Sorry to steal campaign-Esq slogans but I need all the help I can get and so do the Tennessee Volunteers.

Following another loss that dropped them to 1-3 another QB Nick Stephens will split time in practice this week with Jonathan Crompton.

It doesn't sound like Stephens is the savior for the Vols this season but at 1-3 and a schedule that still has very tough games at Georgia, home to Bama, @ South Carolina, and at Vandy (my God I can't believe Vandy is in this category) the Pumpkin a.k.a. Phil Fulmer needs to do something.

In other news, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel 4 star QB recruit Josh Nunes from California changed his commitment to a soft verbal and now will go to Stanford because he was offered an "unexpected" scholarship.

Stanford over Tennessee? Dream of this kid or not Tennessee just lost a 4 star QB to Stanford!

It started on Thursday as Oregon St. beat the then #1 USC Trojans 26-21. The Ole Miss went into the Swamp and beat Florida by 1. North Carolina came back to beat Miami in South Florida by 4 when they were predicted to lose by 7. Maryland came from behind to beat Clemson 20-17 in Death Valley and at the time of this blog Navy is beating #16 Wake Forrest 17-0 in Winston-Salem.

But more importantly, Brown held off Harvard, defending Ivy League Champions 24-22.

Dude!

I've been hearing some people ' why should the US government bailout these Wall Street firms?' ' Why should taxpayer money go to these companies that made dumb decisions?' ' The financial crisis is just more fear mongering from Bush!'

' Why should the government bailout these companies?' How bout this one reason--jobs. We're not talking about the high paid executives here we're talking about the administrative assistants, the HR people, payroll clerks, security guards, janitors, etc. When these companies go out of the business or get into trouble, I.e. Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, and AIG. These companies layoff people.

' Why should taxpayer money go to these companies that made bad decisions?' Well, they did make bad decisions but more importantly they got greedy. Nor should we let the major executives get the "golden parachute". However, we are talking about companies that are in all parts of out life. You may have your health insurance through AIG. If they go out of the business your' re employer or you have to go looking for a new provider ASAP and there's no guarantee that you won't be paying more.  The jobs aspect comes back into play here as well.

' The financial crisis is just more fear mongering by President Bush!' No, it actually really is that bad. Two examples can be found here and here.  The one number that stood out to me is the amount of people involved in stocks directly or indirectly.  You may not believe Bush but it really is that bad out there and for those of you who don't think that this is effecting the rest of the World then you, like some European leaders have your head in the sand.

I knew Florida would beat Tennessee yesterday. I was just hoping that Tennessee would make a game of it.

There are few things worse than losing. One of them is watching a team beat itself. Making mistake after mistake after mistake. Like watching a drug addict continually pour poison into their veins.

Some are pointing out that last year Tennessee started 1-2 and went on to the SEC title game. Others, like myself, are pointing to a 2005 season when Tennessee went 5-6. At least during that season we had that amazing comeback at LSU.

The problem is pretty bad when even ole Phil Fulmer is pointing out to the media in the pre game interviews that Tennessee has no leaders. The coaching staff was excited to play the Gators but apparently the players weren't. That could be a problem.

So now most of us Vols have excepted a 2-4 start to this season but the final kick to the stomach came this morning when instate rival and perennial doormat of the SEC Vanderbilt found itself ranked in the top 25 for the first time since 1984 and only the fourth time since WWII.

Dude.

You know, I don't know how many times I can write about airlines not getting it.

In a recent University of Michigan survey, the airlines are getting the smack down once again. Southwest however is still the cream of the crop.

I fly Delta, United, Continental, US Airways, AirTran and Southwest. Every time I can I fly Southwest. Is it sometimes more to fly them? Of course but I would rather fly them, get their on time and have people be nice to me instead of saving $20.

I just don't understand why the other airlines have not taken to the Southwest way of doing business. Turn the plane around in 20 minutes,  check me in quickly, and get me to where I need to go as quickly as possible, and be nice doing it.

That's the amazing thing. Just about every time I go to the Las Vegas airport and go to check in I always give myself extra time if I'm going on Delta or Continental and especially United. But on Southwest I know it's going to take me longer to go through security then it is to check in. Why is that? They all have the same set up. They all have the same check in process or at least it appears that way.

I just don't get it.

In any event, fly Southwest and say Brad sent ya.

It's not every trip you get to visit a small town for a week. This past week I got to stay in Omaha, Nebraska.

I have a distant connection to the Cornhusker state. My dad's side of the family is from there. I grew up watching Dr. Tom Osborne coach the Nebraska Cornhuskers to near misses against Oklahoma and later on to National Titles.

So going to Omaha, and seeing all the red was a trip. Granted people looked at me like I had a horn coming out of my head because the first full day I was there was a Saturday. So I wore my Tennessee shirt....just to represent. (Besides, the last two times Nebraska played Tennessee they blew them out of the water)

Downtown was bit like 'Night of the Comet.' Nobody was walking around downtown at night it seemed like. But when you got to a restaurant there were people there. Weird.

I was one of the few people to be impressed with the fact that Union Pacific's corporate headquarters were right next to our hotel.

In the end I did enjoy the town, the bar, and downtown. It's nice to be in places like that were life just seems slower.

Good lookin women around too.

Former UFC Middleweight Champion and generally interesting guy Evan Tanner was found dead in the desert in the Palo Verde mountain area.

The cause of death has not been determined at this time.

Tanner's MMA career is that of legend. He learned to grapple by watching videos. He fought and beat some of the best which included an amazing comeback to beat Dave Terrell at UFC 51 and gain the Middleweight Title.

I didn't know him then. I knew him when he returned to the Octagon after 2 years away. I've mentioned him in a few blogs including the previous one I posted.

He mentioned me in his blog which I mentioned in a June posting called NOTICE.

He was an interesting guy. A deep gravely voice that made me wonder why he never pursued a career doing voice over work.

I was speaking about him a co-worker who admitted that the guys lived an intriguing life but in the end it's a living tragedy. I guess he didn't know how right he was.

Tanner's life was tragic. He battled a lot of demons in his and even won some of those fights.

My only regret is that I didn't get to hang out with him a little more and get to know him better.