The moment or game you were hooked

#26
#26
GAVol said:
1982 Alabama game - I’ll never forget riding down the strip after the game. I was 9 years old. It was also the first time I remember noticing drunk people lol.
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I was also 9 years old at the time (for some reason, I thought you were young), and I wasn't at the game but I do remember listening to John Ward's call on the radio. Incredibly, even though Alabama was ranked #2 in the nation, this game wasn't televised anywhere live. However, a local station in Knoxville used to broadcast the replay of Tennessee games at 11:30 with John Ward's call. I stayed up that night with my dad and watched it. The passion of our fans is what makes Tennessee football special. That game was my first taste of it. The celebration was incredible.
 
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#28
#28
BowlBrother85 said:
I was also 9 years old at the time (for some reason, I thought you were young), and I wasn't at the game but I do remember listening to John Ward's call on the radio. Incredibly, even though Alabama was ranked #2 in the nation, this game wasn't televised anywhere live. However, a local station in Knoxville used to broadcast the replay of Tennessee games at 11:30 with John Ward's call. I stayed up that night with my dad and watched it. The passion of our fans is what makes Tennessee football special. That game was my first taste of it. The celebration was incredible.
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The maturity level of my posts is about 30 years less than my actual age. Oddly enough, I wasn’t at the game either. We had family friends that lived off Chapman Hwy and I listened to the game on the radio as well. After it was over, my parents came and got me and we rode through campus that night.
 
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#35
#35
1968 game with Georgia. First game on (gawdawful) tartan turf and the first time a African-American played for Tennessee.Phil Fulmer was a freshman. The teams hadn’t played each other in over 30 years! Nationally televised game. That was a great Georgia team but we came back and tied them with a 21yd touchdown and 2-pt conversion with no time remaining on the clock. Ended as a tie but felt like a win. I was 10 and didn’t even know you could get a 2-pt conversion.
 
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#36
#36
For me it was the 86 Sugar Bowl when we blew out the unbeatable Miami Hurricanes with Vinny Testaverde. I was 12 and already a fan thanks to an uncle who was a rabid fan but that game had me hooked.
Years later that uncle would send me recruiting updates while I was in the army and I would have my flashlight out at night (red lense) sitting in a foxhole and read about every recruit.
Many years later that same uncle was going in for a surgery that couldn’t save him. The doctor told him his personality might change and he said he didn’t care as long as he didn’t wake up a Vandy fan.
Sorry for long story but wanted share.
 
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#37
#37
First game I watched was vs Miami January 1,1986. I was visiting my aunt and cousins in Chattanooga, we lived in Buffalo N.Y. at the time. We watched and cheered for the Bills at home on Sundays but I never felt excitement for football like I felt that day. I was 13 at the time and my older cousin was having a game day party. There had to be 15 people crammed into that tiny living room, of course being young I had to sit on the floor. The excitement of that day, the yelling, screaming, the cheering was something that I would never forget. We moved back to Chattanooga 2 years later and my grandfather took me to my first game in Neyland stadium against Georgia Tech(we won). I have rarely missed watching a game and try to attend at least one game a year, but that new year's day on my aunt's floor is the day my blood turned Orange. My screen name is true to me, I'm a Volaholic and will be for life.
 
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#38
#38
I can't pinpoint when I became a fan.....

Seems like I've always loved the Big Orange. Simply can't understand anyone being a fan of any other team although I get that not everyone feels the same way I do.

I've learned to live and let live even when they're dead wrong......
 
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#39
#39
Mine was 1982 TN vs Alabama I was 10 yrs old. Lost my father in a car accident 2 weeks earlier. My uncle took me to the game. It was like walking into what I imagined a Roman coliseum to be like! For 3 hrs I got to forget about what had happened. It was therapeutic for me. I’ve been hooked ever since!
 
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#45
#45
1995 South Carolina at Neyland. My first game and my dad took me to see them play, my uncle played for UT for two years and his best friend was a starter when they won the National Title in 99. So cheering for him was something I remember every Saturday. But 95 was it when I saw Neyland for the first time with my dad in the nose bleeds. It was so big I couldn’t believe it.
 
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#46
#46
I didn’t grow up in East Tennessee and moved here before my 8th grade year. I was not a UT fan but ended up going to UT straight from high school. My freshman year was 1997 and I was big into college football in general so when I started going to the games I fell in love. The Georgia game in particular is a fond memory I’ll never forget. Of course the next year brought some incredible memories as well with Florida, Arkansas, and more but I was already a huge fan by then.
 
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#47
#47
Boston Vol said:
‘91 Notre Dame game was it for me.
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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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#48
#48
I'm not really sure of the moment, but the first season I really remember well was the 90 season. I remember we tied both Colorado and Auburn and asking my dad why do so many games end in a tie. I also remember beating the crap out of Florida that year and listening to that God awful Alabama game on the radio. We also listened to the Temple game on the radio. And then wining the Sugar Bowl in a great game against Virginia. Yeah, I was hooked by then.
 
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#49
#49
When Doug Dickey put the power " T " on the helmets in 1965 !!! Listened to the broadcasts through static on the radio as Tennessee tied the eventual national champions Alabama !!! The next week 3 coaches were killed in a car crash & the power " T " was covered with a black t for the rest of the year. VERY SAD TIME IN TENNESSEE FOOTBALL HISTORY, but that's when I really started to bleed ORANGE !!! That was hard on this 8th grader !!! I finally got to go to watch the vols play in person; a night game, Tennessee's first in Neyland stadium under the lights as they handed Penn State their only loss of the 1972 season 28 to 21 !!! Still remember my heart thumping when I saw that stadium all lit up !!! At 68 years old I still get loud & pumped up when I go to a game; Hell, I scream at the refs @ the spring games !!! Go Vols !!!!
 
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#50
#50
We moved to Knoxville because my dad got a job as a Professor in the Physics department at UT when I was 2 years old back in 1966. He got season tickets and would take me to every game. When I was 16, we moved to Columbus, Ohio. My dad became a Buckeye because that’s where he was getting his paycheck but I have stayed a Vol my whole life.
 
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