winds.....

We knew there would be storms last night. We just didn't know how dangerous they'd turn out to be. Fortunately for our family, we only lost a few hours of sleep. Several in middle and west Tennessee lost homes, cars and even their lives.

I began watching the UT/Florida game at 8:00 last night. I almost stopped watching when the Gators went up 16-3 in the first four minutes. But I'm glad I didn't give up on the Vols. Big 104-82 win. While the winds blew hard and heavy west of Knoxville, the Gators had the wind taken right out of their sails in Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Vols were down 4 at the break. Then they kicked it into gear in the second half, scoring 60 points. Lofton, Tyler Smith and Jajuan Smith shot lights out. It's always good to win. But it's even better when you beat Florida.

The bride was glued to the television with all the weather warnings, so she camped out in front of the television downstairs. I stayed upstairs and went back and forth between the game and channel 2's weather coverage. For some reason, the bride doesn't like it when I switch back and forth between channels. Can't figure that one out.

My favorite line of the night came from Lisa Patton, News 2's weather anchor. She's showing this map with 89 different colors on it, telling us about wind speeds, tornadic activity and funnel clouds. Then she said something like, "If you're in Fairview, you need to take cover immediately." (slight pause) "And don't forget to send your storm-related pictures to WKRN.com." I'm sure she didn't mean it like it sounded.

Our prayers go out to all those dealing with the effects of the storms.....