Scenic City Mailbag

You would be surprised at just how much (pretend) mail I get. (Fake) People want to know how I feel about a variety of (made-up) topics. I get (no) emails, faxes and letters in the mail asking for insights into all things sports and beyond.

Because of this (self-delusional) demand, I will (when nothing else is interesting me) occasionally answer these (phony) letters from my (3 people) sizable fanbase.

Let’s open up the mailbag:

Abraham in Springfield, IL (via telegraph): The Vols won a great battle, a civil war if you will, on Saturday night. Can the Vols continue their dominance of the state of Tennessee tonight against Vanderbilt?

I would be a fool at this point to ever bet against Coach Pearl and his ability to motivate the boys. The Vols give Vanderbilt all kinds of match-up problems. They can run five different post-defenders at Ogilvy down low. Their depth will give Vanderbilt fits at the end of the halves. The press caused big problems in the first match-up.

The Vols also have several things to address after the Memphis win. Ramar needs to limit his turnovers. Lofton has to be itching to get going offensively again. Tyler is emerging as an all-SEC player right now. I expect Tennessee to play very well tonight.

Bill in Little Rock, AR: What were your thoughts on the Bruce Pearl/Erin Andrews encounter Saturday night? Seemed fine to me.

For the most part, I had no problem with it because I think Pearl would have done the same thing to Dick Vitale or Bill Rafferty. However, you probably should not do the same things to Erin Andrews that you would Dick Vitale.

Here is a simple rule in life for all men: keep your hands off all women who are not your family. It might seem like a good idea and might even be innocent when you put your hands on another woman, but it always comes across as creepy.

Remember when Clay Aiken put his hand over Kelly Ripa's mouth? Innocent enough, but she did not like it. Now, if Ripa had put her hand over Aiken's mouth it would have been no problem. If Erin Andrews had demonstrated defense on Pearl, it would not have bothered the boisterous coach. Whether it is a double-standard or not, it is a simple reality that guys ought to keep their hands to themselves.

I think the "Father of Two Daughters" in me is coming out right now.

Jimmy in Atlanta, GA: Coach, how are you feeling about my Braves this season?

Not good. I cannot get excited about signing Glavine even if though the Braves desperately needed starting pitching. I no longer have any hope of seeing Mike Hampton pitch again either. That means the Braves are basically the same team that could not capitalize after the Texiera deal and the collapse of the Mets.

How are the Braves going to compete with the Mets or Phillies? The Mets were better than the Braves before they added Johan Santana. The Phillies, even with Lidge's injury, have better pitching and an All-Star infield. For the Braves to make the playoffs, they must have a better year than at least one of these two teams which does not even factor in other Wild Card contenders like Milwaukee, St. Louis and the entire N.L. West.

As much as I love the young talent on the team, I think this will be a .500 year.

Richard in California: Love the blog. Now that Sampson is out at Indiana, what is your take on the entire situation? Don't you feel sorry for the players?

You have to feel sorry for them. If I were D.J. White or Eric Gordon, I would not understand how this could happen.

"Phone calls? We lost our coach over phone calls?"

The Indiana players seem to love Sampson and are rightfully upset about his dismissal. I think they have handled the situation beautifully so far. After initial anger, they loaded up and won at Northwestern. They paid tribute to their coach with his initials on their sneakers, but played hard for the university that ran him off.

There was an ESPN.com piece this week encouraging Indiana to sit out the post-season this year because of Sampson's dealings. I whole-heartedly disagree with that idea. If Indiana wants to punish itself in this manner, do it to next year's team. This team has already been punished enough for something its coach did off the court. These kids have done nothing wrong, so punishing them even more is cruel and unjust.

If Indiana wants to do more than just dismiss Sampson, it could start with the dismissal of the A.D. that hired the known cheat in the first place. That would make much more sense than punishing the players.

As for the next coach, there is no way it will be Bob Knight. No way. If I were the Hoosier A.D., I would definitely make a play for Bruce Pearl. If Pearl won't leave Tennessee, I would expect an Indiana guy like Steve Alford, Lawrence Frank or Randy Wittman to be in the mix.

George in Crawford, TX: Who you like in Texas and Ohio next Tuesday? Those are two of my most favoritest places.

I'm going with McCain on the Republican side. Call it a hunch.

For the Democrats, I think Obama wins both fairly easily. At this point, Hillary needs a substantial anti-Obama vote to win and I just don't see that happening. I think Democrats are satisfied that Obama can 1) win in November and 2) be a good president. If that holds true, more people will come out to end the fight than will come out to prolong it.

There was an excellent editorial from my one-time golfing partner Eugene Robinson about how the media is going easy on Hillary right now. She has lost 11 straight primaries, is trailing in national polls, is losing the $ battle and, yet, there are very few calls for her to concede the race. If the reverse was true, would there be calls for Obama to give it up already?

As for Ralph Nader joining the race, I don't think it will matter at all. Nader screwed things up for the Democrats in 2000, but had little/no impact in 2004. If Obama gets the nomination, I cannot see any sort of protest vote for Ralph. At this point, it saddens me to see such a good man ruining his legacy with repeated runs for the White House. He used to be an irritant to big business and corporations; now he is just an irritant.

That makes a small dent in the ol' mailbag, but it is a start. Vols/Dores tonight - I'll have Tennessee Talk up in the morning with thoughts on the game.