Grizzlies Owner Michael Heisley in studio (The Audio)

Michael Heisley joined us in the studio for the entire first hour of the show.  Today we talked about the playoffs, how he bought the Grizzlies, the details of how the Grizzlies ended up in Memphis, the Brian Davis/ Christian Laettner fiasco, etc.  The stories were incredibly interesting.  If you missed it...
Michael Heisley on The Chris Vernon Show 5-6-11

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Charles Barkley on the show (The Audio)

Charles Barkley joined us on the show to talk about why he believes in the Grizzlies, the playoffs, breaking drivers, Memphis, etc.  It was a real thrill to have him on the show.  Here it is...

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All Heart. Grit, Grind (The Pics, Part 2)

More pics have been coming in of people wearing the Grit, Grind shirt in various places.  Here are some of them.  If you own the shirt, take a pic wearing it somewhere and send it to us. 

Guest spot on The Dan Patrick Show

Big thanks to all the guys at The Dan Patrick Show for having me on.  I was on the show on Wednesday morning to talk about the Grizzlies and the series vs. Oklahoma City.  Here it is if you missed it...

Chris Vernon on The Dan Patrick Show 5/4/11

The Zach Randolph Shirt

When we came out with the Tony Allen shirt, one of the first things that Tony said to me is that I needed to do a ZBo shirt.  Zach then would ask me after almost every game when I was gonna make him a shirt.  With a big assist from Zach and his tremendous agent Raymond Brothers, we have made it happen.  The man deserves a shirt, the man gets a shirt.  It is now available in our store (link above), and will be available for purchase before games outside FedEx Forum (starting Saturday).  The logo is full color, so it costs a little more ($20).   The slogan comes from his postgame comments after Game 6 of Spurs series.  For our second act, I give you the Zach Randolph shirt...

The Grizzlies Motivational Video

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace (with the help of Andy Shiffman) put together this motivational video that was shown to the team in the locker room prior to their first round series.  Guess it worked.  

MGMT lead singer WEARING THE GRIT/GRIND SHIRT

Andrew VanWyngarden is the lead singer of MGMT.  He is a Memphian.  The band has gotten huge (like 20-40 million hits on their YouTube videos huge).  Last night MGMT played at Beale St. Musicfest and look at what he was wearing on stage.  CHECK MATE.

Are you serious Darrell Arthur???

All Heart. Grit, Grind (The Pics)

Here is a sample of the first batch of pictures that have been sent in.  If you have the shirt, take a picture wearing it and send it to us.  The more creative the better.  So far we have gotten pics taken everywhere from the Napa Valley to the hospital maternity wing.  Thank you.  Keep em comin.

I see what you did there TNT

The Tony Allen shirts have now been mentioned by ESPN, Wall St. Journal, GQ, CBS, Yahoo!, etc.  And then, there I am watching Game 1 of the playoffs and this pops up on my screen.  All Heart.  Grit, Grind indeed.

Look who is in the Wall St. Journal

Some guy on the subway in New York City was reading about Tony Allen, and got himself a dose of the show.  Watch your back Wall Street.   The article is great and my favorite part is my quotes, no really, how amazing are those quotes?  In all seriousness, big thanks for Scott Caciolla for writing this article and including me (and the shirts)...

The Most Unlikely Impact Player

Tony Allen in the studio (The Audio)

You don't have the shirt yet?  You can order the shirt here...

The Chris Vernon Show Store

The man we honor with the shirts, Tony Allen himself, came into the studio today to talk about everything.  Here is the audio if you missed it...

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if you want to order the shirt and have it delivered to you...

The Chris Vernon Show Store

Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley rockin the shirt...

Thank you! (and the Fox 13 story)

Thank you to all of you that have ordered Tony Allen shirts.  There will be shirts literally all over the nation soon.  I never did any of this thinking about profit.  When a shirt got sold in San Francisco, or Dallas, my thought was not "wow, I just made money" it was "wow, some guy in California is gonna be walking around town in a Tony Allen shirt".  Tony, his agent Michael Higgins, and the Grizzlies have been great to me through all of this.  I know it is how the world works, but it has made me pretty uncomfortable for so many people to call and email and tweet about going into business, or "meeting about opportunities." 

I did it because I thought Tony Allen deserved a shirt.  To be honest, I think that is why it worked.  It was all fan-driven and organic.  The shirts have brought crazy media attention to the show, and crazy attention to Tony Allen.  That is because of you.  Thank you.

