I was a fresh faced high school kid new to my school. My school had a field day in which we went to a Vols game free but had to sit in the upper decks. I could barely see the teams and don't even remember who we were playing. A classmate decided to sit with me and tell me all about UT football and explain what I could barely see happening down below. I think we lost (honest, I can't remember very much, probably because i wasn't really interested) but his enthusiasm about what was happening on the field was, uh, well, amusing to me. After the game, we got on the bus and he kept talking to me about the Vols, past games, player positions and whatnot. I really wanted him to just shut up. Then during my college years, I watched a televised Cotton Bowl game where Texas (wishbone years) beat the heck out of the Vols. For some reason I decided right there the Vols were my team. I started following their games via newspapers, TV, and continuing mail and face to face chats with the classmate who had sat with me at the game we attended as high school classmates. The last game we watched together was a game where Tennessee came from behind to beat Georgia. If I recall right, we scored 8 points in 8 seconds (game clock-wise). I recall Georgia went on to a bowl in which people were saying injuries had resulted in them losing games since their bowl invite. They were asked to let a more competitive team play that game but refused. Why talk about Georgia? Well, my friend turned to me after the comeback win and told me the following: "Do you know that many years ago, Tenn. played GA. and a Vols fan stood in the endzone as Ga. was pushing for yet another score. He told the Ga. team that the next player crossing the goal would go home in a coffin then showed them his pistol?" I found this too incredible to believe and laughed my head off. But then he later showed me an album with old, and I do mean old, clippings from newspapers and books (I think) that recounted the same story. For some dumb reason, that made me Vols fan, fan. A fan of Vols fans (not negaVols) who love their team come hell or high water. So I guess I'm a Vols fan twice over.