Let's start with the Nashville and Calgary game.
Calgary Flames vs Nashville Tuesday 19th
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Nashville Predators Thursday 21st
I was also able to take in the Penguins /Predators game. Best part about this was I got lost trying to go outside during the 1st intermission and wound up in the basement, by the locker rooms. No one seemed to care or ask why I was there.
The arena is really nice, and the concourses are easy to get around. If you're stuck in the 3rd level you even get a nice escalator ride up! A modern arena and great fans. Everyone here was tremendously nice to me with my Flames gear, 2 thumbs up to Nashville and the Preds.
Next up was the grand daddy of my man-cation, the Volunteers game.
Alabama Crimson Tide vs Tennessee Volunteers Saturday October 23rd
The pre game stuff was almost as good as the game itself. The fans were so friendly and offered up stuff from their grills and a good story about the Vols. The campus is located on a hill (the whole area around UT in Knoxville is hilly and beautiful) so the stadium didn't reveal herself to me until I was almost there. It was beautiful, a tremendous stadium with character and class.
The inside of the stadium is really something else when it's filled up. There were a tonne, a tonne of Bama fans and that made the crowd electric. The chants and fight songs from both schools made the game itself truly unique.
The half time show was remarkable. The "Million dollar band" from Bama did a bunch of 70's hits, and after the Vol's "pride of the southland band" did what's called a circle drill. It was a spectacle to watch; I was told before hand to make sure to check out all the marching band performance and was skeptical. I was wrong to even doubt it; the marching bands were almost as good as the game itself.
The fans singing along to Rockytop is my second favourite sports memory of my life, only 2nd to watching the Flames beat the Sharks for the Western conference final. It was football at it's very best.
Sunday was the Titans game. I loved that all Saturday (especially downtown at night on Broadway) there was an absolute truck load of Eagles fans everywhere. At the game itself the Eagles fans earned their reputation for being loud and obnoxious D-bags; it was fun to be around.
Philadelphia Eagles vs Tennessee Titans Sunday 24th
My seats were so high I didn't want to look down over the railings. LP Field on the whole, tho, is a great example of an NFL stadium well designed. Spacious concourse, lots of food and merch shops... and lots of bathrooms. One bad thing tho, compared to Neyland stadium, is that parking sucks, traffic sucks, and getting to and from the stadium and anywhere around Nashville sucks. Neyland holds 104,000 people on campus and I was heading back to Nashville 20 mins after the game. LP field? It took me and my friends 45 mins to get to the stadium from our hotel 12 miles away. I don't know where to lay the blame specifically but it was brutal.
Not included as they aren't sports specific was my visit to the JD distillery in Lynchburg (highly recommend), Graceland in Memphis + BBQ at Corkeys (again, worth the trip) and my visit to the Ryman auditorium. Oh yeah and Snoop Dogg at the Vanderbilt on campus arena. Snoop was
amazing. Tennessee is a great place to go on vacation, so much to do. If you've ever thought about it just go- you wont regret it.