The FOX 13 story on Tony Allen popularity in Memphis, the shirts, and "Salmon + Mash Potatoes" -->

Memphis Grizzlies Fans Catch Tony Allen Fever: MyFoxMEMPHIS.com

Ordering the shirt

IF YOU WANT THE GRIT/ GRIND SHIRT, THEY WILL NOW BE DELIVERED VIA FEDEX AND YOU CAN ORDER THEM HERE AT OUR STORE...
WE WILL HOPE TO HAVE THEM BEFORE GAMES OUTSIDE IF YOU LIVE IN MEMPHIS

THE CHRIS VERNON SHOW STORE

Michael Heisley in studio (The Audio)

The owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, Michael Heisley, joined us in the studio for the 3rd hour of the show today.  Rather than argue about things we may disagree on, I wanted to use today to learn more about him as a person, and I think we did.  I got a lot of great response from people that said they think a little differently about him now.  I think you will enjoy this if you missed it.  It took up the entire hour.

Grizzlies Owner Michael Heisley on the show (The Audio)

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Looks like I'm in the T-Shirt business

My intent was not to be in the T-Shirt business, but I have no choice.  I will deliver what the people demand!  Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the response.  Having Bill Simmons tweet out the shirt to over 1.3 million followers was the breaking point.   You want Tony Allen T-Shirts, you will get Tony Allen T-Shirts! 

I have some available to ship.  Don't return them or complain (haha).  If you live in Memphis you can still buy them from me - we will hope to be outside before games.  The price is obviously higher here if you want it shipped.
SHIRTS WILL BE SHIPPED BY SATURDAY

UPDATE:  THERE WILL BE A NEW STORE UP TODAY WITH THE SHIRTS AVAILABLE TO BUY - JUST HOLD OFF UNTIL TONIGHT AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO BUY ONE.

ALL ORDERS ALREADY SUBMITTED WILL BE FILLED AS STATED

The Tony Allen T-Shirt (wooooooooooooo)

I will deliver what the people demand.  The people demand a Tony Allen T-Shirt.  You may have heard him mention it on twitter, or you may have seen one of the few that are already on the streets.   Lots of people are already asking me about them, so I might as well acknowledge it.  I am trying to find the best way to get these to the people that want them.  I am really not interested in shipping and returns and all of the junk that comes along with selling online.  So... I will attempt to find the best way to sell these without having to mess with potential problems.  I may put them in some stores and businesses, I may just carry a bag around with them, I may have you come up to the office if you want one, or I may stand out by the Forum before games.  I really don't know how I am going to get them to you.  I just wanted to make them, and for people to wear them. The shirt has the image above on the front and a small show logo on the back collar.   The greatest $15 you ever spent.  I obviously thought this through before I spent a bunch of money on them (haha).  If you want one, I will get you one,

Jimmy Hart live in studio (The Audio)

"The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart joined us in our studio on Thursday for over an hour.  I could attempt to explain what we talked about, but it would take forever and I have better things to do.  Just listen to it.  If you don't enjoy this interview you love communism.

Jimmy Hart live on The Chris Vernon Show (The Audio) ---->

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Bruce Pearl Rally

Feris Bueller's Day Off as Indie Film

The trip to Tulsa

Early this morning I picked up Roser and we headed to Tulsa for the Tigers game in the NCAA Tournament.  We left at about 6:15 a.m. and arrived in Tulsa right before the Memphis open practice at 12:40 p.m..  If I recall correctly we got on 40 west, drove forever, got off at some exit, drove a little more, and then we were in Tulsa.  It was a really easy trip.

We only stopped twice and one of the stops was in the great town of Sallisaw, Oklahoma.  We stopped there because we needed to stop for gas and because I saw a billboard that said "INDIAN STORE - NEXT RIGHT".  First we stopped at the gas station to fill up and grab a drink.  We went inside and encountered one of the most hilarious convenient stores ever.  The old lady working at the counter had a near death coughing spell that sounded like it could only come from a person that had smoked 300 cigarettes a day for the last 45 years.  She didn't die, but she did bring me to the edge of vomiting.  I can honestly say I have never seen a gas station with a sign that says "Jean Shorts on SALE", but I have now.  Here they are...

We left the gas station and headed across the street to The Indian Store...

This was kind of a letdown.  It just didn't feel very authentic to me.  I wanted real Indian swag and it was drums, teddy bears with head dresses, some bead stuff, and some t-shirts with wolves on them.  I wanted to buy a spear or something like that.  No dice.

