V---O---L---S, V-O-L-S, VOLS, Go Vols Go!

What do you get when 99,000 people impassioned about football all looking like walking citrus fruits walk, drive and ride from miles around to converge into one spot?

Well I'll tell you.

You get the most high-energy, fast-action, heart-pumping activity you can imagine. It may sound like I'm exaggerating but I'm not. It really was that amazing.

Chace and I went to the football game on Saturday -- Tennessee played Western Kentucky -- and it was awesome. There were so many people and they were all wearing orange, I mean, I've never seen so much orange and they all loved football. They really REALLY love football here. Our first hint was this....

Everywhere we looked people were either going to the game itself or obviously had plans to watch the game on tv. I felt a little out of place because I had yet to buy anything orange. Chace bought a wrist band at the gas station but that was the extent of our orange. Once we got to the area of the city where we had planned to park we discovered we were going to have to pay around $20-$30 to park. Obviously we're too cheap to spend that kind of money so we walked from a far far away parking spot that we paid nothin' for. Nice huh? Along our walk we got to see the Volunteer Navy. This was one side of the bridge...

And this is the other side of the bridge...

These people take their boats and tailgate right there on the water. How fun! I need to find myself a boat owner. Here's the stadium from afar...

As we continued our walk, we ran into some traditional tailgaters. You know, the non-rich kind that just have their orange grill, orange tent, orange chairs, orange bean bag game, orange food probably too but I didn't get that close to check.

This is what the other side of the stadium looked like. This is the side where they did the Vol Walk which is a tradition in which the team walks from a little ways away to the stadium and everyone follows a long with them. It's one big giant mob scene, only people are pumped up not angry.

Orange for as far as you can see. After we finally made it to the stadium, waited in line for our (free!) tickets, figured out where our seats were (because they were not "normal" seats according to the event staff - they were in the special section, ha ha), we were ready to cheer on the Vols! Here was the view from our seats...

We were four rows up!

And now lets play a little game. Can you find DJ?

And in this one?

OK that one was easier. But how cool is that, that out of allllll those people, we were able to sit close enough where we could see him and at one point, he even saw me!

And then we saw Peyton Manning!

He was there because he's given like a few million dollars or something to the team and so they dedicated the locker room to him. See?

Peyton looked just like he does on t.v. It was cool. And you can also see the Vols new coach above - Lane Kiffin. You may find it interesting that he just named his new son, Knox. I bet it's after Knoxville.

Ok now for the best part so far...

The band makes a giant "T" and then the whole team runs through it. That's another tradition. Very amazing. I had goose bumps and couldn't even hear myself cheer because it was sooo loud in that stadium.

Here's another shot from our seats once the game had started.

And me and Chacie...

As you can see we acquired some orange. It. was. so. hot. The game started at 12:20 in the afternoon and there was not a cloud in the sky so at half time, in desperation, we bought some hats. I also went in search of more sunscreen and finally found some at first aid. I was desperate.

So anyone who actually reads this blog is welcome to come with me to a game. I will always be looking for someone to go with because it was so awesome and I wouldn't want to miss another one if possible. Oh and the Vols won -- 63 -7. Go Vols!