Guitar Shots To the Head: The Hokey Pahokee

We are headed back to Pahokee for more drama. Laughs will surely follow. Pick your lyric for what Eddie Gran may be singing in Pahokee, Florida right now.

“If you ever go out to the Pahokee Swamp you better not go at night” or

“Please Mr. Kiffin…I don’t want to go…a ho oh oh” or

“You do the Hokey Pahokee and you turn yourself around, that’s what it’s all about”.

The chamber of commerce of Pahokee, Florida has to be licking their chops now. Once Gran pulls a few more recruits out of there, Vol fans from all over the world might plan an annual pilgrimage to their town, population 6,458. Note that the Wiki page says the population is 6,459, but Nuke is headed to Knoxville in a few months so I figured I would help the census bureau out a bit.

Where else could a town of that size get this much national pub? People all over the SEC are talking about Pahokee, and they haven’t spent a dime in advertising. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gran doesn’t leave with the key to the city today.

I’d love to see us take it a step further. Knoxville has already has 7 international “Sister Cities”. I say we round that number up to 8 by adding Pahokee, Florida. What have we got to lose?

Of course we are likely to face some opposition from the principle of Pahokee High, who up until recently had the Gator displayed on his profile on the school website. Considering those allegiances it isn’t hard to imagine how Kiffin questioned whether or not he would get a fair shake in the ongoing recruiting wars.

Lane Kiffin may have hurt a few feelings. Many even say that there has been a broach of ethical boundaries. Cages have been rattled, but they seem to be the right cages. The Gator is off of the website. Nuke is headed to Knoxville, and before it is all said and done Pahokee will get more press from Lane Kiffin and the Tennessee football program than they could have gotten from hosting Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears in a dance off.

Forget putting a fence around Tennessee. I say put a fence around Pahokee. After all it is Knoxville’s newest “sister city.”

Until next time, Go Vols!