What in the Sam Hill is going on with the oxford people not wanting to come to the Memphis-Ole Miss game? I thought they were a big time SEC school that supports their program through thick and thin? Don’t you ever go to other places to support your team? Especially a place less than 100 miles from your campus. There is absolutely no reasonable excuse not to be there.

I know it sounds a little strange that I’m “encouraging” Ole Miss fans to come to the game. But the fact of the matter is that college football is supposed to be about blind loyalty to your school. You show up when they play. We’re told there are 1000’s upon 1000’s of Ole Miss alumni in the Memphis metro area. Where are they? Why aren’t they buying tickets? If you’re complaining about the $50 ticket then you’re just a whiner. I paid $45 for a ticket there last year and got 3/4 of a seat. I swear they number those seats down there for Paris Hilton. To complain about pay another $5 to go support YOUR school is downright stupid and shows you’re “fair weather” nature.

I bring this up because I’m starting to look forward to getting on the road again this fall to watch the Tigers. Unlike many of the Ole Miss fans, the Tigers travel pretty well the last couple of years. As I said earlier I’ve been to every C-USA east school except UCF. I’m going there next month. Tigers fans outside of the UCF and Rice games there is absolutely no reason you can’t make at least one of the other three road games. Arkansas State is less than 100 miles away. We’ll have at least half the stadium there. Southern Miss is about 5 hours down the road but can be a down and back trip. And finally New Orleans for Tulane. Do I really need to give you a reason to go to NO? And we’ll be down there around Halloween. This will be a big time blast.

So don’t be like Ole Miss fans and get out on the road to see the Tigers. You’ll enjoy yourself as you see the boys “ROAR BACK” in 2007. And don’t forget the bowl trip. But I’m personally hoping for a couple of more home games. Hint, hint, wink, wink, nod, nod.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission will hold its regularly scheduled monthly meeting Wednesday-Thursday at the TWRA Region II Ray Bell Office Building in Nashville.

Committee meetings will begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday, and the regular TWRC meeting will start at 9 a.m. Thursday.

The public is invited to attend.

Items on the agenda will include:
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From TWRA:

The drawings have been completed for the wildlife management area quota hunts, and permits will be mailed soon to successful applicants, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

This is the second year that the WMA quota application process has been handled solely through the electronic system of on-line and through the R.E.A.L system at license agents. This allowed the drawing to be done much sooner than under the paper application system, when applications had to be entered into the computer after being mailed to TWRA. The drawing was completed approximately three weeks earlier than in past years.

There were 22,624 applicants this year, which was up 2,251 over last year. Of these, 18,169 were successful in the drawing process.

After the regular draw, there were 5,759 permits left over. These permits were issued through the vacancy drawing. This means that 5,759 applicants applied for and received permits from two drawings.

To check your application on-line visit the TWRA web site.

From the AGFC:

LITTLE ROCK - Nineteen changes in Arkansas fishing regulations in 2008 were approved by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission at its August monthly meeting in Little Rock.

The new regulations will go into effect on Jan. 1.

Nearly all of the suggested changes are related to a particular lake or area, and a couple with statewide effect are minor. The changes came after suggestions from anglers at public meetings around the state, from letters, e-mails and phone calls to AGFC offices and from the AGFC fisheries biologists.

One of the statewide measures will allow disabled persons with fishing licenses to fish in “Family Fishing Waters,” which are park and community ponds around the state limited to youth people and senior citizens for fishing. A disabled person may be accompanied by one fishing helper who has a current fishing license, according to Fisheries Chief Mike Armstrong.

The new fishing regulations: Read the rest of this entry »

THE BIG STORY
South Carolina starting quarterback Blake Mitchell lost his appeal to have his one-game suspension for violating the athletic department’s class attendance policy overturned. Mitchell appealed after Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier announced Thursday that Mitchell, cornerback Chris Hail and tailback Bobby Wallace would miss Saturday’s opener against Louisiana-Lafayette due to excessive class absences during summer school.

“I told the father and I told Blake I’d review it,” South Carolina athletic director Eric Hyman told the Columbia (S.C.) State newspaper.

Mitchell and his father, Alvin “Nugget” Mitchell, met Friday with Hyman and academic support director Raymond Harrison, who succeeded Harold White this year after White retired. Hyman said he reviewed Mitchell’s situation twice over the weekend before he reached his decision.

Reached by phone Sunday, Mitchell’s parents criticized USC’s athletics officials for failing to communicate with them as Mitchell’s absences in a three-hour English class accumulated.

“I don’t understand why no one called us. There’s nothing Blake’s ever done or been involved with that we haven’t received a phone call,” Nugget Mitchell said. “I feel like if this thing had been communicated we would have never gotten to this point.”

“I’m not really clear of the procedure and how it should be handled. I’m clear with what Blake should have done. He should have gone to class. But why wasn’t Blake notified by Raymond Harrison that this was going to happen?”

The rest of the teams: Read the rest of this entry »