Why are you a Vol fan?

#76
#76
Born and raised in Northeast Tennessee. My Father went to UT. My Brother went to UT. I have Aunts and Uncles and Cousins who went to UT. Oh, and I went to UT, too. I've been a Vol fan for as long as I can remember. I had Dale Ellis' autograph as a kid. My friends and I completely wore out our VHS recording of the 1986 Sugar Bowl by watching it so many times. I still get chills when the players run through the T. There is nothing finer than being a Vol Fan.
 
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#78
#78
Born into it, never looked back. I get tears in my eyes thinking about it. I will die being a VOL fan. Orange is in my blood.
 
#79
#79
utvols1975 said:
I grew up in Florida (and grew up a Gator fan) but decided after high school to make a change, buck the Florida student status quo and go to UT for college. Best decision I ever made and now I love to hate the Gators like every other true Vol. Great academics, great athletics...how could an 18-year old student or student-athlete not want to go here?

There is just something about walking into those freshman classes on The Hill, or stepping into Glocker for the first time (pre-renovation). And there is nothing like that first experience inside Neyland Stadium on a beautiful fall Saturday. It's been 12 years since I graduated and every time I am on campus again, almost every visual and vantage point I have all game day gives me some kind of deja vu back to when I was a student at UT. There truly is something special about Big Orange Country. I'm so glad to have been and still be a part of it. I cannot wait to share it with my children someday. GO VOLS!!!!
:victory:
Click to expand...

My story is similar to this except replace everywhere you said Florida, and replace it with Kentucky. Big blue basketball this.. big blue basketball that. yuck. My first game was in 1978, and Neyland only held around 87,000 fans or so, and I remember seeing a crowd that was 10 times the size of my whole hometown. When the Band opened up the T and the team ran thru and all those people started screaming.. I was hooked. I still get teary eyed when I think about it.
 
#80
#80
Cause I was born on a mountaintop in Tennessee

(and I've hated Bear since I was only three!)
 
#83
#83
Born in 'Bama, but my dad was from Tennessee and went to UTK. When I started watching football with my dad there was this guy by the name of Peyton throwing the football. I became a Tennessee and never looked back.
 
#84
#84
Both my parents are alumni of UTK, they took me to games when I was a kid.

I vividly remember my grandmother sitting me down on Sunday's when I was a kid and making me watch the Johnny Majors show. If we were with her on Saturday, she always had the game on and explained football to me, great grandmother!!!!!
 
#85
#85
Mom and Uncle both went to UT, Grandma had a farm outside of Knoxville and loved UT, grew up in Johnson City and always loved the Vols. Born and raised I suppose (and the fact that there isn't anything else in terms of pro teams, stuff like that).

Nothing like 100,000 screaming fans and the running through the T in the entire country.
 
#86
#86
1996 watching the florida game on cbs in the rain ... peyton manning ... even though they lost i was hooked . I live in CA so not many vol vans out here . I have no ties to the school or the area just started to love the orange after that rainy saturday .
 
#87
#87
Have Uncles and Aunts that graduated from UTK. I graduated UTK and UTHSC. My dad played football at University of Chattanooga (now UTC) my son graduated UTK and daughter graduated UTC. It's just in the family.
 
#88
#88
Born in 1989 I can remember watching UT football with my dad. Telling me stories about James "Little Man" Stewart playing football in Morristown. I used to run around the living room with a football and jumping over the couch like Little Man. If me and my dad weren't watching the game on TV, we were on the lake fishing, listening to the UT game. I was born a Vol, and raised a Vol. I love being a Vol and all the memories that come with being a Vol.
 
#89
#89
My entire family loves UT, went to my first game when I was 9...and I knew why my family loved this football team and I was hooked. GBO!!
 
#90
#90
My mom and dad went to school there, I was born at the campus hospital, first piece of clothing I ever wore was a peyton manning UT jersey. Its now autographed and in my room
 
#91
#91
I was born into it in much the same way as most folks. Although my dad is a fan he's not a rabid one. My grandad's the same way. I'm the first from my family to regularly attend games. My uncle went the wrong way and became a Memphis fan. (LOL)

Btw, I've been overseas studying abroad for the past three months. When I was in Ireland I was passing by a pub and noticed a UT game on the TV. Naturally I walked in and ordered a Guinness and started watching. Sat next to an Irish UT fan and a guy who was on vacation who was a UT fan. THAT was awesome.
 
