?

Well, after 47 votes, most readers (30%) believe that Florida is the team most likely to follow in Tennessee’s footsteps and parlay high expectations into bitter disappointment this year. Notre Dame wasn’t far behind with 23%.

I think it’s Florida, due to a potential quarterback controversy, which I am doing my utmost to inflame,
an overrated offense, and a brutal schedule that includes games at Tennessee, at Auburn, at Florida State, home games against Alabama and LSU, and the annual game against Georgia in Jacksonville. That’s the SEC East schedule, the three best teams in the SEC West, and a closer with FSU.

Tennessee officials announced Thursday that the Vols will play the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 2016 and 2017.

Kudos to AD Mike Hamilton for scheduling a traditionally solid out of conference opponent, but the mere thought of the Huskers brings back a torrent of horrid thoughts. We played were on the same field with them in 1997 and 1999 and got absolutely mauled. It was like a giant blood-red tidal wave tumbling our defensive linemen helmets over cleats before bowling over our linebackers after eight yards, each and every play. Play after play after play. It was horrible.

Just before the 1999 game, the Tennessee appellate court judge for whom I clerked and I had the following conversation:

“Nebraska just dominated Tennessee a couple of years ago, didn’t they?”

“Yeah, but they say they’re stronger now.”

“Stronger than what? Stronger than they were two years ago, or stronger than Nebraska?”

Uh, the former.

Beloved former Volunteer Peyton Manning was on campus Wednesday and Thursday to, among other things, work out with the team. While here, Manning commented on last year’s season-long quarterback controversy:

I think being in a rhythm is important. It may take you one play to get in a rhythm or two or three series. If you are having to come out every two series, that’s not easy to do. Now you don’t use that as an excuse as why he made this throw or made this decision. The thing I always liked when I was here was the loyalty, the commitment I had from coach Fulmer, coach Cutcliffe. Sure you’d like to have some of those throws back … but they stuck with me. I’d like to see that with Erik this year. I think he’s earned it.

Manning won the starting quarterback role his freshman year, but only after (1) Jerry Colquitt’s injury in the season opener; (2) Todd Helton’s subsequent injury; and (3) rotating with Branndon Stewart for a few games. Manning said that Ainge “really threw the ball well” on Wednesday.

More on last year’s QB debacle for Peter and Burnt Orange Nation coming soon, hopefully within the week.

UPDATE: Knoxville media guy Jim Wogan has posted a portion of his video interview with Manning.

Paul Westerdawg Dawgnoxious (oops, sorry guys) of Georgia Sports Blog has compiled his own list of most difficult places to play in the SEC. Neyland Stadium is second, behind LSU’s Tiger Stadium, with the Volunteer players running through the T being the “second loudest thing in the SEC.” PWD Dawgnoxious criticizes almost everything about the facility from the structure (an “architectural dry heave”) to the “cornpone fight song,” but he likes the noise.

PWD Dawgnoxious gets in a couple of pretty good digs in the process. Best fightin’ words: “Next time I’m bringing a can of paint. I mean, if we’re going to own it we might as well maintain it.”

Ugh.

Okay, back in the saddle, but I haven’t yet kicked the horse. No, I’m just yanking on the reins as the thing rears and snorts and seems to want to go in every direction at once. At least I’ve spent two consecutive nights in the same city and the site’s internal links seem to be working. That’s something. If you notice any problems, let me know.

Otherwise, the horse snout is pointing to some things I missed while I was trekking through SEC and Big 10 territory:

Inside Tennessee’s Randy Moore gave a quick rundown of the 2006 Volunteer football season, concluding that the Vols could be anywhere from 10-2 to 6-6. Moore’s hedged prediction is based in part on his belief that there is no pressure on Erik Ainge. Ainge may not have the expectations on him this year that he did last year, but there’s a huge difference between expectations and pressure, and while fan expectations may be somewhere between non-existent and apparition-esque, Ainge certainly has pressure. Practically tangible pressure.

Moore also previewed (1) Alabama, saying that the Crimson Tide is unlikely to approach last year’s 10-2 record, (2) the Auburn Tigers, which he figures will be the class of the SEC West again this year, and (3) LSU, which is facing a situation similar to UT’s last season: a quarterback “situation” pitting the guy who started most of the games the previous year against the guy who won the last season’s bowl game in convincing fashion.

Also, quasi-blogger John Pennington said that UT Athletic Director Mike Hamilton deserves every cent of the raise he recently received, and not just because he hired Bruce Pearl. Agreed.