Look for Tennessee to beat UCLA to start '08 season

Last year, the Tennessee Volunteers opened the season at California with high hopes but got thumped by two touchdowns. The Vols return to the state to play UCLA in the season opener this year, and I expect the outcome to be different.

As I've written in other postings, I have a good feeling about the Vols this year. Most of the starters on last year's offense return, and new quarterback Jonathan Crompton has looked pretty good growing into his role. The defense appears much more settled compared to the start of last year.

UCLA's injuries at quarterback have been well documented, and the Vols are definitely catching a break in having to face the Bruins third-string quarterback. UCLA has a good defense that should keep them in the game, but the Vols will pull away in the second half.

Quite simply, the Vols are the better team. And it will show on Monday night.

The pick: Tennessee 28 UCLA 20

Other SEC picks: Clemson over Alabama, Louisville over Kentucky, Vanderbilt over Miami (Ohio), South Carolina over North Carolina State, Georgia over Georgia Southern, Florida over Hawaii, LSU over Appalachian State, Auburn over Louisiana-Monroe, Mississippi State over Louisiana Tech, Arkansas over Western Illinois, Ole Miss over Memphis

There should be no pre-season college football polls

Georgia is ranked number one in both the Associated Press and USA Today college football polls to start the season. In fact, the Bulldogs are the pick of most experts to win the national championship. They have a lot of experience returning this year especially on defense.

However, I have never understood the need for polls before the start of the season. The polls are supposed to rank the top 25 teams in the country, but how is that possible if no games have been played? True, the pre-season polls are largely ceremonial and play an important roll in adding to all the pre-season chatter related to the sport. But don't these polls give an unnecessary advantage to teams that have not earned anything yet?

Every year, it seems like there is at least one team that is ranked low in the polls or not at all, but they emerge as one of the top teams. However, because they began so low, it was more difficult for them to reach the top than it was for teams that were bestowed high rankings without playing a game.

When Tennessee won the national championship in 1998, we began the year ranked tenth and had to slowly but surely jump teams on the way to the top. Conversely, the Volunteers started the 2005 season ranked third, but stank it out and finished with only a 5-6 record. Clearly, the Vols were vastly overrated that year.

Polls should not be issued until the first week of October. By then, all the teams have been playing for a month, and we should have a pretty good idea of who the better teams are. It will not guarantee that teams won't get overlooked, but it will greatly reduce the possibility. If we aren't going to have a playoff system, then we must look at ways to refine the current system. And this is one way.

Say goodbye to civility

In one form or another, most of us were taught when we were young that we should treat people the way we would want to be treated by them.

Most belief systems use this as a fundamental teaching. For example, Christianity refers to this as the Golden Rule, and it is a teaching that acts as a vessel through which believers can express love for God and their fellow man.

Many non-spiritual belief systems also agree that this is a good approach to life.

However, when looking at the world, I wonder if this teaching is having the impact on our society that it once did.

For example, I was recently talking with a friend who works in the customer service industry. He remarked that his profession is becoming more of a grind because of the attitudes he encounters from customers on a daily basis. He said that people appear to have shorter fuses than in the past, and it was a deep source of frustration for him.

This was especially interesting to me because my friend is no rookie just out of college. He has worked in the profession for many years, and he has seen this change slowly develop through the years.

When I asked him why he thought this was happening, he felt it might be because people are feeling financially squeezed. After all, unemployment and inflation rates are rising. Since many people have already over-extended themselves when it comes to debt in the last few years, this hostility may be an extension of that.

He makes a good point. Whether it is in the household or the government, overwhelming debt has become a daily part of many people's lives. Nothing creates stress quite like financial stress.

However, I wonder if this problem runs a little deeper. Not long ago, I was shopping in Murfreesboro and stopped at a fast food restaurant for lunch.

It was a Saturday, and the place was overflowing with customers. The lines were long and so was the wait.

While waiting, I saw customers verbally slap the employees taking their order several times. The employees were young and likely not making much more than minimum wage, but the customers really let them have it.

I guess having to wait five minutes for a hamburger was too much of a burden to handle so they took it out on them.

Now, I understand that customers have a right to expect professional service for what they are purchasing. We should all expect first-rate service, but there is a fine line between presenting a complaint and going off the deep end.

And more and more people seem to be going off the deep end.

I also have experience working in the customer service industry and have been surprised regarding what will cause a person to explode. This is especially true when dealing with somebody on the phone.

Maybe the anonymity of talking on the phone causes people to drop their inhibitions, but many people will start using profanities over just a few dollars.

People like to say that all things run in cycles, so hopefully there will be a turn toward gentleness and kindness sometime soon.

However, I am not encouraged. Our society's heart has become coarse, and it appears to be getting harder and thicker each day.

I hate to sound so pessimistic, but there is too much evidence piling up that supports my point of view.

My challenge to everybody reading this (including me) is to resist the negativity and keep fighting the good fight.

It's the right thing to do.