We got to Tulsa in time for the Memphis open practice where we saw several Memphis media members, along with Pat Forde, Craig Sager, and some others.  Memphis looked really loose and confident to me.  Who knows if it will mean anything but they seemed like they were having fun and hardly overwhelmed.  Joe Jackson was hitting everything when I was watching him shoot.   I thought the arena, The BOK Center, was awesome.  Very impressive considering there is not an NBA team that plays there.  The practice...

A huge thank you to Lexus of Memphis for hooking us up with a new RX 450 Hybrid to drive down to Tulsa.  It is insanely comfortable, it has every bell and whistle imaginable, and rides as smoothly as any car I have ever been in.  I fully endorse this vehicle.  I learned the hard way that with a car so nice it is extremely easy to lose track of how fast you are going (the blue lights in Arkansas reminded me though).  83 in a 70.  The trooper was nice to us, but still gave me the ticket.  This is the car, go buy one...



Memphis vs. Arizona

The killer crossover of Josh Pastner vs. his former school.

Memphis is dancing

I didn't believe that Memphis could go down to El Paso and win the CUSA tournament.  To beat UTEP, in El Paso, at 9:30 in the morning just seemed too much to ask of this team.  I was wrong.  The expectations were extremely high for Memphis going into the season, and then when we saw them play. Everyone had to adjust what they thought the team was capable of.  Most believed that the team was still capable of being the class of CUSA, and after a 4th place finish were disappointed in how the season had played out.

Most projections did not have Memphis making the NCAA tournament field unless they won the CUSA tournament.  With a tournament bid on the line, and down big to UTEP, Memphis fought back and capped off a huge run with two Joe Jackson free throws to seal their fate.  Dancing.

Time will pass and we will remember the clutch Joe Jackson free throws forever, but it was how the game really ended that interested me most.  The game really ended with UTEP having a chance to win when Christian Polk (who had been fantastic all day) took a shot that came up short.  Several years ago I read an article in Sports Illustrated where Jeff Van Gundy said (and I am paraphrasing) "You are down by 1 and you have the ball.  You draw up the play.  Your guy gets the ball and he is open. He takes the shot.  The ball is in the air.... good coach, bad coach, good coach, bad coach, good coach, bad coach,"

I have always remembered that quote when thinking about how we talk about coaches.  I could not help but think of that quote after the game in regards to the Polk shot to win it.  If the shot drops in... Josh Pastner is bad coach?  His team becomes a disappointment and we are probably watching an NIT game hosted at FedEx Forum.  If the shot misses...Josh Pastner is a good coach?  His team is part of the Big Dance and they won the 3 games they absolutely had to.

It does all seem sort of silly.  Pastner is no better or worse of a coach if that Polk shot drops in and UTEP is dancing instead of Memphis.  Who knows if Josh is going to be one of the great college basketball coaches?  I would love to think that he will be because, like any normal human, I root for good things to happen to good people.  Here is what we do know - when it mattered most Josh Pastner had his team playing the best basketball we have seen them play all season.  He has taken the criticism and now he gets the praise.

The Memphis season was filled with the feeling that the team was not going to live up to expectations.  There is no question that not being involved in the NCAA tournament would have been a disappointing.  But nobody (not the fans, not the players, not Josh) has to worry about that.  A big congrats to Josh Pastner and the team.


Memphis is dancing after all.

Tony Allen guarding Kevin Durant

The New York Times wrote a great piece called "Allen and the Plight of the Undervalued Defender."  You can read the article HERE.  The video above was part of the article.

We need an intern

The Chris Vernon Show needs an intern.  I was an intern.  Roser was an intern.  Nearly every person I know in radio was an intern at one point.  You won't get paid but you will get good experience and if you are good you may get a job out of it.  Almost all of our interns that really wanted to be in the media have ended up in the media.  Intern Kevin is gone and took a job in Chicago.  He was tremendous and we miss him already.  If you think you may want to intern for the show, send me an email explaining why we should consider you.  We preferably need somebody that is good on the web, has a good sense of humor, and knows the show.  Email me at chris@cvernon.com if you are interested.

Priceless (Memphis Pom)

Z-BO!

Josh Pastner on the show (The Audio)

Memphis basketball coach Josh Pastner joined us on the show on Friday to talk about literally everything.  Over 35 minutes on him and the Tiger basketball team.  Here it is if you missed it...

Josh Pastner on The Chris Vernon Show (3-4-11)

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The Grizzlies + Playoff Beards

The Grizzlies are growing out playoff beards.  The deal was struck amongst the team prior to the San Antonio game.  As I understand it, you were allowed to shave before the Spurs game if you chose to and will not be allowed to shave your beard until the Grizzlies have officially clinched a playoff spot.  Given that the race is so tight in the Western Conference we are talking about these beards growing for easily over a month.  Every player on the roster is in on this.  All of the coaches are in on this.  Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace is in on this.  All told, over 30 members of the Grizzlies team and staff are growing beards.   You better believe the rest of the league and fans are gonna be talking about the way this team looks, and make no mistake, in a few weeks they will look hilarious.  I love it.

