WITHROW AND KUHARSKY MUCK UP OUR LANGUAGE

104.5 THE ZONE NEEDS TO AVOID ASPECTS OF GRAMMAR

    For myself it is quite apparent that Tennessee’s education system is totally clueless when it comes to basic grammar instruction. No teacher in the state has ever instructed a student about short vowels. Only long vowels exists. That helps to explain how when I was grading TCAP essays years ago that the simple two-letter word "on" was often spelled "own." That's how Tennessee-grown adults speak.

   So, when Tennessee born and raised Chad Withrow delved into a grammar area during midweek I knew he was headed for trouble. He didn't let me down. The eternal sophomore with the annoying and never-ending spiel addressed how the Tennessee city of Milan is pronounced differently here than it is in its namesake city in Italy. Of course it is. The vowel "i" in "Milan" is going to be long in Tennessee whether it is supposed to be or not. Worse, he mispronounced the word "Italian" in pointing out the Milan disparity. This particular mispronunciation of the word "Italian" or "Italy" is so common a mistake you can usually find it in top ten lists pertaining to such matters. In fact, "ahy-tal-yuh n" is heard primarily from uneducated speakers and many Italians find such a pronunciation offensive.

   Withrow's sidekick, Paul Kuharsky, who suffers from delusions of adequacy, made some sort of comment about his proficiency in such matters, completely missing the "Italian" slip-up, all of which added up to a classic show of inefficiency. It's true, incompetent people do not know they are incompetent.

TITAN PRAYBOOK

TITAN FEELING THE HEAT, SOCCER UPGRADE PLAN UNVEILED

  

HUNTER SEASON MAY BE OVER

The longer the Tennessee Titans have Justin Hunter in tow the longer the inept wide receiver prolongs his destiny: as another Titans castoff shuffled off to Jeff Fisher and the Rams. It’s likely he would already be adjusting to the smog in Los Angeles if not for getting shelved due to an injury last season.

TITANS TREATMENT OF MARIOTA BORDERS ON THE CRIMINAL

   Get this man some receivers. Here are the facts, the Tennessee Titans during the preceding two seasons, 2013-14 and 2014-15, were one of the worst football teams in the history of the NFL.  I would say in the top ten worst all-time without even looking up the statistics to prove such. Sure, that illuminates how they have many needs to fill to improve substantially. But is this, the current crop of receivers, really the best the Titans brass can do in supplying their prize young quarterback, Marcus Mariota, reliable route runners and pass catchers? He's a sleek and ready Lear jet with no flight path.

ANSWER TO HOW AMERICAN CAN BECOME SOCCER ELITE

   It’s not our sport.  Let’s stop there. The reasons are many why our top America soccer teams are not on par with the world’s elite soccer teams, why there appears to be little progress year after year in fielding a topnotch unit of soccer players. It’s a favorite topic of debate for radio sports talk shows around the nation in looking for ways to fill airtime. The answer is simple, and never has the answer been broached before, not until now. Field a team of black players. That’s right, get black youths involved somehow, someway, and in due time America will be great in soccer the world over. It has worked superbly in the NFL and in the NBA. See, that wasn’t so difficult to figure out now, was it?

2016 Tennessee Titans Welcome New Season

2016 Tennessee Titans as seen from crow's nest, me being the crow.

Season finish: 8-8 optimum, 6-10 more likely

Biggest deficit: No receivers
Biggest asset: Delanie Walker

COMEDY TIME RERUNS COMING UP
In observing 60-plus years of pro football, Dorial Green-Beckham is the worst receiver I have ever seen. Don't rattle off his stats to me. Those were balls he somehow managed to catch. It's the ones he didn't catch, and how he looked in not catching them, that remain real headscratchers. It's not so much that he failed to haul them in as it is how he reacted to the throws. A receiver is supposed to always be looking for the ball, no matter what play was called. You run your specified route, make the look, and assume it is coming to you every time. But he, with the pretentious hyphenated surname, looked like someone new to the sport just pulled off the streets. And they call it professional football.

