“There you go
Waving your arms like a girl…

‘Cause Tennessee sucks, in the summer
What do you got that can put us under?”

-Ryan Adams – “Tennessee Sucks”

In my brief time as a blogger, I’ve been tagged, spammed and memed but it wasn’t until today that I’ve been called out. The Vol Abroad, ahead of the Georgia-Tennessee game in Knoxville this weekend, has started blogging trash. She beat me to the punch – I was going to wait a little while in deference to the miserable season (or should I say decade) that the Volunteers are having – but it’s on now!

What I think that The Vol Abroad forgets is that the Dawgs love playing in Knoxville. We’ve not lost there since 1999, before the Mark Richt era. I reckon the Dawgs are looking for a little revenge after the 51 points that y’all piled on us last year in Athens in our rebuilding year. So, while my parenting skills and child fashion sense are being questioned, Zach and I are quietly confident that we won’t be hearing much of “Rocky Top” from Neyland Stadium on the weekend.

Despite her taste in football teams and baby clothing color schemes, I’ve got to give The Vol Abroad grudging respect as a blogger. Her writing is witty and razor sharp and her site was one of the first expat blogs I really enjoyed – and is still a model for me. She preceded me into parenthood, and now that I’ve joined that mad world, I really appreciate some of the little parenting posts that come up on her site. It’s also good to see that I’m not the only “mish mash” blogger (or is it ADD?) that can’t concentrate on just one theme. We certainly share an antipathy for the Florida Gators and I can relate (and laugh) with her desire to improve her football team with fantasy lottery winnings (I’d buy mine an offensive line). Shame about the dodgy school.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure that the wailing that you’ll be hearing on Saturday night will be drifting in over the Atlantic from 100,000 or so devastated Tennessee fans (hillbillies) at Neyland. Would it be inappropriate to use our sons in a bet? Son of losing fan wears colors of the winning team? Or will our respective better halves step in…

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