Trash talk lessons

Take a second and learn from the master... Jumpin Jeff Farmer. 

109-93

OK, I don't think of "Cadence" anymore

Last week I put up a post about how when I think of Charlie Sheen I think of the movie "Cadence". Oh, how quickly things change in a week. Too much?

ABC 24 News Story on Battier that features the show

Shane Battier live in studio (The Audio)

Shane Battier came back to Memphis, and joined us in our studio on Friday.  If you missed this, you really should listen to it.  If you heard it, you should listen again.  He was great.  30 minutes - tons of questions about everything - Shane Battier in studio...

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One of my finest moments (Hasheem Thabeet)

The blog from the night of the 2009 NBA Draft

Goodbye Hasheem.  I wish the Grizzlies front office would have listened to me.

Breakin out the old Battier swag

Get on my level - and didn't even include the little Russian doll of Battier, cause I didn't want to embarrass you.

CHRISVERNON.COM BREAKING NEWS

The Grizzlies have completed a trade with the Houston Rockets for Shane Battier.  The Grizzlies will give up Thabeet and a protected 1st Rd pick.

The Grizzlies are close to finalizing a deal with the Indiana Pacers that would send OJ Mayo to the Pacers in return for Josh McRoberts and their first round pick.

Grizzlies and the trade deadline

Here is what I have gathered...

I will be surprised if the Grizzlies do not move Thabeet.  There are multiple teams willing to take him on, so the Grizzlies will hopefully just take the best deal.  A deal with Houston with Thabeet and Shane Battier being the major pieces has been talked about seriously.  I'm told Houston wanted more than just Thabeet to get the deal done.  The deal may not be totally dead but by one source said that it had looked like it was going to happen at one point and may not now.

I was told that the offers for OJ Mayo are bad, really bad.  Heisley loves Mayo, and it will be hard to convince him on trading OJ, even if there is really good return available.  Maybe something will come up close to the deadline but I was told that teams were offering "laughable" return for Mayo at this point.

When I hear the name Charlie Sheen...

Over the past few weeks you may have heard about Charlie Sheen, and his troubles (or fun), roughly a trillion times.  I don't watch the TV show he is on, and have seen very few movies that he has been in.  Am I the only person that thinks of the movie "Cadence" when I hear the name Charlie Sheen?  I don't know if there is anyone more famous that I identify with something so obscure.  I know I should think of Wall Street, or Major League, but I don't. Charlie Sheen is the absolute master of looking like he has no idea what is going on. I have no idea how he was not given the Oscar for this scene alone. When I watch this you can hear me screamin - "Now that's acting!" I'd bet I watched this scene 1000 times when I was a kid...

Tell me it's a nightmare

1. Got out of bed

2. Grab my coffee

3. Opened up my laptop

4. Check twitter to see if anything is going on this morning

5. First tweet I see is from Cardinals beat writer and it reads as follows - "Wainwright going back to St. Louis to have ligament examined in right elbow.  Mozeliak believes it's "significant injury."
6. Check the other Cardinals news feeds - each one with worse news - including the Cardinals official feed that says "At this time things don't look good, will have more info after he sees doctors"
7. Sat in chair, pinching myself, praying that I am still asleep and this is all just a nightmare

The Tony Allen Effect

     I've been a big proponent of Tony Allen playing more minutes for the Grizzlies since the beginning of the season.  I'm confident my listeners and Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace grew tired of me exclaiming "This dude can guard Kobe in the Finals but can't play for the Grizzlies?!!"  Well, Lionel Hollins finally warmed up to Tony and started playing him, and he has reaped the rewards of his decision.   But how much?

    Here are some of the numbers that I gave out on the show on Monday -
I wanted to find some measure of  the effect Tony Allen has on the offensive and defensive ends of the court (in regards to team performance).  Some explaining - Offensive and Defensive efficiency is simply how many pts the team scores, or gives up, per 100 possessions.  The Grizzlies are currently 19th in Off. Eff. and 10th in Def. Eff. in the NBA.

I went to find what the Grizzlies do when Allen plays 25+ minutes (a lot), and what the team does when Allen plays 0-10 minutes (a little). 

