Phil Fulmer

Does life get any better than watching Tennessee Head Coach Phil Fulmer react to a bad play? Of course not. Especially with beer in hand and your recovering wife chortling at each reaction. Dori loves laughing at Phil Fulmer's reactions. Fan or no fan, how can you not!?!

Yesterday, Tennessee flirted with winning the SEC championship against LSU. The teams are my least favorite in the SEC. LSU because their fans too often go into foul-mouth tirades around my children and UT because they are, well, UT. I have softened a bit over the years on UT. I have a lot of friends who like the Vols, people I respect a lot. It's just ... well ... that color ... and a large number of obnoxious fans ... and that song. I do like Pat Head, the women's basketball coach. She's a class act. But Bruce Pearl and Fulmer? C'mon. On at least three occasions, CBS showed Fulmer's twisting body and contorted face after Vol interceptions, missed kicks or mistakes. I couldn't find any clips of Jabba the Orange on YouTube, but maybe the photos I've posted give you a sense.

During the game, a few comments and items caught my attention. The first was when CBS announcer Verne Lundquist said LSU quarterback Ryan Perilloux was suspended earlier this season for getting in a "late night altercation." Diplomatic, don't you think? Here's an alternative take on these incidents: "The player was suspended because he was drunk at 3 a.m. in a bar, then proceeded to assault a patron." Later, the proverbial phrase "suspended for a violation of team rules" was used. Don't you think coaches use that so they don't have to tell you what the player has done, more so to protect the program than the kid. Later, Lundquist, who I like, used the word "sardonic" on the telecast. How many folks watching the game knew what that means? Betchya most though of little smelly fishies in a tin can.

I was delighted to see Hardee's has brought back the "philly cheesesteak thickburger." Please! Don't we have enough folks having coronaries and bypasses? As presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says, "We don't have a health care crisis ... we have a health crisis." This issue is important to me ... one I avoid blogging about because I get on a soapbox. So I'll be brief. We're eating ourselves (among several vices) into a national crisis of epic proportions.

Did you see the LSU staff shielding QB Perilloux from the cameras while they were working on his hurt finger? It's ridiculous how seriously these folks take themselves, as if that bit of knowledge was going to be the deciding factor in the football game. I laughed when the CBS crew said they could understand the secrecy if he were having a finger removed. It's football. Fun, not life or death.

Back to more serious matters ... Remember how we feel about coincidences around here? The other night before she went to sleep, Dori read Psalm 103: 2-4. The next day, she received a card from a friend of her sister's with the same psalm:

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits ... who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life ... who crowneth thee with loving kindness."

Speaking of healing ... we have a new machine around here. Our friends the Antonys gave Dori a treadmill to help her exercise regimen. It's getting colder and Dori likes to walk. She needs to stay active to regain her strength, so this was a very nice gift! Also nice were two tickets to the Titans game from the DeNunzios for their godson, Will. Nice folk around these parts.

Have a great week, everyone.