(Written by jsnell)

It will be interesting to see how the game day experience this year compares to the one that Phil and I had last year in Knoxville. Note I said game day experience. I don’t think the actual game experience could get much worse, unless Longshore breaks two bones, Forsett is abducted by aliens, and DeSean Jackson suits up for the Vols in a bizarre laundry accident.

I found the disparaging comments about Memorial Stadium by a Tennessee fan in the Chronicle this morning to be, well, comical.

Allen Sitzler, also of Knoxville, said Tennessee fans would be protesting to build a sports facility, not block one.

He also said he was shocked at the dilapidated state of 84-year-old Memorial Stadium, which has not had a face-lift or major repairs in decades.

“From what we’re used to, this place ranks very low in its facilities, and that’s putting it very, very nicely,” he said. “I don’t even know how they can recruit.”

Okay, Neyland Stadium (see below) is very nice. It’s gigantic, designed like a layer cake with a layer cake on top of it. And yes, Memorial Stadium is old and crumbling. But the setting can’t be beat. On a sunny, clear September day, there is no place I’d rather be than in Strawberry Canyon.

Still, I join everyone else in imploring you to be nice to our visitors from Tennessee. As someone who was in Knoxville last year, let me tell you that those folks were extremely friendly, gracious hosts. The worst-behaved person I saw in Tennessee by far was a Cal fan. So if you meet a confused Tennessee fan wandering the streets of Berkeley, give ’em a hand. They’re good people.

Now let’s hope that Cal can go out there and give the Vols a taste of their own medicine.