Saturday, November 5, 2011, Mary Lane and Katherine went to their first UT Vols football came. It was only the second time in my life that I stepped foot in Neyland Stadium not wearing orange! Being a MTSU alum, those that know me know I have a deep love for UT but will support the Blue Raiders. Mary Lane decided she would wear blue in support of the Blue Raiders playing the Vols for UT's homecoming although she is an Auburn fan! BUT Katherine said she was going in her orange. The past several years, she has gone between wanting to go to UT or Naval Academy. This may have totally won her over. Driving up to Knoxville, Clay and I were telling stories about our UT past. Mine started before my birth! My dad attended UT and has had orange running thru his veins forever! Our family history runs deep with UT Football! Dad grew up with the Majors Family! He played every sport he could under Shirley Majors prior to Coach moving to Huntland. Phillip Fulmer was one of Dad's first recruits to UT and Jeff Hall was his last with many others sprinkled in. Dad, Phillip, and Jeff all graduated from Franklin Co. (about 20 years apart). And funny thing about Phillip and Jeff, if not for my daddy, both would have ended up at Alabama. No telling how many others from Franklin Co, Daddy kept from going to Alabama.
Before the game, our family ate at Litton's, which has become a family tradition for us. We swim at least one meet a year at UT. So usually, we are there with a bunch of wet headed swimmers with a table FULL of food with NO leftovers. Mary Lane and I split a burger and there were still leftovers. With full bellies and happy faces, it was then time to head to the stadium.
As we were walking to the bookstore (a must on game day), we all got to laughing cause THIS WAS A FIRST FOR ME! All my life, Daddy parked in the parking garage by the bookstore. So we walked but only across the street. Last time MTSU played at UT, Daddy still had his season tickets and we used them along with his parking pass. This time Clay purchased from the MTSU ticket office and when he told me where they were, I was not sure if I was going to be able to do it. THE UPPER DECK! AKA nosebleed. Our friend, Michael sat behind us, and had to laugh at my white knuckle grip.
Only 4 1/2 years hopefully!
Blue Raiders warming up on the Field!
Band of Blue in the stands. The girls found their cousins using the binoculars!
Sitting in our sits all smiles!
Katherine all smiles with the jumbo tron behind her. She got cold and put her MTSU sweat shirt on. But still has her orange hair bow showing!
The FAMOUS T.... IT'S FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE!!
The halftime show was amazing as ALWAYS! But the girls did notice that the band does not fill the entire field like the Band of Blue. The halftime show as a special tribute to Dr. Julian to celebrate 50 years! He introduced so many things to UT~ the T the team runs thru, the Circle Drill, Rocky Top to name a few. And yes, no matter in blue or orange.....I still sing Rocky Top.
We did leave at the end of 3rd quarter to make the hike back to the car and get thru game day traffic because I had to get back to Murfreesboro so that I could do my FIRST 5k at 1:50am! The girls laughed as we hiked back....well, mom here is your warm up! It was a wonderful family day, sharing this Williams family tradition with my sweet daughters.
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