"Be the GM" Week!

OK, you come off a 13-3 season with an 8-8 playoff miss. Now is your chance to be the GM or Owner or Coach or whoever is making decisions over at Baptist Sports Park. This week, each day, we'll present you with a new Titans personnel issue. We'll start with VY, then KVB, Keith Bullock, Kevin Mawae and finally, Jeff Fisher and staff...let's us know what you think in our poll question...and let the discussion begin...

Weekend Notes

As I continue the longest vacation in recent memory (6 straight days with only a 2 hour Titans pre-game show!) I feel the need to purge some thoughts...let's start with the death of the Titans season. Maybe the Wise-Guys had it right all along. When the over-under for wins came out at 9 for the Titans this season, we in the Dawghouse were incredulous! "Easiest money on the board! 10 wins in '07, 13 in '08! Come on, man!" Well, "Under" was the play. And maybe it was justified. What was no justified was the lack of preparedness and composure the Titans came out with against San Diego. Yes, the Chargers are he better team, but 42-17? And once again, with a big moment at hand, the Titans soil the bed. 11 years ago they rode a Music City Miracle into a Super Bowl appearance. They were flat in the 1st half of that Super Bowl, only to rally and come up short...see a pattern here? It's been this way for the Titans entire run in Nashville...and they've only won two playoff games in the 10 years since.
As for the future, the offense is in great shape, and I do believe you roll with Vince Young. The defense? KVB, Nick Harper, Keith Bulluck, David Thornton, Tony Brown could all be gone and the Freak checked out earlier this year...In any event, there will be massive turnover, but a check of the numbers will show that's not necessarily a bad thing. The real question is, how high up the ladder will the changes come?

Urban Meyer
I can tell you from experience that no coach should ever make career decisions before February. The stress of a season leaves many thinking, "I can't do this anymore". Now Urban Meyer may have a medical condition, and that can be physical or mental. Stress and anxiety go hand and hand, and anxiety often presents as heart issues. I believe he speaks from the heart when he says he needs to "Reprioritize" his life. I truly hope he gets this done. College football and the SEC are better with Urban Meyer and I honestly believe he'll be on the sideline when Florida opens it's 2010 regular season. This should be a wake up call for every coach in the land...sometimes I think we've lost some perspective.
Now a note of full disclosure. After the 1994 season, I quit my job as Special teams co-ordinator at D-III St. John Fisher College. At the team banquet they said nice things about me and presented me with a nice pen set. I was back before Spring Ball. I did not give the pen set back, but when I finally did "Retire" from coaching, at age 36, I did it in May...

Colts perfection
YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME! Only exception is a final meaningless game. "Resting" players 3 weeks before your playoff game is just stupid. And if you are unbeaten, it's even dumber. Up 2 touchdowns, 10 minutes left in the game...fine, but what took place yesterday in Indy was a disgrace. Not to mention the impact on all the other potential playoff teams. Finally, the only time the Colts actually finished the deal and won a Super Bowl, they played hard through the end of the season. This "Resting" theory is right up there with the prevent defense. And they threw away a chance at NFL immortality. Just a shame!

Greatness and Class

As Alabama closed out the 2009 SEC Championship, I stood on the Floor of the Georgia Dome and looked up at the megatron to see Tim Tebow, in tears, on the sideline...as I stared at the image, it occurred to me that, in a sense, Tim Tebow was responsible for both Florida's win in 2008, and this Bama victory in 2009. Later, Nick Saban took the podium and confirmed my thoughts. Tebow taught the Tide a lesson in perseverance and showed them where they had to raise their game to if they were to wear the crown. And then the Tide did just that. Tebow had one of those Tebow moments, marching his team right down the field to cut the Alabama lead to 12-10, much to close given the level of dominance the Tide were enjoying.
But then a strange thing happened. Alabama responded. With a vengeance. Catching the Gators in their 1st blitz of the game, Greg McElroy floated a screen pass to Mark Ingram and 69 yards and one review later, Bama was 1st and goal from the 3. One play later, it was 19-10, and it was clear that this would not be 2008. Nick Saban's $32 million dollar deal 3 years ago looks like a steal right now. And Tim Tebow is still the greatest college football player of our time. Greatness and class; which is which? You decide. You're right.

Con-Vinced?

Well, here we go again. All he does is win. Call is the "Comeback on the Cumberland" or the "Drive for Five" and in win number 5 in a row...or "The Oh My! by VY!"....OK, lets not call it that...whatever it was, it was special. Only the "Music City Miracle" was a more special moment at LP Field that the final 2 minutes of that game on Sunday. And with Young throwing for 387 yards, no INTs and one titillating, game winning TD, it is time to ask, have we seen enough? Enough to turn this team over, once and for all, to Vince Young. for this year, next year and until he fails over an extended period of time. Vince has bought himself a bad outing without ridicule, not that one seems to be coming anytime soon. The most important numbers from Sunday are 4 for 8. That's Young's rushing line. And none of those were called runs. Mike Hiemerdinger has provided VY with a tremendous plan, and Young is executing. How well? VY managed to push an NFL record 6th straight 125+ yard effort by Chris Johnson to second fiddle status. Johnson finished with 154 yards, featuring a 85 yard TD run that, at the time, seemed to put the game under control for the Titans. That feeling lasted about a minute as LaRon Stephens-Howling brought the ensuing kickoff back 99 yards...and just helped set the stage for the Vinsanity....

Time to step aside?

Well, I'm at a crossroads. After a second straight loss to my oldest son's team in Turkey Bowl, the writing is on the wall. Joe (far right in this shot from 2007 with Alabama, before he accepted a scholarship to Middle Tennessee and below in the MT locker room after the Maryland win) has, what Charlie Wies would call, "A schematic advantage" over me. The game is 5 on 5 and he had his team running the Wildcat, Spread Option and a couple of things that I'm not sure have names. My only hope is to hang in long enough for my 12 year old son, Tommy, to become an athletic mismatch, but alas, he does not want to be on my team anymore. This years game was lost 36-12 after last season's 24-14 setback. Until then, I had never loss...
This game held one other indignity for me. On a QB throwback play I swung the ball out to Tommy and then floated into the flat. Tommy floated it back to me and as I went for the ball, the Mexicutioner, the GM of Big Dawg Productions who moonlights as my Son-in-law, met me at the ball. A monumental collision resulted in me going head over heels in a hit worthy of ESPN's JACKED UP segment. Surely, Mex was also sprawled out on the ground and my only concern was to scramble to my feet before he got up. Only he never got down. Just kind of stood over me, only glancing away long enough to see if my pregnant daughter was concerned. She was laughing. So was my wife. And my other pregnant daughter. And the dog. Now I need to go ice down. And turn in my retirement papers...I wonder if this is how Brett Favre went out...oh, wait....

Really?

On Friday, I was named 2009 "Best Talk Host" in Nashville by the Curb Records AIR Awards, for the 2nd year in a row. I can't tell you how humbling that is when you consider guys like George Plaster and Phil Valentine, legends in these parts, were finalists as well. And, as usual, I kinda screwed up the acceptance speech. I needed to thank the people who's daunting task it is to make me look good...Charlie Saunier and, before him, Jonathan Shaffer. And I needed to thank the Mexicutioner, Al Llamas, who runs Big Dawg Productions while I'm screwing off on the show. And Brad Hopkins, who joined the show a few months ago to shore me up. And, really, my wife, who has allowed me to chase this career all over the country. And finally, the listeners, who don't vote on the AIR Awards, but put up with the way I roll the show. So thanks to all of you....and we'll just keep trying to do our best, because whether they give me that Award or not, I feel like a winner because of all of you!

Here we go again!

I have received many e-mails concerning the show not being on 730 WUMP in Huntsville again, and hopefully, I can address many of you right here. It's there call. I made some inquiries as to what was up, but, as is often the case, the devil is in the details, and I really don't have all the details, nor have a desire to know all the details. I do know that the syndication that we had embarked on was moving slowly, like everything else in this economy, and the show was a bit clunky for the guys in Huntsville to manage...technical stuff. Also, the individual who really pushed to bring us back there is no longer there, and that may factor in as well. I do know that the decision was ultimately made in Atlanta, so I don't feel my blood is on anyone's hands in Huntsville. In any event, there was concern about what the future of the show would be, so they felt it was time to bail out. I appreciate the time we had on the air there, and wish everyone the best, as always. I also love you listeners down there and remind you that you can stream the show at www.thomabraham.com, and listen on several phone base apps as well...in the meantime, we'll just keep doing what we do!

PS-Curb Record AIR Awards will be announced Friday. We are hoping to defend our 2008 award for "Best Afternoon Drive" show and "Best Talk Host" in Nashville award. We are also a finalist for "Best Midday Talk" show, so this could be interesting. Next year, we're shooting for "Best Graveyard Shift Talk Show"...just kidding on that one!