It looks like Alabama’s whining about its “tough” 2010 football schedule will finally receive an ear from the SEC:

Another agenda item is Alabama’s upcoming football schedule, which has South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn each with open dates the week before playing the Crimson Tide. Alabama’s week off is before the Nov.

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6 game in Baton Rouge.

The league has yet to release its official schedule for 2010, and conference officials are hoping at least one of Alabama’s conference foes can switch a date to provide the reigning national champs some aid.

“We need to prevent this from happening again,” Bloom said.

Tough schedules in the SEC are nothing new. Remember Georgia’s brutal schedule from two years ago? Schools should be able to set their open dates when they want to set them. But this is the SEC, Mike Slive is still the commissioner, and Alabama is everyone’s pick to repeat as national champs (i.e., they present the best chance for the SEC to be represented in this year’s BCS National Championship Game). So, don’t be surprised if someone has to rearrange their schedule to accommodate the favored son.

Fortunately, Tennessee doesn’t have a coach who has publicly dissed King Slive. If this were still the Kiffin era, the Vols would probably find themselves scrambling to switch up a game somewhere on the schedule.

If, like me, you’ve watched the daily thunderstorms miss your back yard and you’re having to water the tomato plants, take comfort in knowing that this stale weather pattern doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

In fact, rather moderate chances for storms will be prevalent each day this week with the possible exception of Wednesday, if the GFS computer model is correct. The lull on Wednesday won’t mean the end of the pattern; storm chances return Thursday-Sunday. The National Weather Service is currently forecasting a 50% chance of storms tomorrow, 20% Wednesday, 40% Thursday, 30% Friday and 20% Saturday and Sunday. Those rain chances for the weekend may very well go up a bit if model guidance is correct.

It also looks like even hotter temperatures could be on the way, if the GFS is correct in what it is currently indicating. We could see our first widespread 90-degree temps on the Plateau on Saturday and Sunday if the GFS has the correct handle on things.

The NWS is currently forecasting 84 on Saturday and 85 Sunday but that might be too low. And it looks like humid air will be in place, with nighttime temps hovering near 70, which would mean little relief for the HVAC systems after the sun goes down.

The month of May was a warm one, with an average temp of 64.8. The average for May is 61.4. The average high temp was 77.2; the average for May is 74.8. And it looks like June is going to start just like May is ending. Are we setting ourselves up for a scorching hot summer, a la 2007?

To be born free is an accident. To live free is a privilege.

To die free is a responsibility. — BG Robby Risner, USAF (ret)

Lest we forget.

It’s just 96 days until Football Time in Tennessee.

#96 Chad Cunningham
Class: Senior
Hometown: Dawsonville, Ga.
High School: Dawson County
Height / Weight: 6-2 / 205
Position: P/PK
Major: Communications Studies
UTSports.Com — VolsToTheWall — VolQuest

Okay, I’ll be honest: despite tomorrow being a holiday, I’ll almost be happy to go to work…so I can rest.

It was a long weekend of fishing, and one that didn’t yield very good results. The lack of fish filets in the frying pan have nothing to do with lack of effort, however.

After deciding late Wednesday to make the 90 minute drive from Oneida to Sevierville to replentish the tackle box with lures from Bass Pro, the weather cooperated for fishing throughout the weekend. Given my track record, that in itself should probably be considered quite a success. Two consecutive days on the water with no rain

? Rare. Very rare.

Day 1 involved a float trip on the portion of Big South Fork between Angel Falls and Station Camp. We paddled upstream from Station Camp and floated back down. A few smallmouth were landed, but nothing to write home about. As an aside, it was interesting to see the damage from the heavy rain May 2. A number of trees were uprooted into the river by the flood waters, leaving large craters in the riverbank. The BSF reached about 40,000 cubic feet per second before cresting in the aftermath of the heavy rain. The river was quite active with Memorial Day weekend paddlers by lunch time.

Day 2 involved a long hike to a particular stretch of the Clear Fork River that typically yields good results. The stretch of river is accessible only by foot or by floating from an access point…but floating is nearly impossible, as the abnormally dry stretch of weather has dropped the flow on Clear Fork to around 50 cubic feet per second. Normal for this time of year is almost 200 cfs. Again, the smalljaws weren’t much interested in biting. A few did take the bait but nothing remarkable. The rivers have warmed considerably in the past ten days because of the warm weather. That might be negatively impacting smallmouth fishing, but the Clear Fork is warmer than normal for the end of May and perfect for a visit to a favorite swimming hole.

It appears that bass are ready to nest any day now on the local rivers, and fishing will slow considerably at that point. On a brighter note, multiple reports indicate that bluegill are nesting on local lakes and ponds (and shellcrackers won’t be far behind). There isn’t a better-eating fish than a panfish. If bream are your game, now’s the time to be on the water.

Today it was back to Bass Pro to pick up supplies for the first lake trip of the summer. Hopefully the smallies at Dale Hollow will be biting better next weekend than at BSF this weekend.

Just 97 days until it’s football time in Tennessee.

#97 Chase Nelson
Class: Senior
Hometown: Tulsa, Okla.
High School: Union
Height / Weight: 6-3 / 285
Position: DT
Major: Psychology
UTSports.com — Vols To The Wall — VolQuest — GoVolsXtra — InsideTennessee — RockyTopTalk

Once again, with credit to this UT fan site, it’s time to begin the countdown

to kickoff. Just 99 days until football time in Tennessee!

Ben Martin #99

Class: Senior
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
High School: La Salle
Height / Weight: 6-3 / 251
Position: DE
Major: Communication Studies

Rich people aren’t paying enough taxes:

“The rich are not paying their fair share in any nation that is facing the kind of employment issues [America currently does] — whether it’s individual, corporate or whatever [form of] taxation forms,” Clinton told an audience at the Brookings Institution, where she was discussing the Administration’s new National Security Strategy.

The arrogance of that statement is astonishing.

Clinton also invoked Brazil as a model for taxes:

“Brazil has the highest tax-to-GDP rate in the Western Hemisphere and guess what — they’re growing like crazy,” Clinton said. “And the rich are getting richer, but they’re pulling people out of poverty.”

That’s a little disingenuous isn’t it? Brazil’s “growing like crazy” because they’re exporting like crazy. High school economics: the nation that produces what the world consumes, thrives.

Shall we delve into American exports?

If you don’t use sunscreen, you’re gonna get cancer. But sunscreen causes you to get cancer.

If you suffer from chronic acid reflux and don’t take an acid reducer like Nexium or Prilosec, you’re gonna wind up with esophageal cancer. But if you do take them, you’re gonna wind up with broken bones.

I guess it’s true. We are all gonna die sometime.