PERISH THE THOUGHT?
How can Perrish Cox even be on the team? The guy did not even attempt to tackle a runner going into the end zone in a game last year. It's as if it never happened. He should have been gone before the next sunrise.

TAYLOR UNMADE
Taylor Lewan. His name comes up sometimes regarding whether or not he might be moved to right tackle, creating the assumption he would be all right playing tackle on the right side in lieu of the left. I am not one to make that assumption. Too many bad things happen on his left side. I am not sure he would be even adequate at any position on the offensive line.

IT'S YOUR RECESSIVE GENES, CHIEF
The obnoxious, arrogant, and on the wrong side of everything -- okay, I should just cut to the chase and say Yankee -- Paul Kuharsky, recently said on 104.5 The Sports Zone, after admitting having trouble reading the small print on his computer, "I don't want to show my age," meaning he did not want to pull out his eyeglasses. That's not an age issue Chief, it's a vanity issue. With Kuharsky though it's not either. It pertains more to his recessive genes: bald early, needs eyeglasses, probably hard of hearing as well.

YEAH, BUT IT'S A DRY HEAT

I've lived a couple hills away from Death Valley. I've lived in Bakersfield, Calif. Two notoriously hot locales. In fact, Death Valley is the hottest place in the world.

Every time I try to brag about how I lived in such places, and no matter how graphic I describe just how hot these places are, I always forget what I am setting up and what I will hear next.

"Yeah, but it's a dry heat."

I've been setting myself up as the foil for this remark many, many times over the last 40 years. Each time I slap my forehead and tell myself I will never learn.

Yes, it is a dry heat. It's not really a blast furnace from Hell. That 121 degrees of blistering blaze is a dry heat. It's really about 67 degrees, a nice cool breeze is blowing and I won't die in about 40 seconds if I don't consume a gallon of water.

Excuse me for educating you on how hot it is. Right, it is a dry heat. What was I thinking?

 

IF THAT MANY LIKE IT, IT CAN'T BE THAT GOOD

Junk sells. Books, music, movies, gear it to the lowest common denominator and get ready to rake in the dough, the moolah, the green, the money.

Examples: Kenny Rogers, Adam Sandler, the list is long. Pick the most popular and you will nail the majority.

When I tell people this, they think I am odd. Heck, it's not even original with me. Most people have no discerning ability, they're sheep. Not only do they not know what is junk, they also do not know there are people, such as myself, who look at such things from a larger perspective, not from personal opinion, which is often a mighty limited scope.

The trap I fall into is when I broach this exact subject matter with an individual. I set myself up and fall for it every time.

After I recite an intelligent reason for something or someone being junk, it is always the same response:

"I'd like to have all the money (it, she, he) made on it."

Right. Not only do they still do not get it, they have defended their posture with an equal vulgarity.




 

Media Gives Hollywood Free Reign Setting Moral Standards

Lindsay Lohan has decided she wants to mentor young girls, part of a plan her lawyer says involves turning her life around. Where else but Hollywood? A lesbian mentoring young girls? As part of the same world, Carmen Electra says she is proud of having the third most covers for Playboy. -30-

Tennessee Titans 2013 Key Positional Analysis

QB -- The Titans need one. Jake Locker is not the guy. WR -- The Titans always need a receiver. Oh, they draft them, and even sometimes acquire them, but they need A receiver. DE -- Oh where oh where is a pass rusher available? RB -- A bigger version of Chris Johnson would be nice. A north and south version. LB -- They need a bruiser, one who makes a tackle and then pounds his chest afterward. The defense is lifeless all around. Head Coach -- Munchak is woefully mediocre. Also, he doesn't need to jump around on the sideline to be effective but he doesn't need to be so constrained either that he makes Tom Landry look antimated. K -- Put the franchise tag on Bironas if need be. He skanked a few last year but he's one of the better field goal kickers of all time. Look it up.