kimberlyhood

By Kimberly Hood

Redshirt freshman Kelley Cain hit the nail on the head when she said she wasn't that surprised Pat Summitt reached 1,000 wins.

"She's Pat Summitt - success comes with the name," Cain said after the win.

Success does come with the name. The beloved coach, known by most fans and all her players as just ‘Pat,' has won the hearts of Tennesseans - and she's won just about everything else too. In the 35 years since she began coaching at Tennessee, Summitt has amassed enough championship rings to use them as brass knuckles, been to the Sweet 16 of every Women's NCAA tournament since it began 26 years ago, appeared in 16 Final Fours and been named National Coach of the Year 7 times and Naismith Coach of the Century.

Oh yeah, and she also has a tiny little thing called a gold medal for coaching the 1984 U.S. women to their first-ever Olympic championship.

Now, adding to that success, she will be remembered as the first coach in NCAA basketball history to reach 1,000 wins.

By Kimberly Hood

The pause was so abrupt and the silence so obvious that crickets chirping would have been a welcome relief. What's worse is that I had set myself up for the fall. "So what are your hobbies outside of sports?" I foolishly asked Morgan Peterson and Monica Rogers. You would've thought I'd asked two fish what they liked to do outside of water.

By Kimberly Hood

For Robert Burris, racing is a way of life.

Living within view of the 411 Speedway, Burris' house has nearly become an extension of the track with his cars and those of fellow racers stored in or around his garage, sometimes as many as six or seven. On any given day he or a friend is likely doing some kind of mechanical work to one of the cars, and on Saturday night the house and yard are alive with drivers and fans, playing host to 30 or more post-race guests.

Burris began track racing eight years ago after moving from Sevierville to Seymour in 2000. He had been involved in drag racing previously, but said as soon as he ventured over to the Speedway and got on the track, he was hooked.

By Kimberly Hood

Maryville College freshman and former SHS basketball standout, Tara Heyboer, has been named to the Great South Athletic Conference All-Freshman team.

Heyboer played at SHS for two years after moving to Seymour from Michigan.

In her rookie season at Maryville, Heyboer has had significant playing time at forward, seeing action in every game and averaging 18 minutes per contest.

By Kimberly Hood

Georgia coach Andy Landers sent Pat Summitt a text wishing her luck before her game at No. 2 Oklahoma Tuesday night, which could have been her 1,000th career win.

It might be a genuinely nice gesture between rival coaches, or it could be that Georgia is next on the schedule and Landers knows all the hype surrounding Summitt's 1,000th win might come at his expense - you decide.

Regardless, despite his wishes, the Lady Vols fell 80-70 on the road at Oklahoma, and while the big story of the loss was that Summitt was denied 1,000, there were some definite bright spots for the Big Orange faithful - four in particular.

By Kimberly Hood

The Lady Vols defeated Georgia Thursday night to give their coach her much anticipated 1,000th win at home. And they didn't just give her a win - they took a landslide victory, winning 73-43 over an SEC rival who has handed the Lady Vols more losses than any other team.

After their loss at Oklahoma, Summitt was very upset with the team because she felt they hadn't utilized the scouting report the coaching staff had put together for them and hadn't played a smart game. So, in true Summitt fashion, she told them they could do their own scouting report for the Georgia game, and apparently, it worked.

By Kimberly Hood

The Vols claimed another SEC win Wednesday night, defeating Mississippi State 81-76 in a close one at home.

After losing back to back games to Mississippi and Kentucky, UT needed the win, not just for morale sake, but to keep from being excluded from the NCAA tournament pool for the first time in four years. And it might not have been the prettiest game, but a win is a win at this point in the season.

By Kimberly Hood

Duke defeated the Lady Vols at home 62-54 Monday night, making them only the third team in history to win three consecutive games in Thompson-Boling Arena against Pat Summitt.

While it wasn't as slow of a start as the last time Tennessee faced Duke at home and fell behind 19-0 to start the game, it was still slow. The Lady Vols didn't score until the 16:39 mark when Glory Johnson converted a free throw.

By Kimberly Hood

The Lady Vols fended off in-state rival Vanderbilt, winning 75-66 on senior night and keeping their perfect 24-0 record against Vandy at Thompson-Boling in tact.

By Kimberly Hood

Valentines Day or not, the Vols had no love for in-state rival Vanderbilt, winning 69-50 at Thompson-Boling Saturday. The win swept the series for UT and snapped the Commodores' four game SEC win streak.

By Kimberly Hood

The Tennessee Volunteers put on a good show for the 51,488 fans that turned out to get a sneak preview of what next year's season will hold. The offense won the day 41-23 with a solid performance, turning the ball over only once - a very welcome statistic for Big Orange fans.

By Kimberly Hood

The Smokies increased their win streak to four in front of 2,974 fans Monday night, defeating the Chattanooga Lookouts 3-2 in extra innings.

By Kimberly Hood

The Medic Bloodmobile was in Seymour Monday, and according to Medic staff, there was a good turnout.

There were a total of 49 units of blood collected at the Food City location, which according to Christi Fightmaster of the Regional Medic Blood Center is "a great day, especially for an 8 hour stop."

Medic is currently facing a shortage of all blood types, especially A+. According to Fightmaster, they currently have only 216 pints on the shelf - less than half of the level they need to maintain.

By Kimberly Hood

You don't have to go to Hollywood to find quality filmmakers. In fact, you don't even have to leave the Knoxville area. A feature film shot entirely in East Tennessee and largely in South Knoxville is receiving much attention after bagging awards at the recent South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

That Evening Sun, produced by Dogwood Entertainment, the film division of Knoxville-based visual media company DoubleJay Creative, generated quite a buzz amongst critics after receiving the Audience Choice Award for Narrative Feature as well as a Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast at SXSW.

By Kimberly Hood

Music lovers have found a new haven in Knoxville - The Square Room. Located adjacent to Café 4 in Market Square, the venue offers an intimate concert setting for musicians and fans.

True to the name, the room is basically square, housing a stage at one end and an entire wall of sound proof glass at the other with ample seating and mingling space in between. On the other side of the glass is the restaurant, Café 4, giving concerts a unique urban backdrop without sacrificing the integrity of the music with unwanted noise. Of course, in the event the restaurant is too distracting, there is also a thick black curtain that can be pulled across it to create an even closer concert space. Hardwood floors, high ceilings and exposed fixtures also add to the atmosphere.

By Kimberly Hood

It was going to take more than a cold, rainy day to keep season pass holders from flocking to Dollywood in hopes of catching a glimpse of Dolly Parton herself on opening day.

By 10:30 a.m. the parking lots were full, and guests who didn't already have their season passes in hand were cued in lines that stretched around the building.

Parton didn't disappoint, making appearances at various shows over the course of the day to discuss upcoming Dollywood attractions.

Her first appearance followed the premier of Imaginé , the most heralded of the 2009 Festival of Nations acts.