Gooooooooooooooooooooooood morning, Friends.  I trust you all slept well last night…well, except for Big D, who is probably just hitting the hay as we speak.  Anywho, sad news yesterday.  Charlie Daniels, the man responsible for smokin’ more fiddles than anyone (last seen burning one up in a Geico commercial) had a stroke yesterday.

One of the more popular meme’s around these parts is the “/Miz is a redneck” configuration.  Shockingly, I’ll have you know that, despite my East Tennessee roots, I didn’t grow up a country music fan.  In fact, I hated country music until I reached college and decided to give it a real listen.  Now, I dig it pretty hard.  However, while I may have despised country music growing up, my first favorite singer/band was the Charlie Daniels Band.  Charlie Daniels gets lumped into the country genre, but that’s not entirely accurate.  I would have to say his style is a healthy mix of country, folk, bluegrass, rock-n-roll, and even a little metal utilizing everything from his famous fiddle to banjos, steel guitars, mandolins, and even the occasional dulcimer.

I decided last night I’d dedicate today’s TMA to Charlie Daniels and wanted to post some videos.  I started listening to some of his old stuff I hadn’t listened to in probably 15 years or more and got all sentimental.  I’m gonna save a few videos of my absolute favorites for the end, but in the meantime, I’d suggest you do yourself a favor and open the following links in an adjacent tab as background music while perusing today’s linksauce: “The Legend of Wooley Swamp“, “Stroker Ace“, “A Few More Rednecks“, and “The South’s Gonna Do It Again” (pardon the plethora of rebel flags…unfortunately, some of my uneducated brethren tend to cling to Charlie Daniels a bit too much).

Now that S&F-favorite Ana Ivanovic has been knocked out Down Under, is there any reason not to cancel the rest of the tourney?  (More?  More…)

Dear Knoxvillians…GIVE IT A REST!!

21st Century husbands, FTW!

Did Carlton Fisk miss the point?

Mike Leach to East Carolina (the ECU nickname and mascot is, of course, the Pirates)?

Note to self: never get a facial in an Oakland salon.

I know I haven’t properly addressed Tennessee’s recently hired football coach, Derek Dooley.  I’m giving it time to marinate and percolate.  In the meantime, here’s some analysis in the form of a superb post title and a brilliant picture.

NBC’s getting a little testy.

College basketball midseason awards.  Jim Bowheem = coach of the year, for realz?

The most dangerous job in sports is… (insert drum roll).  Speaking of ol’ Urb…

Johnny Damon to the Braves!?  Eric Gagne to the Phillies!?

Southern Cal beats South Cackalacky.

I know you’ve all been on pins and needles with baited breath and anxiously awaiting word on the pending sale of the St. Louis Rams.  Or not.

Tom Verducci’s an idiot.  Werd.

D-Ho aint no leader, yet.

Lots of words about the 4 possible Super Bowl matchups.

Hokietron?  WTF!?

The greatest lyrical story ever told – “Uneasy Rider”:

It’s a crime (literally and figuratively) to speak of Charlie Daniels and not directly reference “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”:

Finally, I leave you with a true anthem of the South, “Long Haired Country Boy”:

Consider yourself cultured.

Mizerle06 is a senior writer and editor at Sparty & Friends. You can send him youtube links of Charlie Daniels music throughout the day at mizerle06@gmail.com.

Popularity: 2% [?]