#92
#92
Started out as a Cornhusker and Seminole fan (yes I had a problem) because my dad had taught at those places. Dad came to TTU and mom was from Tennessee, so I still had a chance. The 1986 Sugar Bowl changed me forever. I then went to school at UT and got to enjoy a NC my senior year. There is nothing better than being a Vol!
 
#93
#93
Born in CA but moved to AL at a fairly young age (9). I grew up a Alabama fan. Living in the state, you are given the option of UA or AU, so I chose Alabama. Went to many a Bama game. Bryant-Denny, Legion Field, even a few at Auburn. The atmosphere was always incredible.
One game I never got to see live was AL vs. the VOLS.

Fast forward...
Moved to TN (Chattanooga) in 2000. Come October, I was offered 2 tickets to watch bama play the Vols in Neyland stadium. I thought, here's my chance to shut up all of my new bama-hating/vol loving friends, in person. Well, I walked into Neyland Stadium and was immediately awestruck. Seas of orange, with admittedly a good number of Crimson dots around. No biggie I thought, still a great day to be a bama fan. Well, it wasn't. 20-10 Tennessee.

I can take it, we'll get em next year. But as I was walking back to my car the excitement of the TN fans was literally palpable. Something I never really felt at Bryant-Denny or Legion Field. Bama fans on the other hand were cussing, throwing beers bottles, trying to pick fights...I was truly embarrased to be wearing crimson.

I had to make a choice that night that has "alienated" many a friend. Did I really want to be a part of a group of people who behaved this way? Granted, it was a very small minority of the fans...but still. I decided that crimson blood was overrated.

I received a Big Orange transfusion that evening...

Thank you Tennessee for beating bammer on Oct 21st 2000. Who knows where I might be if you hadn't.

Haven't looked back since...GO VOLS!!!
 
#94
#94
Loved college football but grew up in Memphis. Went to visit Knoxville when I was 17, changed colleges and attended UT (had athletic scholly to small school). Met wife as undergrad and have never looked back. I hope one day our kids go to UT (they will b/c I wont give them much choice!)
 
#95
#95
My very first VOLS Game i went to was in 2006 VOLS vs GATORS, we lost by one point but every since than Ive been Hooked sinker and all !!! I will Always BLEED ORANGE and Im Proud to be a Tennessee vol Fan!!!! GO VOLS GO!!!!
 
#96
#96
In 8th Grade (1985) I followed the Vols closely and my dad took us to see them play in the Sugar Bowl that season in New Orleans. I remember all the pins you could buy that said Vinny Who? (Talking about the QB for Miami at the time). I was a Dale Jones fan and I will never forget that game!

The next summer I went to the summer UT football camp and got to meet him. I wanted to play for UT but I had to settle with another Tennessee school. Div III Rhodes College.... :)
 
#97
#97
Born in East Tennessee, dad is a HUGE Tennessee fan so i was basically raised to be All Vol! The first game i ever remember watching & i barely remember it because i was only 9 at the time was Peytons last game in the Orange Bowl against Nebraska ( very bad memory i know ). The following year i remember sitting down with my dad & watching us beat Syracuse. '99 i went to my first ever Tennessee game when we opened up against Wyoming, since that day i have been a DIEHARD Vols fan. I bleed Orange & i wouldnt have it any other way. I love traveling down I-40 West on a nice cool Fall Saturday afternoon seeing cars with their Orange & White pom poms hanging out the window & seeing Tennessee stickers all over the car, stopping to eat at Strawberry Plains & walking into a restaraunt seeing almost everyone in there wearing Orange. I love walking past the Hill on that Saturday & turning that corner to see the sea of Orange every single time i get chills!! Their is nothing like the Vol Walk, to hear the crowd sing Rocky Top as the players walk toward the stadium, & once i get in Neyland take my seat i lose my breathe beause their is just a feeling thats unexplainable when your in Neyland on gameday. When the Pride of The Southland Band opens that "T" up & 100,000+ fans start screaming, yelling, & singing Rocky Top i get tears in my eyes. I live, eat, sleep, & breathe Tennessee Athletics. Go Vols!!
 
#99
#99
My dad was a UT fan but not a die-hard. My kinderdergarden teacher was a UT grad and was the one that really got me started....and it turn ratched up my dad's fandom.

I honestly don't remember watching the 86 Sugar Bowl (even though I am sure I did), but I do remember watching UT's other bowl game in 86, a 21-14 win over Minnesota in the Liberty Bowl.

Throw in a home game in person in the fall of 87, 38-13 win over Cal, and I was hooked for life.
 
#100
#100
Watching Smokey drop a deuce on Ga Tech's 50 yard line during pregame warmups did the trick for me!

PS Happy 500th post to me!!
 
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