-On Saturday, JDM, MPW, and I hit the road to Athens, Georgia, to watch the Tennessee basketball team play its first SEC game of the year against the Georgia Bulldogs.-This marked the fourth straight year MPW has traveled to the away Georgia game and my second. The game was played earlier than this year than in our past visits.
(To review last year’s trip, see the February 18, 2008 edition of “In Eckleburg’s Eyes”.)
-JDM was a late substitution for JTL who cancelled late in the week. He had just learned that he was expecting his first child and his wife wanted to hold a gathering to inform the family on Saturday. We suspect that had the Vols been playing better, he might have come. I mean really, what’s more important Tennessee basketball or announcing the birth of your firstborn?
-JDM had never been to a road game. I tried to prepare him as best I could for my perceived need to be obnoxious on the road.
-I picked the boys up at around 6 am and we hit the road. We stopped for breakfast at Chick fil-A in Lawrenceville, Georgia. It was the first time I had ever eaten breakfast at Chick-fil-A.-When we arrived in Athens, I parked about as far away from the stadium as humanly possible while still remaining on campus. I honestly thought I recognized a parking garage. A well meaning man saw us in our Tennessee garb perusing the campus map and attempted to help us. It took him quite awhile. (Read: understatement.) We suspect he was a philosophy professor.
-We noticed that mopeds are extremely popular on the UGA campus. They even have moped parking lots. We also noticed that the campus streets had bicycle lanes. We wondered aloud if this phallic symbol was the best suited for a college campus...
-After a significant trek, we finally arrived at Stegeman Coliseum in plenty of time for the game. We received a free program (pictured below) with admission which was a nice touch. They also sold bigger versions. I opted not to keep a box score during the game though it was nice to have the option.
-We also learned that like UT, Georgia also has a co-promotional deal with a chicken provider. Raising Cane’s offers free food if the Bulldogs hit five three-pointers in a game. Tennessee has to score 90 points to merit free poultry! We would be eating free all of the time if we had the same deal!
-We had great seats, but the arena is so small there is honestly not a bad seat in the building. Not counting students, Tennessee fans may have outnumbered the home fans. Vocally, the Tennessee fans were at worst a match for the hometown crowd. During a home game, you watch the game. On the road, you feel like part of the team. Hence my need to be obnoxiously loud to counteract the home fans.-The fans that travel are also the diehard, educated fans. This was evidenced as there was a collective gasp from the Tennessee contingency when Wayne Chism attempted to dribble. I was proud to be amongst their number.
-Last year, Geogia fans bought out many seats just so Tennessee fans could not get them. I am uncertain if they did so again but the arena was certainly not full despite the home squad opening its conference schedule against a nationally ranked opponent.
-The pep band played the national anthem before the game. They were no Jacqui Pearl.
-Georgia’s famed live canine, Uga, was not there, though they did have two costumed mascots, “Hairy Dog” and “Spike”. The latter was in a ZOOperstars-esque outfit which we all found creepy.-The Vols did not play especially well but led the game 36-32 at the half. One way to gage a UT opponent is how well the alley oop (Tennessee's only “play”) works. It worked in the first half. I was also aghast that Georgia had 6'1" guard Zac Swansey in-bounding the ball against the nation’s premier in-bounds defense. He faired as well as one might expect. This poor scouting is inexcusable.
-I also had a stark epiphany in the first half when freshman Scotty Hopson picked up his second foul early, sending him to the bench. It was irrelevant. He was expendable as we have many just like him on the bench. If you want wiry streak shooters who are defensive liabilities we are your team.
-The halftime performance was from Air Elite, Inc, a trio who used a trampoline to dunk acrobatically. The group is based out of Atlanta. It was like SlamBall and was better than any halftime UT has had since the aged chiropractor shot three-pointers. We suspect the superior halftime was due to the fact that it was sponsored by The Varsity.
-In the second half, Tennessee once again played down to the level of the competition. We were all worried when the Vols faced a ten point deficit in the second half. We did not want to lose, much less to a team with such a poor fan base.
-At various intervals, clips from the sports films Hoosiers and Rocky were shown to incite the crowd. The Hoosiers installment was not too bad but once they used more than one, it was cheesy.
-The Vols eventually pulled out the victory, 86-77. Defense and Tyler Smith were the keys to victory. Georgia did not hit a shot for the majority of the final eight minutes of the game. Georgia’s Ricky McPhee, a late insertion to the game, hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds for the Bulldogs' first field goal since a dunk by Jeremy Price with 8:08 remaining.-Tyler Smith was questionable to play after injuring his knee the previous Wednesday (January 7th) against Gonzaga. He convinced the coach to allow him to play and was it a good thing he did. He scored 24 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, and dished out six assists. The Vols would not have won without him.
-When the Vols finally had the game in hand, MPW correctly surmised where the Bruce Pearl Show would be taped and we moved to get great seats. We were in the second row behind Bert Bertelkamp and Bob Kesling. Tim Brando was there broadcasting the game as well for television and he and Kesling exchanged pleasantries. Kesling was friendly and talkative.-The Georgia security staff actually tried to kick out the entire Tennessee fanbase awaiting the show claiming the stadium was closing! Most did not leave. We certainly did not. It reminded me of a trip to a wrestling show in Nashville in 2001 when a man selling cotton candy tried to seat the crowd. What authority did he have?
-With the security still trying to remove us, Tyler Smith hobbled out to a thunderous ovation to be interviewed as player of the game. Either the adrenaline and medicine had worn off or he was milking his injury for applause. Either way, with the game he played, he deserved it.-We then got to chat up Bruce Pearl who answered virtually every fan question posed after thanking the fans for their support. I asked if Ryan Childress would be playing soon as he dressed for the game. He either did not hear me or did not want to answer it as it was one of the few questions he did not address.
-After shaking Bruce’s hand, we left as we could not hear the radio broadcast as speakers are no longer aloud in visiting stadiums, a rule imposed specifically for Pearl. Pearl joked that the league may institute a new rule for him again since we had defied security.
-On the ride home we contemplated the hard balls we would have rather asked Bruce: Why did Philip Jurick not make the trip and did he really expect him to ever play? Who is the bigger pansy, Wayne Chism or J.P. Prince? (Clearly, Chism.) Can we enter the stadium to Bobby Maze’s freestyle rap ”Put On For Tennessee”? Why does he play his son Steven Pearl? Enquiring minds (at least ours) wanted to know.
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