Gettin' on the (Big Orange) Bus

The BOVB usually gets updated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

But today I am so pumped that I just had to put Monday's post up a day early!

Causing this jolt of Orange adrenaline this morning is a Web site posted on Twitter last night by VolPress, with the headline "Thinking of Tennessee football."

To be honest, I haven't really even clicked on any of the links on the site yet. What got me all fired up is the constant playing of "Rocky Top" and "Immigrant Song" coupled with images of UT's players and new coaching staff.

After watching -- in person -- the baseball Vols choke 10-2 to the Gators in Gainesville yesterday, this Web site was the perfect tonic.

The flip side, tho, is that I can't get any work done (Hey, you try reading students' papers comparing Hinduism and Islam with Rocky Top blaring out of your computer. It's impossible).

But who cares!?

So come on, now, Orange Nation! Let's all get on the (big Orange) bus and get pumped for Tennessee football!

Jeff

PS -- that's a Jacksonville Transportation Authority bus I spotted at the University of N. Fla. a couple weeks back. It's bedecked in Hooters ads!

Kiffin: Lamborghini or old Beemer?

It's one thing to read about all the great coaches Tennessee has hired since the end of the 2008 season. It's quite another, though, to see how much they are being paid as a group: $5.3 million, according to the Associated Press. That's about $12 million for coaching salaries when you count the $6 million it cost UT to get Coach Fulmer out the door.

Some are understandably displeased, especially after tuition increases and cuts in faculty pay. It may not be apples to apples, though, because AD Mike Hamilton says the money generated by a winning program will help fund all athletic programs and thereby free up university dollars for other expenses.

Whatever. But here's my point: The embarrassment of 2008 will pale compared to the grief and humiliation we'll feel if Kiffin and Co. don't come out strong in 2009. Kiff might — might — be allowed to lose to Florida one time, but that's it. But he better whoop everybody else. For $5.3 million, I don't see how we can expect anything less.

Let me explain it in terms of Orange vehicles. Let's say you put up the money for the sweet Lamborghini Murcielago pictured here, but when you went to the lot to pick it up, you found this weathered old BMW instead? Yes, they're both sports cars. But you'd be pretty PO'd, I reckon (especially since the Beemer is closer to UF Red than true Orange).

Jeff

A Storm headed UT's way?

Oh man, Tennessee fans really gotta be really careful not to get too excited about the 2009 season.

But it's hard holding back that enthusiasm when you read that one of the best high school running backs in the nation is giving the Vols high marks for its winning history and for it's new coaching staff.

"Tennessee is an up and coming program," Storm Johnson of Georgia told GoVolsXtra.com . "They have all new coaches so I can't wait to see what they do in the year (2009)."

Either can we.

The word is Johnson is fast . . . just like this Dodge Challenger Lauren spotted on 30t Street in Boulder, Colo. recently.

"I also saw a bright Orange stroller but didn't have camera out in time," Lauren wrote. "Hey! It's a vehicle!"

True. An Orange stroller would count as a vehicle. But it definitely wouldn't be included in a post about UT's upcoming football season. We've had enough of the baby-steps approach to football to last us a lifetime.

Jeff