As always, the Train Daddy is back with the pain, daddy and ready to deliver some sports knowledge in a unique way that only the Train Daddy can deliver. Life is moving way too fast. April showers will surely bring May flowers and the NFL draft on May 8, cant wait!

One truth I have learned over the years is when a person enjoys and truly embraces life, it moves way too fast and there aren’t enough hours in a day. The 5 F’s is something I have always wrote and spoke about, it’s my way of life, and in this order: Faith, Family, Football, Food and Friends. Always Faith and Family stay at the top of the list; the other three can be shuffled depending on your mood.

Well, I received a lot of comments and opinions on last month’s column on Obama and Putin doing the Double Luge, the Olympics and ESPN’s special on the N-word. As always, I appreciate my loyal readers and I tend to speak and write from the heart. Some agree, some disagree, but as I always say, the Train Daddy delivers sports knowledge in a unique way; like it or not, it’s real talk baby!

So, Ray Rice knocks out his fiancée at a casino, there is video evidence of him dragging her limp body around, then a day after being indicted he marries her. Torrey smith says the couple is in a good place; former teammate Brandon Spikes stated otherwise saying “How can anyone respect him, the woman that had your child. Someone should choke him out, see how he likes it.” I guess when you’re looking at a possible 3 to 5 year sentence, you do whatever to rebuild the image, Ray Rice is a women beater, none the less.

So what does the Train have in store for you this issue? Well it’s been way too long and I have to do a Tennessee Titans breakdown, besides that a little insight on my busted bracket and Mark Cuban’s rant on the NFL, let’s talk some football.

I am sure if Mark Cuban was reading my article he would say “Train Daddy, you need to focus on basketball, because the NFL is dying.” Cuban, the billionaire tycoon, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and also a shark on the television series Shark Tank is making predictions. He claims the NFL will implode in 10 years. Cuban stated “I’m just telling you, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered, and they’re getting hoggy.”

Mark Cuban

CBS recently reached a deal to broadcast some Thursday night games and this only means more football. In the past, football has generally been played all day Sunday and on Monday night. Now the NFL is planning on hitting us with football Sunday, Monday, Thursday and even some Saturdays. I’m sure Cuban is somewhat bitter that the NBA can’t rival the NFL, and now the big bully NFL wants to broadcast a game almost every night of the week. Last year, after Labor Day, 34 of the 35 top-rated television shows were NFL games, with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade stealing a spot on the list. I reckon Cuban is thinking too much football will eventually turn us fans away, and we will get sick of it. I doubt it. All I know is Cuban doesn’t need to worry about the NFL imploding; rather, worry about the United States of America imploding. If pro football were on television almost every night of the week, this country would fall apart. We would all be glued to televisions and smart phones all day, every day and fantasy football would become a full-time job.

Onto Titans football and the upcoming 2014 season. The Titans have a new head coach, a quarterback in the last year of his rookie contract, and a fan base that is hungry for change. Coach Whisenhunt stated recently of Jake the Snake Locker “He knows what’s at stake, he has to perform.” That sounds like a Get-’Er-Done-or-you’re-fired comment to me.

Jake Locker

I hope Jake stays healthy. Locker recently removed his walking boot and states his leg feels awesome after undergoing Lisfranc surgery. For a team that was unsold on picking up the fifth and final year of his $13 million contract, it’s now or never in Tennessee. After missing 16 games in two seasons, the big question is: can Jake stay healthy for a full season? So the Titans dumped Ryan Fitzpatrick for, give me a drum roll, Charlie Whitehurst. Many people would agree Ryan turned the ball over a bit too much, but he was a solid second-string signal caller. Here is Charlie’s bio for anyone who has no clue; a 31-year-old drafted in ’06 by the Chargers out of Clemson and has started only four games with 805 total passing yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions for his career. Sure he knows Coach Whisenhunt’s system from their time together in San Diego, but it’s scary to think with Jake’s health concerns that Charlie Whitehurst could be the gunslinger at some point this upcoming season. Awful move Titans! Fitzpatrick completed 217 passes last season; Whitehurst has completed 84 passes in eight years. Wonder why Houston grabbed Fitzzy so fast?

Charlie Whitehurst

The real diagnosis will come after May’s draft. Do the Titans draft a quarterback early, or do they roll the dice with Jake and Charlie?

The Titans made a lot of moves in free agency re-signing six of their own and signing five other players around the league. So what was my favorite move the Titans made this season? The re-signing of Bernard Pollard for two more years. The talented strong safety is a run-stopping, pass-blocking machine. Sure, he cost the Titans some yards via penalties, but he is a player to watch and fear. One of the top newcomers, Dexter McCluster, should be fun to watch, similar to the play of Darren Sproles. Dexter will primarily line up as a running back, but he will be deployed all over the field. The Titans also signed a famous moviestar, Michael Oher (the subject of The Blindside). This move I didn’t like much, he was a star in college, but has been no more than average in the pros at Baltimore. They paid him starting money, so start he will, but he will be no where near the player David Stewart was. The return game will be much improved after a dismal 2013 where the Titans ran with Reynard and Wylie. The Titans now have three Pro Bowl return men in McCluster, Leon Washington and Mark Mariani; it’s up for grabs. They also re-signed Jackie Battle to be nothing more than a battering ram, and Chris Johnson should be gone soon. This article hits the stands April 3; I imagine he will be released soon after. Still there will be a need to address the running game, there is no clear starter, just a little scat back in Dexter and a couple battering rams in Battle and Greene. They need to start a search for a superstar.

I am very excited to see how the wide receivers progress, so young, so talented, so hungry. The Titans have a very promising group of receivers, and Kenny Britt is soon to be Jeff Fisher’s problem again. Amen! Also look to Wesley Woodyard a very productive linebacker out of Denver. His leadership should be as valuable for the team as his play on the field. He was voted a captain each of his six seasons in Denver. So a new coach, new faces, and a new look. I hope the draft goes well and the Titans make some noise this upcoming season. I hope Jake is the answer but they need a security blanket if things go wrong, and Whitehurst is not a blanket, he is a rag.

So it’s time to wrap this thing up my friends. Congrats to the men’s Tennessee basketball program after a slow start to the season and ending strong. They put up some big wins down the stretch in the tournament and just barely lost to Michigan. Coach saved his job. So nobody won the Buffet’s Billion Dollar Challenge and my Kansas Jayhawks sucked it up, my bracket was strong first couple rounds, then fell apart down the stretch, the Captain and editor of this paper fared better than me. Congrats Bracken.

I am a True Blue Bleeding Titans Fan, and I see some good and bad. I hope the good is what shines next season. I always say, it’s fans like myself and others that make this team. We will stay true, and someday we will be blessed with a championship. Stay the course my friends!