It's Football Time in Tennessee!


My friend Rebecca at The Road Home made the comment yesterday that she was shocked some people didn't know anything about football.  Here's my question:  How in the world could anybody from the South not know anything about football?  It's the center of weekend activities.  
Last weekend, one of my sisters had the September issue of Southern Living.  She shared the following with us:  (I've added my comments in italics)
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL FANDOM
1. Thou shalt wear team colors. But think twice before adorning yourself with body paint—you don’t want to be the Internet photo that goes viral.
2. Thou shalt know—and sing—your team’s fight song from beginning to end. Sure, you can “watermelon watermelon” your way through the alma mater, but not memorizing the fight song is a fan failure.  (Any self-respecting Tennessee fan will teach Rocky Top to their children as soon as they're born.  My boys knew the words as soon as they could talk!)
3. Thou shalt keep your language clean (unless, of course, the quarterback fumbles on fourth and goal).
4. Thou shalt support the coach. Even when his calls are questionable.
5. Thou shalt be respectful to visiting teams. Remember: Southern ladies and gentlemen never boo.  (I'm not too sure about this one...Ever hear 100,000 of your closest friends booing?  Especially when the Gators come in the stadium!)
6. Thou shalt set up a tailgate no fewer than three hours before kickoff (six if it’s a night game). Table linens and matching huggers encouraged, but not required.  (Apparently this applies to high school rivalry games, too.  See my post about the Small Town's Game.)
7. Thou shalt theme your tailgate food around the visiting rival. Gator bites, anyone?
8. Thou shalt stay through the fourth quarter—rain or shine. That’s what ponchos are for, y’all.
9. Thou shalt respect the solemnity of Game Day by planning weddings, births, and other life events around the football schedule.  (Not naming any names, but someone planned her wedding and didn't plan it around the UT-Bama game...it also happened to be the last time Bear Bryant coached that game at UT.  She still gets grief about that one!)
10. Thou shalt not covet other teams’ bowl games, national championships, or Heisman Trophy wins. There’s always next year.

10 comments:

  1. Love these! I have College Game Day playing in the background because the Predicament + my son are there...just saw them on TV. Go Noles!

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  2. absolute.truth.

    Have a wonderful weekend, Mary!

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  3. Love this!! Can you believe that the hubster and I planned our wedding for the first Auburn game that year? We had people attend the wedding and then drive to Auburn, making it in time for the game by skipping the reception!! His father still hasn't forgiven us for making him miss that game!

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  4. My husband and a friend sang Rocky Top at our daughter's wedding reception--while wearing orange suspenders and ties! It was awesome!

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  5. I like the last one! There is something about living in the south and football season, isn't there!

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  6. I'm not a football fan, but that was cute ... and funny! ;-)

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  7. I love those! I didn't grow up in the south, but many of those applied where I was from as well. In grad school, I had a roommate with a PA system installed in her car (a little Ford Focus...don't ask); anyway she would drive to tailgating at 6 am blaring the fight song. Yay football!

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  8. i should jot a few of these down for hubs. seems i've managed to get through nearly two decades with him without football in our lives... no more. he left a day early out of town to go to a saints game today. :(

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