Books on the Vols and CFB

#1
stephenk24

stephenk24

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#1
Hey VN

As part of my Sports Journalism course which I have just started at Uni, we cover the history of sport - in which we have to write two essays this year on a topic of our choice... One of my essays will likely be cantered around college football... (This may sound familiar to those who read my essay on Race and Sports in the USA which I did for my History A-Level qualification at school earlier this year)

I was just wondering if you guys could give me some recommendations for books on the history of UT and/or College Football in general (maybe even on Tennessee as a state), as I need to be selective with what I read, especially as importing books which are not available for kindle can get expensive very quickly!

This will help greatly in selecting the topic I wish to pursue.

Thanks guys!

British Vol Stephen :hi:
 
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#4
#4
GlockVol said:
Just curious Stephen, how did you become a Vol fan?
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Setiously? I went like six months without being asked, and I have been asked like 5 times in the last two days!

Just a minute, I will find my last post and copy it to here.
 
#5
#5
I go into football after watching Super Bowl 40. After getting more and more into football I decided I would research the whole "college" thing, as I wanted to know some of the players before they were drafted.

I researched various teams and got my head around the basics of how the conferences worth etc. I narrowed down my options to Texas (one of the few teams I had heard of), Wisconsin (because of the packers) and Southern Miss (because of Brett Favre).

I decided I would most likely go for Wisconsin because of my many friends who support them, so I spent a lot of the summer of 2011 researching them. But it all changed at a family wedding a few weeks before the season started. At the wedding a few Americans who were there got chatting to me for hours and hours about US sport. It just so happens that one of them is a massive Vols fan who graduated from UT - and when he found out I was searching for a team he spent hours telling me about the traditions at UT and inspired me to research them. I had never considered UT, partly because I had never heard of them....

So the next day I went home and watched the 2010 game against Kentucky on the SEC website. It was a pretty good game from what I remember, so I decided to stick with them going into the season. I then found this forum after the first week of the season, read it for the September month to get an idea of what the fan base was like - I joined that October and the rest is history. The Vols are now my favourite team.

Freak, can you make this story a sticky or something? Lol.
 
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#6
#6
stephenk24 said:
I go into football after watching Super Bowl 40. After getting more and more into football I decided I would research the whole "college" thing, as I wanted to know some of the players before they were drafted.

I researched various teams and got my head around the basics of how the conferences worth etc. I narrowed down my options to Texas (one of the few teams I had heard of), Wisconsin (because of the packers) and Southern Miss (because of Brett Favre).

I decided I would most likely go for Wisconsin because of my many friends who support them, so I spent a lot of the summer of 2011 researching them. But it all changed at a family wedding a few weeks before the season started. At the wedding a few Americans who were there got chatting to me for hours and hours about US sport. It just so happens that one of them is a massive Vols fan who graduated from UT - and when he found out I was searching for a team he spent hours telling me about the traditions at UT and inspired me to research them. I had never considered UT, partly because I had never heard of them....

So the next day I went home and watched the 2010 game against Kentucky on the SEC website. It was a pretty good game from what I remember, so I decided to stick with them going into the season. I then found this forum after the first week of the season, read it for the September month to get an idea of what the fan base was like - I joined that October and the rest is history. The Vols are now my favourite team.

Freak, can you make this story a sticky or something? Lol.
Click to expand...

I bet when you say STICKY it sounds funny :eek:lol:
 
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#9
#9
stephenk24 said:
:ermm: Why?
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Pay no attention to misunderstood linguistic differences.

By the way, huge Dr. Who fan myself. One of Great Britain's best exports IMO. I always enjoy seeing Vol fans scattered to the four winds repping UT.
 
#10
#10
Sorry to bother you to repeat that story again. I am an EPL fan myself. I worked with a man from Britain a few years ago and he told me that a lot of British think that soccer is for lower class folks due to all the drinking, fighting and holliganism. He also said most people are more fond of rugby and cricket. Is that your experience?
 
#12
#12
GlockVol said:
Sorry to bother you to repeat that story again. I am an EPL fan myself. I worked with a man from Britain a few years ago and he told me that a lot of British think that soccer is for lower class folks due to all the drinking, fighting and holliganism. He also said most people are more fond of rugby and cricket. Is that your experience?
Click to expand...

Hmm, always thought the rugby folks were more prone to hooliganism than soccer folks.
 
#13
#13
GlockVol said:
Sorry to bother you to repeat that story again. I am an EPL fan myself. I worked with a man from Britain a few years ago and he told me that a lot of British think that soccer is for lower class folks due to all the drinking, fighting and holliganism. He also said most people are more fond of rugby and cricket. Is that your experience?
Click to expand...
No worries....

My experience soccer is for hooligans, rugby and cricket is for gentlemen. I don't feel safe at soccer games.... Hence I rarely go anymore. Most people are not fond of Rugby and cricket, they are a distance scene and third to soccer.
 
#14
#14
I can't think of any Vol books that are on kindle, but you might find Bowled Over: Big-Time College Football from the Sixties to the BCS Era helpful. Maybe something like Manning: A Father, His Sons and a Football Legacy. It might be sacrilegious to mention here but Bear Bryant's autobiography is also quite good and would probably be more historically relevant (Bear: The Hard Life & Good Times of Alabama's Coach Bryant).
 
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#17
#17
TreeGreen said:
I can't think of any Vol books that are on kindle, but you might find Bowled Over: Big-Time College Football from the Sixties to the BCS Era helpful. Maybe something like Manning: A Father, His Sons and a Football Legacy.
Click to expand...

Thanks, will keep them in mind. It doesn't have to be kindle. I was just pointing out how it becomes a pain when the books I want are not on kindle because of the horrific postage costs.
 
#18
#18
stephenk24 said:
Okay, now what? I don't speak R(ecieved) P(ronounciation) you know, I am from East London, the queen's English isn't spoken here....
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Learn something new...that doesn't benefit me...every day :hi:
 
#22
#22
stephenk24 said:
Thanks, will keep them in mind. It doesn't have to be kindle. I was just pointing out how it becomes a pain when the books I want are not on kindle because of the horrific postage costs.
Click to expand...

You could always try and find Neyland's biography, but even here in the states it would probably be a pain.

Others of potential interest:
  • University of Tennessee Football Vault (College Vault)
  • Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective (Pat Summitt's autobiography. Not football, but she is and will forever be a University of Tennessee and Women's Basketball Legend)
  • How the SEC Became Goliath: The Making of College Football's Most Dominant Conference
 
#24
#24
TreeGreen said:
You could always try and find Neyland's biography, but even here in the states it would probably be a pain.

Others of potential interest:
  • University of Tennessee Football Vault (College Vault)
  • Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective (Pat Summitt's autobiography. Not football, but she is and will forever be a University of Tennessee and Women's Basketball Legend)
  • How the SEC Became Goliath: The Making of College Football's Most Dominant Conference
Click to expand...


Brilliant, thanks so much!
 
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