Let’s rid ourselves of the NFL’s policy on TV blackouts

Televising NFL games is a lucrative business. One of the policies of this business is for blackouts — the NFL imposes this very strict policy to ensure that stadiums are filled and sold out, to maximize telecast ratings, and to help leverage content on the networks. The league has imposed this policy since 1973. But if one organization representing fans of all sports has its way, that policy could be changed, or banned completely.

The Artful Dodger Who Wore Number Seven

He was our quarterback when I became an undergraduate student at the University of Tennessee. The program was in the beginning of a steady decline into near-oblivion. But nobody knew that at the time, partly because of the wonderous exploits of Condredge Holloway.

Mad Men

Barbara Willits was listening to a fellow school teacher in the teachers’ lounge. He was expounding upon ESPN’s dismissal of Ron Franklin on Tuesday for his remarks to fellow employee, sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards last month.

Getting Snippy

Some of the media covering the Vols act more like heelers.

This past week, John Adams of the KNS wrote on GoVolsXtra.com that he “passed on the opportunity to pay $50 and watch Tennessee’s football scrimmage Saturday. The timing just wasn’t right.” The timing that Adams was referring to is the current economy — Adams wrote that “in more affluent times – back in the late 1980s, for example” he would have taken the offer because his expenses would have been covered by his employer.

Fair enough, perhaps. But Adams continued, saying that he is “leery of anything that isn’t in the budget, even if it’s something as compelling as a spring football scrimmage for only $50, which might help feed the family of one of UT’s 37 assistant athletic directors. I do appreciate the unprecedented gesture, especially since the previous scrimmages this spring had been closed to the media.”