The Notes: Another Tennessee Waltz

[orange+white=heaven]

When "The Pride" plays the Waltz at the end of a game, you know the day's pageantry is done. When they strike it up on Saturday, they will be playing down the flag on another home season on The Hill.
Where do these seasons go? This will be my 43rd(9 more than I actually remember caring about)... and I can assure you young whippersnappers that they get shorter every year.

Seems just last week I was sitting at the Downtown Grill, enjoying a beverage with a few of you VolNationals and intermittently discussing the next day's season opener with Cal and the personalities of a few of you who could not be there to defend yourselves(much fun!). Now here I sit with ten Saturdays of leaves yet to rake and an entire season in the rearview mirror. God I love football season!

So when the Pride of the Southland strikes up the Tennessee Waltz again Saturday after the game, take a moment and salute The Hill. And don't be the least ashamed of that tear in the corner of your eye... the tradition of which you are a part is well worth the mist....


Be honest, when you read the threadline, you thought the opening bit was gonna be about kicking Kentucky's butt....
:shades:

The Notes.....

tfpOnline:Ainge Predicts His Mentor's Return
Take heart Nationals Ainge is saying he and his coach will return...

Erik Ainge hasn’t strayed from the belief he’ll be wearing Tennessee orange again next season.

He now thinks offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe will be, too.

"I’ll be here next year playing football with Coach Cutcliffe,"

Ainge said Monday. "We’ll both be here and looking forward to doing great things here next year."

He(Cutcliffe) has declined to discuss the possibility publicly but has assured Ainge he plans to return.

"He’s told me from the beginning that he has no intentions to go anywhere else," Ainge said. "Obviously, I know things happen. Several million dollars to coach a football team is tough not to – I understand that. But he’s not throwing his name out trying to find a job like that.

"It’s one of those things where he’s planning on being here and getting to work with us for a while yet."

the biggest trick now is for Ainge to convince his top receiver to stay. Junior Robert Meachem has said he would weigh his options after the season, and he is thought to be leaning to the NFL.

"If he were to stay, obviously that would help our team out tremendously," Ainge said, "and I think it would help him out, too. He’s got a lot think about, upside of both leaving and staying. I think it will take him a little bit to make that decision."

Fulmer said Monday he expects injured defensive end Antonio Reynolds to return to practice this week and possibly contribute Saturday against Kentucky.

"I expect that he’ll get some work this week and be ready to play," Fulmer said.

senior place-kicker James Wilhoit is one point away from tying Chattanooga’s John Becksvoort for second place on the Vols’ all-time career scoring list.

tfpOnline:On Mayo and McCoy

The Volunteers’ third-leading tackler, Mayo may have broken his left kneecap during the second quarter of last Saturday’s 39-10 victory at Vanderbilt. He was still on crutches Monday, though results of an MRI on Sunday were "inconclusive," according to UT coach Phillip Fulmer.

"It was at the very least a bad bruise," Fulmer said. "It could be a fracture. We’ll find out more as it calms down a little bit."

McCoy came on to lead Tennessee in tackles with eight, including three for lost yardage, in his most significant playing time this season.

"It helped me a lot by me playing that much," McCoy said. "I got to play a whole half. I came in early second quarter and got comfortable and starting making some plays. It felt real good out there."

"Rico is a playmaker," Fulmer said. "He’s young, and when you have a young player on the field, there’s going to be some mistakes along the way. But he makes up for a lot of his mistakes with his athletic ability and his aggressive play."

Tennessean:More Ainge, About Sanders

Erik Ainge and Randy Sanders have talked regularly this season.
They won't be chatting this week, though. At least not until after Saturday's Kentucky-Tennessee game.

"As the game has approached, we have not talked to each other," said Ainge, who's completed 68 percent of his passes and is on track to set Tennessee's single-season record for completion percentage.
"I'm sure I will talk to him Saturday night or Sunday morning just to avoid anyone saying anything about us talking before the game. I talk to him all the time."

"He's told me how proud he is of me and how he knew I and we were going to have a year like this," Ainge said. "That meant a lot to me. He's one of the main reasons that I'm at this university, so it's tough not to have a lot of love for him."

After my freshman year, everyone thought (Sanders) was a genius," Ainge said. "I broke the touchdown record for freshmen. Then he had Rick (Clausen) and me my sophomore year. It's one of those things that you never know what would have happened had it just been me. You don't know what that situation would be like now.
"I have all the respect in the world for him."

Ainge said if anyone should take the blame for his injury, it should be him.
"They made a good play and I tried to fight it too much," he said. "The one thing I would say about the play is know when you are done. I am such a competitor that I am trying to get that last yard or break that last tackle and, in doing so, I ended up spraining my ankle."

And the band played on....

Go Vols!!!

 

[volfanbill]

OW, you got me misty eyed just reading that.... best of luck to mayo though. Living here in the tidewater area, i can't help but root for him, mitchell, and yancey a little more.

 

[vader]

Be honest, when you read the threadline, you thought the opening bit was gonna be about kicking Kentucky's butt....
:shades:

:lol: That is exactly what I thought.

 

[hohenfelsvol]

Gonna miss these updates. Thanks.

 

[thunder5]

I was dancing with my darlin to the Tennessee Waltz...when an old friend I happened to see.....

 

[TennTradition]

interesting comment EA made about what could have been if rick were out of the picture....

 

[thunder5]

My grandparents had season tickets for over thirty years. The very first time they heard the band play the Waltz at the end of the game they stayed and listened to the whole thing. It ended up being a tradition that they continued at every game they went to afterwards. Its one that I try to keep, although I've been so mad after some games I just wanted to leave. But the song definitely has alot of meaning, especially since my granfather just passed a little over a year ago. I'm definitely gonna miss the Vols until next season.

 

[orange+white=heaven]

My grandparents had season tickets for over thirty years. The very first time they heard the band play the Waltz at the end of the game they stayed and listened to the whole thing. It ended up being a tradition that they continued at every game they went to afterwards. Its one that I try to keep, although I've been so mad after some games I just wanted to leave. But the song definitely has alot of meaning, especially since my granfather just passed a little over a year ago. I'm definitely gonna miss the Vols until next season.

Great story.....*sniff*.....

 

[tidwell]

Obviously hate that it was under those circumstances, but it was nice to see McCoy get a big chunk of playing time, and play well.