We're Tiny White Specks on a Bright Blue Planet
Congratulations to Mr. John Middleton for correctly naming "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin as the Monday Song of the Day.
I'm back in Space City after a quick weekend trip to visit the lady friend in Nashville. We thoroughly enjoyed our time on Saturday night at a soggy Neyland Stadium along with 96,000 of our orange-clad friends.
My favorite part of the entire visit to Knoxville happened during the "Vol Walk."
What's the "Vol Walk" you might ask?Head Coach Johnny Majors came up with the idea for the Vol Walk after a 1988 game at Auburn when he saw the historic Tiger Walk take place. Prior to each home game, the Vols will file out of Stokely Athletic Center, down past the Tennessee Volunteers Wall of Fame, and make their way down Peyton Manning Pass and onto Phillip Fulmer Way. Thousands of fans line the street to shake the players' hands as they walk into Neyland Stadium. Through rain, snow, sleet, or shine, the Vol faithful are always out in full force to root on the Vols as they prepare for battle. The fans are pumped up with Rocky Top played by The Pride of the Southland Band.
Thanks, Wikipedia!
Back to our story...as the Vol Walk was beginning, and the players and coaches were approaching the entrance to Neyland Stadium where our group was standing, the excitement grew as we clapped in time to "Rocky Top." Suddenly, I had the sense that a very large person was standing just behind me. For those of you who are thinking ahead, no, it was not Manute Bol. Instead, it was a very large man wearing bib overalls and a Tennessee orange jacket. As Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin walked by us, the aforementioned mountain of a man proceeded to yell "The LANE TRAIN" over and over again for a solid 2 minutes.
Was this guy the first person to recognize the rhyming properties of the words "Lane" and "train"? Almost certainly not.
Was this guy the only one who was fired up at the sight of his favorite team entering their coliseum to do battle against the foe from South Carolina? No again.
Did this guy contribute to my enjoyment of the "Vol Walk" and thus my enjoyment of the trip as a whole? UNDOUTEDLY.
Thanks, Overall-clad, Name-Rhyming Guy. You made our trip to Knoxville/Neyland Stadium a very memorable one.
Current Reading
The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy by Bill Simmons
Labels: Bill Simmons, College Football, current reading, Knoxville, Lane Kiffin, Neyland Stadium, Tennessee, The Southeastern Conference, The Sports Guy
posted by Justin @ 11/02/2009 02:57:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Glad to see Tiger Walk get its due...according to the Tiger Walk Wikipedia page it has been called the "most copied tradition in all of college football."
Read Ivan Maisel's article about it here:
http://a.espncdn.com/page2/s/maisel/031120auburn.html
Perhaps next year a trip to the plains is in order.
I'm thinking about breaking my fiction streak and reading that one. Let me know if it's any good.
Jeremy,
I just finished the book on Tuesday night. I read the book not out of curiousity about the NBA, but appreciation for Simmons, and since you enjoy the NBA, I have no doubt you'll enjoy the book.
Did the book pique your interest in the NBA? If so, you're new city of residence will have some exciting basketball this year. The Rockets are being heralded as the great overachievers of this year, the team that just wouldn't quit, the team with no healthy superstars that keeps winning games it shouldn't. I think you should check it out. Plus it'd make your PC partner happy to know you were rooting for his team.
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