     When Tony Allen plays (0-10) minutes...
The Grizzlies are 8-11 in 19 games
They have an Off. Eff. of 102.5 (23rd in the league)
They have a Def. Eff. of 104.5 (16th in the league)

     When Tony Allen plays (25+) minutes
The Grizzlies are 8-2 in 10 games
They have an Off. Eff, of 106.1 (10th in the league)
They have a Def. Eff. of 100.3 (6th in the league)

The sample sizes are obviously small, but I was surprised to find that not only are the Grizzlies better defensively (which I expected), but they are better offensively, when Allen plays big minutes.  There is no doubt that Allen will be playing big minutes while Rudy is out - will he still have a huge effect on both ends?  I guess we will see.

Buzz Bissinger was on the show

Last Friday Buzz Bissinger joined us on the show to talk about his latest column on The Daily Beast (find the column HERE)  Here was our conversation about him writing that white people have a hard time rooting for black athletes in the NBA...

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Ohhhhhhhhhhhh! (The HS dunk)

Steven Kaspar plays for ECS and he is going to play basketball in the Patriot League at Bucknell next year.  In the Div II A West Regional Championship he had the dunk of his life (:23 sec mark)...



My favorite part of the video is when the kid that gets dunked on tries to run away from the scene. Like, "Gee, what happened over there? I was way over here." Come on man, the video caught you jogging away. Congrats Steven, you will never forget that moment and that kid you maimed will have nightmares about it forever.

So I finally own chrisvernon.com

      Several years ago, when I was going to start a website, the closest thing I could get to chrisvernon.com was cvernon.com.  I wanted chrisvernon.com badly.  My web guy looked up who owned the site and it just so happened that the guy that owned chrisvernon.com was...you guessed it, Chris Vernon.  Chris Vernon that lived in Cleveland, Tn.  I could not believe that of all the places he could live that he happened to live a few hours down the road from me.  I considered just driving down the road and challenging him to a Chris Vernon duel, or nicely suggesting that he change his name. 
      We tried to make an offer for the site but Cleveland Chris wanted to keep the site, which he used for pictures of his family on vacation.  Long story short, last week Cleveland Chris emailed me out of nowhere to say he no longer had use for the site and wanted to offer it to me.
      I asked him how much he wanted for the site.  He said $1 million.  So, of course I told him that he had himself a deal.  Since I had started the twitter account I had kind of ditched the blog outside of posting something every once in a while.  Anyway,  I now own chrisvernon.com and I guess I have to get this blog going again.
Welcome back.

The Chris Vernon TV Show (Episode 2: Golden Radio Voices)

Josh Pastner on the show (The Audio)

Memphis coach Josh Pastner joined us on the show on Monday to talk about everything.  Were the Tigers and the recruiting class overrated?  Are the players responding to him?  Is it fair to expect this team to make the NCAA tourney?  if you missed it... here is the audio.

Josh Pastner on the show (1-3-11)

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Vinnie Verno Bowl Philanthropy

South Carolina -3 over Florida St
Bama -10 over Michigan St
Stanford -3.5 over V Tech
Wisconsin +3 over TCU
UConn +17 over Oklahoma

Vinnie Verno Bowl Picks (Dec. 30th games)

SMU -7 over Army
Kansas St +1 over Syracuse
UNC pk over Tenn
Nebraska -14 over Washington

T Boone cash *first of the bowl picks

Okla. St. -4 over Arizona

Vinnie Verno comin in with bowl picks soon

NFL week 16 was to throw Vegas off  before the Bowl picks.  Vinnie could not tell you, would have ruined the plan.  Billions of dollars were coming in on every Vinne pick as soon as he was releasing them.  Now they are off our tail, time to go for the kill.
Bowl Picks will be posted this week

Season Record 56-44-1 (56%)

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Chargers -8
49ers/ Chiefs under 39.5
Titans +5
Packers -3

Do the Lionel Hollins (The Song)

Lionel Hollins response to our song...

DO THE LIONEL HOLLINS by The Chris Vernon Show

Lionel Are You Down? (The Audio)

After the Grizzlies game against the Nets -  Grizz coach Lionel Hollins (out of nowhere at presser) said- "Great to see you Chris Vernon, I like a man that comes when a man's down" 
Our homage to Lionel...

LIONEL ARE YOU DOWN (Audio)  by The Chris Vernon Show

Zach Randolph on the show (The Audio)

Zach joined us on the show on Monday to talk about Christmas, Prada cologne, NBA 2k11, the team, the contract extension he has not gotten, etc.  Check it.

