Posts Tagged ‘Legion Field’

Despite my thoughts on Legion Field, Tom Mattingly has written govolsxtra.com/news/2008/may/31/legion-field-football-aura-was-special/” target=”_blank”>a fabulous article on the Aura of Legion Field. This article is a great read, and even though I personally think Legion Field is a dive as stadiums go, he makes a strong case for Legion Field being the one-time “Football Capital of the South.“

Mattingly writes so poetically about the venue:

When Tennessee and Alabama squared off, there was the sight of Tennessee orange on the press box sideline and Alabama crimson on the east sideline. It was football exactly the way the gods decreed it.

Great imagery.

Actually, about everything Tom Mattingly writes is great and you should really do yourself a favor and check out his “official” writing for GoVolsXtra as well as his blog, “The Vol Historian” which is also hosted on GVX. If you are a Tennessee fan, and love reminiscing, then you will love his stuff. In my book, he’s a first-rate writer and he has forgotten more about the Tennessee Volunteers than most of us will ever know.

Mattingly’s article just goes to show that, despite my claims to the contrary, I am an idiot…

– Go Figure …

**Notice: This “Shout Out” represents the actual opinion of the author (for what that is worth) and was in no way influenced by any other person.

The Third Saturday in October, 1995

(14 October 1995)

vs.

Tennessee 41 • Alabama 14

Legion Field

There are a fair number of people in Orange Nation who — ignoring the whole “national championship thing” in 1998 — are of the opinion that the 1995 Tennessee Volunteers may have been the best football team fielded by the Big Orange in the modern era. Regardless of whether they were better than any other team — the 1995 Vols were pretty darn good, and were a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Thus, a few of the games from that season make my all-time list.

It’s probably not all that hard to figure out the first one (No, I’m not referring to the stinkin’ East Carolina Game)

I don’t know that I necessarily agree or disagree with the folks who think the 1995 team is better than the 1998 team. I think there are strong points that can be made for both squads, but hardly settle the issue. After all, who is “best” is really a matter of opinion. This is the sort of debate which leads Basilio to offer his catch phrase of deepest profundity:

“Hmmm …. Interesting.“

Translation: “I really don’t feel like arguing with you about this because I can’t prove you’re wrong, and you can’t prove you’re right.” Of course, some folks love trying to prove their opinions are fact or — at a minimum — are superior to your opinions (”Oh, but I can prove it! Really, I can — with a crayon, a note from my Mother, and this bit of string…” ). The type of people who seem to gravitate toward that sort of behavior are usually a little short on knowledge and a little long on ego which, while annoying at times, is forgivable. The rest are just egomaniacal degenerates, politicians, and lawyers (ugh)…

… but I digress (sigh).

By the time 1995 rolled around Tennessee had managed to keep from beating the Alabama Crimson Tide for nine (that’s right, I said “NINE”) utterly abominable years. To that point, Tennessee had only beaten Alabama four times in my entire lifetime, which — from my perspective — sucked. The Vols came within a hair of beating Alabama in 1993, only to tie (that game was later forfeited to Tennessee due to Bama having offered big piles of cash to their players from 1958 until … well … minutes before the sanctions were imposed. Still, a forfeit on paper is hardly a win.). In 1994, my freshman year on the Hill, another freshman — some Manning kid — didn’t see an open passing lane to James “Little Man” Stewart who was standing in the endzone, all by himself, and practically sending smoke signals begging for the ball on the final play of the game. Victory to the Tide. Needless to say, I — along with every other Tennessee fan — was ready for that streak to end.

The game, like every other Tennessee-Alabama contest played in the state of Alabama from 1932-1999, was played at Legion Field in Birmingham.

If you’ve never been to Legion Field … skip it.

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