Gut check...& the first smile since 9/1/08

#27
#27
just made up my mind where i'll be saturday. i was debating on driving up. no doubt now. my wife actually asked me earlier "why do you want to go so bad?". lol

oh, btw. my papaw grew up right across from neyland too, down hensley a piece, behind the old smoky mountain market(man those were good chili dogs and hot tamales..); you can see the stadium from his front yard
 
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#28
#28
OrangeU said:
just made up my mind where i'll be saturday. i was debating on driving up. no doubt now. my wife actually asked me earlier "why do you want to go so bad?". lol

oh, btw. my papaw grew up right across from neyland too, down hensley a piece, behind the old smoky mountain market(man those were good chili dogs and hot tamales..); you can see the stadium from his front yard
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OrangeU.....that's awesome! & hell yes those chili dogs are good!

Glad everyone has enjoyed it. It does kind of line things up in my mind after such a horrible start. Speaking of horrible starts, my first year on the Hill was 1988. Can anyone tell me how great we started that year???

As mad as this last game made me (I was forced to go into the bedroom for the final quarter & OT), this article reminded me of why I love fall Satuday's in Knoxville again. My son and I will be driving up from Nashville early...much like my dad & I used to do when I was a kid. This one will be extra special as I promised my mom who just passed, that I would take my son to a game this year. We're gonna come loud & proud baby!!!
 
#34
#34
As a former UT student that just graduated this past may reading this post has really hit me in my heart, knowing the UCLA game was the first game i did not attend in person for 5 years, home or away has made me really miss my Vols. Not being a native Tennessean, although i got there as fast as i could, I know I can never fully understand the history some families grew up with. Ive been a UT fan my whole life but in southeastern Virginia I'm not in much fellow company. The lessons i learned at UT were much more than biology or political science, they were life lessons learned from the community of Knoxville and from all UT fans across the South. Every away game weekend three of my friends who were all born and raised in the Knoxville area and I would pack up my small car with as much orange and Jack Daniels that could fit into a '98 stratus and with a huge orange T sticker on the back and shakers hanging out the trunk, windows, and hood we would drive the trips to Florida, Alabama, and yes even out to California last year, yelling "GO VOLS!!!" and hanging out the windows like crazed fools. We did this out of love for the program, a program that has given the East Tennessee a feeling of hope every Saturday, because although Knoxville may not be the richest or most affluent area of the country, we at least had our Vols, and thats all we needed. If there is a more devoted area to a team that lives or dies on it's success I'd sure like to see it. I've seem the highs ('04 Florida last second winning field goal by Wilhoit) to the lows (getting taken to the woodshed by Florida last year in the Swamp and being spat on by their fans with mullets and cut-off jean shorts). I came to UT as a eighteen year old wide-eyed boy, but after those road trips to see the Vols play and witnessing the community put their heart and soul into that team willing them to victory after victory as well as writhing in defeat. A school could not ask for better, more devoted, and loyal fans than those that wear the orange and white every Saturday. Some say we're headed downhill the past few years and while I cannot say we've exactly been on top, we are The University of Tennessee Volunteers and we will not be down for long. Living in East Tennessee for 5 years taught me that there much more to life than money, work, and deadlines....theres Vol Football and as long as the Pride of the Southland plays Rocky Top, the Vol Navy still floats, Neyland Stadium roars every Saturday as our Vols take on the world, my blood will always run orange.
 