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Vegas revenge on Vinnie

Now Vinnie is mad... watch out goin forward... mess with the bull, get the horns

BYU comes through big
Titans thrash Texans
Cowboys blow 20 pt second half lead
Browns fail to cover by 1/2 pt
Patriots play close with Pack

bogus week (2-3) puts Vinnie Verno at 55-41-1 (57%) for season

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Train rolls on....

BYU -11.5 over UTEP (Line Makes No Sense Bowl)
Browns +1.5 over Bengals
Patriots - (whatever line is) over Packers
Cowboys -7 over Deadskins
Titans -1 over Texans

Vinnie Verno continues to kill Vegas, 4-1 again

Season record now 53-38-1 (58 %)

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Packers -6.5 over Lions
Pats -3 over Bears
Falcons -7.5 over Panthers
Chargers -7 over Chiefs
Jags -4 over Raiders

Adam Carolla on the show (The Audio)

Adam Carolla joined us on the show this week to talk about his book "In Fifty Years We Will All Be Chicks" and the concepts and lessons in said book.  He is hilarious. Check it.

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Vinnie Verno goes 4-1, another dominant performance

Vinnie Verno season record now 49-37-1 (57%) as college regular season concludes.

Rockets GM Daryl Morey + Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace on the show (The Audio)

Morey and Wallace joined us on the show on Friday, at the same time, before the game.  They had just gone to dinner with Bill James the night before.  We talked about their teams, working together in Boston, the Heat, etc.

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Philanthropy (The Picks)

another winning week last week for the great Vinnie Verno.  of course.

Northern Illinois -17.5 over Miami (OH)
Nebraska +4.5 over Oklahoma
Bears -5 over Detroit
Packers -9 over San Fran
Falcons -2 over Tampa Bay

Philanthropy (The Picks) Gobble Gobble Gobble edition

Happy Thanksgiving.  Vinnie Verno is coming off a 5-0 week and has not has a losing week in forever.  Honestly cannot remember last week he had a losing week- it has to be over 2 months.  Amazing!

Oklahoma St -2.5 over Oklahoma
Central Florida -26 over Memphis
Western Michigan -6.5 over Bowling Green
South Carolina -2.5 over Clemson
Toledo -3.5 over Central Michigan

The Chris Vernon TV Show (Episode 1: Show Prep)

We are all now billionaires!!!

5-0  sincerely, Vinnie Verno

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Oklahoma St -24 over Kansas
Penn St -10.5 over Indiana
Duke +11 over Georgia Tech
Arkansas -3 over Miss St
Ravens -10.5 over Panthers

you are welcome

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Florida Atl -10.5 over La. Laff
NC State -18.5 over Wake Forest
Cincy +5 over West Virginia
Marshall -17 over Memphis
Auburn -6 over Georgia (If Newton plays only)

Tampa Bay -7 over Carolina

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Vinnie Verno continues to be the greatest capper in the country....

Oklahoma St -8.5 over Baylor
UAB -10 over Marshall
Tennessee -20 over Memphis
Alabama -6.5 over LSU
Boston College -3 over Wake Forest

Yo Gotti in the studio

Was really shocked at how much nicer my watch was than his.

The Conley Contract

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Philanthropy (The Picks) w/ NFL update

Vinnie Verno is the hottest capper in the country.  It's not even close.  Go make millions.  You are welcome.

Hawaii -15 over Idaho
Texas A&M -7.5 over Texas Tech
Houston -14 over Memphis
Notre Dame -8.5 over Tulsa
Kentucky +6.5 over Miss St

NFL PICKS--> Denver +2.5, Jets -6, Carolina +2.5, Buffalo +7, Detroit -2.5

Memphis Tigers home opener Tix giveaway

One of our sponsors, Wiseman-Bray Law, has put together some great giveaways for listeners of the show.  The first contest is for SUITE TICKETS to the Tigers home opener.  They will select a winner each day from Oct 27th- Nov 2nd.  All you have to do is go register.

Go here- http://www.wisemanbray.com/ - and click on top right corner (contest entry)

Good Luck.

