I would say that it has begun, but we all know that the holiday machinations of consumer America are well underway. Keep your eyes open, lest you be trampled at the entrance to your favorite store.

Josh Tinley makes a good point about the recent report ranking the Titans poorly for fan loyalty (28th out of 32 NFL teams): The team’s first season in Tennessee, when home games were played in Memphis, drags down the attendance numbers that drive the loyalty scale considerably.

I’m not sure he’s completely right, though. Fan support for the Titans has been high for most of the team’s time in Nashville, but I think it’s been pretty low the past couple of seasons. I would be curious to see an assessment of actual attendance instead of paid attendance. What I’m getting at is: Are the fans actually going to the games while the team is losing? I”m thinking that some of those sellouts actually include a decent number of empty seats.

One thing is for sure, if you ask me: Titans fans, including myself, were spoiled from the start by the team’s performance. Landing in the Super Bowl in the team’s first season in the Coliseum and posting double-digit win totals for several years will do that. Now we’re learning how to deal with the lean times, too.

I’ll admit that this news that carbonated beverages may increase the risk of osteoporosis alarmed me, until I read that this risk appears only to apply for women, not men. (Whew for me, but still not good news.) I know I am not the only cola aficionado out there, and aficionado is putting it lightly for me. I have turned almost exclusively to Coke Zero and Diet Dr. Pepper these days in order to avoid the sugar, which is the reason most often cited about health concerns for these drinks (but not the only one).

I’m hoping this possibility turns out to be true in regard to Tennessee’s proposed gay marriage ban. I’m not naive enough to think that a majority of Tennesseans oppose this amendment, but I still hope it does not pass. At least the possibility of not having a majority of voters in the gubernatorial election vote “yes” allows for a chance that the amendment won’t succeed.