I truly enjoyed Knoxville's game day environment. I've driven through hundreds of times, but it's probably been 15 years since I got off the interstate there. The campus was more beautiful than I remembered. Most of the fans treated me REALLY well. Had 1 fan offer us a ride to our tailgate from where we parked. Another did the same after I made the dumb decision to walk to Hibbett Sports in South Knoxville around noon. He stopped me on the way back and said, "This probably isn't the best place for you to be walking around in that jersey. Come on, I'll give you a ride to the game." I sat in on a couple of UT tailgates, and enjoyed the conversations, even from the drunk few that didn't want us there. (We were invited btw) We had no issues inside the stadium either. After the game, we walked back to our truck while talking football with 2 super nice Vol fans who told us the best way to avoid traffic on the way out of town. The only negative was a drunk, entitled, rich little frat boy who threatened to "open hand slap" my 53 year old brother. Luckily he was all talk, as I would hate to be giving you my opinion on the Knoxville jail.
The crowd was extremely loud and most definitely had a big impact on our offense through 3 qtrs. The only downside was they lost their enthusiasm after the Dobbs fumble that was blown dead and the Hurd fumble that he somehow recovered himself. You could almost feel the life being sucked out. I took it as an indication of an understandably frustrated fan base, so that will change as you start beating ranked teams on a regular basis. That will begin this year, so keep your heads up. You have an incredibly talented team who is going to be even hungrier now.
I know emotions are running high for many dedicated Vol fans today, but please remember it's only the second game of the season. Unless you had your hopes set on a national title this year, this loss doesn't mean squat in the grand scheme of things. Now go beat the crap out of Florida and Georgia, and win the East. College football is better when Tennessee is at the top of the SEC. I am definitely looking forward to watching it unfold.
Thanks again for one of the best game day experiences I've ever had.