Philanthropy (The Picks) w/ NFL update

Texas A&M -14 over Kansas
ECU -11.5 over Marshall
Oklahoma St +6 over Nebraska
Iowa -6 over Wisconsin
Alabama -16.5 over Tenn

Bonus
San Diego St -24 over New Mexico
No. Ill -10 over Central Michigan

Goin with Titans -3, Baltimore -13, Browns +13, Chiefs-9

Philanthropy (The Picks) - update

Iowa St +22.5 over Oklahoma  (Iowa St. is pathetic, bad pick)
Hawaii +6.5 over Nevada (stttttttttttraight up! woohoo moneyline)
Cal +2.5 over USC (holy moly, bad pick)
Oklahoma St +3 over Texas Tech  (stttttttttraight up!  wooohoo moneyline)
Troy -20.5 over La Laff.  (Troy 5 turnovers - killer, cant cover like that)

Update:
NFL - goin KC +4.5, Pitt -13.5, San Diego -9, Bears -6, Philly -2

Will Barton, Will Coleman, Tarik Black in studio (The Audio)

Memphis basketball Will Barton, Will Coleman, Tarik Black were all in studio on the eve of Memphis Madness. They were tremendous radio guests. You will learn about them, the other players on the team, Coach Pastner, etc. Lots of laughter. You want to listen to this if you missed it, trust me. 

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Agent Josh Luchs on the show (The Audio)

One of the best sports articles of the year came out today on SI.com.  Josh Luchs (as told by George Dohrmann) is the subject of the cover story for the Sports Illustrated that comes out this week.  The tease to the story was "Josh Luchs says he paid thousands of dollars to dozens of college football players. Now he is coming clean on sports' dirtiest business."  It is an absolute must-read article.

We were able to track down Josh Luchs for an appearance on the show.  Here is the audio if you missed it.

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And HERE is the article if you have not read it yet.

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Vinnie Verno has done what he has never done before - giving away his "private clients" picks.  These picks have been 25-0 so far this year and have only been available to clients that put at least 1 million dollars on each game.  Here they are-- for free to you...

Oklahoma St -23.5 over La Laff
Ohio St -22.5 over Indiana
Baylor +2 over Texas Tech
Northern Illinois -3 over Temple
San Diego St -4.5 over BYU

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Navy +10 over Air Force
Stanford +7 over Oregon
UCLA -24 over Wash. St
Alabama -8 over Florida
ATL Falcons -7 over San Fran

RIP Greg Giraldo

Comedian Greg Giraldo was one of our favorite guests we have had on the show.  Here is the link to his appearance on the show from 8/12/09.

http://chrisvernon.blogspot.com/2009/08/comedian-greg-giraldo-on-show-audio.html

Vinnie goes 2-3, boooooooooo.

Stanford keeps paying.  Most underrated team in the nation, maybe no longer.  Get a chance to roll with them again against Oregon next week.
UConn took care of biz with a late pick 6.
How Idaho got beat by Colorado St. Vinnie will never know.  Literally, Vinnie will never know.  There was not one camera at the game, Vinnie is trying to find out if the game was actually even played.
Tennessee is an embarrassment to the SEC, blame them- not Vinnie.  If UAB could kick a FG that would have been a win for them.
Air Force didnt know the game started at 1pm, started playin at 2:30 and won but couldnt cover.

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Vinnie Verno keeps fillin your pockets.  You are welcome, even though you don't say thank you.  You don't need to, Vinnie knows these picks are the only reason that you are not living in a dumpster.

Tennessee -14 over UAB
Air Force -13.5 over Wyoming
UConn -20 over Buffalo
Idaho -8 over Colorado St.
Stanford -4.5 over Notre Dame

Cortland Finnegan, Dan Dierdorf on the show (The Audio)

Titans corner Cortland Finnegan joined us on the show to talk about wanting to be the dirtiest player in the league, the recievers who talk the most trash and are most dificult to cover, etc.

Cortland Finnegan on The Chris Vernon Show (9-23-10)

CBS analyst Dan Dierdorf came on the show to talk all things NFL.

Dan Dierdorf on The Chris Vernon Show (9-23-10)

Mark Richt on the show (The Audio)

Georgia coach Mark Richt joined us on the show to talk about starting the season 1-2, reasons to be optimistic, Aaron Murray, the Miss. St. game this weekend, etc.

Mark Richt on The Chris Vernon Show (9-22-10)

Vinnie keeps on winning (the notes)

Navy wins by 2 tds - La Tech was gaspin for air in 2nd half, worn down
K State wins at the end of game.  their rb is the truth (Daniel Thomas)
Stanford wins.  was over by the time 1st qtr ended.  Stanford is awesome, big-time team.
Colorado St is the worst team in the history of college athletics, they have to be.
Miss. St. was a letdown.  Vinnie thought they had it in em.

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Easiest picks Vinnie Verno has ever made in his life.  5 mortal locks, 5 bloodbaths, 5 massacres.  Turn it off at halftime.

