SEC Tourny --minus Auburn & Alabama

Omaha,
Your point, while it’s sharpness drives home a point, it is taken with a smile. One assumes the majority of the roster of the Tide and the Tigers are Alabama boys and therefore assume the local (Alabama) support would be there for the SEC tournament in Hoover and that is not exactly accurate. There are many Tennessee boys currently playing in Alabama and Mississippi, but that will likely change in the near future, not because the UT coaching staff has suddenly changed their modus operandi and decided to recruit the great in-state talent, but because the Tennessee lottery has given each Tennessee baseball player a scholarship at UT and most other Tennessee colleges. I know this Lotto money won’t impact Vandy’s program because the Lotto scholarship wouldn’t buy a parking spot for a Hummer on the Vandy campus but look for the other schools to reap the rewards.
I personally want to congratulate UT and Vandy on their great seasons and allow them to bask in the glory while they can. The Tennessee boys playing in Alabama make no excuses for their lackluster performance this year. We all know baseball is a game of averages and on the average, Mississippi State, LSU, Auburn, and Alabama will be in the top drawer of the SEC most of the time. My hat is off to Vandy and Tennessee for having a great 2004 and I’m looking forward to the next few years. Nothing like having a skunk or two in the hen house to stir things up and make things exciting!
Best of luck!
Fungo

Fungo,
Nice post as always, but I really question the wisdom behind the quote "There are many Tennessee boys currently playing in Alabama and Mississippi, but that will likely change in the near future, not because the UT coaching staff has suddenly changed their modus operandi and decided to recruit the great in-state talent, but because the Tennessee lottery has given each Tennessee baseball player a scholarship at UT and most other Tennessee colleges."

I've read that maybe half, or even more, of the students who walk through the doors of a Tennessee college or university with a lottery scholarship this fall will lose it at the end of their first year. There are some estimates that less than 20 percent of them will hang on to the scholarships for the full four years.

Do we really think that the student athlete that will be playing baseball at the Tennessee schools will be that much better a student than these projections indicate? Remember that based on Georgia's lottery experience and the grade-point averages of freshman classes at Tennessee colleges, at least half of the students will lose those grants at the end of the first year. Once the scholarship is lost, it's gone for good.

I've had numerous conversations with my own son on this very same topic....but I stopped to catch my breath and he was gone.

Yeah, I'm a little nervous about keeping that lottery scholarship in year 2. Some students need a little time adjusting to the rigors of college life.

I was not aware of the high percentage of students that failed to qualify the second year. What seems to be the problem? Are the students on the lotto scholarships failing to accept their responsibility to take college seriously? How could they possibly ignore their studies and succumb to the ills of society? . . . . You know, gambling and such?
Fungo

Fungo,
I have strived to set an example for the youth in KnoxVegas and fought the installation of this lottery in the “Educashun State”. We almost had enough signatures on the petition we circulated at our local churches on Bingo Saturday to make a difference to our state politicians, but fell a few short. I wouldn’t have fallen if it weren’t for my friend helping me, Jack Daniels. I blame it all on him.

I can assure you that most students that I know take their college seriously. Most of them take it so seriously they wind up staying in school for six or seven years, just to get a four-year degree. Now that is dedication!

Some in KnoxVegas say that our tutors at the University are way too busy taking test and writing papers for our athletes and don’t have the time to help the regular student population. I can assure you that we have a plan in place to ease the tutor shortage. Part of the plan includes issuing camera cell phones to all tutors so the regular student population can take a photo of their test, send it to the tutor and “presto”, the tutor sends the answer back to the student.

We are on our way to hanging on to those ill-gotten gambling lotto scholarships.

Can you say “Power Ball”?