Some major changes this week on my ballot.

Say hello to: Dayton (18), Wisconsin (24)
Say goodbye to: BYU (19), Miami (Fla.) (20)

Moving up: Marquette (11 to 8), Tennessee (14 to 11)
Moving down: Pittsburgh (7 to 20), Texas (4 to 13)

Just missed (in order): Oklahoma, Rhode Island, St. Mary’s, Xavier, BYU

– I’m still not a Washington State believer, but at some point you have to acknowledge the record. They are not the sixth-best team in the country, but until they lose, I’ll won’t move them down.
– Marquette has just been killing people the last few weeks. I’m picking them to win the Big East.
– I moved Tennessee past Vanderbilt for the first time since they lost to Texas. The Commodores have been hanging on, and the Vols are playing better basketball.
– Arizona and Southern Cal are in the same boat. Can’t penalize them for losing to Memphis.
– I considered dropping Pittsburgh out completely. If Levance Fields is indeed out for two months, to go along with the injury to Mike Cook, Pitt probably isn’t a top-25 team. But because of their record, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

And now, the ballot:
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I graduated from the University of Memphis almost 10 years ago (yikes, did I just admit that?), and I hate to admit that last night’s game against Arizona was only the second game I’ve attended. Ever.

No football games. Go ahead, start throwing stuff.

And it’s not even that I don’t like sports. I’m not a huge football fan, but I love basketball. It’s the only sport other than tennis that I played as a kid and still play. I went to Bolton High School which was a basketball school and not a football school at the time. Follow that up with four years at the U of M, and you begin to see why I’ve favored basketball over most other sports. I think it’s in the water.

I’m torn anytime a hardcore tiger fan writes the paper about the lack of support for the U of M, but I also understand the people who are carrying a full load, working part or full-time jobs, and even taking care of family.

I worked about 30 hours a week in college and if I had to go back, I wouldn’t work until I was done. But that doesn’t account for the negligence for the school since I graduated.

It was thrilling to watch the U of M last night, even as they worked to find their groove in the first 10 minutes. The atmosphere at a Tigers basketball game, even 6 years ago when I went for the first time, is indescribable. It has to be experienced, and I encourage any other negligent Tiger alums to get out when they can and support their school in any way they can.

As a fan, I’ve averaged one game every five years. I’m going to work on improving my record.

I'm a geek for lists -- even my own. So here's a record of my Top Ten and Second Ten lists for each year I've been reviewing movies for The Commercial Appeal, starting in 1996. These are sources of pride and embarrassment for me. I'll stick by my Number Ones, and I still like some of the mini-essays that attempt to justify each film's inclusion; but there's not a list here that I wouldn't re-jigger. In retrospect, I see movies that don't deserve to be included, and I can think of neglected films that deserved to be recognized. Still, I've left the lists alone, reprinting them here as they were originally published, except for a few grammatical adjustments. The best year? 2001 -- just look at that amazing Top Five. (Note: The movies in my Top Ten and Second Ten lists were selected from films that debuted publicly in Memphis during the year. This is why some films appear in my Top Ten a year after they appeared in many other critics' lists; for example, "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Children of Men" were named to the Top Ten of 2006 by many critics, but they did not open in Memphis until January of 2007, hence they appear in my 2007 list.)

If you are an NFL team that wants to challenge history and go undefeated then make sure you have a Memphis/Memphis State Tigers player on your team. The only two teams to do it now are the 1972 Miami Dolphins with Charlie Babb on their roster and the 2007 New England Patriots with Stephen Gostkowski. The two most recent runs prior to this year’s Pats team was the 2005 Colts and 1985 Bears. Neither team had a Tigers player on their roster therefore were destined to fail. So if you’re an NFL team who wants to challenge destiny make sure you draft a Tigers player soon if you don’t already have one on your roster.

The first half of the Tigers win over Arizona proved once again you can take away some weapons but not all of them. The Wildcats did a good job on CDR and Rose in the first half. But Dozier and company stepped right in and knocked them down. Cal’s recruiting has proven to be nothing short of awesome. And that’s in the truest definition of awesome as they simply overwhelm opponents.
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