Navy -3 over La Tech
Miss St +8 over LSU
Colorado St +8 over Miami (OH)
Kansas St -4 over Iowa St
Stanford -17 over Wake Forest

Mike Leach, Sonny Vaccaro on the show (The Audio)

Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach joined us on the show on Thursday to talk about agents, Reggie Bush, teams, offense, his lawsuit against Tech, etc.

Mike Leach on The Chris Vernon Show (9-16-10)

Sonny Vaccaro for his weekly segment and we talked about Arn Tellem, Bruce Pearl, Brandon Jennings, etc.  audio...

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Heisley signs the rookies to full 120%

Here are his quotes to the CA... "As far as I'm concerned, I'm happy the issue has been resolved," Heisley said. "There's no question I'm doing what I should have probably done earlier."

"In the general spirit of the way (the CBA) was put together, I felt we should relent and not have a performance situation," Heisley said. "I don't think I was on the right side of the issue."

Hahahahaha!  How far he has come since he was on the show.  He was always wrong, everyone with a brain knew he was on the wrong side of this, and Heisley defenders have egg all over their face again.  Scroll down and find the Heisley interview on the show (from 8/23) if you never heard it.  Warning: you will not be able to stop laughing.

Vinnie Verno back in the game

3-1-1 right on the your doubter heads.  How dare you question the great Vinnie Verno!  Oklahoma St. turned it over 5 times, and Jake Delhomme happened, or would have been 5-0.  Vinnie is back to his philanthropic ways!

Philanthropy (The Picks)

For you those of you with us a long time, you realized that last week was simply to throw Vegas off.  Season record (1-4)  Vinnie Verno has 5 mortal locks this week....

East Carolina -13 over Memphis
Oklahoma St. -13.5 over Troy
Alabama -12 over Penn State
Stanford -6 over UCLA
Cleveland Browns +3 over Tampa

Southern Heritage Classic giveaway

Today on the show, we will be giving away tickets to the Southern Heritage Classic as part of the Kraft Huddle to Fight Hunger program.  The tickets are being given away by Kraft.  Please check out their website that includes Joe Montana, Erin Andrews, the Neely's, etc.  www.huddletofighthunger.com -- and listen to the show today during the top 5 at 4:05 to win tickets.

Young P-Nut in studio (The Audio)

FOX 13 did a story on a 7yr old Memphis rapper named P-Nut this week.  The story was picked up everywhere on blogs all across the nation after it hit youtube.  If you have not seen the video, you really should go check it out  ( http://tinyurl.com/22s34pe ).  Anyway, after the seeing the video, I had to get young P-Nut in studio.  He joined us on the show today.  There is absolutely no way this kid will not be a star.  The looks, the humor, the charisma, the rapping, he's got it all.

The audio is loaded here as the second hour of the show.  If you just want to hear P-Nut, press pause when i begins and let it the audio load all the way- then scroll to the 25:25 mark.  That is where is starts.

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Vinnie Verno starts 1-4 (The Excuses)

Thanks to Oklahoma St.- game and spread never in question
Florida- was bogus.  How could I have known they can't even snap the ball?
UConn- I had no idea that Usain Bolt was playing QB for Michigan. Fastest QB ever.
Texas- they were playing a food.  Could have racked it up, they didnt care.
Northwestern- that will teach me to trust nerds. gave up cover-killer td with 2 min to go. stupid nerds.

Philanthropy (The Picks)

Vinnie Verno starts another journey to a billion dollars....

Season Record- (0-0)

Florida -36.5 over Miami (OH)
Texas -30.5 over Rice
Oklahoma St. -17 over Washington St
UConn +3 over Michigan
Northwestern -3.5 over Vandy

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace (live from Israel)

Chris Wallace joined us for his weekly segment on Wednesday live from Israel (setting the record for the guest from the longest distance).  He was touring the holy lands, meeting the president of Israel, etc.

Wallace joins us from Israel...

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Dan Mullen on the show (The Audio)

Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen joined us on the show this week to talk about the upcoming season, the Memphis game to open the year, the websites he checks every morning, etc.

Dan Mullen on The Chris Vernon Show (8-31-10)

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FOX 13 TV appearance (The Video)

Fox 13 brought me on to talk about the Heisley interview. Lionel Hollins had been interviewed by them earlier in the day and had a clip of him taking me to task to start things off.  Everytime I put a clip of me on tv on this site it is always some frozen pic of me lookin stupid.  You notice that?  Can't catch a break.  Here it is...

Michael Heisley on the show (The Audio)

The owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, Michael Heisley, joined us on the show for the first time.  "An interview 10 years in the making."  I think it might have lived up to the hype.  If you missed it, here it is....

Michael Heisley on The Chris Vernon Show (8-23-10)