Musings of a Catholic Convert

I'm looking forward to a semi quiet day at work.  Several people are taking long weekends so things are a bit less noisy than usual.  I love days like this.  I can get so much more done when there are few interruptions. 

And while I'm thinking of quiet, let me encourage all of you to watch "The Quiet Man", starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.  I don't care if you're Irish or a fan of The Duke.  You'll love this movie on its own merits.  I watch it at least once every month or so.

I have a lot of writing to do this weekend.  Still trying to get my first book done and I'm way behind where I want to be at this point in time.  I'm hoping for some time this weekend, but we'll see what happens.  Catholic convert book or not, the reality of being a husband and daddy takes priority over my own pursuits.  I must constantly remind myself of this.

Well, I guess you'll be watching the basketball this weekend.  Maybe I will join you at some point. I really don't have a dog in this NCAA Men's Tournament anymore so I'm not as interested as I was a few days ago.  The Lady Vols are doing just fine though.  Perhaps I will watch them play.

Have a good one, dudes.  I'm off to work.         

The Tennessee Volunteers defeated the Memphis Tigers Saturday night by a score of 66-62.  It was one of the best sports events I've watched all year, and I'm not a big basketball fan myself.  I do, however, support Tennessee's sporting endeavors across the board.

Go UT AD&D Squad!  Roll the Crimson Tide with your 20-Sided Die! 

Coach Pearl motivated the men and they responded, even though they shot poorly from the floor.  Both teams did actually.  I expected a much higher score by game's end.  It didn't matter to me, though, if the score had been 2-0, so long as Tennessee held the 2 points to win the game.

Both teams played aggressively, which is always exciting to watch.  And even though there was some shoving and elbowing, things remained about as civil as you could expect in a heated #1 vs. #2 matchup between in-state rivals.  Now I wasn't at the game - I couldn't afford to pay thousands of dollars for the rare available seats - but I didn't notice any of the fans being uncivil toward one another.  They were certainly emotionally involved in the game.  In fact, even on TV you could tell that the roar was deafening whenever Memphis made a play.  But the fans on both sides seemed to get along well enough, testimony to the overall good sportsmanship I've witnessed among Tennessee fans and Memphis fans.   

Now all eyes and pressure are on Tennessee to defend #1 standing.  They have to play a tough Vanderbilt team (23-4) in Nashville, where the Commodores are undefeated at home this season. 

As historical as all this ranking business is for the University of Tennessee men's basketball program, what matters most to them and to me is a good performance in the NCAA tournament.  I hope they can run the table.  The talent is certainly there, and a high ranking should give them a good seed in a weaker bracket.  Here's hopin'.

Does anybody know UT's AD&D record and/or player levels?