My wife and I are traveling to Memphis and the Smokey Mountains for our annual vacation in June. We've just about lined up hotels/motels for every place other than Memphis. Can anyone give me any suggestions of a decent place to stay without having to fork over $150 a night (I know, I'm a cheap S.O.B.).

Also, if anyone has any places to eat in Memphis, Nashville, Smokey Mountain, and Great South Fork areas, that would be awesome.

Thanks in advance.

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is really turning some heads at the Dallas Cowboys mini-camp for recruits. Check it out at: <http://www.dallascowboys.com/home.cfm> with the heading "Not Hard To Pick Amendola Out Of Rookie Crowd". There is no doubt that Dallas is banking on one or two of the youngsters in the camp to step up and make this team. Danny has all the tools and experience needed to be there in the Fall. While comparisons to Welker continue, Amendola will chart his own course in the NFL, if not with Dallas, then somewhere else. However, I think he will be in Dallas for several years. They really need someone with his style and abilities to open up the outside for the bigger and faster receivers.

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Olin Buchanan has his early top 10 Heisman candidates and Crabtree is his number six candidate.  No Graham Harrell?  Olin did include a disclaimer that only one player per team was included.

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I don't have confirmation on this, but I have heard Dallas signed Danny Amendola tonight to a FA contract.

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I can't help but pull for Shannon Woods with all of my heart.  Obviously he has not been on Leach's good side and that is between him and Leach.  I commend Leach for setting the bar for discipline within this OUTSTANDING program.  I remember seeing Shannon Woods when he was backing up Taurean Henderson knowing he would be a Raider Great.  Let's not forget the most under-rated play arguably in Red Raider history where Woods made a key block at the end of the game giving Graham Harrell the extra SPLIT SECOND to find Robert Johnson in the end zone for the HUGE VICTORY over A&M in 2006.  The play was unbelievable, but not too many commmented on the block by Woods....

Harrell also looks much more confident when he has Woods on the flat if in danger.  

Shannon, I am pulling for you this year!  MAKE IT HAPPEN!  We need you on the field.

PS:  I realize the experts have us 3rd in the South and a dark horse in the overall Big 12, but is it too early to start talking BCS?  C'mon, it is a DEFINITE possibility!

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He's turning Canadian

http://winnipegsun.com/Sports/Football/2008/04/25/5382366-sun.html

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First, a career comparison:

Wes Welker receiving (only his last 3 years, since I can't find the rest)

2001. 50 receptions, 582 yards, 11.6 YPR, 5 touchdowns
      
2002. 86 receptions, 1054 yards, 12.3 YPR, 7 touchdowns
      
2003. 97 receptions, 1099 yards, 11.3 YPR, 9 touchdowns
      

Danny Amendola receiving

2004. 13 receptions, 119 yards, 9.2 YPR, 1 touchdown
      
2005. 34 receptions, 395 yards, 11.6 YPR, 3 touchdowns
      
2006. 48 receptions, 487 yards, 10.1 YPR, 5 touchdowns
      
2007. 109 receptions, 1245 yards, 11.4 YPR, 6 touchdowns
      

Comments: Not that it should surprise anyone, but Wes Welker was the better receiver in three years. Leads Danny in all relevant statistical categories. The argument can be made, and I'd buy it, that Danny had a better senior season than Wes. Amendola's 109 receptions and 1245 yards was damn impressive.

I don't have the return stats, but I'm pretty sure Wes Welker was a better collegiate return guy than Danny.

The point of this diary was to illustrate that perhaps, and I say perhaps because I always tend to overstate this kind of thing, there is a noticeable change in attitude by NFL teams about Texas Tech wide receivers. If Amendola gets drafted -- and that's by no means a certainty at this point -- it would speak volumes for the impact Welker's NFL success has had on our program. The statistics are very comparable and, if anything, lean towards favoring Welker (who I think was the better collegiate player overall, as well). I'm not so young to forget how good of a player Welker was, I was at Tech when he finished up afterall, and knew when he went undrafted that it was just a matter of time before he made a team. I don't have that same feeling about Amendola, but I wish him the best and hope he gets drafted.

If Amendola does get drafted it will prove to fans and future recruits alike that what was once true of this program just a few years ago is no longer the case. Wes Welker proved that a Red Raider system product WR can have enormous success -- AND PAYDAY BABY -- at the next level. If Danny Amendola, a fine receiver, can get drafted out of Tech, a lot of 4 and 5 star recruits can do the same? Don't forget the season Crabtree just had, either. Any reasons future wide receiving prospects had for choosing any other school will look increasingly trivial, especially if Danny hears his name on Sunday.

Programs don't change overnight. What Coach Leech has done is win consistently and loudly with our nationally famous offense. I believe, I hope, that we're just tipping the iceberg on the recruiting benefits our prolonged success, especially offensively, will reap. I'll be watching this weekend.

Cheers, Wreck Em.

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anyone have an idea? i'm seeing estimates of 15k+ but no hard numbers.

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Red & Black Spring Game pictures

I took well over 400 pictures today; these are just the 132 best.

I like the one where Hawk (86) gets hit in the side by Flannel (22).

More words? Okay.

I also like the three close-ups of Crabtree when he almost ran me over on the sideline. I like the color of them.

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First of all I have all the respect in the world for Bobby Knight and he had some very good success here at Tech, but I am wondering if Pat can bring in better talent and build better teams than RMK. The only knocks I have on RMK is 1. that he wouldn't take the big name guys that might leave and 2. he never got a big man. Sure you can bring up Rizmic or however you spell his name, but he was never talented enough to play div 1 basketball. I know he might have looked good on paper, but foreign post player seldom work out. With that said I would like to know everyone's opinion on this topic.

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Eddie Sutton out at OSU. This is both good and bad for TTU. It'll likely be a year's setback for OSU, but if they do make a good hire, it could mean another dominant team in the big XII.

The best situation for us and the other teams who would probably end up above OSU is for them to find a new coach and remain stuck in mediocrity (NIT/NCAA  lower than a 10 seed) for a while. A good team to have on the schedule, but a team we should beat home and away.

Then again, we're also currently stuck in mediocrity, so it doesn't really matter too much.

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I researched at the Western Kentucky site and found the following tidbit of information:
 The evolution of the nickname "Hilltoppers" is obvious to those who have seen the Western Kentucky campus.
The operations of Western Kentucky State Normal School were moved from its forerunner, Southern Normal School, to a commanding hill on the southwestern portion of Bowling Green on February 4, 1911. The move was completed as the entire student body marched to the new site, carrying various articles of school equipment.

Since the summit of "the Hill" rises 232 feet above nearby Barren River and the comparatively level plain that surrounds it, it was only natural that the athletes who represented the institution should come to be known as the "Hilltoppers."
Still, the name did not come into use until the 1925-26 school year. Prior to that, Westen teams were commonly referred to as "Pedagogues" or "Teachers" The first WKU uniform to bear the Hilltopper nickname was worn in 1927

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