Let’s Go CRAE

One of the best feeling as a University of Tennessee sports fan is beating Florida. And the Rocky Top Rowdies in Thompson-Boling Arena were going Craaaae for Jordan McRae and his 27 points to beat the No. 8 Gators in a game that could determine the Volunteers faith on Selection Sunday.

Where did this UT team come from? This isn’t the same UT team that only won three games in January. Maybe you can blame the slow start on the over exposure to turtle spray (opposite of deer antler spray) that was cleaned out of the football office when Dooley got the boot. One thing is for sure is that the VOLS are living and playing basketball like Good Ole Rocky Top! Now on a six game winning streak, the VOLS have taken down two top 25 teams (crushed No. 25 Kentucky) and have won three on the road.

And the streaks continue: Tennessee is 13-5 in the past 18 basketball games against Florida and the Gators head coach, Billy Donovan is gator bait when it comes to Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin having lost his third straight game to Martin’s VOLS. Talk about Chomp Chomp!

Florida fans try to use the “we didn’t have our top 3-point shooter and their most effective freshman, Michael Frazier II in the game.” I guess any excuse they come up with is better than trying to justify “jorts” being cool. You didn’t have Frazier for one game. Tennessee hasn’t had their best player Jeronne Maymon all season!

There’s no question that the key to the winning streak has been Tennessee’s defensive game. Big Man on Campus, Jarnell Stokes had 14 rebounds and dominated the boards against Florida. At one point Stokes went for the rebound against four Gators and Stokes ended up with the ball. They double teamed him all night to hold his scoring to only eight points, but that left Jordan McRae wide open to rack up 27 points. Tennessee out-rebounded Florida 41-31 and held the Gators to their lowest scoring game of the season.

From each win the VOLS get better and stronger. They are peaking at the perfect time of the season and if they could make free throws, then they could be a dark horse in this year’s bracket. Call me a biased UT fan, or just call me a college basketball fan watching ranked teams go down every week. It’s really anybody’s bracket to win right now and the way the VOLS are playing- they want everyone to be scared of ROCKY TOP!

Shake It Up (said in your best Scott Ferrall voice)

Six more Top 25 teams went down two weeks ago, including two of the top 5. The Number one spot has changed 6 straight weeks making it the second-longest streak since the first rankings started in 1949. Top 25 teams lost to unranked teams 36 times from January 17^th to February 6^th, the most in at least 17 years of men’s college basketball.

With the Madness already in full affect on Saturday as college basketball was still shocked that Tennessee crushed Kentucky by 30 points. Yes the Wildcats were without Nerlens Noel, but going down by 30 points to a 13-10 (6-6 SEC) UT team is called being exposed. It was a great win for the VOLS!

Later Saturday night Duke lost to Maryland by 2 points in a much needed win for MD and this could be the last time the Blue Devils play in the Comcast Center as the Terrapins move to the Big 10 in 2014.

It was a fun game, but it’s wasn’t a pretty game. The Dukies played 4 games in 10 days with two on the road and taking on UNC at home was clearly exhausting. You could tell it wasn’t the same Duke team and they were playing a sloppy and scrappy Maryland team at home. Duke’s lack of energy kept it a close game, but Mason Plumlee was held to four points and fouling out (he scored 18 points against UNC). With three seconds left in the game and an 81-81 score, Duke’s Quinn Cook fouls Maryland’s Seth Allen and he made both foul shots for the win. Call me crazy, but that was not a foul on Cook. The game should have gone to OT.

But where Maryland really won the game was in the student section! Now this was my fourth Duke-MD game in the Comcast Center and I can assure you that UMD students still fear the classroom for their lack of creativity for “chants”. Each year I think they are going to come up with something, anything- besides “sucks” and the F bomb. But give them some music and they put on a good show. The new You Tube flash mob craze is the “Harlem Shake” and the students did not disappoint.

What is the Harlem Shake?

For the uninitiated, it consists of users uploading videos to YouTube that last about thirty seconds in length and feature the opening of electronic music producer Baauer’s song “Harlem Shake.” The videos begin with the song’s sample of a man giving a shrieking siren call of “Con los terroristas!”—Columbian Spanish for “with the terrorists”—followed by one person, usually in a ridiculous mask or helmet, dancing to the song alone as the beat builds. He or she is surrounded by others who are stationary, blissfully unaware of the dancer. When the directive, Then do the Harlem shake is uttered about 15 seconds in, the bass drops and the video metastasizes into pure chaos—the entire coterie engaging in paroxysms of dance for the next 15 seconds in outrageous outfits, and wielding bizarre props. -The Daily Beast

(See links below)

Duke-Maryland game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rX-sJffB4Y

Maryland students were not the only ones making YouTube videos of the Harlem Shake.

Former UT Vol and current Milwaukee Bucks player, Tobias Harris made an appearance at the UT vs. Kentucky game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbLReWwXwt4

Other good ones ODU Baseball team and UGA Men’s Swim & Dive team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnaabjP14Rw 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkNrSpqUr-E

Beating Duke may have been a game changer for the Terrapins shot at getting asked to the dance in March, but their dance moves can only take them to You Tube. Then again, with this year of madness already taking over in February is proving that no one really knows how the brackets will play out so until March- Shake it up!

PS. I still do not understand why UMD students “riot” when they beat Duke. One future scholar of America was quoted for justifying why setting a trashcan on fire was better than setting a couch on fire. “It gives us something to burn and we have a bad reputation of burning couches; this way we can burn something and do it basically to celebrate”. 

Super-Baugh

Jim and John Harbaugh

For the first time two brothers were coaching against each other in the Super Bowl. For the first time a set of parents went into the game already knowing that their son would be World Champions. Jack and Jackie Harbaugh also went into the game knowing that their son would lose. Proud parents, absolutely! But watching Jim hurt from a loss cast a shadow on celebrating the joys of victory with John.

Jacoby Jones returned a 108 yarder in the second-half kickoff to make it a 28-6 game. It wasn’t looking like the SuperBaugh football fans were expecting. Then the ghost of New Orleans made an appearance and a power outage delayed the game for 34 minutes and gave the 49er’s the surge to battle for the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. But it was John and his Ravens who held Jim and the 49er’s to a 34-31 victory.

As the brothers met at midfield surrounded by media as purple and yellow confetti started pouring from the superdome, it may have been the hardest walk for both brothers. John told his younger brother that he loved him. Jim said “congratulations.” A family that is as competitive as the Harbaugh’s isn’t expected to take a loss well, even if it means your family still wins.

Super Bowl 47 is a bitter sweet moment for the Harbaugh family. It was also an emotional day for one of Jim’s sons, Jay. Jay worked for his uncle John and the Ravens as a support staffer. His employer and his family were celebrating in the locker room and down the hall his father was grieving a devastating loss.  

Winning a Super Bowl demands non-stop appearances for media, players and all those suits invested into the team. Even if John and Jim wanted to have more a private moment it wasn’t going to happen while the cameras were still rolling. It may take days even weeks, but when the time is right Jim will look back and be proud of his big brother John.

Time may never fully heal the wounds of a Super Bowl loss for Jim Harbaugh, but like John said in a post-game interview there is “no greater coach in the NFL than Jim Harbaugh.” There will be more Super Bowls appearance for the Harbaughs; maybe even a rematch, but Jim will not leave the game without a collection of Championship rings of his own.