Overheard at the Tennessee-Old Dominion basketball game; one prominent fan to another: "Is John Ward a male chauvinist pig?" Couldn't hear the answer, but variations of the question were floating around all night long after Ward made a disparaging remark about the Lady Vols' attendance figures on the radio just after the Gentlemen Vols' smashing victory over South Carolina and just before some 20,000 fans piled into Thompson-Boling to see the undefeated, reigning NCAA champ Tennessee women take #3 ODU apart. Word of Ward's dissing the Lady Vols didn't take long to get back to Women's' Athletics Director Joan Cronan, who remarked tersely that she planned "...to have a conversation with John" this week. Interestingly, Ward's apparent turnstile envy doesn't appear to be shared by Men Vols Tony Harris or C.J. Black or Isiah Victor or Del Baker or Vegas Davis, who attend the women's games. The Lady Vols, by the way, return the favor and show up regularly at the guys' games, too.

Born to Lead?

Even as some Norwood residents are circulating recall petitions, Ivan Harmon, less than two months into his third and last (due to term limits) City Council term, is laying the groundwork to run for County Commission. Harmon, who has angered city constituents lately with willy-nilly support of anti-neighborhood zoning issues, proposes to take on incumbent Wanda Moody in the Third District. This one could be ugly if Moody, who is mentally agile, is able to trap Harmon, who has a nice smile, into a debate or two.

T.G.I... M.?

No offense to the great Emancipator, but the notion of having the annual Lincoln Day dinner on a weekend night was just a little, well, much for some GOP loyalists. Enough too much that the planners of the event flouted the long-held tradition of having US. Rep. Jimmy Duncan select the date and the speaker. Sources say this year's hosts—Sheriff Tim Hutchison, Criminal Court Clerk Martha Phillips and Register of Deeds Steve Hall—waited until the 11th hour to hear from Duncan's office, and finally ix-nayed the suggested Friday, Feb. 6 date in favor of Monday, Feb. 9 with Sen. Bill Frist as speaker. "Lincoln Day is bad enough, but Friday sucks," says one loyalist.

Despite the deviation, the event went on as usual—gobs of GOPers, bad food, interminable speeches, supporters of rival candidates giving one another the evil eye—but something was missing. Perhaps it was the absence of Mayor Victor Ashe, who in recent years has suffered a plethora of humiliations, including being seated behind a bunch of potted plants.

It's Never Too Early to Ask

Somebody's been doing some polling. Don't know who, but people have been getting calls asking whether they'd prefer Victor Ashe or Bud Gilbert as mayor; Victor Ashe or Nick Pavlis. It asks for preferences regarding a police review board, a baseball stadium site, and whether you like Carlene Malone and Danny Mayfield.