When is it the right time to go back to a normal routine after a tragedy? I wonder about this kind of thing. You don’t want to disrespect the memory of someone lost but you also want to move on. So I’m going to try to do just that.

With the Tigers off for the second straight weekend, we Tigers fans have had time to appease our spouses or significant others. The old “honey do” list has a few items on it for this Saturday. A fall Saturday without football and tailgating just seems kind of empty to me.

I am going to digress back to the recent mass media questioning Tommy West’s future. First of all I don’t think he should be fired. Nor to I think if you don’t have a dog in the hunt should you open your mouth. Just paying taxes isn’t classified as having a dog in the hunt either. I guess I should get to my point in this bit. Why hasn’t the media questioned what the University of Memphis is doing to get BCS ready? Only Geoff Calkins and George Lapides have even tried to call R.C. Johnson and Dr. Shirley Raines on this. It isn’t just about an on-campus stadium either. It is about building up the athletic facilities to make the whole package attractive. If you listen to Memphis talk radio (which I avoid doing for the most part) you never hear them asking why the school isn’t working towards the next expansion. My theory is that many of them don’t want Memphis to do anything to better itself for the next round of BCS expansion. A Memphis team in a BCS league would present a problem for the local SEC media members and fans. Don’t believe me, just look at what South Florida, Cincinnati and Louisville have done since getting that golden ticket. If Memphis gets that same ticket then we will be able to recruit better, get paid more etc. I’ve been over this before. So why hasn’t the media questioned R.C. more? You might have to answer that for yourself but I think it is because many of them don’t want Memphis to get ready.

I’m giggling at the criticism of the Tigers Tuesday night. I swear some folks really don’t have a clue about what it takes to perform at that level. Three games in 11 days is a very, very hard thing to do. The last team to do it before the Tigers to do that was Southern Miss after Katrina. USM lost the last two games to inferior teams and one of those losses was to the Tigers. Southern was a much better team than the Tigers and Houston during that stretch but lost both games. For the Tigers to fight back after the UCF debacle and ASU was simply amazing especially when you add in the tragedy as well.

I sure hope West opens up the QB job again. I like Martin Hankins. He’s done a good job for us. But Hudgens’ ability to throw the ball downfield and hit the slants gives him the advantage in my mind.

I want to commend all of the people who stepped up to get things done in a short time to honor Taylor Bradford at the game Tuesday. There were massive amounts of stickers, ribbons, signs and tee shirts throughout the Liberty Bowl Tuesday night. To get all that done within 36 hours was a result of hard work. I believe these folks did this because they care. And that’s always the key issue.

I must address last night’s acceptance speech by Mayor Herenton. First, I don’t live in Memphis anymore because of the way he’s let the city degrade into the most dangerous city in the country as well as one of the highest taxed. My guess is many more Memphians are about to join me. Before you say, “John you need not say anything about it then because you don’t live in Memphis,” let me say my support of the University of Memphis does give me a stake in this. The Mayor is NOT a friend of the University of Memphis. He said as much last night. So this is an open plea to Dr. Raines to tell the Mayor that we are going to build on campus. Tell him to try and sell a fairgrounds stadium without us. The crooks are lined up to make money on the Memphis taxpayer’s backs in this fairgrounds deal. Given the history of corruption in city government you can’t really think otherwise can you? My hope is that the leadership at the University of Memphis and the Memphis taxpayers don’t cower down to this man who does not care whether our school succeeds or fails.