LARGETONY Blog

–continued from the previous post

Like the game or not, there is nothing like a football Saturday on a college campus. Think back to high school and the sort of tingle and excitement that was in the air on Friday nights when there were football games and multiply it by a hundred. That’s a college football Saturday. Then take that and multiply it by a thousand and you’ve got a Tennessee football Saturday. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is nothing like it. Those of you who have spent Saturdays in places like Ann Arbor (U of Michigan) or Austin (U of Texas) or even Gainsville (U of Florida) can almost appreciate what I’m talking about. Almost…but not quite. Don’t believe me, or think I exaggerate? See what Sports Illustrated has to say about the BEST GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE and BEST COLLEGE STADIUM. (I can think of only one thing more exciting than Saturdays in Knoxville, and it doesn’t take 100,000 people and it can happen wherever we need it to.)

Kendra was quickly becoming a believer and dived head first into becoming an adopted Vol. Even the flip-flops she bought were orange and white. She said she wanted to blend in with the crowd. I don’t think she could blend in no matter what crowd she was in. Besides being just drop dead gorgeous and a million feet tall, she was an alpha chick…in total control of the situation. Any situation. But she wasn’t forceful about it. She was smooth. People just gave themselves up to her. She even had me carrying her shoes for her as we walked to the stadium…and I still can’t figure out how that happened.

So there we went…me, my new friend Kendra, and 104,998 of our closest friends (on a football Saturday, anybody else in orange is like a close friend. No…a like brother). We decended on Neyland Stadium like an army of ants on a sugar cube in the hot sun and had a fucking blast. The game itself was not one of those emotional gut-twisters that makes me pull the neck of my shirt up to my forehead. As games go, it was pretty much run of the mill, but Kendra made it one of the most fun games I’ve ever been to. A big part of the atmosphere at a Tennessee game involves the crowd singing “Rocky Top” a few hundred times. I tried to teach her the words so that she could sing along and be a real Volunteer, but she kept getting hung up on the lyric, “Once I had a girl on Rocky Top / Half bear, the other half cat.” She just couldn’t let go of the fact that it made no sense to her.

“Half bear? What do you mean half bear? You folks are crazy. What do you want with a woman who is half bear?” I never really thought about it before. I’ve been singing that song since I was a little guy. Never questioned it. But, I gotta admit, she had a point. “You ever seen a bear?” she chuckled. “What’s up with you all?” Actually, what she said was “W’supwidchawl?” but you know how you spend time with somebody long enough, you start talking like them? Well, I hadn’t gone that far, but I was at least getting used to fast rhythm of the way she talked.

Tennessee beat Ole Miss 27-10, continuing it’s double-digit winning streak against the Rebels, and afterwards Kendra and I set out to find a shuttle back downtown. Traffic after a game is pretty bad, even on the shuttles. The only difference is that you’re not the one driving. So we decided to answer the call of our rumbling bellies and kill some time until traffic eased up. She said she didn’t care what we eat as long as it wasn’t orange.

Of course, we were not the only ones with this idea, so we ended up outside a restuarant sitting in a different kind of traffic waiting for a table. “So, how come your little half-bear don’t go to the games with you?” Kendra popped out of the blue. This made me laugh for like the 1000th time that day. I told her I don’t have a “half-bear.” She looked at me and and cocked her head. “Don’t tell me you don’t do that dance,” she said.

I had never heard it put quite that way before, so it took a few seconds for it to register what she meant. She must have taken my pause the wrong way, because Kendra offered, “It doesn’t bother me, honey. I just usually spot it sooner. Besides, half-bear works a lot better with your dance.” When I said that I’m not so sure I dance at all, she gave me a skeptical look. “Oh, you dance. You may not dance the way people think you should, but I can feel it. I got no doubt you can dance.”

“Well, not in a long time.” I replied. We got off on another topic and eventually got a table, but Kendra had already proved a couple of times earlier in the day that when she latches on to something, she is like a puppy with a chew toy. She’s not letting go until she shakes it up a bit. She took sort of a back route, but she managed to return to the subject.

“You know anything about marketing, Tony?” Naturally, I don’t. “Then let Kendra tell you something about marketing. All it is, is letting people know you got something to sell. ” That’s when she aimed her light directly at me. “That’s why you don’t have a man. You’re afraid to let them know what you have to offer.” I didn’t tell her it’s in plain sight on the internet, but I also realize that is not what she meant. She was talking about my tendancy to be sort of a wall flower.

“Honey, you have to learn to be able to look a man in the eye and let him know. You got this whole rugged man thing going, so they ain’t going to figure it out for themselves. If people don’t know you’re selling something, then they don’t know to buy it.” The puppy released it’s grip on the chew toy with a compliment that really sort of made me float. “There’s power in them big ol’ brown things of yours. Use it. Eyes like that tell man he better strap his dancing shoes on tight.”

We wrapped up dinner and actually walked back downtown instead of taking a shuttle. It was a little bit of a hike, but not too bad. We said it was to walk off the meal, but I think in reality we just wanted to have a little bit longer time to spend together. At least I know I did. On the walk back we talked about many things, including football, the Volunteer experience, fate, and men.

While waiting for the elevator in her hotel lobby she told me, “I’m going to keep check on you. Make sure you’re using them eyes,” and we quickly exchange numbers. The elevator arrived, Kendra gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek and told me, “those half-bears don’t know what they’re missing.” She got on, and as the doors closed she let out a quick, “Go Vols!” and she was gone. (”My goodness, people come and go so quickly here.”)

On my way out the lobby, I realized I was still carrying her shoes. What is it with the shoes???? Just like Glinda did with Dorothy, Kendra left me with the shoes. Unlike Glinda, Kendra was was upfront about where the power lies. And it wasn’t in those damned shoes. I dialed her number on my cell phone, but only got her voice mail. I figured I would leave her shoes at the desk and the clerk could send them up to her. But, for some reason, we never got each other’s last names. I didn’t know who to tell them to send the shoes to. So I described her and, of course, the clerk knew who she was. I doubt Kendra was in that hotel for five minutes without everyone knowing her. Naturally I got a funny look for leaving a pair of women’s shoes at a check-in desk. But I didn’t let it bother me. I simply looked the clerk in the eye and said, “Be sure that she gets them.”

On my drive home, I left Kendra a message that I left the shoes at the desk. I hope she got them without any hassle. Alpha that she is, I have a feeling that when pushed, that girl can be a lot more bear than half. But mostly she’s cricket.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 6th, 2005 at 4:28 am and is filed under being tony, football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.