This week as we host a very early tailgate (and do so serving loaded tots for a breakfast tailgate), I was thinking about a different visiting team that really brought out a lot of good fans. I had gone to Tennessee in 2010 and tried to get some tailgating time in, but the shuttle bus from my hotel got me to the stadium too close to game time to find a couple of the tailgates to which I was invited.
During the leadup to the game, however, I had met (online) a Tennessee fan who was a member of our Tennessee Rivals site named evol (I now know him as Ernie and we are friends to this day). Ernie was very cordial and a lot of fun to hang out with. He used to randomly shout ‘Eff Lane Kiffin’ following his tumultuous single season in Knoxville.
In 2013 when Tennessee made the trip to Autzen, I had already moved over to the Boy Scout lot for our tailgate spot. As anyone who has come to one of the tailgates there knows – it is not easy to find the first time you try to get to our spot. The good thing about the spot, though, is that it is a corner spot so I have a lot of extra space to set up tables, grill, food, chairs, the television, and (back then) a generator.
Ernie brought about 10 people with him to the tailgate. Going in, they were all pretty sure that the Ducks were the better team, but were hoping that there was some magic on the defensive side of the ball and that the Volunteers would be able to make some plays defensively, keep it close, and see what happens.
That did not happen. But for a brief moment in the first quarter, Ernie had hope. Tennessee stopped Oregon on their first possession and then jumped to a 7-0 lead after getting the ball at their own 20-yard line. Oregon went on a 59-0 run as Marcus Mariota threw for 456 yards and 4 touchdowns. Tennessee scored late to make the final score 59-14.
Ernie did not expect the game to be that big of a blowout which – at the time – was the largest loss by a Volunteer football team in over 100 years (a 48-0 loss to Mississippi State in 1910). Oregon would finish with 687 yards of total offense. It was the first year of the Butch Jones era and there was a sincere belief that Jones could return Tennessee to their glory days of the Fulmer era among those we spoke with that day.
What I remember most, though, is just how friendly the Tennessee fans were in both 2010 and 2013. Ernie, Jana, and a host of other Vols fans came to our tailgate, and shared food, drinks, laughs, and football with us. They hugged us like family and we all really bonded.
I used to see Jana on occasion (her husband at the time was a sports writer and she went to some events with him) and she is still cordial every time I see her. I have not seen her in a couple of years, but we stay in contact. Ernie seems to have let the Kiffin year go from his memory, and I have watched from afar as his family has grown up and he has become a grandfather. He is a really cool dude and every time I see the picture from that tailgate, I am transported back to that day.
THIS WEEK: We will once again be inside the Autzen Parking lot at Space 6543 like last week. We will have ‘loaded tots’ with eggs, bacon, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa as options to make the breakfast tailgate as memorable (and filling) as possible.
