The moment or game you were hooked

#52
#52
ksgovols said:
1980 game against USC was my first live Vol event. Hooked right then if I wasn't before.
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This is mine, too. I had been to a game the season before against Utah, I believe, but I don't recall it like I do the USC game.
 
#53
#53
Before I was even born I was at Neyland(mom was pregnant with me) then I just kind of grew up there, so football became my life as I got older. Fast forward to my SR year of highschool, I knew where I wanted to go regardless of other schools coming to watch me at practice or games. Then it happened Chief showed up at one of my practices to watch and talk with my coaches, I've never practiced as hard as I did that day, few days later is when I met and spoke with Coach Fulmer we talked about my grades and where they needed to be but he offered me a spot on the team I had loved since my early childhood. Playing for coach Fulmer was unlike anything I had ever done before, he didn't really have to yell and cuss because he treated us like family and we didn't want to disappoint him. I know the last 10 or so years haven't been great but I'll forever love the University of Tennessee no matter what, we're headed in the right direction because when I'm around the team now there is a different feeling in the locker room, on the field and even in the weight room. People make jokes about the "wait til next year" saying from vol fans but coming up soon we'll be right.
Go Vols!!!
 
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#55
#55
1979: my lifelong friend was a freshman and a student football manager. Invited me to the home opener against Auburn; watched Gary Davis? return the opening kickoff 102 yards. After the game got to go into the locker room and was introduced to Johnny Majors. Awesome day...….

Just watched it on YouTube. It was actually about 98 yards.....
 
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#56
#56
N.ohio vol said:
Being from Ohio,Tennessee and Peyton Manning were household names i was around 10. The year i became hooked was my first trip to Neyland in 2010 for the oregon game. Ive been to the big house the horse shoe and notredame stadium. Neyland blew them all away. Rocky Top will always be home sweet home to me.
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I took some folks from Iowa to that game that had never been to a SEC game. It was a night game and the end result sucked but it was an awesome atmosphere. We were out there tailgating from 10 am up to the game. We certainly showed those Iowa folks a good time and it was such a fun day. The first half wasn’t awful but I knew we were in trouble when we had outplayed Oregon and didn’t have the lead.
 
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#57
#57
1979 vs Auburn was first game I saw in Neyland, Jimmy Streeter was QB and James Brooks was a beast for Auby. I think I came out of the womb hooked, didn’t have much of a choice. I was born at halftime of the 68 game vs UGA my Mom said you could see the stadium from her room.
 
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#58
#58
fatal1 said:
1968 tenn vs Oklahoma in the bowl game was stationed in germany and listened to it over armed forces radio. after the game was over I didn't know there was that many okla fans in the world but I got lips from all of them.
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Dad swore, til his dying breath, that UT hit that FG. LOL
 
#59
#59
I watched UT beat Joe Pa and The Nittany Lions, on National TV, under the lights, at Neyland Stadium. Of course, the volume was down, and we listened to The Voice of the Vols, John Ward.
 
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#60
#60
For me it was the beginning of the 1998 season. We played Syracuse and it was a back and forth affair. I was a junior in hs and had moved to TN the previous year. Prior to that I wasn’t much of a cfb fan. I’d grown up in Texas where most of my friends were cowboys fans.
When I got here there was a lot of energy around the program due partially to having had manning at the helm recently. It’s crazy to believe that my first full year in TN (and the first year I paid attention) we went undefeated and won the natty. I just thought we’d be in content every year. It’s been a slow/20 year decline ever since. But once the orange gets it you blood you’re hooked...for better or worse. In sickness and in health. Lol
 
#61
#61
Tnphil said:
Bar none. I watched all of it and he pulled no punches. It woke the program up for sure.
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Not to be disagreeable which is against my nature BUT if I recall Memphis hired Larry Porter after firing Tommy. Porter’s teams may have been the worst teams I’ve ever seen in the NCAA. I was so happy for Tommy once he was let go. I would contend Memphis got so fortunate to hire a coach like Fuentes who greatly benefited from an incredibly weak conference and equally suspect OOC schedule. Again I’m not trying to slam on Memphis and the exit interview was truthful but we are comparing apples and oranges obviously. Never felt like Tommy fit in at Memphis anyway. Just my observation on that subject.
 
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#63
#63
kbear01 said:
I watched UT beat Joe Pa and The Nittany Lions, on National TV, under the lights, at Neyland Stadium. Of course, the volume was down, and we listened to The Voice of the Vols, John Ward.
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Same here! That game got me hooked. Wasnt that the game joe pa. Said he would never bring his team back to neyland???
 
#64
#64
PhoenixAZVol said:
Was the ‘90 Notre Dame game for me. Even though they lost I experienced a roller coaster of emotions during the game I had never felt before. I felt like I was going to throw up when Kelly threw the last pick but I knew at that point I would be emotionally invested in this team for life.
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Think back to the studs in that game. Bettis, Rocket, Zorich, Stonebreaker, culver, Hendrich, Watters, Brooks, Burris, Smith, Lyght. I was if football lala land at 18 years old! The Vols hit them in the mouth! Never forget Holtz throwing his hat!
 
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#65
#65
tennrich1 said:
Not to be disagreeable which is against my nature BUT if I recall Memphis hired Larry Porter after firing Tommy. Porter’s teams may have been the worst teams I’ve ever seen in the NCAA. I was so happy for Tommy once he was let go. I would contend Memphis got so fortunate to hire a coach like Fuentes who greatly benefited from an incredibly weak conference and equally suspect OOC schedule. Again I’m not trying to slam on Memphis and the exit interview was truthful but we are comparing apples and oranges obviously. Never felt like Tommy fit in at Memphis anyway. Just my observation on that subject.
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No...the program didn't change over night the minute West walked out the door but it got the wheels turning for what they've become the past several years. I have several Memphis boosters around me....and they would tell you the same. West got the ball rolling.
 
#66
#66
Hacksaw said:
Always followed the Vols growing up, but Dad was career military and we lived all over -- so it was hard to be a big fan. This was before global live satellite TV and waaay before the internet and cell phones. Most of the time we would have to wait until Sunday morning to see the score in the newspaper.

The first game I ever attended in-person was at Neyland in 1983 as an 18 year-old freshman. What I experienced that day has stuck with me my whole life. I know it sounds weird to people who don't know, but it's not an exaggeration to say that it was like a religious experience. Every game I have watched since, whether on TV or in-person, has given me the same feeling I had that day as I watched from the student section. But that day was the first day.
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I use to get care packages from my grandparents when dad was overseas. I was 5 and we were in Thailand the first time and we would get VHS tapes of games and all the clothes.
 
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#67
#67
1985 Auburn game and 1986 Sugar bowl during the 85 SEC championship season. I was 6 years old then and my dad was a huge UT fan and 1974 alumnus he knew at that point his son was going to be a Vol football fan for life. I was jumping and bouncing around the house yelling Go Vols and recreating the Jeff Powell 60 yard run against Miami in our backyard lol. I must have rewatched those two games plus the Bama game from the 85 season a hundred times as a kid along with Star Wars.
 
#68
#68
Don’t remember much of the details about coaches, players, starting qb (although you all could probably help me figure out) but I remember my first Vol Walk when I was 7 or 8. It was crazy to witness the sea orange and how cool it was to see the players walking right by giving high fives in their suit and ties. My 6’2 uncle lifted me in his shoulders so I could get a better look with my dad right beside. A moment I will hopefully never forget.
Had to have been the Fall of 1995 or 1996, which I guess is pretty easy to remember who was there during that time come to think of it lol
 
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#70
#70
I wanted to go a large university out of state. I applied to UT and another school. My dad and I made a trip down to visit during the spring. It was the perfect weekend-Orange White game and a baseball double header with Florida. We also went to the Student Aquatic Ctr and were completely impressed. We thought we’d died and gone to heaven. I was sold, along with my dad!

Interestingly, never made a visit to the other school-...............Alabama!
 
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#71
#71
1968 Tennessee-Ole Miss game was my first ever in Neyland. Little did I know I’d be seeing Tennessee history that day for 30 years forward.
 
#72
#72
95 Alabama game when Manning threw a TD on first play.

Grew up in the 80s listening to Jon Ward with my dad. Vivid memories of the excitement in the air after the 85 Sugar Bowl. Every where i went with my dad someone would strike up a conversation about that game for weeks. He would take me to my first game in 1990 or 91.
Through all that I liked it. Knew I was a TN fan as a birthright.

But it was that 95 Bama game that I really started to care.
 
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#74
#74
burntorangeVOLffle said:
95 Alabama game when Manning threw a TD on first play.

Grew up in the 80s listening to Jon Ward with my dad. Vivid memories of the excitement in the air after the 85 Sugar Bowl. Every where i went with my dad someone would strike up a conversation about that game for weeks. He would take me to my first game in 1990 or 91.
Through all that I liked it. Knew I was a TN fan as a birthright.

But it was that 95 Bama game that I really started to care.
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I laughed so hard, when Keith Jackson said that Miami could beat UT, 9 out of 10, but not today. That was no upset! UT was the better team, everywhere on the field, and the final score reflected it!
 
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