#35
#35
UtennfaninVa said:
As a former UT student that just graduated this past may reading this post has really hit me in my heart, knowing the UCLA game was the first game i did not attend in person for 5 years, home or away has made me really miss my Vols. Not being a native Tennessean, although i got there as fast as i could, I know I can never fully understand the history some families grew up with. Ive been a UT fan my whole life but in southeastern Virginia I'm not in much fellow company. The lessons i learned at UT were much more than biology or political science, they were life lessons learned from the community of Knoxville and from all UT fans across the South. Every away game weekend three of my friends who were all born and raised in the Knoxville area and I would pack up my small car with as much orange and Jack Daniels that could fit into a '98 stratus and with a huge orange T sticker on the back and shakers hanging out the trunk, windows, and hood we would drive the trips to Florida, Alabama, and yes even out to California last year, yelling "GO VOLS!!!" and hanging out the windows like crazed fools. We did this out of love for the program, a program that has given the East Tennessee a feeling of hope every Saturday, because although Knoxville may not be the richest or most affluent area of the country, we at least had our Vols, and thats all we needed. If there is a more devoted area to a team that lives or dies on it's success I'd sure like to see it. I've seem the highs ('04 Florida last second winning field goal by Wilhoit) to the lows (getting taken to the woodshed by Florida last year in the Swamp and being spat on by their fans with mullets and cut-off jean shorts). I came to UT as a eighteen year old wide-eyed boy, but after those road trips to see the Vols play and witnessing the community put their heart and soul into that team willing them to victory after victory as well as writhing in defeat. A school could not ask for better, more devoted, and loyal fans than those that wear the orange and white every Saturday. Some say we're headed downhill the past few years and while I cannot say we've exactly been on top, we are The University of Tennessee Volunteers and we will not be down for long. Living in East Tennessee for 5 years taught me that there much more to life than money, work, and deadlines....theres Vol Football and as long as the Pride of the Southland plays Rocky Top, the Vol Navy still floats, Neyland Stadium roars every Saturday as our Vols take on the world, my blood will always run orange.
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Sir, you get it...you actually get it and I don't care where you're from, you are a Tennessee Volunteer through & through. God bless us all & let's give our all for Tennessee.......& kick some Blazer ass!!!!

& while this young man has me all fired up....Gators, just bring it!!! While we'll likely be an underdog, strange things happen on fall Saturday's on the Hill! I say we wax 'em by 2 touchdowns!
 
#36
#36
rockytophigh said:
OrangeU.....that's awesome! & hell yes those chili dogs are good!

Glad everyone has enjoyed it. It does kind of line things up in my mind after such a horrible start. Speaking of horrible starts, my first year on the Hill was 1988. Can anyone tell me how great we started that year???

As mad as this last game made me (I was forced to go into the bedroom for the final quarter & OT), this article reminded me of why I love fall Satuday's in Knoxville again. My son and I will be driving up from Nashville early...much like my dad & I used to do when I was a kid. This one will be extra special as I promised my mom who just passed, that I would take my son to a game this year. We're gonna come loud & proud baby!!!
Click to expand...



i hear ya brother. tennessee football is so much more than wearin orange and "pullin for a team". most of my mom's family are from Knoxville and have been taking me to games since i can remember. its like its a part of us. i am taking my 4 year old up this weekend with my uncle, who's taken me to a ton of games. i am sure i will get emotional when that band comes down the hill and look at my boy's face.......:rock:
 
#37
#37
My attention was just called to this reprint and it made my day -- week -- month. I am the Jake Vest who wrote that piece about "why I am a Vol." I don't think there is anything much more rewarding than to see something you have written still being read. Heck, it is pretty nice to think it was read the first time.
I'd like to thank everybody who took the time to find and repost it. It really is appreciated to be appreciated -- especially for something that wasn't all that appreciated the first time around. (I live in Florida....the Gator crowd was not impressed.)
If anyone is interested, I am still writing and drawing pictures, just not for a newspaper anymore. The newspaper I used to write for can't even afford somebody to tell other people they can't afford to pay for writing. My stuff is now at a web site called Substack. You can get it at jakevest.substack.com (subscription is free unless for some odd reason you decide you want to pay. Some do. Go figure.) I also am in the process of republishing a bunch of the old That's Jake cartoons and some other artwork. Here is my cartoonish take on the Mississippi State game, which just happens to be exactly my take, slightly redone, of the Florida game last year. And my favorite cartoon of a Tennessee nature.
Now, after I rewatch the highlights of yesterday's game, carefully fast forwarding through the ricochet interceptions, muffed punts, missed field goals and such, I am going to write "The Rest of the Story" about that article.
Thanks again and "Go Vols!"
 

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