By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — With the Titans on pace for their first double digit victory total and AFC South title since 2008, the toughest test among their final four games looms this week. The Green Bay Packers have already clinched the NFC Central, and look primed to challenge the Saints, Rams and possibly Seahawks for a Super Bowl berth, as well as get the first-round bye for best NFC record. All the stories that ran early last season about tension between former Titans offensive coordinator and current Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur and star QB Aaron…
Author: Ron Wynn
Bigtime college football and basketball has always had a fundamental consistency problem. While colleges are supposed to be institutions of higher learning where education takes precedence over everything else, sports included, Power 5 football and Division 1 basketball makes big money for the institutions. Networks aren’t lining up with millions of dollars to donate to chemistry labs or lectures on literature, even if those things are much more part of a college’s general mission than winning football and basketball games. But critics have frequently attacked the NCAA for hypocrisy in its insistence that these schools were engaging in “amateur” activity.…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The Vanderbilt Commodores will only play nine games this season. Plagued all year by a combination of roster shortages caused by transfers, opt-outs, and the imoact of COVID-19, the Commodores’ scheduled game against Georgia was cancelled Monday. It will go into the record books as a no contest. Vanderbilt concludes the first winless season in school history at 0-9. But there was some positive news emanating from Vanderbilt as well, namely the selection of a new head football coach. Current Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea was officially named to the position Monday. Lea…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The Tennessee Titans are heading into their final three games in excellent shape, especially offensively. Derrick Henry comes off a 215 yard game, and is positioning himself to be the league’s first repeat rushing champion in 13 years. A.J. Brown had another big game against Jacksonville, and the Titans often maligned defense only allowed one touchdown in a 31-10 victory that improved their record to 9-4. The Titans remained tied atop the AFC South with the Indianapolis Colts, who also won over the Las Vegas Raiders. But the Titans still own the tie-breaker, as…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — A case that HBO thought might be resolved in their favor regarding the controversial film “Leaving Neverland” is instead headed back to arbitration because of a clause that dates back to the last century. A federal appeals court ruled Monday that an arbitration clause contained in a 1992 deal between the network and Michael Jackson for a concert film was still valid 28 years later. This is the aftermath from a lawsuit filed in February 2019 by Optimum Productions and the two co-executors of the Jackson estate. They claimed that HBO agreed not to…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Margie Singleton has had such an illustrious career even if she never issued another song she’d have numerous impressive achievements. But Singleton never lost her love for music, and says it was her family who insisted she get back in business. “My son kept after me to go back and make something new, so we put the studio equipment in the home and went to work,” she told the Tribune during a recent interview. The results are the outstanding five-track new EP “Never Mind,” which debuted last month. The title track was the first…
By Ron Wynn Nashville, TN (TN Tribune)–Jimmie Allen has had an immediate impact in country music that is both historic and unprecedented. He’s the first Black artist to launch his career with two straight number one country hits. “Best Shot” stayed atop the charts three weeks, and was followed by “Make Me Want To” that also ended up at number one. Those tunes established Allen’s popularity and helped propel 2018’s “Mercury Lane,” which drew rave reviews and reflected both idiomatic versatility and his strong core country vocal foundation. But Allen hasn’t stopped there. He’s set to make his debut as…
NASHVILLE, TN — After a tough three-game stretch vs. Baltimore, Indianapolis and Cleveland, the final four games for the Titans look much easier, despite the fact three are on the road. They begin the last portion of the 2020 season Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a club that can’t wait until the end of the year and is in major rebuild mode. They’ve already canned their general manager, and if their head coach survives it will be one of the year’s major miracles. They’re still playing hard, as witness their three-point loss in overtime to the Vikings in Minnesota this…
NASHVILLE, TN — The tradition and glory of HBCU football is well known, and their basketball legacy has also been frequently chronicled. But one sport that doesn’t get much coverage or attention in terms of Black colleges remains baseball, even though there’s been an equally long history of outstanding athletes who made it to the majors from HBCU’s. Brandon Rembert wants to change that situation. Rembert’s a top prospect who hasn’t made his name at Arizona State, USC, Vanderbilt or any of the well known college baseball schools. Instead, he’s been a star at Alcorn State. He’s also trying to…
The 2020 college football season can’t end soon enough for either Vanderbilt or Tennessee. This SEC year for the local college teams has been far bleaker than either anticipated. Its already resulted in one head coach being fired, and another one definitely on a super hot seat. After the SEC decided to adopt a conference-only football schedule, no one assumed that either Vanderbilt or Tennessee would win a league title. But the feeling was Vanderbilt could at least win four, maybe five games, and Tennessee would improve with the momentum generated by last season’s stretch of winning games capped off…