Tennessee Football
The White Level
Hi ISU Sycamore fans. I hope many of you will come to the game in Knoxville this weekend. We cordially welcome all of you to Knoxville and The University of Tennessee main campus. You will find the Knoxville area residents, UTK students, UTK alumni, and the fans who actually attend the game to be some of the nicest and most welcoming people you have ever met. You are in for the time of your life!!! I have traveled all over the United States across my 64 years of life, and I can tell you that Knoxville has excellent hotels and some of the best eating and drinking establishments in the nation. This is not just a football game. It is one HUGE PARTY, and everyone is invited. In fact, a few years back, one of the major TV sports networks (cannot recall which---maybe ESPN) declared Knoxville to be the No.1 location in the United States to attend a college football game and get the maximum flavor of a college football Saturday. If you come, you will see what I mean---and when you leave---you will say: "WOW!!!"
Some of you may be concerned about mean-spirited and abusive Tennessee football fans both here on your forum and on the at-large streets of Knoxville. In most instances, I think you will find that the few occasional abusive people are not UTK alumni, UTK faculty, UTK employees, or UTK students. Unlike at many universities, the entire population of Tennessee gets highly and quite emotionally involved in UTK football. That has been true since at least the 1930s. This includes farmers, factory workers, auto mechanics, truck drivers, retail employees, mountain men, moonshiners, middle school students, high school students, and all sorts of---for lack of a better term---"unusual characters." Some of these folks get out their Jack Daniels or favorite beer, get falling over drunk, and behave badly. So, if you encounter someone behaving like that here on your forum or on the streets of Knoxville, just be aware that they do not represent The University of Tennessee alumni, faculty, employees, or students. We are just as appalled at their bad behavior as you are.
If you have never been to Knoxville, The University of Tennessee campus is huge (like UCLA or U of M) with a lot of high-rise buildings and a high building density---meaning it is not a palatial grassland campus with abundant trees and architecture that looks like Oxford University or Cambridge University. It is located in a highly traffic-congested downtown urban area with an MSA population of approximately one million people. Traffic in Knoxville is bad even on good days. On football Saturdays, the traffic is murder. Please allow yourself more than enough time to get from one place to another and to get to the stadium on time. A bus may run from your hotel to Neyland Stadium. If not, and you are in good physical shape and you are not too far from the stadium, I recommend walking.
The main drag through campus is Cumberland Avenue, where many of the retail shops, eating places, and drinking places are located. This is student central. Eating and drinking places are also located downtown on Market Square Mall, Gay Street, the nearby Old City (Knoxville's unique version of the French Quarter), and out west on Kingston Pike. If you are looking for great Southern Bar-B-Q and drinks, go to one of several Calhoun's locations around town. One is located right next to Neyland Stadium where the Volunteer Navy parks its boats. Excellent Bar-B-Q and drinks are waiting for you. If you want fast food Bar-B-Q, one of the several Buddy's Bar-B-Q locations is recommended. If you like fine dining and a wide variety of cuisine, we have many excellent places to do that too.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I may be able to answer them---maybe not. It just depends on what the question is. We look forward to seeing you folks, and regardless of who wins or loses, we can all have a great party together---except that I walk with a cane now and have to sit home and watch my games on TV.:smile
Some of you may be concerned about mean-spirited and abusive Tennessee football fans both here on your forum and on the at-large streets of Knoxville. In most instances, I think you will find that the few occasional abusive people are not UTK alumni, UTK faculty, UTK employees, or UTK students. Unlike at many universities, the entire population of Tennessee gets highly and quite emotionally involved in UTK football. That has been true since at least the 1930s. This includes farmers, factory workers, auto mechanics, truck drivers, retail employees, mountain men, moonshiners, middle school students, high school students, and all sorts of---for lack of a better term---"unusual characters." Some of these folks get out their Jack Daniels or favorite beer, get falling over drunk, and behave badly. So, if you encounter someone behaving like that here on your forum or on the streets of Knoxville, just be aware that they do not represent The University of Tennessee alumni, faculty, employees, or students. We are just as appalled at their bad behavior as you are.
If you have never been to Knoxville, The University of Tennessee campus is huge (like UCLA or U of M) with a lot of high-rise buildings and a high building density---meaning it is not a palatial grassland campus with abundant trees and architecture that looks like Oxford University or Cambridge University. It is located in a highly traffic-congested downtown urban area with an MSA population of approximately one million people. Traffic in Knoxville is bad even on good days. On football Saturdays, the traffic is murder. Please allow yourself more than enough time to get from one place to another and to get to the stadium on time. A bus may run from your hotel to Neyland Stadium. If not, and you are in good physical shape and you are not too far from the stadium, I recommend walking.
The main drag through campus is Cumberland Avenue, where many of the retail shops, eating places, and drinking places are located. This is student central. Eating and drinking places are also located downtown on Market Square Mall, Gay Street, the nearby Old City (Knoxville's unique version of the French Quarter), and out west on Kingston Pike. If you are looking for great Southern Bar-B-Q and drinks, go to one of several Calhoun's locations around town. One is located right next to Neyland Stadium where the Volunteer Navy parks its boats. Excellent Bar-B-Q and drinks are waiting for you. If you want fast food Bar-B-Q, one of the several Buddy's Bar-B-Q locations is recommended. If you like fine dining and a wide variety of cuisine, we have many excellent places to do that too.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I may be able to answer them---maybe not. It just depends on what the question is. We look forward to seeing you folks, and regardless of who wins or loses, we can all have a great party together---except that I walk with a cane now and have to sit home and watch my games on TV.:smile
Last edited: